Sparks! Ignition Grants for Museums

The summary for the Sparks! Ignition Grants for Museums grant is detailed below. This summary states who is eligible for the grant, how much grant money will be awarded, current and past deadlines, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers, and a sampling of similar government grants. Verify the accuracy of the data FederalGrants.com provides by visiting the webpage noted in the Link to Full Announcement section or by contacting the appropriate person listed as the Grant Announcement Contact. If any section is incomplete, please visit the website for the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which is the U.S. government agency offering this grant.
Sparks! Ignition Grants for Museums: The Sparks! Ignition Grants for Museums program is a special funding opportunity within the IMLS National Leadership Grants for Museums program. These small grants encourage museums to prototype and evaluate specific innovations in the ways they operate and the services they provide. Project results – be they success, failure, or a combination thereof – should offer valuable information to the museum field and the potential for improvement in the ways museums serve their communities.
Federal Grant Title: Sparks! Ignition Grants for Museums
Federal Agency Name: Institute of Museum and Library Services
Grant Categories: Arts Humanities
Type of Opportunity: Discretionary
Funding Opportunity Number: SPARKS-MUSEUMS-FY15
Type of Funding: Grant
CFDA Numbers: 45.312
CFDA Descriptions: National Leadership Grants
Current Application Deadline: Dec 1, 2014
Original Application Deadline: Dec 1, 2014
Posted Date: Sep 25, 2014
Creation Date: Sep 25, 2014
Archive Date: Dec 31, 2014
Total Program Funding: $143,000
Maximum Federal Grant Award: $25,000
Minimum Federal Grant Award: $10,000
Expected Number of Awards: 6
Cost Sharing or Matching: No
Applicants Eligible for this Grant
Others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification)
Additional Information on Eligibility
To be eligible for an award under the Sparks Grants program, you must be an organization that meets all three of the following criteria:

You must be either a unit of State or local government or be a private nonprofit organization that has tax-exempt status under the Internal Revenue Code;

You must be located in one of the 50 States of the United States of America, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, or the Republic of Palau; and

You must qualify as one of the following:

A museum that, using a professional staff, is organized on a permanent basis for essentially educational or aesthetic purposes; owns or uses tangible objects, either animate or inanimate; cares for these objects; and exhibits these objects to the general public on a regular basis through facilities that it owns or operates.

What types of institutions are included in the term “museum”?
If they otherwise meet these requirements, including the criteria in (3)(a) above, museums include, but are not limited to, aquariums, arboretums, art museums, botanical gardens, children’s/youth museums, general museums (those having two or more significant disciplines), historic houses/sites, history museums, natural history/anthropology museums, nature centers, planetariums, science/technology centers, specialized museums (limited to a single distinct subject), and zoological parks.

What does it mean to be using a professional staff?
An institution uses a professional staff if it employs at least one staff member, or the full-time equivalent, whether paid or unpaid, primarily engaged in the acquisition, care, or exhibition to the public of objects owned or used by the institution.

What does it mean to exhibit the objects to the general public?
An institution exhibits objects to the general public if such exhibition is a primary purpose of the institution. An institution that exhibits objects to the general public for at least 120 days a year is deemed to exhibit objects to the general public on a regular basis.

An institution which does not have the exhibition of objects as a primary purpose and/or does not exhibit objects to the public for at least 120 days a year may be determined to be eligible as a museum under certain circumstances. For more information, please see 45 CFR §1180.2(d).

An organization or association that engages in activities designed to advance the well-being of museums and the museum profession;

An institution of higher education, including public and nonprofit universities; or

public or private nonprofit agency which is responsible for the operation of a museum that meets the eligibility criteria in (a) above may apply on behalf of the museum.
Link to Full Grant Announcement
http://www.imls.gov/applicants/detail.aspx?GrantId=23
Grant Announcement Contact
Helen Wechsler Supervisory Grants Management Specialist [email protected] 202-653-4779 Jill Connors-Joyner Museum Program Specialist [email protected] 202-653-4791
[email protected]

Institute of Museum and Library Services 202-653-4629
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