Grants to USA Nonprofits in Multiple States for
Better Access to Historical and Cultural Collections

Description: Request a Grant Writer

Grants to Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, and South Carolina nonprofit organizations to improve public access to collections that highlight the unique culture, heritage, and history of eligible communities. Applicants are advised to contact program staff prior to applying. Eligible communities include Chicago region counties of Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana; and the Lowcountry region of South Carolina.

Preference will be given to collections that are at risk, creative interpretations of collections, and helping organizations expand support for digitization efforts.

The Foundation focuses grants in three distinct project areas:

1) At-risk Collections:

The Foundation offers project grants to organizations to preserve at-risk collections. At-risk collections include orphan collections (those being deaccessioned with no identified future home), those in private hands (proverbial ones in basements, attics and forgotten storerooms), collections held by organizations with limited capacities, and occasionally collections within larger institutions.

For at-risk collections, the Foundation supports a range of projects, from stabilization, to restoration, to archival processing.

Grants for at-risk collections vary in size, depending on several factors.

2) Creative Interpretation:

The Foundation offers project planning grants for institutions to work with artists, curators, historians and other creatives to engage audiences in new, dynamic ways; that push the envelope of presentation and interpretation; that go beyond the typical array of exhibits and exhibitions in drawing attention to collections of exceptional regional significance.

Institutions that receive planning grants may be eligible in the future for partial funding support to implement projects of exceptional promise.

Planning grants may be up to $25,000.

3) Digitization:

The Foundation offers challenge grants for digitization projects of the highest value, regionally-focused collections. A higher priority will be placed on those digitized collections that can be made available through one of the regional digital portals: Lowcountry Digital Library (College of Charleston), EXPLORE Chicago Collections (Chicago Collections Consortium) or the Community Collections Portal (Chicago Cultural Alliance.)

The purpose of challenge grants, beyond supporting expanded public accessibility, is to help institutions build a stronger base of support for stewarding its collections long-term.

Organizations may apply for a maximum of three challenge grants, provided they demonstrate progress toward building and sustaining long-term support.

Grants for digitizing collections vary in size, depending on several factors.

Criteria:

All projects must be regionally focused and lead toward increased public access. Additional criteria the Foundation considers in making grant decisions include:

-Uniqueness of collection
-Size of collection
-Demand for access
-Capacity/stability of applicant organization