### Funding Opportunity for

# 
Preservation Assistance Grants for Smaller Institutions

### Maximum award amount

### Expected output

### Period of performance

### Application available (anticipated)

October 9, 2024

### Next deadline (anticipated)

January 9, 2025

### Expected notification date

August 31, 2025

### Project start date

September 1, 2025

December 1, 2025

Apply Now on Grants.gov

**The deadline for this cycle has passed.** Updated guidelines will be posted in advance of the next deadline. In the meantime, please use these guidelines to get a sense of what is involved in assembling an application.

            -                    About the Program                 
            -                    Application Instructions                 

Preservation Assistance Grants help small and mid-sized organizations preserve and manage humanities collections, ensuring their significance for a variety of users, including source communities, humanities researchers, students, and the public, by building their capacity to identify and address physical and intellectual preservation risks. These collections may include special collections of books and journals, archives and manuscripts, prints and photographs, moving images, sound recordings, architectural and cartographic records, decorative and fine art objects, textiles, archaeological and ethnographic artifacts, furniture, historical objects, and digital materials. 

The Preservation Assistance Grants for Smaller Institutions program focuses on foundational activities in preservation and management of collections, such as assessments, development of plans and policies, consultations with scholars and source communities, emergency preparedness, environmental monitoring, rehousing, format surveys and inventories, and training in preservation and collections management. Applicants may draw on the knowledge of consultants whose preservation skills and experience are related to the types of collections and the nature of the activities on which their projects focus.  Within the conservation field, conservators usually specialize in the care of specific types of collections, such as objects, paper, or paintings.  Applicants should choose a conservator whose specialty is appropriate for the nature of their collections.  Similarly, when assessing the preservation needs of library, museum, or archival holdings, applicants should seek a consultant specifically knowledgeable about the preservation of collections in these types of institutions. 

The program encourages applications from small and mid-sized institutions that have never received an NEH grant; community colleges, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and Tribal Colleges and Universities; and Native American tribes and Native Alaskan and Native Hawaiian organizations with humanities collections. Furthermore, organizations or collections that represent the contributions of under-represented communities are highly encouraged. 

Preservation Assistance Grants for Smaller Institutions Webinar slide deck (PDF)

### Examples of Projects Funded by this Grant Program

##### 
Collections Needs Assessment at the Tomaquag Indian Memorial Museum

##### 
General Collections Assessment at the Historic Mobile Preservation Society

##### 
Preservation Assessment for Audiovisual, Paper, and Photographic Collections

View All Projects

Next

Application Instructions

#### Contact

Division of Preservation and Access

preservation@neh.gov

#### Program Statistics

Review

Read the Notice of Funding Opportunity to ensure you understand the expectations and restrictions for projects delivered under this program and are prepared to write the most effective application.

**Application Materials**

Notice of Funding Opportunity, 2024FAQ, 2024

Grants.gov application package

Recently funded projects

**Sample Application Narratives**

Asheville Art Museum, item-level assessment of works on paper

Chicago Film Archive, digital preservation plan

City of Boston, purchase of preservation furniture and supplies

Hula Preservation Society, general preservation assessment, training, and supplies

Johns Hopkins University (Historic House Museum), purchase of preservation furniture and supplies

Karuk Tribe, improving the preservation environment with training and supplies

Sonoma County Library, purchase of preservation furniture, environmental monitoring units, and disaster recovery supplies

Spelman College (Archives), general preservation assessment and training

University of Central Oklahoma (Textile Museum), general preservation assessment and training

Register

When you are ready to apply, register for an account with SAM.gov and Grants.gov; both are required. If you already have completed the registrations, make sure they are current. 
                                      - Register with Grants.gov
                                      - Grants.gov Applicant Tools and Tips
                                      - Grants.gov Applicant Registration Guidance
                                      - Download Adobe Reader
                                      - Tips for making PDFs
                                      - Grants.gov Self-Service Knowledge Base

Complete

Follow the instructions outlined in the Notice of Funding Opportunity and in the Grants.gov instructions. 

Submit

You will receive a confirmation from Grants.gov when you’ve successfully submitted your application. Subsequently, you will receive up to five more notices confirming different stages in the application process. Verify that you have received all confirmations. Note that email filters may send these messages to your spam or junk folder

#### Contact

Division of Preservation and Access

preservation@neh.gov