Funding Guidelines

Funding Limits and Categories

Up to $300,000.00 | Non-Matching Grants

  • Cataloging & Digital Imaging
  • Conservation of Objects
  • Collections Care

Up to $100,000.00 | 50% Matching Grants

The following grants require that the applicant has raised half of the funds needed to complete the project:

  • Exhibitions
  • Education

Up to $50,000.00 | Non-Matching Grants

  • Public Programs
  • Publications
  • Events/Community Activities

Up to $500,000.00 | 50% Matching Grants

The following grants require that the applicant has raised half of the funds needed to complete the project:

  • Structural Stabilization & Restoration
  • Adaptive Reuse & New Construction

Matching

  • No more than 20% of the matching funds may be in-kind (e.g. if you are requesting $20,000.00 and matching $20,000.00, then your in-kind limit would be $4,000.00). Examples of in-kind matching include volunteer hours, donated materials, and donated services.
  • In-kind matching must be dedicated to the project proposed and not for the overall operations of the organization or to any other project (e.g. general volunteer hours in office administration for the organization could not count toward the match for a restoration project).
  • All construction and renovation grant recipients must allocate a percentage of their funds for periodic inspections including a written report to the Foundation of the work completed. Inspectors must be approved by the Foundation.

Spring & Fall Grant Cycles

Applications Deadline Funding Decision By Notifications
March 8, 2024 by 5:00pm May 17, 2024 May 31, 2024
August 9, 2024 by 5:00pm November 8, 2024 November 22, 2024

Application Guidelines

Requests for the following will not be awarded:

  • Tuition remission for student employees.
  • Salaries/wages and applicable fringe benefits for current, permanent staff who will work on the project. This program is not intended to provide salary relief for existing staff at institutions. We do not fund existing staff salaries.
  • Property purchase
  • Lobbying
  • Fund-raising
  • Indirect costs (overhead)
  • Research
  • Expenses incurred prior to award date
  • Insurance costs
  • Debt or interest