NEH Grant Programs
Enduring Questions Grants Recipt Deadline: September 15, 2009 for projects beginning June 1, 2010)
The deadline for this program has passed. New guidelines will be available in advance of the next deadline. In the interim, the guidelines below can be used for reference, but should NOT be used to prepare an application.
Date posted: July 7, 2009
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 45.163
Questions?
Contact the staff of NEH’s Division of Education Programs at 202-606-8463 and enduringquestions@neh.gov. Hearing-impaired applicants can contact NEH via TDD at 1-866-372-2930.
Grant Program Description
The Enduring Questions grant program supports a faculty member’s development of a new course that will foster intellectual community through the study of an enduring question. This course will encourage undergraduate students and a teacher to grapple with a fundamental question addressed by the humanities, and to join together in a deep and sustained program of reading in order to encounter influential thinkers over the centuries and into the present day.
What is an enduring question? The following list is neither prescriptive nor exhaustive but serves to illustrate.
  • What is the good life?
  • What is happiness?
  • What is friendship?
  • What is beauty?
  • Is there a human nature, and, if so, what is it?
  • What is the relationship between humans and the natural world?
  • How do science and ethics relate to one another?
  • Is there such a thing as right and wrong? Good and evil?
  • What is good government?
Enduring questions are, to an overarching degree, predisciplinary. They are questions to which no discipline or field or profession can lay an exclusive claim. In many cases they predate the formation of the academic disciplines themselves. Enduring questions can be tackled by reflective individuals regardless of their chosen vocations, areas of expertise, or personal backgrounds. They are questions that have more than one plausible or compelling answer. They have long held interest for young people, and they allow for a special, intense dialogue across generations. The Enduring Questions grant program will help promote such dialogue in today’s undergraduate environment.
An Enduring Questions grant supports the development of a new undergraduate humanities course that must be taught at least twice during the grant period. The grant supports the work of a faculty member in designing, preparing, and assessing the course. It may also be used for ancillary activities that enhance faculty-student intellectual community, such as visits to museums and artistic or cultural events. An Enduring Questions course may be taught by a faculty member from any department or
discipline in the humanities or by a faculty member outside the humanities (e.g., astronomy, biology, economics, law, mathematics, medicine, psychology), so long as humanities sources are central to the course.
An NEH Enduring Questions course
  • must focus on an explicitly stated question, pursued in a disciplined and deliberate manner;
  • must draw on significant works from prior to the twentieth century and may draw on later works, with a preference for reading works in their entirety or near entirety or in substantial portions;
  • must give evidence of its predisciplinary character, encouraging reflection on human experience and avoiding extensive specialization;
  • may draw on artworks (e.g., music, plays, films, paintings, sculptures);
  • must reflect intellectual pluralism, anticipating more than one plausible or compelling answer to the question at hand;
  • must be open to students regardless of major or concentration; and
  • must have institutional support, as evidenced by a letter from the president, provost, dean, program chair, or department chair, attesting 1) that the college or university supports the course, 2) that the course is new, and 3) that it will be offered at least twice during the grant period.
Enduring Questions grants may not be used for
  • team-taught courses;
  • redevelopment of previously offered courses;
  • improvement of multiple courses;
  • development of curricular or pedagogical methods or theories;
  • preparation of graduate courses;
  • graduate-level teaching preparation;
  • textbook research or revision;
  • projects that seek to promote a particular political, philosophical, religious, or ideological point of view;
  • projects that advocate a particular program of social action;
  • works in the creative and performing arts (e.g., painting, writing fiction or poetry, dance performance, etc.); or
  • doctoral dissertations, theses, or any other research pertaining to a graduate degree program.
Providing Access to Grant Products
As a taxpayer-supported federal agency, NEH endeavors to make the products of its awards available to the broadest possible audience. Our goal is for scholars, educators, students, and the American public to have ready and easy access to the wide range of NEH award products. For the Enduring Questions grant program, such products may include online course materials. For projects that lead to the development of Web sites, all other considerations being equal, NEH gives preference to those that provide free access to the public.
III. Award Information
Enduring Questions grants can provide up to $25,000 in outright funds for projects serving a single institution. (Learn more about different types of grant funding.) The grant period must run between eighteen and twenty-four months. The Enduring Questions course must be taught at least twice within the grant period. Recipients may begin their grant as early as June 1, 2010, but must begin no later than January 1, 2011.
Cost Sharing
Cost sharing is not required.
Eligibility
Any U.S. nonprofit organization with IRS 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status is eligible, as are state and local governmental agencies. Individuals are not eligible to apply.
NEH generally does not award grants to other federal entities or to applicants whose projects are so closely intertwined with a federal entity that the project takes on characteristics of the federal entity’s own authorized activities. This does not preclude applicants from using grant funds from, or sites and materials controlled by, other federal entities in their projects.
The faculty member designing the course may be a tenured, tenure-track, non-tenure-track, or adjunct faculty member at a two-year or four-year college or university. Graduate students are not eligible for this grant program, unless they are teaching full-time at a two-year or four-year college or university.
Late, incomplete, and ineligible applications will not be reviewed.
Application and Submission Information

How to Prepare your Application
Application Advice
Prior to beginning, applicants should review the evaluation criteria listed below in Section V.
Because of the large number of applications expected, NEH staff members are unable to read and comment on draft proposals. However, potential applicants may discuss with the staff specific questions not covered in the Frequently Asked Questions document that arise during the preparation of their proposals. Contact NEH’s Division of Education Programs at 202-606-8463 or enduringquestions@neh.gov.
Hearing-impaired applicants can contact NEH via TDD at 1-866-372-2930.
Once an application has been submitted, staff will not comment on it except with respect to issues of completeness and eligibility.
NEH does not accept applications by e-mail or fax.
You will prepare your application for submission via Grants.gov just as you would a paper application. Please keep these important matters in mind as you prepare the application:
  • all parts of the application must be put into PDF format before they are uploaded to Grants.gov (see instructions below);
  • all pages must be formatted with one-inch margins and with a 12-point font; and
  • applications exceeding the page limits will not be reviewed.
In addition to the two forms described below (the Federal Domestic Assistance Short Organizational--SF 424 Short--and the Supplementary Cover Sheet for NEH Grant Programs), your application should consist of the following seven parts (attached via the NEH Attachment Form):
  1. Narrative—Not to Exceed Six Double-Spaced Pages
    The faculty member preparing the course should provide an intellectual justification for the new humanities course. The narrative should not assume specialized knowledge and should be free of technical terms and jargon. The narrative should address the following areas.
    • Intellectual Rationale and Teaching Value
      State the enduring question to be explored, and discuss the core readings for the course. Explain the relationship between the core readings and the enduring question to be explored, as well as the relationship of the works to one another. Identify a provisional list of additional works that the faculty member will use to prepare the course. The rationale must give evidence of the predisciplinary character of the course. The readings must draw on significant works prior to the twentieth century and may draw on later works, with a preference for studying them in their entirety or near entirety or in substantial portions. The course may draw on artworks (e.g., music, plays, films, paintings, sculptures). The works to be studied and the question to be explored must reflect intellectual pluralism, anticipating more than one plausible or compelling approach. Describe the institutional context of the course, including its potential to foster intellectual community and its relation to the existing curriculum.
    • Envisioned Course Design
      Identify the intended audience for this new course. Describe how the new course will be structured, explaining the anticipated length of the course (in weeks) and the number of sessions each week. Discuss what will be expected of the students (including how much they will be asked to read each week), and explain how the faculty member will create a community of intellectual inquiry. Justify the choice of readings and other sources and describe how they will be studied and discussed. Explain how the course will deal with the challenges of, for example, unfamiliar art forms or extensive required reading (e.g., online discussion boards, small group sessions, study questions, quizzes). Describe any ancillary student activities (e.g., class trips to concerts, plays, museums). Describe any student writing or research components, as well as any other independent projects or potential outcomes of the course. Discuss how the effectiveness of the new course will be assessed.
    • Plan of Work
      Provide a plan of work that describes how the faculty member will prepare to teach the course. Include a timeline, indicating such activities as reading core texts and additional works, preparing class materials, and creating a syllabus.
    • Faculty Preparation
      Describe how the faculty member’s intellectual interests and accomplishments as a teacher have prepared him or her to develop this course. Describe how the Enduring Questions grant will facilitate the teacher’s intellectual growth and capacity to teach the new course.
  2. Preliminary Course Reading List—Not to Exceed One Single-Spaced Page
    The preliminary course reading list should consist of those readings that the faculty member anticipates will be read in the course by both the teacher and the students.
  3. Bibliography—Not to Exceed Two Single-Spaced Pages
    The bibliography should consist of primary and secondary sources that relate directly to the proposed course. Include the works that you plan to study and related literature and other sources that you intend to consult in designing the course.
  4. Budget
    Using the instructions, complete the budget form. The NEH share of the project may not exceed $25,000. Review the following budget instructions in addition to those accompanying the budget form. If you wish, you may attach separate pages with notes to explain any of the budget items in more detail. Applicants are advised to retain a copy of the PDF containing their budget form.
    In addition to the $15,000 stipend for the faculty member (project director) to develop the course, applicants may request no more than $10,000 for
    • the purchase of books and other materials that are studied in the course;
    • funding for ancillary student activities (e.g., attending plays, concerts, or museum exhibitions);
    • consulting services, such as expert advice for the development of the course’s content;
    • digital consulting services to develop a digital humanities component, such as a project Web site;
    • costs incurred in publicizing the course;
    • costs incurred in disseminating the course (e.g., online, in the community, at academic meetings and conferences);
    • indirect costs (see the options in the worksheet found on page 4 of the budget form; and
    • fringe benefits.
    In the project narrative, describe in some detail how the faculty member intends to use funds for any of the budget items in the list above.
  5. Résumé or Brief Biography—Not to Exceed Two Single-Spaced Pages
    • Current and Past Positions.
    • Education: List degrees, dates awarded, and titles of theses or dissertations.
    • Awards and Honors: Include dates. If you have received prior support from NEH, indicate the dates of these grants and the publications or other products that resulted from them.
    • Course List: List courses taught within the last three years.
    • Other Relevant Professional Activities and Publications.
  6. Letter of Institutional Commitment
    A letter (from the president, provost, dean, program chair, or department chair at the institution at which the course will be taught) MUST certify 1) that the institution supports the proposed course; 2) that it is new; and 3) that it will be offered at least twice during the grant period. Ideally, this letter would also explain the importance of the course within the institution’s overall curriculum.
  7. Abstract—Not to Exceed 200 Words or 1,000 Characters
    The abstract should be clear, free of jargon, and accessible to nonspecialists.
How to Submit Your Application via Grants.gov
Register or Verify Registration with Grants.gov
Applications for this program must be submitted via Grants.gov. Before using Grants.gov for the first time, each organization must register with the Web site to create an institutional profile. Once registered, your organization can then apply for any government grant on the Grants.gov Web site.
If your organization has already registered and you have verified that your registration is still valid, you may skip this step. If not, please see our handy checklist to guide you through the registration process. We strongly recommend that you complete or verify your registration at least two weeks before the application deadline, as it takes time for your registration to be processed. If you have problems registering with Grants.gov, call the Grants.gov help desk at 1-800-518-4726.
Download the Free Adobe Reader software
To fill out a Grants.gov application package, you will need to download and install the current version of Adobe Reader. The latest version of Adobe Reader, which is designed to function with PCs and Macintosh computers using a variety of popular operating systems, is available at no charge from the Adobe Web site (www.adobe.com).
Once installed, the current version of Adobe Reader will allow you to view and fill out Grants.gov application packages for any federal agency. If you have a problem installing Adobe Reader, it may be because you do not have permission to install a new program on your computer. Many organizations have rules about installing new programs. If you encounter a problem, contact your system administrator.
Download the Application Package
To submit your application, you will need to download the application package from the Grants.gov Web site. You can download the application package at any time. (You do not have to wait for your Grants.gov registration to be complete.) Click the button at the right to download the package.
Save the application package to your computer’s hard drive. To open the application package, select the file and double click. You do not have to be online to work on it.
You can save your application package at any time by clicking the “Save” button at the top of your screen. Tip: If you choose to save your application package before you have completed all the required forms, you may receive an error message indicating that your application is not valid. Click “OK” to save your work and complete the package another time. You can also use e-mail to share the application package with members of your organization or project team.
The application package contains three forms that you must complete in order to submit your application:
  1. Application for Federal Domestic Assistance—Short Organizational (SF-424 Short)—this form asks for basic information about the project, the project director (i.e., the faculty member), and the institution.
  2. Supplementary Cover Sheet for NEH Grant Programs—this form asks for additional information about the project director, the institution, and the budget.
  3. NEH Attachment Form—this form allows you to attach your narrative, budget, and the other parts of your application.
To assist applicants, Grants.gov provides a helpful troubleshooting page.
How to Fill Out the SF-424 Short Form
Select the form from the menu and double click to open it. Please provide the following information:
  1. Name of Federal Agency: This will be filled in automatically with “National Endowment for the Humanities.”
  2. Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number: This will be filled in automatically with the CFDA number and title of the NEH program to which you are applying.
  3. Date Received: Please leave blank.
  4. Funding Opportunity Number: This will be filled in automatically.
  5. Applicant Information: In this section, please supply the name, address, employer/taxpayer identification number (EIN/TIN), DUNS number, Web site address, and congressional district of the institution. Also choose the “type” that best describes your institution (you only need to select one).
    If your institution is located, for example, in the 5th Congressional District of your state, put a “5.” If your institution doesn’t have a congressional district (e.g., it is in a state or U.S. territory that doesn’t have districts or is in a foreign country), put a “0” (zero).
    All institutions applying to federal grant programs are required to provide a DUNS number, issued by Dun & Bradstreet, as part of their application. Project directors should contact their institution’s grants administrator or chief financial officer to obtain their institution’s DUNS number. Federal grant applicants can obtain a DUNS number free of charge by calling 1-866-705-5711. (Learn more about the requirement.)
  6. Project Information: Provide the title of your project. Your title should be brief, descriptive, and substantive. It should also be informative to a nonspecialist audience. Provide a brief description of your project. The description should be written for a nonspecialist audience and clearly state the importance of the proposed work and its relation to larger issues in the humanities. List the starting and ending dates for your project.
  7. Project Director: Provide the Social Security Number, name, title, mailing address, e-mail address, and telephone and fax numbers for the project director.
    Disclosure of Social Security Numbers is optional. NEH uses them for internal application processing only.
  8. Primary Contact/Grants Administrator: Provide the contact information for the official responsible for the administration of the grant (i.e., negotiating the project budget and ensuring compliance with the terms and conditions of the award). This person is often a grants or research officer, or a sponsored programs official. Normally, the Primary Contact/Grants Administrator is not the same person as the Project Director. If the project director and the grants administrator are the same person, skip to Item 9.
  9. Authorized Representative: Provide the contact information for the Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) who is submitting the application on behalf of the institution. This person, often called an “Authorizing Official,” is typically the president, vice president, executive director, provost, or chancellor. In order to become an AOR, the person must be designated by the institution’s E-Business Point of Contact. For more information, please consult the Grants.gov user guide, which is available at www.grants.gov/applicants/resources.jsp.
How to Fill Out the Supplementary Cover Sheet for NEH Grant Programs
Select the form from the menu and double click to open it. Please provide the following information:
  1. Project Director: Use the pull-down menu to select the major field of study for the project director.
  2. Institution Information: Use the pull-down menu to select your type of institution.
  3. Project Funding: Enter your project funding information. Note that applicants for Challenge Grants should use the right column only; applicants to all other programs should use the left column only.
  4. Application Information: Indicate whether the proposal will be submitted to other NEH grant programs, government agencies, or private entities for funding. If so, please indicate where and when. NEH frequently cosponsors projects with other funding sources. Providing this information will not prejudice the review of your application.
    For Type of Application, check “new” if the application requests a new period of funding, whether for a new project or the next phase of a project previously funded by NEH. Check “supplement” if the application requests additional funding for a current NEH grant. If requesting a supplement, provide the current grant number. Before submitting an application for a supplement, applicants should discuss their request with an NEH program officer.
    For Project Field Code, use the pull-down menu to select the humanities field of the project. If the project is multidisciplinary, choose the field that corresponds to the project’s predominant discipline.
How to Use the NEH Attachment Form
You will use this form to attach the files that make up your application.
Your attachments must be in Portable Document Format (.pdf). We cannot accept attachments in their original word processing or spreadsheet formats. If you don’t already have software to convert your files into PDFs, many low-cost and free software packages will do so, To learn more, go to www.neh.gov/grants/grantsgov/pdf.html.
When you open the NEH Attachment Form, you will find fifteen attachment buttons, labeled “Attachment 1” through “Attachment 15.” By clicking on a button, you will be able to choose the file from your computer that you wish to attach. You must name and attach your files in the proper order so that we can identify them. Please attach the proper file to the proper button as listed below:
ATTACHMENT 1: To this button, please attach your project narrative. Please name the file “narrative.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 2: To this button, please attach your preliminary course reading list. Please name the file “readings.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 3: To this button, please attach your bibliography. Please name the file “bibliography.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 4: To this button, please attach your budget. Please name the file “budget.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 5: To this button, please attach your résumé. Please name the file “resume.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 6: To this button, please attach your letter of institutional commitment. Please name the file “letter.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 7: To this button, please attach your abstract. Please name the file “abstract.pdf”.
No other attachments should be included. Applications submitted with additional attachments or with attachments that exceed the length limitations will not be reviewed.
Uploading Your Application to Grants.gov
When you have completed all three forms, use the right-facing arrow to move each of them to the “Mandatory Documents for Submission” column. Once they have been moved over, the “Submit” button will activate. You are now ready to upload your application package to Grants.gov.
During the registration process, your institution designated one or more AORs (Authorized Organization Representatives). These AORs typically work in your institution’s Sponsored Research Office or Grants Office. When you have completed your application, you must ask your AOR to submit the application, using the special username and password that were assigned to him or her during the registration process.
To submit your application, your computer must have an active connection to the Internet. To begin the submission process, click the “submit” button. A page will appear, asking you to sign and submit your application. At this point, your AOR will enter his or her username and password. When you click the “sign and submit application” button, your application package will be uploaded to Grants.gov. Please note that it may take some time to upload your application package, depending on the size of your files and the speed of your Internet connection.
After the upload is complete, a confirmation page will appear. This page, which includes a tracking number, indicates that you have submitted your application to Grants.gov. Please print this page for your records. The AOR will also receive a confirmation e-mail message.
NEH suggests that you submit your application no later than 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) on the day of the deadline. That way, should you encounter a technical problem of some kind, you will still have time to contact the Grants.gov help desk for support. The Grants.gov help desk is open Monday to Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) at 1-800-518-4726. You can also send an e-mail to support@grants.gov.
To assist applicants, Grants.gov provides a helpful troubleshooting page.
Deadlines
Applications for NEH Enduring Questions grants must be received by Grants.gov by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on September 15, 2009. Grants.gov will date- and time-stamp your application after it is fully uploaded. Applications submitted after that date will not be accepted.
Application Review
Evaluators are asked to apply the following criteria when judging the quality of applications.
  1. Intellectual quality
    Does the proposed course clearly focus on an enduring question that is stated in the interrogative form?
    Is the intellectual rationale of the course and its approach to an enduring question compelling?
    Does the intellectual rationale give evidence of a predisciplinary approach to the course?
    Is there a well-articulated relationship between the enduring question to be considered and the works to be studied by the faculty member in preparing the envisioned course?
    Is there a well-articulated relationship between the enduring question to be considered and the works to be studied by the students taking the envisioned course?
    Is intellectual pluralism evident in the question to be considered and in the core works to be studied?
    Does the course draw on significant works from prior to the twentieth century?
    Does the course emphasize the study of works in their entirety or near entirety or in substantial portions?
    Is the proposal clear, free of jargon, and accessible to nonspecialists?
  2. Feasibility
    Is the teacher intellectually prepared to develop the proposed course?
    Does the plan of work present a clear and feasible strategy for helping the faculty member grow intellectually and for preparing him or her to teach the course?
    Is the design of the envisioned course effectively tailored to its intended audience?
    Are reading loads ambitious but realistic?
    Are ancillary activities, if any, well conceived?
    Is there a commitment on the part of the institution to support this course?
    Does the course fit into the institution’s existing curriculum?
    Is the proposed course new? Has the institution committed to offering the course at least twice during the grant period?
  3. Impact
    Does the course have the potential to foster intellectual community—anchored in an enduring question—among students in the course?
    Does the course have the potential to foster intellectual community—anchored in an enduring question—at the applicant institution?
NEH expects grantees to provide broad access to all grant products, insofar as the conditions of the materials and intellectual property rights allow. For projects that lead to the development of Web sites, all other considerations being equal, NEH gives preference to those that provide free access to the public.
Review and selection process
Knowledgeable persons outside NEH will read each application and advise the agency about its merits. NEH staff comments on matters of fact or on significant issues that otherwise would be missing from these reviews, then makes recommendations to the National Council on the Humanities. The National Council meets at various times during the year to advise the NEH chairman on grants. The chairman takes into account the advice provided by the review process and, by law, makes all funding decisions.
Award Administration Information
Award notices
Applicants will be notified of the decision by e-mail in March 2010. Institutional grants administrators and project directors of successful applications will receive award documents by mail in April 2010. Applicants may obtain the evaluations of their applications by sending a letter or e-mail message to NEH, Division of Education Programs, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Room 302, Washington, D.C. 20506 or enduringquestions@neh.gov.
Administrative requirements
Before submitting an application, applicants should review their responsibilities as an award recipient.
Award Conditions
The requirements for awards are contained in the General Terms and Conditions for Awards to Organizations, any specific terms and conditions contained in the award document, and the applicable OMB circulars governing federal grants management.
Reporting Requirements
A schedule of report due dates will be included with the award document.
Interim and final performance reports will be required. Further details can be found in Performance Reporting Requirements.
A final Federal Financial Report (SF-425) will be due within ninety days after the end of the award period.
Recipients will be expected to submit a course syllabus, a bibliography, and other relevant materials upon the completion of the grant. These materials may be posted on the NEH Web site.
Points of Contact
If you have questions about the program, contact:
Division of Education Programs
National Endowment for the Humanities
Room 302
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20506
202-606-8463 or enduringquestions@neh.gov
If you need help using Grants.gov, contact:
Grants.gov: www.grants.gov
Grants.gov help desk: support@grants.gov
Grants.gov customer support tutorials and manuals: www.grants.gov/applicants/resources.jsp
Grant.gov support line: 1-800-518-GRANTS (4726)
Grant.gov troubleshooting page.
Other Information
Privacy Policy
Information in these guidelines is solicited under the authority of the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act of 1965, as amended, 20 U.S.C. 956. The principal purpose for which the information will be used is to process the grant application. The information may also be used for statistical research, analysis of trends, and Congressional oversight. Failure to provide the information may result in the delay or rejection of the application.
Application Completion Time
The Office of Management and Budget requires federal agencies to supply information on the time needed to complete forms and also to invite comments on the paperwork burden. NEH estimates that the average time to complete this application is fifteen hours per response. This estimate includes time for reviewing instructions, researching, gathering, and maintaining the information needed, and completing and reviewing the application.
Please send any comments regarding the estimated completion time or any other aspect of this application, including suggestions for reducing the completion time, to the Office of Publications, National Endowment for the Humanities, Washington, D.C. 20506; and to the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (3136-0134), Washington, D.C. 20503. According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB number.
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