NEH Grant Programs
Collaborative Research Grants, Deadline: October 29, 2009 (for projects beginning as early as July 2010)
Date posted: July 22, 2010
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 45.161
Questions?
Find answers to your guidelines questions in the Frequently Asked Questions. If you still need assistance, contact the staff of NEH’s Division of Research Programs at 202-606-8200 and collaborative@neh.gov. Hearing-impaired applicants can contact NEH via TDD at 1-866-372-2930.
Grant Program Description
Collaborative Research Grants support original research undertaken by a team of two or more scholars, for full-time or part-time activities for periods of at least one year up to a maximum of three years. Support is available for various combinations of scholars, consultants, and research assistants; project-related travel; field work; applications of information technology; and technical support and services. All grantees are expected to communicate the results of their work to the appropriate scholarly and public audiences.
Eligible projects include
  • research that significantly adds to knowledge and understanding in the humanities;
  • conferences on topics of major importance in the humanities that will benefit scholarly research;
  • archaeological projects that include the interpretation and communication of results (projects may encompass excavation, materials analysis, laboratory work, field reports, and preparation of interpretive monographs); and
  • research that uses the knowledge and perspectives of the humanities and historical or philosophical methods to enhance understanding of science, technology, medicine, and the social sciences.
These grants support full-time or part-time activities for periods of one to three years.
Sample narratives from successful grant applications are available under the Program Resources section of the sidebar on the first page of the guidelines. You may request additional samples by sending an e-mail message to collaborative@neh.gov.
Providing access to grant products
As a taxpayer-supported federal agency, NEH endeavors to make the products of its grants 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 grant products. For the Collaborative Research program, such products may include monographs, excavation reports, multi-authored volumes, websites, and the like. For projects that lead to the development of websites, all other considerations being equal, NEH gives preference to those that provide free access to the public. Detailed guidance on dissemination matters can be found in the Dissemination section below.
Previously funded projects
Applicants whose projects have received NEH support may apply for a grant for a new or subsequent stage of their projects. Proposals for these projects do not receive special consideration and are judged by the same criteria as others in the grant competition.
Collaborative Research Grants may not be used for
  • projects undertaken by individuals (without collaboration);
  • specific policy studies or educational or technical impact assessments;
  • projects that seek to promote a particular political, religious, or ideological point of view;
  • projects that advocate a particular program of social action;
  • editions or translations;
  • support for the preparation or publication of textbooks intended primarily for classroom use;
  • development of tools, including digital tools, or any materials analysis whose primary goal is refinement of a method, unless the development contributes to the larger interpretive goals of the project;
  • inventories of collections;
  • empirical social science research;
  • projects in cognitive psychology;
  • creation and enhancement of databases unless part of a larger interpretive project;
  • collection of oral history interviews, unless they contribute to the larger interpretive goals of the project;
  • research in educational methods, tests, or measurements, or any projects primarily intended for students in formal learning environments;
  • recurrent meetings of professional organizations, societies, and scholarly organizations;
  • planning or putting on exhibitions;
  • works in the creative and performing arts (e.g., painting, writing fiction or poetry, dance performance); or
  • support for publication costs or publication subvention.
Note: Applicants for individual projects should apply to the Fellowships or Summer Stipends programs. Applicants who propose to develop digital tools should consult with the NEH Office of Digital Humanities at odh@neh.gov. Proposals for editions and translations should be submitted to Scholarly Editions and Translations. Proposals for preparing bibliographies, descriptive catalogs, dictionaries, encyclopedias, databases, or other research tools or reference works should be submitted to the Humanities Collections and Reference Resources program in the NEH Division of Preservation and Access. Applicants planning exhibitions should consult with the NEH Division of Public Programs at 202-606-8269 and publicpgms@neh.gov.
NEH encourages submission of Collaborative Research applications from faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Institutions with High Hispanic Enrollment, and Tribal Colleges and Universities.
The Collaborative Research program welcomes projects that respond to NEH’s new Bridging Cultures initiative. Such projects could focus on cultures internationally or within the United States. International projects might seek to enlarge Americans’ understanding of other places and times, as well as other perspectives and intellectual traditions. American projects might explore the great variety of cultural influences on, and myriad subcultures within, American society. These projects might also investigate how Americans have approached and attempted to surmount seemingly unbridgeable cultural divides, or examine the ideals of civility and civic discourse that have informed this quest.

Bridging Cultures: Humanities Scholarship in Mexico and the United States

The National Endowment for the Humanities and the Humanities Department of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (Coordinación de Humanidades de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México [UNAM]) are cooperating to foster the exchange of information and advance research in the humanities. NEH is inviting applications for scholarly conferences through the Collaborative Research program. United States nonprofit institutions and organizations are encouraged to apply for funding for a conference that aims to further humanities scholarship and includes participation by scholars from the United States and UNAM. Participants may also include other scholars from Mexico and other countries who are conducting research pertinent to the topic. A conference application, for example, may focus on the current status of research in a particular humanities field or fields that are of interest to a wide scholarly audience or focus on a single issue of binational scholarly concern. 
Applications must be submitted by U.S. nonprofit organizations or institutions with IRS 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, by U.S. state and local governments or tribal governments, or by project directors without an institutional affiliation (i.e., U.S. citizens or foreign nationals who have been living in the United States or its jurisdictions for at least the three years immediately preceding the application deadline); the conference itself, however, may include participants from Mexico and other countries. Prospective applicants are urged to discuss their ideas with the Collaborative Research program staff before proceeding to develop applications. Inquiries may be addressed to collaborative@neh.gov. The application deadline is October 28, 2010. NEH expects to award one cooperative agreement of up to $100,000 for support of the conference. The cooperative agreement must be at least twelve months in length. 
Applicants should follow the specific instructions for conference proposals in these guidelines and, in particular, those in section IV – Application and Submission Information.  
Once an award is made, NEH will work closely with the recipient on the following activities:
  • planning an opening conference session that includes representatives of the NEH and UNAM as speakers,
  • planning one session designed for a wider public audience,
  • making necessary revisions to the final conference agenda and to any additional activities planned for conference participants,
  • reviewing and if necessary refining the plan for the dissemination of conference papers and summaries of discussion, and
  • publicizing the conference.
 
III. Award Information
Awards are made for at least one year up to a maximum of three years and normally range from $25,000 to $100,000 per year. Successful applicants will be awarded a grant in outright funds, matching funds, or a combination of the two, depending on the applicant’s preference and the availability of funds. The use of federal matching funds is encouraged. Federal matching funds are released on a one-to-one basis when a grantee secures gift funds from eligible third parties.
(Learn more about different types of grant funding.)
Cost sharing
Although cost sharing is not required, NEH is rarely able to support the full costs of projects approved for funding. In most cases, NEH Collaborative Research grants cover no more than 80 percent of project costs. The balance of the costs is to be borne by the applicant’s institution or other sources. Previously funded projects seeking further support should expect a progressively larger share of the costs to be assumed by the host institution or third parties.
Eligibility
Eligibility is limited to
  • institutional applicants, i.e., U.S. nonprofit organizations or institutions with IRS 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, and state and local governments and tribal governments; and
  • project directors without an institutional affiliation, i.e., U.S. citizens or foreign nationals who have been living in the United States or its jurisdictions for at least the three years immediately preceding the application deadline.
Project directors affiliated with an eligible institution must apply through an institution, ordinarily their own institution. Only adjunct faculty and scholars without an institutional affiliation may apply as unaffiliated project directors.
Degree candidates may not be project directors.
Project directors may submit only one application to either the Collaborative Research or the Scholarly Editions and Translations program, but not both. They may, however, apply for other NEH awards, including Fellowships or Summer Stipends.
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. Such resources may not, however, be used as gifts to release NEH matching funds.
Late, incomplete, and ineligible applications will not be reviewed. Find answers to your eligibility questions in the Frequently Asked Questions.
Application and Submission Information
HOW TO PREPARE YOUR APPLICATION
Application advice and proposal drafts:
Project directors may submit by e-mail (collaborative@neh.gov) drafts of their proposals at least six weeks before the deadline. A response cannot be guaranteed if the draft arrives later. Submitting a draft proposal enables an applicant to receive staff comments about the substance and format of the application. The more complete the draft, the more helpful the response can be. Staff comments in response to draft proposals are not part of the formal review process and have no bearing on the final outcome of the proposal, but previous applicants have found them helpful. Once NEH has received a formal application, its staff will not comment on its status except with respect to questions of completeness or eligibility.
You will prepare your application for submission via Grants.gov just as you would a paper application. Your application should consist of the following parts.
  1. Statement of significance and impact
    Provide a one-page abstract written for a nonspecialist audience, stating clearly the importance of the proposed work and its relation to larger issues in the humanities.
  2. Table of contents
    Provide a one-page list of all parts of the application and corresponding page numbers.
  3. List of participants
    Provide a one-page list, in alphabetical order, surnames first, of all participants and collaborators on the project. The names on this list must match the names mentioned in the staff section of the project’s narrative description. Include participants’ institutional affiliations, if any. This list must include advisory board members, if any.
  4. Narrative
    The narrative should not assume any specialized knowledge on the part of its readers, and it should be free of jargon. Applicants should provide an intellectual justification for the project and a work plan. Narrative descriptions are limited to twenty-five double-spaced pages. Applications exceeding the page limit will not be reviewed. All pages should have one-inch margins and the font size should be no smaller than Times New Roman eleven point. Use appendices to provide supplementary material. Applicants should keep in mind the criteria (listed below) used to evaluate proposals. Provide a detailed project description consisting of the following sections.
    • Substance and context
      Provide a clear and concise explanation of the project and its value to scholars, students, and general audiences in the humanities. Describe the scope of the research, the source materials, the relationship of the research to other published and ongoing work in the field, and the major issues to be addressed. Include a bibliographical essay in the narrative section or a bibliography of relevant primary and secondary sources in an appendix.
    • History and duration of the project
      Provide a concise history of the project, including information about preliminary research or planning, previous financial support, publications produced, and resources or research facilities available. List any print or electronic products with dates of publication; where applicable, the list should indicate the publisher, print or production runs, sales, and royalties. Provide reviews of the most recent products in an appendix. If an archaeological excavation is proposed, list publications of previous field reports and interpretive studies of the site. If the project has a website, provide its address. If work on the project will continue after the period of the grant, the applicant should provide details about that work and probable sources of support.
      Proposals submitted by previously funded projects must be substantially updated, including a description of the new activities and a justification of the new budget request. The applicant must also describe how the previously-funded project met its goals.
    • Staff
      Identify the project director and collaborators who would work on the project during the proposed grant period, and describe their responsibilities and qualifications. All collaborators should be identified, regardless of whether NEH funds are requested to support their participation in the project. Provide résumés of the principal collaborators (maximum of two pages each) in an appendix. Project directors must devote a significant portion of their time to their projects. All persons directly involved in the conduct of the proposed project—whether or not their salaries are paid from grant funds—should be named, their anticipated commitments of time should be indicated, and the reasons for and nature of their participation explained. If the project has an advisory board, provide a statement about its meetings and other activities, and a list of board members.
    • Methods
      Explain the project’s methods.
      • Explain how central research questions will be approached and how any potential difficulties in working with primary source materials will be resolved.
      • Describe in detail the tasks to be undertaken and the computer technology to be employed, indicating what technical and staff resources will be required, as well as the staff’s experience with the technology and its application to humanities scholarship.
      • Applicants proposing field work should discuss the appropriateness of the methodology, including a clear, explicit discussion of the links between the project’s interpretive questions, the data, and the methods of collection and analysis.
      • Applicants proposing a conference should identify the issues to be addressed and explain their importance. Identify the presenters and commentators and describe how they were selected. Describe in detail the qualifications of each person listed on the program. Provide letters of commitment from conference participants in an appendix. Describe the conference’s daily program and show how it will foster productive discussion. Provide the URL for the conference website, if available, and describe any plans for online components or activities. Provide information about facilities to be used for holding the conference and housing the participants. Applicants must demonstrate that a conference is the appropriate method for realizing the research objectives and that the objectives cannot be achieved through regular meetings of professional organizations and formal or informal gatherings of scholars.

      Special Requirements for Archaeology Projects

      Section 106 Review Process and Letter from the State Historic Preservation Office

      Applicants requesting support for archaeology projects are required to consult with their state historic preservation officer (SHPO) to determine if a property or site is listed, or is eligible for listing, in the National Register of Historic Places. The SHPO’s eligibility determination should be included in an appendix to the application. If a property is eligible for or listed in the National Register, the applicant should, if possible, also include in an appendix to the application the SHPO’s written comments as to the effect of the project on the building or site, in accordance with the guidelines set forth in the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.

      Additionally, applicants who receive NEH grant funds for archaeology projects on property or sites listed, or eligible for listing, in the National Register of Historic Places must provide NEH with assistance in carrying out its responsibilities under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, 16 U.S.C. Section 470f, as amended. For all funded archaeology projects, Section 106 requires NEH to conduct a review to determine whether historic properties will be affected. If historic properties will be adversely affected by a project, Section 106 requires that NEH consult with the SHPO and the applicant to avoid, minimize, or mitigate the adverse effect.

      The Section 106 review process is initiated once NEH makes a decision to fund an application for archaeology projects on property or sites listed, or eligible for listing, in the National Register of Historic Places. If such an application is selected for funding, the NEH Office of Grant Management will contact the applicant with a request for any additional information about the project that might be needed for Section 106 review. Once this information is received, NEH will conduct a review and determine whether further action is needed in order to comply with Section 106. The length of the Section 106 review process varies for each project. However, applicants can minimize the length of the review process by familiarizing themselves with Section 106 and by submitting required documentation with the grant application. NEH is not permitted to release any grant funds until the Section 106 process has concluded.

      For more information on the Section 106 review process, the required documentation, and the responsibilities of an applicant prior to and during the Section 106 review, please read the Section 106 FAQs, or contact the NEH Federal Preservation Officer by e-mail at FPO@neh.gov, by phone at 202-606-8309, or by mail sent to Federal Preservation Officer, Office of Challenge Grants, Room 420, National Endowment for the Humanities, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20506.

      Special Requirement for Projects Dealing with Geospatial Data, Products, or Services

      Applicants requesting complete or partial funding for the development, acquisition, preservation, or enhancement of geospatial data, products, or services must conduct a due diligence search on the Geospatial One-Stop (GOS) Portal (http://www.geodata.gov) to discover whether their needed geospatial-related data, products, or services already exist. If not, the proposed geospatial data, products, or services must be produced in compliance with applicable proposed guidance posted at http://www.fgdc.gov.
    • Final product and dissemination

      NEH expects grantees to provide broad access to all grant products, insofar as the condition of the materials and intellectual property rights allow. Although grants may be used to support the preparation of print publications, NEH strongly encourages projects that offer free public access to online resources. All other considerations being equal, NEH will give preference to projects that provide free, online access to digital materials produced with grant funds.

      Applicants must explain how the results of projects will be disseminated, including the medium chosen for the final product (print volumes, electronic media, or some combination), and why these means are appropriate to the subject matter and will best serve the intended audience.
      Applicants preparing work for electronic publication must describe the technical standards and formats used by the project, including markup languages, database applications, and imaging formats; they should also provide URLs or sample screen displays whenever possible.  Applicants are encouraged to use open standards and markup conforming to the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI), and to employ current best practices in the creation of electronic publications. Other pertinent considerations include access, interoperability, and persistence of electronic data. If the methodology used for the creation of an electronic publication departs from generally-accepted standards and practices, applicants should explain their approach and give reasons why it was chosen.
      Projects that have a website must provide the URL. Projects that include plans for a website must describe what has been done to secure a host for the site.
      Applicants must discuss publication arrangements, publicity plans, estimated prices, and user costs for both print and online publication. Any pertinent correspondence with a print or online publisher must be included in the appendices. If the project involves materials under copyright, applicants must indicate their plans for securing the necessary permission to publish. Any supporting documents must also be included in the appendices.
    • Work plan
      Describe what will be accomplished during each six-month period and identify the staff members involved. The work described in the proposal should be completed by the end of the grant period.
  5. Project budget
    Using the instructions (4-page PDF) and the budget template (3-page PDF), complete the budget spreadsheet (MS Excel format) or a format of your own that includes all the required information. In addition you may provide a brief budget narrative, limited to no more than two pages, explaining any of the budget items in more detail. Applicants are advised to retain a copy of the PDF containing their budget form.
  6. Appendices
    Use appendices to provide essential supplementary materials. Appendices must be limited to thirty-five pages. The materials must include a brief résumé (two-page maximum) for each principal project participant. Do not include assessments of previous applications and testimonials. Do include letters of commitment from conference participants, letters of commitment or interest from print or online publishers, and published reviews. When necessary, include documents confirming that copyright permissions have been secured. A summary of results from previous grants may be included in an appendix but should be limited to essential information. If bibliographical references are not in the narrative, include a bibliography of the relevant primary and secondary literature in an appendix.
    • For archaeology projects, include appropriate plans, maps, and photographs, as well as evidence that all necessary permits will be forthcoming (and if possible, the State Historic Preservation Officer’s eligibility determination, when such a determination is relevant).
    • For conferences, provide a copy of the proposed program, letters of commitment from presenters and cooperating institutions, résumés (two-page maximum) for the conference organizers, and a paragraph devoted to each presenter’s qualifications.
  7. Statement of history of grants
    If the project has received previous support from any federal or nonfederal sources, including NEH, provide a one-page list of the sources, dates, and amounts of these funds. Explain how many years of NEH support the project has already received. If it has a long history of support, the sources and contributions may be grouped and summarized.
When preparing an application, applicants should consult the Review Criteria.
HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION VIA GRANTS.GOV
Register or Verify Registration with Grants.govApplying as an unaffiliated project director? Click here for instructions
Applications for this program must be submitted via Grants.gov. Before using Grants.gov for the first time, each organization must register with the website to create an institutional profile. Once registered, your organization can then apply for any government grant on the Grants.gov website.
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 the Grants.gov checklist to guide you through the registration process. We strongly recommend that you complete 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 website (www.adobe.com). Click on “Get Adobe Reader” and then “Download Now.”
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 website. 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 four 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, 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. Project/Performance Site Location(s) Form—this form asks for information about the primary site(s) at which grant activities will take place.
  4. Attachments 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. In items 6, 7, 8, and 9 below, NEH recommends that the project title, brief project description, project director’s name, primary contact/grants administrator’s name, and authorized representative’s name be typed directly onto the form, instead of being pasted in; pasted-in quotation marks, diacritics, and other symbols are often converted into question marks during transmittal.
  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, website 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 (no more than 125 characters), descriptive, and substantive. It should also be informative to a nonspecialist audience. Provide a brief (no more than one thousand characters) 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 name, title, mailing address, e-mail address, and telephone and fax numbers for the project director.
  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 http://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 Fill Out the Project/Performance Site Location(s) Form
Select the form from the menu and double click to open it. Please provide the requested information. Instructions for the form can be found here: grants.gov/assets/Forms/SF424Site_Location_Instructions.pdf. Alternatively, instructions for each requested data element may be viewed by positioning your cursor over the blank field.
How to Use the Attachments Form
You will use this form to attach the various 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 http://www.neh.gov/grants/grantsgov/pdf.html.
When you open the Attachments 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 statement of significance and impact. Name the file “statement.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 2: To this button, please attach your table of contents. Name the file “contents.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 3: To this button, please attach your list of project participants. Name the file “participantslist.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 4: To this button, please attach your narrative. Name the file “narrative.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 5: To this button, please attach your budget. Name the file “budget.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 6: To this button, please attach your appendices. Name the file “appendices.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 7: To this button, please attach your history of grants. Name the file “granthistory.pdf”.
Use the remaining buttons to attach any additional materials (if appropriate). Please give these attachments meaningful file names and ensure that they are PDFs.
UPLOADING YOUR APPLICATION TO GRANTS.GOV
When you have completed all four 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. Doing so will leave you time to contact the Grants.gov help desk for support, should you encounter a technical problem of some kind. The Grants.gov help desk is now available seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day (except on federal holidays), at 1-800-518-4726. You can also send an e-mail message to support@grants.gov.
To assist applicants, Grants.gov provides a helpful troubleshooting page.
HOW TO SUBMIT SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
If you are sending supplementary materials (those that cannot be submitted electronically—i.e., audio or video materials), please send eight copies of each item and include at the bottom of the table of contents—submitted via Grants.gov—a list of the materials to be mailed separately.
Send the materials to:
Collaborative Research
Division of Research Programs
Room 318
National Endowment for the Humanities
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20506
202-606-8200
NEH continues to experience lengthy delays in the delivery of mail by the U.S. Postal Service, and in some cases materials are damaged by the irradiation process. We recommend that supplementary materials be sent by a commercial delivery service to ensure that they arrive intact by the receipt deadline.
If you wish to have the materials returned to you, please include a self-addressed, pre-paid mailer.
DEADLINES
Draft Proposals (optional): Program staff recommends that draft proposals be submitted at least six weeks before the deadline. Time constraints may prevent staff from reviewing draft proposals submitted after that date.
Applications must be received by Grants.gov by 11:59 P.M., Eastern Time, on October 28, 2010. Grants.gov will date- and time-stamp your application after it is fully uploaded. Applications submitted after that date will not be accepted. Supplementary materials must also arrive at NEH by October 28, 2010, to be considered as part of the application.
Application Review
Evaluators are asked to apply the following five criteria.
  1. The intellectual significance of the project, including its potential contribution to scholarship in the humanities; the likelihood that it will stimulate new research; its relationship to larger themes in the humanities; and the significance of the material on which the project is based.
  2. The pertinence of the research questions being posed, the appropriateness of research methods or conference design; the appropriateness of the technology employed in the project; the feasibility of the work plan; and the appropriateness of the field work to be undertaken, the archival or source materials to be studied, and the research site.
  3. The qualifications, expertise, and levels of commitment of the project director and key project staff or contributors, and the appropriateness and value of the collaboration.
  4. The soundness of the dissemination and access plans, including benefit to the audience identified in the proposal and the strength of the case for employing print, a digital format, or a combination of media; and in the case of archaeology projects, the likelihood that the project will produce an interpretive study. All other considerations being equal, preference will be given to projects that provide free, online access to digital materials produced with grant funds.
  5. The potential for success, including the likelihood that the work proposed will be completed within the projected time frame; where appropriate, the project’s previous record of success; and the reasonableness of the proposed budget in relation to anticipated results.
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 by e-mail of the decision by June 15, 2011. Institutional grants administrators and project directors of successful applications will receive award documents by e-mail after the June notification. Applicants may obtain the evaluations of their applications by sending an e-mail message to collaborative@neh.gov.
Administrative requirements
Before submitting an application, applicants should review their responsibilities as an award recipient and the lobbying certification requirement.
Award conditions
The requirements for awards are contained in the General Terms and Conditions for Awards, any specific terms and conditions contained in the award document, and the applicable OMB circulars governing federal grants management. The requirements for awards to unaffiliated project directors are also contained in the General Terms and Conditions for Awards, with the exclusion of Articles 2, 5, 6, 11, 12, 20, 25, 33, and Appendix C. The delegation of approval authority referenced in Article 7 also does not apply to awards to unaffiliated project directors.
Reporting requirements
A schedule of report due dates will be included with the award document. Reports must be submitted electronically via “eGMS,” NEH’s online grant management system.
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. For further details, please see the Financial Reporting Requirements.
Points of Contact
If you have questions about the program, contact NEH’s Division of Research Programs at 202-606-8200 and collaborative@neh.gov. Hearing-impaired applicants can contact NEH via TDD at 1-866-372-2930
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/applicant_help.jsp
Grant.gov support line: 1-800-518-GRANTS (4726)
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 Chief Guidelines Officer, at guidelines@neh.gov; 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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