Office of Challenge Grants | |
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Museums, colleges and universities, libraries, research centers, public broadcasting stations-all kinds of humanities institutions face many challenges as the new century approaches. All are absorbing the impact of the technological revolution and harnessing its power for study, research, and public programming. While many seek to extend our knowledge of diverse cultures at home and around the globe, they are at the same time looking for new forms of collaboration and new audiences. All are concerned about long-term financial strength and about preservation of humanities resources and programs. By encouraging donations for endowment and other capital improvements, NEH Challenge Grants help cultural and academic institutions address pressing long-term needs and fulfill exciting aspirations for permanent improvements in the humanities. And, through these grants, NEH extends a financial challenge to the nonfederal sector to join in providing long-term support for the humanities.
For example, Broward County Public Library in Florida received $600,000 in this fiscal year matched by $1.8 million in nonfederal donations toward construction of an African American Research Library and Cultural Center, acquisition of humanities collections, and endowment for future programming in the new facility. Responding to the complexity of a diverse community with a large immigrant population from the Caribbean, South America, and Africa, the new center will house more than seventy-five thousand books, documents, and electronic materials. As part of its planning to enhance and extend its program in Cherokee studies, Western Carolina University in North Carolina received $50,000 in 1998, the first installment of a Challenge Grant that will create an endowment fund supporting a professorship, library acquisitions, as well as academic and public programming. The Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, an American research center in Jerusalem, used its 1998 Challenge Grant installment of $175,000 to upgrade its online library technology and to begin an endowment fund for staffing. The Kona Historical Society is using its Challenge Grant, beginning with $100,000 in 1998, to acquire, preserve, and restore a 1920s coffee farm built by immigrant Japanese, allowing for future interpretation of family, work, and changing cultural traditions in the remote Kona district of Hawai'i. To strengthen humanities programs in public libraries, the Challenge Grants Program instituted a Special Initiative for Public Libraries in fiscal years 1998 and 1999. With Challenge Grants of up to $150,000, matched by twice the amount in nonfederal donations, libraries are encouraged to establish targeted endowments to support humanities programming. For example, the Athens-Clarke County Library, serving a five-county urban, suburban, and rural region in Georgia, will use its Special Initiative grant to endow an expanded roster of humanities programs and to strengthen related collections. As these examples indicate, Challenge Grants can be used in a variety of ways. The most common is the growth or establishment of endowment funds. Other uses are possible where the need is compelling and clearly related to improvements in the humanities. Often combined with endowment funds, direct expenditures can address such needs as acquisitions, construction and renovation, and technological enhancement. Because the purpose of a Challenge Grant is to strengthen the humanities over the long run, awards are made in light of careful institutional strategic planning for the grant and for the institutional humanities goals that the grant funds (both federal and nonfederal) are intended to support. No matter what the type of humanities activity being strengthened, all NEH Challenge Grants encourage potential donors to step forward and support humanities institutions crucial to the educational and cultural life of their communities. Stephen M. Ross Director Office of Challenge Grants Albright Institute of Archaeological Research Israel $175,000 Centennial Campaign: Endowment for the Director and Library
American Academy in Rome
American School of Classical Studies
Appalachian College Association
Appalshop, Inc.
Art Institute of Chicago
Athens-Clarke County Library
Berea College
Bowdoin College
Broward County Main Library
Brown University
California State University
Catholic University of America
Chicago Historical Society
Columbia University
Decorah Public Library
Dickinson College
Edgewood College
Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library
Furman University
Hancock Shaker Village, Inc.
Hawai'i Pacific University
Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Isis Fund
Kona Historical Society
Loyola Marymount University
Luther College
Maine Historical Society
Maryland Historical Society
Montgomery College Rockville, MD
Museum of Fine Arts
National Humanities Center
Nevada Public Radio Corporation/KNPR
Newark Public Library
Northeast Document Conservation Center
Oakland Museum/Museum of California Foundation
Oglethorpe University
Old Salem, Inc.
Rockland Memorial Library Foundation
Rosenbach Museum and Library
San Antonio Museum of Art
South Carolina Department of Archives and History
South Dakota Humanities Council
Southwest Texas State University
Stanford University
Studio Museum in Harlem
Susquehanna University
University of California
University of California
University of California Press
University of Scranton
University of Texas Medical Branch
University of Texas
University of Wisconsin
WGBH Educational Foundation
Walters Art Gallery
Western Carolina University
Whitman College Wichita Public Library Foundation, Inc.
Wichita, KS
Winterthur Museum
Xavier University |