How to Apply for this Grant
- Read this Announcement
- Read the Application Instructions
- Download the Application from Grants.gov
Questions?
- Contact the NHPRC
E-mail:
nhprc@nara.gov* 
Telephone: 202-357-5010 
Fax: 202-357-5914
* Please see our Privacy Statement
Grant Announcement (Initial):
Strategies and Tools for Archives and Historical Publishing Projects
The National Historical Publications and Records Commission promotes the preservation and use of America's documentary heritage essential to understanding our democracy, history, and culture.
The following grant application information is for Strategies and Tools for Archives and Publishing Historical Records.
- See also Professional Development grants.
Funding Opportunity Number: STRATEGIES-10
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 89.003
There are two competitions each year in this category. Applicants may apply against either deadline.
First competition:
- Draft (optional): April 1, 2009
NHPRC support begins no earlier than January 1, 2010.
Second competition:
- Draft (optional): August 1, 2009
NHPRC support begins no earlier than July 1, 2010.
Grant Program Description
Projects may also focus on techniques and tools that will improve the professional performance and effectiveness of those who work with such records, such as archivists, documentary editors, and records managers.
Projects concerning records may focus on methods of working with any format including born-digital records. Publishing of historical records must focus on methods of presenting archival records as primary sources. The Commission does not fund projects focused on artifacts or books.
For applicants who wish to work with particular historical records or publications or who have professional development projects, please review the relevant grant announcements and then contact the Commission staff with questions about which category is most appropriate for your proposed project.
Award Information
A grant normally is for one to three years. The Commission expects to make one to three grants of between $50,000 and $150,000. The total amount allocated to this category is up to $350,000 during the fiscal year.
Eligibility
- Nonprofit organizations or institutions with IRS 501(c)(3) tax exempt status
- Colleges, universities, and other academic institutions
- State or local government agencies
- Federally-acknowledged or state-recognized Native American tribes or groups
Ineligible applications will not be reviewed.
Cost Sharing
Cost sharing is required. It is the financial contribution the applicant pledges to the cost of a project. Cost sharing can include both direct and indirect expenses, in-kind contributions, non-Federal third-party contributions, and any income earned directly by the project. Because these grants encourage the development of methods that will benefit many institutions, the NHPRC ordinarily will provide up to 75% of the total project costs.
Application and Submission Information
You must submit your application via Grants.gov. See How to Apply for information on how to fill out the application forms.
A complete application includes the Application for Federal Assistance (Standard Form 424), Assurances -- Non-Construction Programs (Standard Form 424B), a Project Narrative, Summary, Supplementary Materials, and Budget.
Before beginning the process, applicants should review the Federal grant administration rules and regulations governing grants from the NHPRC listed in the Administering an NHPRC Grant section.
Project Narrative
The Project Narrative is a description of the proposal. It should be no more than 20 double-spaced pages in 12-pt type on 8.5 x 11 inch paper with standard margins. Please organize your narrative in sections:
I. Describe your project's overall purpose and long-term goals. Be sure to state which program area your proposal addresses: archives, records management, publication of historical documents, or some combination. Describe the problem that your project addresses, and detail how your project will help relieve this problem. Describe the size and nature of the project's audiences and how you intend to reach them. Though projects may be first tested at the applicant's own institution, proposals should involve other organizations that will test the methods developed. Explain the expected outcome of the project. Will the results improve the preservation, public discovery, or use of historical records? Will they improve professional performance or effectiveness?
II. Describe the plan of work for the grant period. Describe in detail the types of activities you intend to engage in and the relationships among them. Outline each stage of the planned work and include the costs for each major stage. Types of activities that are typical for these projects may include planning, research, development, testing, and marketing. Be certain to include enough time to evaluate the impact of the project. Be specific about how you intend to publicize and evaluate the project. Final evaluations should include an assessment of the costs and benefits of employing the new strategies or tools. Include, in the supplementary materials, charts that identify the people, time, and resources needed for each stage.
III. Describe the products you plan to produce for the completed project. These may include, for example, software and documentation; manuals; papers, speeches, and articles; and brochures and pamphlets. Explain how you plan to make the results available. Describe and justify your methods for disseminating products, including any costs to be charged.
IV. Provide a narrative explanation of the qualifications of the staff. Demonstrate that the project staff has the skills, educational background, and experience appropriate to the project. Explain the roles of all staff named in the project budget, both for those already on staff and for those to be hired. Include descriptions of outside project advisors, reviewers, and evaluators. In the supplementary materials, provide a résumé of not more than two pages per person for all staff named in the project budget. For those staff or consultants to be hired for the project, provide position descriptions or call for consultants.
V. List four to six measurable objectives. Focus on quantifiable results that reflect what you intend to accomplish and complete during the grant period. For example, how many institutions tested your methods; what measurable improvements were there in techniques for preservation, public discovery, or use of historical records; how many of the tools developed through the project were made available for use by the broader archival and historical publishing communities.
Project Summary
The Project Summary should be no more than 3 double-spaced pages in 12-pt type with standard margins, and it must include these sections:
- Purposes and Goals of the Project
- Plan of Work for the Grant Period
- Products and Publications to be completed during the Grant Period
- Names, Titles, Institutions, Phone and Fax Numbers, and E-Mail Addresses of the Project Director and Key Personnel
- Performance Objectives
Supplementary Materials
You may attach up to 20 pages of Supplementary Materials to your Narrative, such as:
- Résumés of named staff members (required)
- Position descriptions for staff to be hired with grant funds (required, if applicable)
- Detailed work plan charts that supplement the Narrative (required)
- Results of previous research on related topics
- Statements of commitment to the project by partners or interested groups
If these materials are available on a web site, please provide the URLs.
Project Budget
Applicants will be asked to compute the project costs to be charged to grant funds as well as those that will be supported by the applicant through cost sharing, which includes both direct and in-direct expenses, in-kind contributions, non-Federal third-party contributions, and any income earned directly by the project. All of the items listed, whether supported by grant funds or cost-sharing contributions, must be reasonable and necessary to accomplish project objectives, allowable in terms of the applicable federal cost principles, auditable, and incurred during the grant period. Applicants should review the appropriate Office of Management and Budget circulars on cost principles.
Charges to the project for items such as salaries, fringe benefits, travel, and contractual services must conform to the written policies and established practices of the applicant organization.
- You must submit a budget on the the NHPRC Budget Form available on the Application Instructions page. Note that the form itself contains additional instructions. You may include with your application a narrative budget supplement for budget categories not otherwise explained in the project narrative.
- Provide specific budget figures, rounding to the nearest dollar.
Budget Categories
In preparing the budget, please follow the suggestions below in each of the categories:
Salaries: List each staff position and the full salary to be charged to the project and show the percentage of time each staff member will devote to the project. Indicate which positions are to be filled for the proposed project and which personnel are already on the staff of the applicant institution. Grant funds may be used to pay the salaries of only those individuals actually working on the project. You may count the time provided to the project by advisory board members.
Fringe Benefits: Include employee benefits using your organization's standard rates. No separate benefits should be included for positions that are computed at a daily rate or using honoraria.
Consultant Fees: Include payments for consultant services and honoraria. Provide justification for large or unusual consultant fees. Include consultant travel expenses in the "Travel" category.
Travel: Include transportation, lodging, and per diem expenses. The NHPRC does not fund staff travel to professional meetings unless the travel is essential to accomplish the goals of the project.
Supplies and Materials: Include routine office supplies and supplies ordinarily used in professional practices. Justify the cost of specialized materials and supplies in a supplemental budget narrative.
Services: Include the cost of duplication and printing, long-distance telephone, equipment leasing, postage, contracts with third parties, and other services that you are not including under other budget categories or as indirect-cost expenses. The costs of project activities to be undertaken by each third-party contractor should be included in this category as a single line item charge. Include a complete itemization of the costs in a supplemental budget narrative.
Other Costs: Include costs for necessary equipment above $5,000, stipends for participants in projects, and other items not included in previous grant categories. The NHPRC does not provide grant funds for the acquisition of routine equipment such as office furnishings and file cabinets, but we may allow for the purchase of archival equipment, such as shelving units, and technical equipment, such as computers and peripherals, essential for a project. Include specifications for equipment over $5,000 in a supplemental budget narrative.
Indirect Costs: Include reasonable or negotiated "overheard" costs. See the Budget Form instructions to determine how to calculate indirect costs.
- You should not include indirect costs that exceed your cost sharing obligation.
- You may waive indirect costs and instead include specific overhead costs in the appropriate budget categories.
First competition:
- Draft (optional): April 1, 2009
- Final Deadline: June 5, 2009
Applications must be submitted electronically by midnight Eastern Time on June 5, 2009.
NHPRC support begins no earlier than January 1, 2010.
Second competition:
- Draft (optional): August 1, 2009
- Final Deadline: October 5, 2009
Applications must be submitted electronically by midnight Eastern Time on October 5, 2009.
NHPRC support begins no earlier than July 1, 2010.
Deadline Policy: Given that technical or administrative difficulties with Grants.gov may periodically delay the timely submission or receipt of applications, the Commission staff will make provisions for the receipt of such applications past the established deadline. Applications that fail to meet deadlines for reasons other than those noted will not be considered for funding.
Application Review Information
The NHPRC staff will acknowledge receipt of the application soon after we receive it. The following evaluation criteria and weights will be used by NHPRC staff and other reviewers to form recommendations.
- Quality and extent of innovation in the project's techniques, tools, or strategies and their potential impact in improving preservation, public discovery, and use of historical records. (30 percent)
- Ability to complete the project's proposed objectives, judged by the qualifications of the staff and reasonableness of the work plan and budget (including cost share). (30 percent)
- Transferability of the project's techniques, tools, or strategies for use by the archival and historical communities, including federal government entities. (25 percent)
- Effectiveness of the dissemination plans for the project's results. (15 percent)
Application Review Process
After submitting a proposal, an applicant should not discuss the pending application to the NHPRC with any Member of the Commission.
- Peer Reviewers
We may ask 5 to 10 external peer reviewers to evaluate the proposal. - Commission Staff
Approximately three months after the submission deadline, the Project Director receives blind copies of reviewers' comments and questions from the Commission staff. Applicants have the opportunity to expand on the material provided in the application, clear up any misconceptions, and generally strengthen the proposal before the Commission meeting. Then, staff makes overall recommendations to the Archivist, who chairs the Commission, based on reviewers' comments, the appropriateness of the project in meeting the Commission's goals, the proposal's completeness, conformity to application requirements and overall eligibility, and answers to the questions letter. - The Commission
After reviewing proposals, the comments of peer reviewers, the applicants' responses to the reviews, and evaluations by the Commission staff, Commission members deliberate on proposals and make funding recommendations to the Archivist of the United States who, as Commission Chairman, has final statutory authority. Throughout this process, all members of the Commission and its staff follow conflict-of-interest rules to assure fair and equal treatment of every application.
Award Administration Information
Notification
Grants are contingent upon available appropriated funds. In some cases, the Commission will adjust grant amounts depending upon the number of recommended proposals and total budget. The Commission may recommend to the Archivist to approve the proposal and extend an offer of a grant with applicable terms and conditions, or it may recommend rejections of the proposal.
Grant applicants will be notified within 2 weeks after the Archivist’s decision.
Agency Contact
Applicants are encouraged to contact Lucy Barber, Deputy Executive Director, 202-357-5306, or lucy.barber@nara.gov at the NHPRC who may:
- Advise the applicant about the review process;
- Answer questions about what activities are eligible for support;
- Supply samples of successful applications;
- Read and comment on a preliminary draft. Applicants should submit a draft at least 2 months before the deadline.
For more information on how to comply with Federal regulations, see our Administering a Grant section.
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