State Board Programming Grants

Other Requirements

Drafts

Applicants should submit a draft proposal prior to making a formal application. Draft materials should include, at minimum, the project narrative and budget, and drafts should be sent directly to the Executive Director Christopher Eck (christopher.eck@nara.gov), who will send comments on your proposal in time for you to make changes to a final application. The deadline for drafts in this program is February 15, 2024.

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Application Information

You must use Grants.gov to submit your Proposal. All information necessary to apply is included in this announcement, the Application Instructions, and the forms on Grants.gov. If you need the information supplied in an alternative format, please call the NHPRC at 202-357-5010.

In the event that Grants.gov is experiencing technical difficulties that prevent submission, applicants must first attempt to resolve the issue with the Grants.gov Contact Center (800-518-4726). If Grants.gov cannot solve the problem, applicants must contact Jeff de la Concepcion (jeff.delaconcepion@nara.gov) no later than 3:00 pm Eastern Time on the day of the deadline with their valid Grants.gov Contract Center trouble-ticket number. Applications that fail to meet deadlines for reasons other than those noted will not be considered for funding.

 

Preparing Your Application

Using the Application Instructions, fill out the Standard Form 424 and the NHPRC Budget Form. 

You will also prepare a Project Narrative and Supplementary Materials to attach to your Application Package.

Project Narrative

Level I Funding Request

The Project Narrative is a description of the proposal. It should be no more than seven double-spaced pages in 12-pt type formatted for 8.5 x 11 inch paper with standard margins and page numbers.

The Commission will focus its support on state board strategic planning that will identify the historical records needs of the state and develop programming to address those needs, and on programming that will help to enhance online access to records, increase public understanding and use of archives, or advance the capabilities of organizations in underserved communities.

Please organize your narrative in these sections:

Statement of Purpose: In one or two sentences, please state the project's purpose and the amount you are requesting from NHPRC. For example: The [Board] is seeking a grant of [$ amount] to [what purposes]. 

Overview: Describe the scope of the board’s proposed project, providing sufficient details about each activity to give a clear picture of the project's purposes and goals. Provide a detailed justification for each activity. Suggested activities include:

1. Strategic planning: State boards are encouraged to maintain up-to-date plans that include goals, objectives, and action items. Boards are expected to involve a broad range of stakeholders in the planning process through the use of surveys, listening sessions, and participation in planning meetings. Grant funds may be requested to compensate a facilitator, provide travel for board members and selected stakeholders, conduct and analyze a statewide survey, and related expenses. 
2. Professional training: State boards may utilize a combination of workshops and webinars for educational purposes. Training may focus on providing basic archival knowledge and/or providing information about more advanced best practices to those who already have a basic level of training. Grant funds may be requested for curriculum development, the expenses of presenters, registration fees and travel for participants, and related expenses. 
3. Scholarships: State boards may offer scholarships so that individuals may select the training that will be most beneficial to them. Scholarship recipients should have the option of attending out-of-state training. Grant funds may be used for travel, registration fees, housing, and related expenses. 
4. Public engagement: State boards are encouraged to design projects that will help connect diverse audiences with archival records. Grant funds may be used for educational opportunities that help citizens preserve their own records, encouraging the use of archival records among students, the development of outreach programs at archival institutions, and similar activities.
5. Developing resources: State boards can benefit small and underserved organizations by creating best practices and other resources that address their needs. Grant funds may be used for expenses related to the development and distribution of resources that promote the institutional advancement of small and underserved organizations. 

Potential applicants should contact Christopher Eck (christopher.eck@nara.gov; (202) 357-5101) to discuss other possible activities.

Grant funds may be requested to fund a portion of the administrative expenses necessary for planning and carrying out these activities. These expenses may include board meeting travel or teleconference costs, travel to a meeting of a national archival organization, and similar expenses. These expenses must not exceed 25% of the total amount requested and must be strongly justified and explained in detail.

Summarize the activities that have taken place during any current and/or recently completed NHPRC grants and state whether these activities were successfully completed.

Products: Describe and quantify the products you plan to produce for the completed project. These could include best practices methodologies, a strategic plan, or workshops materials. 

Publicity: Describe how you will publicize the project and how you will share any new tools and methods with other institutions to encourage replication and adoption.

Plan of Work: Provide evidence of planning and a realistic scope of work for the project. Describe each stage of the work plan and provide a time chart identifying the personnel required for each activity (in the supplemental materials).

Include in your supplementary materials a summary of the board's plan and the progress made on its objectives. Boards should update their plans on a regular basis, based on the records needs of the state and the Commission’s priorities. Explain the objectives that will be addressed and who will do the work.

If you provide scholarships, describe the purpose and number of awards you intend to make, as well as how the scholarship applications will be evaluated. 

Staff Qualifications: Provide a narrative explanation of the qualifications of the staff who will contribute to the success of this project. Explain the roles of all staff members who will contribute to the project, both for those already on staff and for those to be hired. List the names, titles, institutions, telephone numbers, and email addresses of the Project Director and other key personnel (please ensure that the Project Director listed in the Narrative is the same person listed in Section 8(f) of the SF 424. If your institution requires a different contact person on the SF 424, please explain in one sentence. 

In the supplementary materials, provide a résumé of not more than two pages per person for all staff who will contribute to the project. For those staff or consultants to be hired for the project, provide position descriptions or call for consultants.

Performance Objectives: List three to five quantifiable performance objectives that will allow you and the Commission to evaluate the project as you submit interim and final reports. Performance objectives might include the number of training events to be offered, or the types of new audiences to be reached by the board’s programming.

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Level II Funding Request

The Project Narrative is a description of the proposal. It should be no more than 20 double-spaced pages in 12-pt type formatted for 8.5 x 11 inch paper with standard margins and page numbers.

The Commission will focus its support on state board activities that will result in enhanced online access to records, increased public understanding and use of archives, or collaborative approaches to statewide services or problem solving among multiple repositories or parties. The Commission may fund a variety of board activities that result in these outcomes. Active state boards that submit less-competitive applications may be awarded grants that provide funding for a minimal level of programming so that they may continue to function at a basic level.

The Commission also encourages state boards to work collaboratively to address a particular records issue. Proposals including collaborative activities must include detailed plans for sharing the results with other state boards. Those proposing collaborative projects are strongly encouraged to contact the NHPRC staff as soon as possible.

Please organize your narrative in these sections:

Statement of Purpose: In one or two sentences, please state the project's purpose and the amount you are requesting from NHPRC. For example: The [Board] is seeking a grant of [$ amount] to [what purposes]. 

Overview: Describe the scope of the board’s proposed project, providing sufficient details about each activity to give a clear picture of the project's purposes and goals. Provide a detailed justification for each activity. The Commission will only fund those activities that clearly demonstrate that the activities will preserve and enhance online access to historical records; increase the public’s engagement with records; promote best practices and institutional advancement; and/or provide learning and development opportunities for professional archivists, volunteers, students, and the public.

Grant funds may be requested to fund a portion of the administrative expenses necessary for planning and carrying out these activities. These expenses may include board meeting travel or teleconference costs, personnel to administer programming, CoSA dues or travel to a meeting of a national archival organization, and similar expenses. These expenses must not exceed 25% of the total amount requested and must be strongly justified and explained in detail.

Summarize the activities that have taken place during any current and/or recently completed NHPRC grants and state whether these activities were successfully completed.

Products: Describe and quantify the products you plan to produce for the completed project. These could include regrant program guidelines, best practices methodologies, a strategic plan, or workshops materials. 

Publicity: Describe how you will publicize the project and how you will share any new tools and methods with other institutions to encourage replication and adoption.

Plan of Work: Provide evidence of planning and a realistic scope of work for the project. Describe each stage of the work plan and provide a time chart identifying the personnel required for each activity (in the supplemental materials).

Include in your supplementary materials a summary of the board's plan and the progress made on its objectives. Boards should update their plans on a regular basis, based on the records needs of the state and the Commission’s priorities. Explain the objectives that will be addressed and who will do the work.

If your project includes regrants, address how you will meet grants management requirements including the mechanics of awarding funding, monitoring progress of and providing assistance to subgrantees, and receiving and evaluating final reports. If you provide scholarships, describe the purpose and number of awards you intend to make, as well as how the scholarship applications will be evaluated. If any of your programs result in the digitization of historical records, the Commission encourages making the images available online prior to the end of the grant period, and your application should explain how online access will be accomplished. 

If your project includes collaborative efforts with other organizations, show what problems and opportunities you are trying to address within a state and how your collaboration enhances public access and citizen engagement with records in your state. 

Staff Qualifications: Provide a narrative explanation of the qualifications of the staff who will contribute to the success of this project. Explain the roles of all staff members who will contribute to the project, both for those already on staff and for those to be hired. List the names, titles, institutions, telephone numbers, and email addresses of the Project Director and other key personnel (please ensure that the Project Director listed in the Narrative is the same person listed in Section 8(f) of the SF 424. If your institution requires a different contact person on the SF 424, please explain in one sentence. 

In the supplementary materials, provide a résumé of not more than two pages per person for all staff who will contribute to the project. For those staff or consultants to be hired for the project, provide position descriptions or call for consultants.

Performance Objectives: List six to eight quantifiable performance objectives that will allow you and the Commission to evaluate the project as you submit interim and final reports. Performance objectives might include the number of regrants to be awarded, the number of training events to be offered, or the types of new audiences to be reached by the board’s programming.

Supplementary Materials 

Prepare up to 20 pages of Supplementary Materials to your Narrative, including:

• Brief résumés of named staff members (please use only institutional addresses and phone numbers and limit to two pages per staff member)
• Position descriptions for staff to be hired with grant funds
• Detailed work plan charts that supplement the Narrative
• A summary of the board’s plan
• A roster of current board members
• Statements of commitment to the project by partners (if applicable)

If these materials are available on a web site, please provide the URL(s). Reviewers appreciate applications with fewer supplemental pages.

Project Budget

You must submit a budget on 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 that require further detail. Provide specific budget figures, rounding to the nearest dollar.

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Submission Dates and Times

Applicants are encouraged to submit drafts, but drafts are not required. The drafts should be sent by email to the Executive Director, Christopher Eck (christopher.eck@nara.gov) and should include a draft narrative and budget. 

• Draft (optional) Deadline: February 15, 2024
• Final Deadline: Applications must be submitted electronically by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time May 8, 2024.

NHPRC support begins no earlier than January 1, 2025.

 

Application Review     

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: 

1. The ability of the project to assist in meeting the need for archival preservation, training, education, and access in a state or among states. (40 percent) 
2. The likelihood that the project's activities will increase public access to and use of the nation's historical documents held in a state or among states. (30 percent)
3. The ability to complete the project's objectives based on the qualifications of the staff, the inclusion of appropriate work plans including professional development and citizen engagement, and the reasonableness of the budget (including cost share). (15 percent)
4. Effectiveness of the dissemination plans for the project's results. (15 percent)

 

Review Process

After submitting a proposal, do not discuss the pending application to the NHPRC with any Commission member. Commission members must ensure fair and equitable treatment of all applications and do not discuss proposals with individual applicants.

Your proposal will be reviewed by: 

A Panel of Peer Reviewers: We will ask a group of peer reviewers  to evaluate all of the proposals that we receive.

The Commission: Based on reviews and staff evaluations, the Commission members deliberate and make funding recommendations to the Archivist of the United States, who has final statutory authority and selects award recipients. 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 that the Archivist approve the proposal and extend an offer of a grant with applicable terms and conditions, or it may recommend rejection of the proposal.

Commission staff will notify applicants of the Archivist’s decision within two weeks following the meeting and will provide anonymous copies of reviewer comments to all applicants.

Successful applicants will receive an informal offer of award and be required to verify their acceptance of general terms and conditions, and complete a statement on their Financial Capability and Accounting Systems.

Once these are received, reviewed and accepted, the NHPRC will issue an official award notice.

 

Administrative Requirements

In order to ensure that you can manage a grant, applicants should review the Federal grant administration rules and regulations governing grants from the NHPRC listed in the Administering an NHPRC Grant section.

 

Reporting

In most cases, award recipients will report on their performance in narrative reports every six months and submit financial reports once a year.