Infrastructure and Capacity Building Challenge Grants | 20190515 CHA

Opportunity Information: Apply for 20190515 CHA

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Infrastructure and Capacity Building Challenge Grants program is designed to help strengthen the long-term stability and reach of humanities organizations by funding major improvements to their underlying capacity. The core idea is to build a stronger institutional foundation for humanities work, so that organizations can better preserve significant humanities resources, expand public access to them, and secure durable support for their central operations. Rather than focusing on short-lived projects, these grants emphasize lasting impact, encouraging applicants to pursue investments that will continue to benefit their communities and the humanities field well beyond the grant period.

A wide range of applicants can compete for this discretionary grant opportunity, including public and nonprofit humanities organizations and certain government entities. Eligible applicants include colleges and universities (both public and private), museums, public libraries, research institutions, historical societies and historic sites, scholarly associations, state humanities councils, and other public or nonprofit humanities-focused entities. Government applicants may include state, county, city or township, and special district governments, as well as federally recognized Native American tribal governments. Collaborative proposals that involve multiple institutions are allowed, but the program requires one organization to serve as the official lead applicant. That lead organization is responsible for managing the award legally, programmatically, and financially, which matters for partnerships where collections, facilities, or digital systems may span multiple institutions.

The program supports two main types of long-term capacity investments. First, it can fund major capital and infrastructure needs that expand an organization’s ability to carry out humanities activities. This includes design, purchase, construction, restoration, or renovation of facilities used for humanities work, along with the purchase of equipment and software that directly support humanities programs and stewardship. In practice, that could mean upgrading collection storage environments, improving research and exhibition spaces, modernizing preservation labs, or acquiring systems and tools that enable better cataloging, digitization, and access. The second major pathway is financial capacity building through a challenge-grant structure that helps an institution create or strengthen an investment vehicle, such as a restricted, short-term endowment, another investment fund, or a spend-down fund. Earnings from those funds are then used to support ongoing humanities work over time, allowing organizations to maintain and enhance core activities in a sustainable way rather than relying solely on year-to-year funding.

The eligible activities reflect a strong emphasis on preservation, access, and durable infrastructure. The opportunity explicitly supports preservation and conservation of humanities materials and the sustaining of digital infrastructure for the humanities. That digital infrastructure focus recognizes that maintaining platforms, repositories, and systems for managing and delivering humanities content can be an ongoing institutional responsibility, not a one-time expense. Whether the investment is physical (like facility renovation) or digital (like systems that provide access to humanities collections), the proposal needs to make a clear case that the benefits will persist and meaningfully strengthen humanities capacity.

A defining feature of NEH challenge grants is that fundraising is built into the model. The award requires nonfederal gifts to match the federal funds, and the grant is structured to motivate institutions to leverage NEH support to attract additional private or nonfederal investment. The program permits applicants to use up to 10 percent of the total project funds (counting both federal matching funds and the certified nonfederal gifts) for fundraising costs during the period of performance. This acknowledges that raising the required match can carry real costs, while still keeping the majority of resources focused on the long-term humanities outcomes.

The program is also clear about what it is trying not to do: it is not intended to simply replace funding an institution is already spending. Instead, NEH expects proposals to reflect careful strategic planning and a deliberate effort to strengthen and enrich an organization’s humanities work in a way that would not happen without this challenge-based investment. Institutions may apply challenge funds to both ongoing and one-time humanities-related costs, but they must demonstrate the long-term benefit of the expenditures. In other words, even if a cost is recurring (such as ongoing support for a humanities program or digital system), the use of challenge funds should show how it will sustainably enhance capacity over time, not just cover a temporary budget gap.

Key opportunity details from the posting include: the sponsoring agency is the National Endowment for the Humanities; the funding activity category is Humanities; the CFDA number is 45.130; the funding instrument type is a Grant; the opportunity number is 20190515-CHA; the original closing date listed is May 15, 2019; and the maximum award amount (ceiling) is $750,000.

• The National Endowment for the Humanities in the humanities sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Infrastructure and Capacity Building Challenge Grants" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 45.130.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2019-03-14.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2019-05-15. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $750,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

Apply for 20190515 CHA

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