Mission/Giving Statement: The mission of IMLS is to inspire libraries and museums to advance innovation, lifelong learning, and cultural and civic engagement. We provide leadership through research, policy development, and grant making.
Grantmaking Program Areas: Sparks! Ignition Grants for Libraries; National Leadership Grants for Libraries; Museum Grants for African American History and Culture; Museums for America; National Leadership Grants for Museums; Native American/Native Hawaiian Museums Services Program; Sparks! Ignition Grants for Museums; Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program.
Grantmaking Program Area Descriptions:
Sparks! Ignition Grants for Libraries: (Sparks Grants) are a special funding opportunity within the IMLS National Leadership Grants for Libraries program. These small grants encourage libraries, and archives to prototype and evaluate specific innovations in the ways they operate and the services they provide, resulting in new tools, products, services, or organizational practices. You may propose activities or approaches that involve risk, as long as the project results – be they success, failure, or a combination thereof – offer valuable information to the library field and the potential for improvement in the ways libraries serve their communities. You are required to submit a short white paper, with the results of your work to be publicly posted and shared with the field.
National Leadership Grants for Libraries: The NLG-Libraries program supports projects that address challenges faced by the library and archive fields and that have the potential to advance practice in those fields. Successful proposals will generate results such as new tools, research findings, models, services, practices, or alliances that can be widely used, adapted, scaled, or replicated to extend the benefits of federal investment. While it encourages and will consider applications in all such areas, IMLS is particularly interested in projects that will support: early learning; STEM; learning spaces in libraries; national digital platform; and civic literacy.
Museum Grants for African American History and Culture: (AAHC) are intended to enhance institutional capacity and sustainability through professional training, technical assistance, internships, outside expertise, and other tools. Successful proposals will focus on one or more of the following three goals: Developing or strengthening knowledge, skills, and other expertise of current staff at African American museums; attracting and retaining professionals with the skills needed to strengthen African American museums; and attracting new staff to African American museum practice and providing them with the expertise needed to sustain them in the museum field.
Museums for America: (MFA) supports projects that strengthen the ability of an individual museum to serve its public. Characteristics of successful Museums for America projects include. Institutional Impact: Your project should address a key need or challenge that faces your museum and is identified in your strategic plan. In depth knowledge: Your proposal should reflect a thorough understanding of current practice and knowledge about the subject matter. Project-based design: Your work plan should consist of a set of logical, interrelated activities tied directly to addressing the key need or challenge. Demonstrable results: Your project should generate measureable results that tie directly to the need or challenge it was designed to address.
National Leadership Grants for Museums: (NLG) support projects that address critical needs of the museum field and that have the potential to advance practice in the profession so that museums can improve services for the American public.Characteristics of successful National Leadership Grants for Museums projects incude. Broad Impact: Your project should show the potential for far-reaching impact beyond your institution and influencing practice across one or more disciplines or specific fields within the museum profession. In-depth Knowledge: Your proposal should reflect a thorough understanding of current practice and knowledge about the subject matter and an awareness and support of current strategic initiatives and agendas in the field. Innovative Approach: Your proposal should employ novel approaches or techniques new to your project area to strengthen and improve museum services to benefit the audiences and communities being served. Collaborative Process: Your project should incorporate audience, stakeholders and/or other partners to demonstrate broad need, field-wide buy-in and input, access to appropriate expertise, and sharing of resources. Shared Results: Your project should generate results such as models, new tools, research findings, services, practices, and/or alliances that can be widely used, adapted, scaled, or replicated to extend and leverage the benefits of federal investment.
Native American/Native Hawaiian Museum Services Grants: (NANH) support Indian tribes and organizations that primarily serve and represent Native Hawaiians. They are intended to provide opportunities to sustain heritage, culture, and knowledge through strengthened activities in areas such as exhibitions, educational services and programming, professional development, and collections stewardship.
Sparks! Ignition Grants for Museums: ("Sparks Grants") are a special funding opportunity within the IMLS National Leadership Grants for Museums program. These small grants encourage museums to prototype and evaluate specific innovations in the ways they operate and the services they provide resulting in new tools, products, services, or organizational practices. You may propose activities or approaches that involve risk, as long as the project results – be they success, failure, or a combination thereof – offer valuable information to the museum field and the potential for improvement in the ways museums serve their communities. Characteristics of successful Sparks grant projects include: Broad Impact: Your project should show the potential for far-reaching impact beyond your institution, and influence practice across one or more disciplines or specific fields within the museum profession; In-depth Knowledge: Your project should reflect a thorough understanding of current practice and knowledge about the subject matter and an awareness and support of current strategic initiatives and agendas in the field. Innovative Approach: Your project should employ new approaches to strengthen and improve services to benefit the audiences and communities being served. Shared Results: Your project should generate results that can be widely used, adapted, scaled, or replicated to leverage the benefits of federal investment. Grantees are required to submit a short white paper, or create their own dissemination tool, to be publicly posted and shared with the field.
The Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program: (LB21) invests in the nation’s information infrastructure by funding projects designed to address the education and training needs of the professionals who help build, maintain, and provide public access to the world’s wide-ranging information systems and sources. Will support projects to develop faculty and library leaders, recruit and educate the next generation of librarians and archivists, conduct research, build institutional capacity in graduate schools of library and information science, and assist in the professional development of librarians and archivists. This grant program is especially interested in developing information professionals who can help manage the burgeoning data generated by the nation’s researchers, serve as stewards of the nation’s cultural legacy, and meet the information needs of the underserved. The program also seeks to help librarians develop the information and digital literacy of their communities, as well as other critical skills their users will need to be successful in the 21st century.
Type of Funding/Funding Restrictions: See individual grants for eligibility and restrictions.
Application Instructions: The Institute requires all applicants to apply online through www.grants.gov. Grant application instructions are online and vary for each grant. Please note, applications must include a Dun and Bradstreet Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number and register with the Central Contractor’s Registry (CCR). It is suggested that this be completed at least 30 days in advance of the application due date.
Notes: Register for email announcements through www.grants.gov. See Guide to Programs and Opportunities pdf for an overview of each grantmaking program area.
