NEH Grant Programs
Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants, Receipt Deadline: March 23, 2010 (for projects beginning September 2010)
Date posted: November 19, 2009
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 45.169
Questions?
Contact the NEH Office of Digital Humanities via e‑mail at odh@neh.gov. Applicants wishing to speak to a staff member by telephone should provide in an e-mail message a telephone number and a preferred time to call. Hearing-impaired applicants can contact NEH via TDD at 1-866-372-2930.
Grant Program Description
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) invites applications to the Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants program. This program is designed to encourage innovations in the digital humanities. By awarding relatively small grants to support the planning stages, NEH aims to encourage the development of innovative projects that promise to benefit the humanities.
Proposals should be for the planning or initial stages of digital initiatives in any area of the humanities. Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants may involve
  • research that brings new approaches or documents best practices in the study of the digital humanities;
  • planning and developing prototypes of new digital tools for preserving, analyzing, and making accessible digital resources, including libraries’ and museums’ digital assets;
  • scholarship that examines the philosophical implications and impact of the use of emerging technologies;
  • innovative uses of technology for public programming and education utilizing both traditional and new media; and
  • new digital modes of publication that facilitate the dissemination of humanities scholarship in advanced academic as well as informal or formal educational settings at all academic levels.
Innovation is a hallmark of this grant category. All applicants must propose an innovative approach, method, tool, or idea that has not been used before in the humanities. These grants are modeled, in part, on the “high risk/high reward” paradigm often used by funding agencies in the sciences. NEH is requesting proposals for projects that take some risks in the pursuit of innovation and excellence.
Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants should result in plans, prototypes, or proofs of concept for long-term digital humanities projects prior to implementation.
Two levels of awards will be made in this program.
Level I awards are small grants designed to fund brainstorming sessions, workshops, early alpha-level prototypes, and initial planning. Level II awards are
larger grants that can be used for more fully-formed
projects that are ready to begin implementation or the creation of working prototypes. Applicants must state in their narrative which funding level they seek. Applicants should carefully choose the funding level appropriate to the needs of the proposed project. See Section II, Award Information, for more details.
Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants support full-time or part-time activities for periods up to eighteen months. Support is available for various combinations of scholars, consultants, and research assistants; project-related travel; and technical support and services. Up to 20 percent of the total grant may be used for the acquisition of computing hardware and software. All grantees are expected to communicate the results of their work to appropriate scholarly and public audiences. In order to facilitate dissemination and increase the impact of the projects that are ultimately developed through Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants, applicants are strongly encouraged to employ open-source and fully accessible software.
Successful applicants will be expected to create a “lessons learned” white paper. This white paper should document the project, including lessons learned, so that others can benefit from the grantees’ experience. This white paper will be posted on the NEH Web site.
See Section II, Award Information.
Types of projects not supported
Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants cannot be used for
III. Award Information
Awards are for up to eighteen months.
Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants have two levels of funding:
Level I Grants range from $5,000 to $25,000 in outright funding.
Level II Grants range from $25,001 to $50,000 in outright funding.
(Learn more about different types of grant funding.)
In the narrative, applicants must specify which level of funding they seek.
Cost sharing
Cost sharing consists of the cash contributions made to a project by the applicant and third parties, as well as third party in-kind contributions, such as donated services and goods. Cost sharing is not required for Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants. However, applicants are welcome to use cost sharing for start-up projects in which the total budget exceeds the NEH grant limit.
Subsequent project phases
As the name implies, Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants support the initial phases of digital projects. Other NEH funding programs can support subsequent phases; however, the receipt of a Digital Humanities Start-Up Grant does not imply (let alone guarantee) continued support beyond the completion of the grant.
Eligibility
Eligibility is limited to
Degree candidates may not be project directors.
Project directors may submit only one application to this program at a time, although they may participate in more than one Digital Humanities Start-Up Grant. They may also apply for other NEH awards.
When two or more institutions or organizations collaborate on a project, one of them must serve as the lead applicant and administer the grant on behalf of the others.
NEH generally does not award grants to other federal entities or to applicants whose projects are so closely intertwined with a federal entity that the project takes on characteristics of the federal entity’s own authorized activities. This does not preclude applicants from using grant funds from, or sites and materials controlled by, other federal entities in their projects.
Late, incomplete, and ineligible applications will not be reviewed.
Application and Submission Information
HOW TO PREPARE YOUR APPLICATION
Application advice and proposal drafts:
Prior to submitting a proposal, applicants are encouraged to contact program officers who can offer advice about preparing the proposal and review draft proposals. These comments are not part of the formal review process and have no bearing on the final outcome of the proposal, but applicants have found them helpful in strengthening their applications. Program staff recommends that draft proposals be submitted at least six weeks before the deadline. Time constraints may prevent staff from reviewing draft proposals submitted after that date. Draft proposals may be submitted by e-mail attachment to odh@neh.gov.
You will prepare your application for submission via Grants.gov just as you would a paper application. Your application should consist of the following parts.
  1. Table of contents
    List all parts of the application and corresponding page numbers.
  2. List of participants
    On a separate page, list in alphabetical order, surnames first, all project participants and collaborators and their institutional affiliations, if any. The names on this list should match the names mentioned in the staff section of the project’s narrative description. The list is used to ensure that prospective reviewers have no conflict of interest with the projects that they will evaluate. This list should include advisory board members, if any.
  3. Abstract
    Provide a one-paragraph (up to one thousand characters) abstract written for a nonspecialist audience, clearly explaining the project’s intellectual significance for the humanities, its principal activities, and its expected results. This paragraph also may be used in the Project Information field in the Application for Federal Domestic Assistance—Short Organizational (SF-424 Short) form (see below).
  4. Narrative
    The narrative should not assume specialized knowledge, and it should be free of jargon. It should clearly define technical terms so that they are comprehensible to a nonspecialist audience.
    Applicants should provide an intellectual justification for the project and a work plan. For Level I Start-Up grants, the narrative section should not exceed three single-spaced pages. For Level II Start-Up grants, the narrative should not exceed six single-spaced pages. All pages should have one-inch margins, and the font size should be no smaller than eleven point. The narrative should address the long-term goals for the project as well as the activities that the Digital Humanities Start-Up Grant would support. Applicants should keep in mind the criteria (listed below) used to evaluate proposals. Applicants must state whether they are applying for a Level I or Level II grant.
    Provide a detailed project description that addresses the following topics.
    • Enhancing the humanities through innovation
      Provide a clear and concise explanation—comprehensible to a general audience—of the start-up activities and the ultimate project results, noting their value to scholars, students, and general audiences in the humanities. Describe the scope of the project activities, the major issues to be addressed, and their significance to the humanities. Show how the project will meet its objectives in innovative ways.
      Applicants should provide a rationale for the compatibility of their methodology with the intellectual goals of the project and the expectations of its users. NEH views the use of open-source software as a key component in the broad distribution of exemplary digital scholarship in the humanities. If either the start-up project or the long-term project is not predicated on generally accessible open-source software, explain why and also explain how NEH’s dissemination goals will still be satisfied by the project.
      Applicants requesting complete or partial funding for the development, acquisition, preservation, or enhancement of geospatial data, products, or services must conduct a due diligence search on the Geospatial One-Stop (GOS) Portal to discover whether their needed geospatial-related data, products, or services already exist. If not, the proposed geospatial data, products, or services must be produced in compliance with applicable proposed guidance posted at www.fgdc.gov. For further information on this requirement, please see Article 34 of the General Terms and Conditions for Awards to Organizations.
    • Environmental scan
      Provide a clear and concise summary of an environmental scan of the relevant field. The goal of an environmental scan is to take a careful look at similar work being done in the applicant’s area of study. For example, if the applicant is developing software to solve a particular humanities problem, please discuss similar software developed for other projects and explain how the proposed solution differs. If there are existing software products that could be adapted and re-used for the proposed project, please identify them and discuss the pros and cons of taking that approach. If there are existing humanities projects that are similar in nature to the applicant’s project, please describe them and discuss how they relate to the proposed project. The environmental scan should make it clear that the applicant is aware of similar work being done and should explain how the applicant’s proposed project contributes to and advances the field.
    • History and duration of the project
      Provide a concise history of the project, including information about preliminary research or planning, previous related work, previous financial support, publications produced, and resources or research facilities available. It is anticipated that work on projects initiated during the term of a Digital Humanities Start-Up Grant will continue after the period of the grant. The applicant should describe plans for that work and probable sources of support for subsequent phases of the project.
    • Work plan
      • Describe the specific tasks that will be accomplished during the grant period, identify the computer technology to be employed, and identify the staff members involved. The start-up activities described in the proposal should be completed by the end of the grant period.
      • Indicate what technical resources will be required.
      • Describe plans for evaluating the results of the start-up activities. This evaluation should both look back on what the Digital Humanities Start-Up Grant accomplished and look forward to how the long-term project goals will be achieved.
      • If your project involves staging a workshop or conference, please include, as an attachment to your application, the agenda and a list of proposed participants.
    • Staff
      Briefly identify the project director and collaborators who would work on the project during the proposed grant period and describe their responsibilities. Project directors must devote a significant portion of their time to their projects. All persons directly involved in the conduct of the proposed project—whether or not their salaries are paid from grant funds—should be listed, their anticipated commitments of time should be indicated, and the reasons for and nature of their collaboration should be explained.
      If the project has an advisory board, provide a statement of its function and a list of board members in the biographies section of the application, which is discussed below.
    • Final product and dissemination
      Describe the plans to disseminate the project results through various media (printed articles or books, presentations at meetings, electronic media, or some combination of these). Applicants should also discuss how the project’s ultimate product is likely to be disseminated and what provisions will be made for the long-term maintenance of the product. Applicants should discuss how their white paper will detail the activities of the project and how it could be useful to the field.
  5. Project budget
    Using the instructions, complete the budget form (PDF).
    All project directors will attend a planning meeting at the NEH offices in Washington, D.C. Directors should budget accordingly for a one-day meeting in the first year of the requested grant period.
    Budget narrative (optional)
    If needed, include a brief narrative supplement to the budget, explaining projected expenses or other items in the financial information provided on the NEH budget form. The budget narrative may be single-spaced.
    Applicants are advised to retain a copy of the PDF containing their budget form.
  6. Biographies
    Include a biographies section that contains a brief, one-paragraph biography for each principal project participant. If the project has an advisory board, provide a statement of its function and a list of board members.
  7. Letters of commitment and support
    Include letters of commitment from other participants and cooperating institutions. Include letters of support (preferably no more than two) from experts in the project’s subject area, the proposed methodology, or the technical plan.
  8. Attachments
    If applicable, include wireframes, screen shots, or other project schematics. Materials in this section may not exceed ten pages.
HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION VIA GRANTS.GOV
Register or Verify Registration with Grants.gov
Applications for this program must be submitted via Grants.gov. Before using Grants.gov for the first time, each organization must register with the Web site to create an institutional profile. Once registered, your organization can then apply for any government grant on the Grants.gov Web site.
If your organization has already registered and you have verified that your registration is still valid, you may skip this step. If not, please see the Grants.gov checklist to guide you through the registration process. We strongly recommend that you complete or verify your registration at least two weeks before the application deadline, as it takes time for your registration to be processed. If you have problems registering with Grants.gov, call the Grants.gov help desk at 1-800-518-4726.
Download the Free Adobe Reader software
To fill out a Grants.gov application package, you will need to download and install the current version of Adobe Reader. The latest version of Adobe Reader, which is designed to function with PCs and Macintosh computers using a variety of popular operating systems, is available at no charge from the Adobe Web site (www.adobe.com). Click on “Get Adobe Reader” and then “Download Now.”
Once installed, the current version of Adobe Reader will allow you to view and fill out Grants.gov application packages for any federal agency. If you have a problem installing Adobe Reader, it may be because you do not have permission to install a new program on your computer. Many organizations have rules about installing new programs. If you encounter a problem, contact your system administrator.
Download the Application Package
To submit your application, you will need to download the application package from the Grants.gov Web site. You can download the application package at any time. (You do not have to wait for your Grants.gov registration to be complete.) Click the button at the right to download the package.
Save the application package to your computer’s hard drive. To open the application package, select the file and double click. You do not have to be online to work on it.
You can save your application package at any time by clicking the “Save” button at the top of your screen. Tip: If you choose to save your application package before you have completed all the required forms, you may receive an error message indicating that your application is not valid. Click “OK” to save your work and complete the package another time. You can also use e-mail to share the application package with members of your organization or project team.
The application package contains four forms that you must complete in order to submit your application:
  1. Application for Federal Domestic Assistance - Short Organizational (SF-424 Short)—this form asks for basic information about the project, the project director, and the institution.
  2. Supplementary Cover Sheet for NEH Grant Programs—this form asks for additional information about the project director, the institution, and the budget.
  3. Project/Performance Site Location(s)—this form asks for information about the primary site(s) at which grant activities will take place.
  4. NEH Attachment Form—this form allows you to attach your narrative, budget, and the other parts of your application.
To assist applicants, Grants.gov provides a helpful troubleshooting page.
How to Fill Out the SF-424 Short Form
Select the form from the menu and double click to open it. In items 6, 7, 8, and 9 below, NEH recommends that the project title, brief project description, project director’s name, primary contact/grants administrator’s name, and authorized representative’s name be typed directly onto the form, instead of being pasted in; pasted-in quotation marks, diacriticals, and other symbols are often converted into question marks during transmittal.
Please provide the following information:
  1. Name of Federal Agency: This will be filled in automatically with “National Endowment for the Humanities.”
  2. Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number: This will be filled in automatically with the CFDA number and title of the NEH program to which you are applying.
  3. Date Received: Please leave blank.
  4. Funding Opportunity Number: This will be filled in automatically.
  5. Applicant Information: In this section, please supply the name, address, employer/taxpayer identification number (EIN/TIN), DUNS number, Web site address, and congressional district of the institution. Also choose the “type” that best describes your institution (you only need to select one).
    If your institution is located, for example, in the 5th Congressional District of your state, put a “5.” If your institution doesn’t have a congressional district (e.g., it is in a state or U.S. territory that doesn’t have districts or is in a foreign country), put a “0” (zero).
    All institutions applying to federal grant programs are required to provide a DUNS number, issued by Dun & Bradstreet, as part of their application. Project directors should contact their institution’s grants administrator or chief financial officer to obtain their institution’s DUNS number. Federal grant applicants can obtain a DUNS number free of charge by calling 1-866-705-5711. (Learn more about the requirement.)
  6. Project Information: Provide the title of your project. Your title should be brief (no more than 125 characters), descriptive, and substantive. It should also be informative to a nonspecialist audience. Provide a brief (no more than one thousand characters) description of your project. The description should be written for a nonspecialist audience and clearly state the importance of the proposed work and its relation to larger issues in the humanities. List the starting and ending dates for your project.
  7. Project Director: Provide the last four digits of the Social Security Number, name, title, mailing address, e-mail address, and telephone and fax numbers for the project director.
    Disclosure of Social Security Numbers is optional. NEH uses them for internal application processing only.
  8. Primary Contact/Grants Administrator: Provide the contact information for the official responsible for the administration of the grant (i.e., negotiating the project budget and ensuring compliance with the terms and conditions of the award). This person is often a grants or research officer, or a sponsored programs official. Normally, the Primary Contact/Grants Administrator is not the same person as the Project Director. If the project director and the grants administrator are the same person, skip to Item 9.
  9. Authorized Representative: Provide the contact information for the Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) who is submitting the application on behalf of the institution. This person, often called an “Authorizing Official,” is typically the president, vice president, executive director, provost, or chancellor. In order to become an AOR, the person must be designated by the institution’s E-Business Point of Contact. For more information, please consult the Grants.gov user guide, which is available at www.grants.gov/applicants/resources.jsp.
How to Fill Out the Supplementary Cover Sheet for NEH Grant Programs
Select the form from the menu and double click to open it. Please provide the following information:
  1. Project Director: Use the pull-down menu to select the major field of study for the project director.
  2. Institution Information: Use the pull-down menu to select your type of institution.
  3. Project Funding: Enter your project funding information. Note that applicants for Challenge Grants should use the right column only; applicants to all other programs should use the left column only.
  4. Application Information: Indicate whether the proposal will be submitted to other NEH grant programs, government agencies, or private entities for funding. If so, please indicate where and when. NEH frequently cosponsors projects with other funding sources. Providing this information will not prejudice the review of your application.
    For Type of Application, check “new” if the application requests a new period of funding, whether for a new project or the next phase of a project previously funded by NEH. Check “supplement” if the application requests additional funding for a current NEH grant. If requesting a supplement, provide the current grant number. Before submitting an application for a supplement, applicants should discuss their request with an NEH program officer.
    For Project Field Code, use the pull-down menu to select the humanities field of the project. If the project is multidisciplinary, choose the field that corresponds to the project’s predominant discipline.
How to Fill Out the Project/Performance Site Location(s) Form
Select the form from the menu and double click to open it. Please provide the requested information. Instructions for each requested data element may be viewed by positioning your cursor over the blank field.
How to Use the NEH Attachment Form
You will use this form to attach the files that make up your application.
Your attachments must be in Portable Document Format (.pdf). We cannot accept attachments in their original word processing or spreadsheet formats. If you don’t already have software to convert your files into PDFs, many low-cost and free software packages will do so. To learn more, go to www.neh.gov/grants/grantsgov/pdf.html.
When you open the NEH Attachment Form, you will find fifteen attachment buttons, labeled “Attachment 1” through “Attachment 15.” By clicking on a button, you will be able to choose the file from your computer that you wish to attach. You must name and attach your files in the proper order so that we can identify them. Please attach the proper file to the proper button as listed below:
ATTACHMENT 1: To this button, please attach your table of contents. Name the file “contents.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 2: To this button, please attach your list of project participants. Name the file “participantslist.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 3: To this button, please attach your abstract. Name the file “abstract.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 4: To this button, please attach your narrative. Name the file “narrative.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 5: To this button, please attach your budget. Name the file “budget.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 6: To this button, please attach your biographies. Name the file “biographies.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 7: To this button, please attach your letters of commitment and support. Name the file “letters.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 8: To this button, please attach your appendices, if any. Name the file “appendices.pdf”.
UPLOADING YOUR APPLICATION TO GRANTS.GOV
When you have completed all four forms, use the right-facing arrow to move each of them to the “Mandatory Documents for Submission” column. Once they have been moved over, the “Submit” button will activate. You are now ready to upload your application package to Grants.gov.
During the registration process, your institution designated one or more AORs (Authorized Organization Representatives). These AORs typically work in your institution’s Sponsored Research Office or Grants Office. When you have completed your application, you must ask your AOR to submit the application, using the special username and password that were assigned to him or her during the registration process.
To submit your application, your computer must have an active connection to the Internet. To begin the submission process, click the “Submit” button. A page will appear, asking you to sign and submit your application. At this point, your AOR will enter his or her username and password. When you click the “Sign and Submit Application” button, your application package will be uploaded to Grants.gov. Please note that it may take some time to upload your application package, depending on the size of your files and the speed of your Internet connection.
After the upload is complete, a confirmation page will appear. This page, which includes a tracking number, indicates that you have submitted your application to Grants.gov. Please print this page for your records. The AOR will also receive a confirmation e-mail message.
NEH suggests that you submit your application no later than 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the day of the deadline. Doing so will leave you time to contact the Grants.gov help desk for support, should you encounter a technical problem of some kind. The Grants.gov help desk is now available seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day (except on federal holidays), at 1-800-518-4726. You can also send an e‑mail message to support@grants.gov.
To assist applicants, Grants.gov provides a helpful troubleshooting page.
DEADLINES
Program staff recommends that draft proposals be submitted at least six weeks before the deadline. Time constraints may prevent staff from reviewing draft proposals submitted after that date.
Applications must be received by Grants.gov on or before March 23, 2010. Grants.gov will date- and time-stamp your application after it is fully uploaded. Late applications will not be reviewed.
Application Review
Evaluation of the application will take into account both the activities proposed for the start-up project and the long-term project goals.
Evaluators are asked to apply the following criteria:
  1. The intellectual significance of the project for the humanities, including its potential to enhance research, teaching and learning in the humanities.
  2. The likelihood that the project will stimulate new research of value to scholars and general audiences in the humanities, or use new digital technologies to communicate humanities scholarship to broad audiences.
  3. The quality of innovation in terms of the idea, approach, method, or digital technology, and the appropriateness of the technology employed in the project.
  4. The quality of the conception, definition, organization, and description of the project and the applicant’s clarity of expression.
  5. The feasibility of the plan of work, including whether the start-up activities will significantly contribute to the project’s long-term goals.
  6. The qualifications, expertise, and levels of commitment of the project director and key project staff or contributors.
Review and selection process
Knowledgeable persons outside NEH will read each application and advise the agency about its merits. NEH staff comments on matters of fact or on significant issues that otherwise would be missing from these reviews, then makes recommendations to the National Council on the Humanities. The National Council meets at various times during the year to advise the NEH chairman on grants. The chairman takes into account the advice provided by the review process and, by law, makes all funding decisions.
Award Administration Information
Award notices
Applicants will be notified by e-mail in September 2010. Institutional grants administrators and project directors of successful applications will receive award documents by mail in September 2010. Applicants may obtain the evaluations of their applications by sending an e-mail message to odh@neh.gov.
Administrative requirements
Before submitting an application, applicants should review their responsibilities as an award recipient and the lobbying certification requirement.
Award conditions
The requirements for awards are contained in the General Terms and Conditions for Awards to Organizations, any specific terms and conditions contained in the award document, and the applicable OMB circulars governing federal grants management.
Reporting requirements
A schedule of report due dates will be included with the award document.
A final performance report will be required and interim reports may be required, depending on the length of the grant period. Further details can be found in Performance Reporting Requirements.
A final Federal Financial Report (SF-425) will be due within ninety days after the end of the award period.
A white paper will be required. This white paper should document the project, including lessons learned, so that others can benefit. This white paper will be posted on the NEH Web site.
Points of Contact
If you have questions about the program, contact the ODH staff at odh@neh.gov. Applicants wishing to speak to a staff member by telephone should provide in an e-mail message a telephone number and a preferred time to call.
If you need help using Grants.gov, contact:

Grants.gov: www.grants.gov
Grants.gov help desk: support@grants.gov
Grants.gov customer support tutorials and manuals : www.grants.gov/applicants/resources.jsp
Grant.gov support line: 1-800-518-GRANTS (4726)
Grants.gov troubleshooting tips

 

Other Information
Privacy policy
Information in these guidelines is solicited under the authority of the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act of 1965, as amended, 20 U.S.C. 956. The principal purpose for which the information will be used is to process the grant application. The information may also be used for statistical research, analysis of trends, and Congressional oversight. Failure to provide the information may result in the delay or rejection of the application.
Application completion time
The Office of Management and Budget requires federal agencies to supply information on the time needed to complete forms and also to invite comments on the paperwork burden. NEH estimates that the average time to complete this application is fifteen hours per response. This estimate includes time for reviewing instructions, researching, gathering, and maintaining the information needed, and completing and reviewing the application.
Please send any comments regarding the estimated completion time or any other aspect of this application, including suggestions for reducing the completion time, to the Office of Publications, National Endowment for the Humanities, Washington, D.C. 20506; and to the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (3136-0134), Washington, D.C. 20503. According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB number.