Funding Opportunity for

Organizations

Chair’s Disaster Recovery Grants for Humanities Collections

Maximum award amount

$15,000 (cap may increase if funds become available)

Period of performance

Up to one year

The Chair’s Disaster Recovery Grants for Humanities Collections program helps humanities organizations that steward collections respond to and recover from local, state, regional, and federally declared disasters, including fires, floods, hurricanes, mudslides, and climate-related disasters. NEH will consider applications only if the NEH Chair specifically invites an organization affected by a disaster to apply or issues an open call for applications from organizations affected by a disaster. 

This page is an open call for applications from organizations affected by the Hurricane and Tropical Storm Helene and Hurricane Milton. No other applications will be considered. 

Emergency response and recovery activities may include salvaging humanities collections such as rare books, documents, photographs, artwork, sculptures, historical objects, audiovisual media, and digital collections. 

Preservation field services networks and consortia that support collecting institutions’ efforts to respond to and recover from emergencies impacting cultural heritage collections are also eligible to apply. 

Applications to this open call for the Chair’s Disaster Recovery Grants for Humanities Collections from organizations affected by Hurricane and Tropical Storm Helene and Hurricane Milton will be accepted on a rolling basis until April 25, 2025.

Applications from organizations affected by Typhoon Mawar in Guam and Tropical Storm Bolaven in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands were due on April 26, 2024, and will no longer be accepted. Applications from organizations affected by the Maui wildfires were due on May 26, 2024, and will be no longer accepted.

Application materials

Chair’s Disaster Recovery Grants for Humanities Collections Notice of Funding Opportunity 2023 

Grants.gov application package for Chair’s Disaster Recovery Grants for Humanities Collections

Marine salvage of fragments of the Barge, including the Calder Herm, underway in February 2018, by Underwater Engineering Services Inc.
Photo caption

Marine salvage of fragments of the Barge, including the Calder Herm, underway in February 2018, by Underwater Engineering Services Inc. 

Grant PB-261324-18 to Vizcaya Museum and Gardens Trust, Inc, Preserving Vizcaya’s Barge: Addressing Damage from Hurricane Irma - Phase I

Credit: Vizcaya Museum and Gardens Trust, Inc.

The Calder Herm, re-assembled, standing proudly in a secure location in the Vizcaya Village.
Photo caption

The Calder Herm, re-assembled, standing proudly in a secure location in the Vizcaya Village. 

Grant PB-261324-18 to Vizcaya Museum and Gardens Trust, Inc, Preserving Vizcaya’s Barge: Addressing Damage from Hurricane Irma - Phase I

Credit: Vizcaya Museum and Gardens Trust, Inc. (Miami, FL)

Helen Thomas-Haney, conservator with Jablonski Building Conservation Inc., preparing base fragment for re-assembly of the Calder Herm, in March 2019.
Photo caption

Helen Thomas-Haney, conservator with Jablonski Building Conservation Inc., preparing base fragment for re-assembly of the Calder Herm, in March 2019.

Grant PB-261324-18 to Vizcaya Museum and Gardens Trust, Inc, Preserving Vizcaya’s Barge: Addressing Damage from Hurricane Irma - Phase I

Credit: Vizcaya Museum and Gardens Trust, Inc. (Miami, FL)

 

Next

Application Instructions

If submitting your proposal through Grants.gov represents a hardship to your organization, you may apply directly to NEH. If you have not yet registered with SAM at the time of application or have not obtained a Unique Entity Identifier, you may apply directly to NEH. However, you must have a Unique Entity Identifier and active SAM. before NEH can issue an award to your organization. Either download the Grants.gov forms from the Grants.gov forms library or contact NEH staff at preservation@neh.gov to receive forms. Attach the forms and other application components described in this notice to an email addressed to NEH at preservation@neh.gov. The subject of the email should be “Chair’s Emergency Grants application: [Your Organization’s Legal Name].” NEH staff are available to provide technical assistance. 

Apply now at Grants.gov

Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence for NEH Grant Proposals