How to Apply for this Grant
- Read this Announcement
- Read the Application Instructions
- Download the Application from Grants.gov
Questions?
- Contact the NHPRC
E-mail:
nhprc@nara.gov* 
Telephone: 202-357-5010 
Fax: 202-357-5914
* Please see our Privacy Statement
Grant Announcement:
State and National Archival Partnership Grants
The National Historical Publications and Records Commission promotes the preservation and use of America's documentary heritage essential to understanding our democracy, history, and culture.
The following grant application information is for State and National Archival Partnership Grants.
NHPRC support begins no earlier than June 1, 2009.
See the Application Cycle for additional information.
Grant Program Description
The Commission awards grants to State Historical Records Advisory Boards to:
- Provide statewide archival services, including professional education, public information about records and archival programs, and other activities to implement state plans.
- Operate grant programs for eligible archives, manuscript repositories, and other organizations within a state.
- Collaborate on projects with other organizations to address common problems or shared opportunities within a state or among a consortium of state archives.
- Assess the health of archival and records programs, the conditions of records, and the challenges and opportunities facing historical records keepers and users; and to implement strategies and programs to address pressing archival issues.
- Hold meetings and public forums on statewide or national archival issues.
- Participate in national archival organizations.
Award Information
The NHPRC expects to award up to 56 grants in this program. Applicants may apply for outright basic grants of between $5,000 and $20,000 for 18 month projects.
Projects to reactivate the State Historical Records Advisory Board and develop or revise the SHRAB's strategic plan should request the minimum of $5,000.
Active State Historical Records Advisory Boards may apply for a grant of up to $20,000 to carry out project activities aligned with their board's current strategic plan.
In addition, active State Historical Records Advisory Boards may request in their applications up to $50,000 in additional funds for regrants or collaborative projects. These supplemental funds will to be awarded competitively, provided monies are available.
Cost Sharing
Cost sharing is the financial contribution the state pledges to the cost of a project and can include both direct and indirect expenses. For State and National Archival Partnership Projects, the Commission will supply up to 50 percent of the total project costs. The applicant's share can consist of in-kind contributions, non-Federal third-party contributions including contributions of subgrantees, and income, if any, earned directly by the project.
Eligibility
These grants are awarded only to State Historical Records Advisory Boards (SHRABs) in each state, or to the state agency responsible for the SHRAB, ordinarily the state archives. Another state agency, or a non-profit organization, such as a foundation or university, acting on behalf of the designated state agency may apply. States also include the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and United States territories.
How to Prepare an Application
You should read and understand this Grant Announcement and the Grants.gov application package and instructions in order to prepare your application.
- Follow the Completing the Application instructions below to prepare a Project Narrative, Summary, and Budget.
- See the separate Application Instructions for information on how to fill out the application forms.
Applicants are encouraged to contact the program officers at the NHPRC who may:
- Advise the applicant about the review process;
- Answer questions about what activities are eligible for support;
- Supply samples of successful applications; and
- Read and comment on a preliminary draft, submitted approximately 2 months before the deadline.
Completing the Application
A complete application includes a Project Narrative, Summary, Supplementary Materials, and Budget.
- We strongly suggest that before beginning the process, applicants consult the Federal grant administration rules and regulations governing grants from the NHPRC listed in the Administering an NHPRC Grant section.
Project Narrative
The Project Narrative is a description of the proposal. Be sure to address the requirements under each project area as well as the following questions in your narrative:
- Answers should be no more than 15 double-spaced pages in 12-pt type with standard margins.
- Supplement the narrative with resumes, examples, and illustrations, which should also be no more than 20 pages.
Question 1: What is the purpose of the project and what are its goals?
Describe the scope of the project. Is it a statewide planning effort, a regrant project, another type of statewide assistance or collaboration (such as education or technical assistance), or some combination of these? Describe each of these components in sufficient detail to give a clear picture of the project's purposes.
Briefly summarize the state's strategic plan. Is it current? Has the State Board recently reaffirmed the current plan? Explain how the project will further the goals and objectives in the State Board's strategic plan. Include summaries of recently completed NHPRC grants to your SHRAB to illustrate their successful completion and relationship to your strategic plan. Discuss the overall scope of work and your goals.
Explain your organization's relationship to the SHRAB. If your organization is not a state agency, describe your relationship and why it is necessary for a third party to represent the state. Include letters of support from the leaders of the agency you represent.
If applying for supplemental funds for regrants or collaborative projects, make sure these additional activities represent a discrete component of your project. Make it clear that you can accomplish these activities independent of the basic project you have outlined, as an extension of the basic project, or by combining the funds, in lieu of the basic project. Also explain, in a budget narrative, the costs associated with the supplemental portion of the application and note each supplemental item on the budget form. The Commission looks most favorably upon proposals that provide some level of cash match for regrant funds.
Question 2: What is the significance of the project in relation to the NHPRC's programs and goals?
Please explain how the project relates to the Commission's overall mission, vision, and goals, particularly the Commission's goals to promote a national network of state and local repositories that provide access to the historical records of the nation. Explain how any supplemental request promotes the long-term success of the State Partnerships program and creatively leverages resources.
Question 3: What is the plan of work for the grant period?
Please provide ample evidence of preliminary planning. Outline each stage of the planned work within the grant period, and clarify complex work plans with a time chart identifying anticipated activities.
Please include in your supplementary materials a summary of the State Board's plan and the progress made on its objectives. What are the particular objectives that will be addressed? What board members and others will do the work? How will they proceed?
The Commission supports projects that adhere to generally accepted professional standards and procedures and build on previous board projects. Has your state board or another state board undertaken similar work before? Will you be adapting or implementing work already successfully undertaken by another state board or group? How will you share the results both within your state and with other state boards and the archival profession?
If your project includes regrants, address how you will meet grants management requirements including the mechanics of awarding funding, monitoring progress of subgrantees through oversight and reports, providing assistance during regrants, receiving and evaluating final reports, and assuring necessary audits.
Question 4: What products, if any, will be produced during the grant period?
Describe the products you plan to produce such as brochures, websites, training materials, etc., or in the case of regrants, the number and kind of awards you expect to make.
Question 5: What are the qualifications of the personnel?
Provide a narrative explanation of the skills and qualifications of the staff named in the project budget. Emphasize those factors that will ensure the success of the project. In your supplementary materials, provide resumes of not more than two pages per person for all staff named in the project budget and job descriptions for people to be hired.
Question 6: What are your performance objectives?
List four to seven quantifiable objectives in the proposal by which the project can be evaluated. Include specific performance measures required of any regrant recipients.
Project Summary
The Project Summary should be no more than 3 double-spaced pages in 12-pt type with standard margins, and it must include these sections:
- Summary of Plan of Work for the Grant Period
- Significance and Relationship to NHPRC Goals and Objectives
- Products and Publications to be completed during the Grant Period
- Names, Titles, Institutions, Phone Numbers, and E-Mail Addresses of the Project Director and Key Personnel
- Performance Objectives
Supplementary Materials
Please attach up to 20 pages of Supplementary Materials to your Narrative, such as:
- A summary of the board's plan
- The board roster
- Resumes of named staff members
- For projects requesting Supplemental Funds, a project timeline and statements of commitment by any potential partners
Applicants will be asked to compute the project costs to be charged to grant funds as well as those that will be supported by applicant through cost sharing, which include both direct and in-direct expenses, in-kind contributions, non-Federal third-party contributions, and any income earned directly by the project. All of the items listed, whether supported by grant funds or cost-sharing contributions, must be reasonable and necessary to accomplish project objectives, allowable in terms of the applicable federal cost principles, auditable, and incurred during the grant period. Applicants should review the appropriate Office of Management and Budget circulars on cost principles.
Charges to the project for items such as salaries, fringe benefits, travel, and contractual services must conform to the written policies and established practices of the applicant organization.
- You must submit a budget on the NARA/NEH Budget form found in the Grants.gov application package. Note that the form itself contains additional instructions. You may include with your application a narrative budget supplement for budget categories not otherwise explained in the project narrative.
- Provide specific budget figures, rounding to the nearest dollar.
Budget Categories
In preparing the budget, please follow the instructions on the NARA/NEH Budget form on Grants.gov. You may also use a supplemental budget narrative to give further details, for example, on the specifications of employee's duties or equipment, the requirements and costs of consultants, or the need for travel funds:
Salaries: List each staff position and the full salary to be charged to the project and show the percentage of time each staff member will devote to the project.
- Indicate which positions are to be filled for the proposed project and which personnel are already on the staff of the applicant institution.
- Grant funds may be used to pay the salaries of only those individuals actually working on the project. .
- You may count the time provided to the project by advisory board members.
Fringe Benefits: If you use a daily rate or honoraria, no separate benefits should be included.
Consultant Fees: Include payments for consultant services and honoraria.
- Include payments for consultant services and honoraria, but list consultant travel expenses in the "Travel" category.
Travel: Please note that the NHPRC does not fund staff travel to professional meetings unless the travel is essential to accomplish the goals of the project.
Supplies and Materials: Justify the cost of specialized materials and supplies in a supplemental budget narrative.
Services: Include the cost of duplication and printing, long-distance telephone, equipment leasing, postage, and other services that you are not including under other budget categories or as indirect-cost expenses.
Other costs: The NHPRC does not provide grant funds for the acquisition of routine equipment such as office furnishings, shelving, and file cabinets, but we may provide grant support for the purchase of technical equipment, such as computers and peripherals, essential for a project.
Indirect costs: Include reasonable or negotiated "overhead" costs. See the Budget Form instructions to determine how to calculate indirect costs.
- You should not include indirect costs that exceed your cost sharing obligation.
- You may waive indirect costs and instead include specific overhead costs in the appropriate budget categories.
Application Review
The NHPRC staff will acknowledge receipt of the application soon after we receive it. We then begin the evaluation process:
- NHPRC Staff
Staff evaluate the proposal and contact the project director if there are any questions. Staff makes overall recommendations to the Commission based on the appropriateness of the project in meeting the Commission's goals and the SHRAB's strategic goals; a record of successful performance, on time reporting, and fiduciary responsibility; and answers to the questions letter. - The Commission
After reviewing proposals, Commission members deliberate on proposals and make funding recommendations to the Archivist of the United States who has final statutory authority. 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.
Application Cycle
This is a general guide to the Application Cycle and deadlines:
- January 2, 2009 – Submit draft to the NHPRC (optional).
- March 2, 2009 – Deadline - Final proposal submitted by this date via Grants.gov.
- May 2009 – Commission meets.
- June 1, 2009 – Earliest possible starting date for project.
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.
Grant applicants will be notified within 2 weeks after the Archivist’s decision.Grant Administration
For more information on how to comply with Federal regulations, see our Administering a Grant section.
* Please see our Privacy Statement
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