Date posted: May 6, 2009
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 45.161
Draft Proposals (optional):
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.
Questions?
Contact the staff of NEH’s Division of Research at 202-606-8200 and fpiri@neh.gov.
Hearing-impaired applicants can contact NEH via TDD at 1-866-372-2930.
Grants for Fellowship Programs at Independent Research Institutions (FPIRI) support fellowships at institutions devoted to advanced study and research in the humanities. NEH fellowships provide scholars with research time and access to resources that might not be available at their home institutions.
Fellowship programs may be administered by independent centers for advanced study, libraries, and museums in the United States; American overseas research centers; and organizations that have expertise in promoting research on foreign cultures. Individual scholars must apply directly to the institutions themselves. A list of currently funded institutions is available.
In evaluating applications from programs at institutions located in the United States, priority is given to those with library holdings, archives, or other special collections—either on site or nearby—that are available as resources for NEH fellows. American overseas research centers should demonstrate a particular benefit to NEH fellows by virtue of their location and other resources.
FPIRI grants provide funding to programs for humanities fellowships of four to twelve months. Fellowship tenure must be continuous.
However, the maximum amount of NEH funding is $50,400 for a six- to twelve-month fellowship and $25,200 for a four- to five-month fellowship. A grantee institution may supplement the stipends of NEH fellows from its own funds, and fellows may receive additional funds from other sources. NEH fellows must be granted the same benefits, services, and accommodations normally accorded other fellows.
Grantee institutions are subject to a number of
specific conditions governing the administration of a FPIRI grant (see Section VI, Award Administration Information).
Awards are generally made for one to four years. Recent grants have ranged from $138,000 to $618,750.
Successful applicants will be awarded a grant in outright funds, matching funds, or a combination of the two, depending on the request of the applicant and the availability of funds. (Learn more about different types of grant funding.)
NEH may offer funding at a level different from that requested. In some instances, NEH may offer matching funds only, or it may offer a combination of matching and outright funds in response to a request for outright funds.
Cost sharing is not required.
Any U.S. nonprofit organization or institution with IRS 501(c)(3) status is eligible, as are state and local governmental agencies and tribal governments. Individuals are not eligible to apply.
In addition, to apply for a FPIRI grant, institutions must
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.
Ineligible applications will not be reviewed.
Applications must be submitted by the August 20, 2009, deadline.
Application advice and proposal drafts
Applicants may submit by e-mail drafts of their proposals at least six weeks before the deadline to fpiri@neh.gov. A response cannot be guaranteed if the draft arrives later. The preliminary proposal gives an applicant the opportunity to receive staff comments about the substance and format of the application. These comments are not part of the formal review process. Once NEH has received a formal application, its staff will not comment on its status except with respect to questions of completeness or eligibility.
You are encouraged to review the list of questions evaluators are asked to consider when judging the quality of your application (see Section V, Application Review).
All applications must be downloaded, completed, and submitted via Grants.gov.
Your application should consist of the following
five parts:
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 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).
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 three forms that you must complete in order to submit 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. Please provide the following information:
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:
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. Please name the file “contents.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 2: To this button, please attach your narrative. Please name the file “narrative.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 3: To this button, please attach your budget for requested NEH funds, year by year. Please name the file “budget.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 4: To this button, please attach your brief résumés. Please name the file “resumes.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 5: To this button, please attach your lists of members of the selection, rating, or review committee. Please name the file “reviewers.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 6: To this button, please attach your list of fellows. Please name the file “fellows.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 7: To this button, please attach your list of publications by fellows. Please name the file “publications.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 8: To this button, please attach your lists of names of publications, organizations, and institutions receiving announcements. Please name the file “announcements.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 9: To this button, please attach your statistical analysis. Please name the file “statisticalanalysis.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 10: To this button, please attach your statement of guidance for the review process. Please name the file “reviewguidance.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 11: To this button, please attach your copies of advertising materials. Please name the file “advertising.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 12: To this button, please attach your copies of application materials provided to potential applicants. Please name the file “applicationmaterials.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 13: To this button, please attach your institution’s research misconduct policy. Please name the file “researchmisconduct.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 14: To this button, please attach your copies of reports from long-term postdoctoral fellows. Please name the file “reports.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 15: To this button, please attach your statement of history of any federal grants. Please name the file “granthistory.pdf”.
Uploading Your Application to Grants.gov
When you have completed all three 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. That way, should you encounter a technical problem of some kind, you
will still have time to contact the Grants.gov help desk for support. The Grants.gov help desk
is open Monday to Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) at 1-800-518-4726.
You can also send an e-mail to support@grants.gov.
To assist applicants, Grants.gov provides a helpful troubleshooting page.
HOW TO SUBMIT SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS
If you are sending supplementary materials (those that cannot be submitted electronically), please send
eight copies of each item. Send the materials to:
Fellowship Programs at Independent Research Institutions
Division of Research Programs National Endowment for the Humanities Room 318 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20506 202-606-8200 NEH continues to experience lengthy delays in the delivery of mail by the U.S. Postal Service, and in some cases materials are damaged by the irradiation process. We recommend that supplementary materials be sent by a commercial delivery service to ensure that they arrive intact by the receipt deadline.
Deadlines
Draft Proposals (optional): 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 by August 20, 2009.
Grants.gov will date- and time-stamp your application after it is fully
uploaded. Late applications will not be reviewed.
Supplementary materials must also arrive at NEH by August 20, 2009, to be considered as part of the application.
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 notices
Applicants will be notified by e-mail in March 2010 of the decision. Institutional grants administrators and project directors of successful applications will also receive at that time award documents by mail. Applicants may obtain the evaluations of their applications by sending a letter or e-mail message to NEH, Division of Research Programs, Room 318, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20506 or
fpiri@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.
Final performance reports will be required. Further details can be found in Performance Reporting Requirements
(formerly Enclosure 2).
A final Federal Financial Report (SF-425) will be due within ninety days after the end of the award period.
Conditions governing the administration of an NEH fellowship program
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