FY 2025 Notice of Funding Opportunity
Applications Due November 15, 2024
Native American/Native Hawaiian Museum Services
Funding
Opportunity Number:
NANH-FY25
Assistance
Listing Number: 45.308
Native American/Native Hawaiian Museum Services 1
1. Basic Information 5
2. Eligibility 9
3. Program Description 12
Prepare and Submit Your Application 18
4. Application Contents and Format 19
5. Submission Requirements and Deadline 38
Learn About Application Review 40
6. Application Review Information 41
7. Award Notices 45
Find Post-Award Information 46
8. Post-Award Requirements and Administration 47
9. Other Important Information 50
Guidance for Required Registrations 54
Guidance for Completing Forms and Other Application Components 56
If you believe you’re a good candidate for this funding opportunity, review the application deadline, and leave plenty of time to prepare.
Set up your SAM.gov (including Unique Entity Identifier) and Grants.gov registrations now. If you’re already registered, check to be sure your registrations are active, and all information is up to date.
Register in SAM.gov (registration can take several weeks):
Your organization must have an active SAM.gov account and a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) before you apply. See Registration Requirements and Guidance for Required Registrations.
Register in Grants.gov (registration can take several days):
You must have an active Grants.gov registration. You’ll need an active SAM.gov account and a Login.gov account to register and access Grants.gov. See Registration Requirements and Guidance for Required Registrations.
Apply by 11:59 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time on November 15, 2024.
Bookmark these resources for important information:
2024 2 CFR Revisions for awards made after October 1, 2024 – Federal Register
Native American/Native Hawaiian Museum Services Program page (IMLS.gov)
T
his
NOFO has internal links to help you quickly find what you need.
In
Adobe Reader, you can go back to where you were by pressing Alt +
Left Arrow (Windows) or Command + Left Arrow (Mac) on your keyboard.
In this step:
Other Eligibility Information 9
Agency Mission, Goals, and Objectives 11
NANH Program Goals and Objectives 12
Federal Awarding Agency |
Institute of Museum and Library Services |
Funding Opportunity Title |
Native American/Native Hawaiian Museum Services |
Announcement Type |
New |
Funding Opportunity Number |
NANH-FY25 |
Assistance Listing Number |
45.308 |
Type of assistance instrument |
Grant |
Application Deadline |
Submit through Grants.gov by 11:59 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time on November 15, 2024. |
Key Dates |
|
Anticipated date of notification of award decisions |
June 2025 (subject to the availability of funds and IMLS discretion) |
Anticipated start dates for new awards |
Projects must begin on July 1, 2025. |
Anticipated period of performance |
July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2028. |
Funding Details |
|
Total amount of funding IMLS expects to award through this announcement |
$3,772,000 |
Expected performance indicators, targets, baseline data, and data collection |
See Performance Measures. |
Anticipated number of awards |
20 |
Expected amount of individual awards |
$5,000 - $250,000 |
Average amount of funding per award experienced in previous years |
$150,000 |
The funding in the above Award Overview is subject to the availability of funds and IMLS discretion. We are not bound by any estimates in this announcement.
Contingent upon the availability of funds, the quality of applications, and IMLS discretion, we may make additional awards from the pool of unfunded applications from this competition.
The Native American/Native Hawaiian program (NANH) supports Indian Tribes and organizations that primarily serve and represent Native Hawaiians in sustaining heritage, culture, and knowledge. The program supports projects such as educational services and programs, workforce professional development, organizational capacity building, community engagement, and collections stewardship.
Projects may involve, but are not limited to, activities such as:
educational programming for all ages;
language preservation and revitalization;
oral history collection and documentation;
digital media and technology enhancements;
institutional planning and policy development;
professional training, internships, and mentorships;
supporting and engaging with cultural practitioners and scholars;
exhibition development, design, fabrication, and interpretation;
collections information management, research, and planning;
digitization and digital asset management;
repatriation-related research, consultation, and documentation; and
conservation surveys, treatments, and environmental improvements.
We encourage applicants to the NANH Program to apply the definition of “museum services” in a way that aligns with the types of activities, settings, and/or frameworks that align with the applicant’s Tribal or Native Hawaiian ways of knowing and being. “Museum services”, as defined in the IMLS grant regulations at 2 C.F.R. § 3187.4, means “services provided by a museum, primarily exhibiting objects to the general public, and including but not limited to preserving and maintaining its collections, and providing educational and other programs to the public through the use of its collections and other resources.”
See samples of recently funded NANH applications.
IMLS staff are available by phone and email to answer programmatic and administrative questions relating to this grant program. We also host webinars to introduce potential applicants to funding opportunities. For more information, see our list of webinars and instructions for accessing them.
To be eligible for an award under the NANH program, your organization must be:
a Federally Recognized Indian Tribe, or
a Nonprofit Organization that Primarily Serves and Represents Native Hawaiians.
To be eligible for funding under this IMLS program, your organization must be an “Indian tribe,” which means any Tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community, including any Alaska native village, regional corporation, or village corporation (as defined in, or established pursuant to, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.)), which is recognized as eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United States to Indians because of their status as Indians. The Bureau of Indian Affairs publishes updated lists of Federally recognized Indian Tribes in the Federal Register.
To be eligible for funding as a nonprofit organization that primarily serves and represents Native Hawaiians, as the term “Native Hawaiians” is defined in 20 U.S.C. § 7517(2), you must demonstrate that your organization meets this statutory eligibility criteria. See Conditionally Required Documents for more information about the documentation required of nonprofit organizations that primarily serve and represent Native Hawaiians.
Application Limits
Applications for renewal or supplementation of your currently active IMLS awards are not eligible to compete with applications for new awards.
I f eligible, you may submit multiple applications for support of separate and distinct projects under this announcement and/or through other IMLS grant programs.
P artnerships and Collaborations
Applications involving partnerships or collaborations are welcome.
When two or more institutions or organizations work together on a project, one of them must meet all eligibility requirements, serve as the lead applicant, and administer the award on behalf of the other(s).
If we fund the project, the lead applicant will be programmatically, fiscally, and legally responsible for the award.
Federally operated libraries and museums may not apply for NANH grants, but they may serve as nonessential partners to applicants, as long as they do not receive IMLS grant funds from the project. Contact us before submitting an application involving a federal agency or federal collection.
I neligible Applicants
We will not review applications from ineligible applicants. We will notify each applicant whose application will not be reviewed because the organization is determined to be ineligible.
We will not make awards to ineligible applicants. To receive an IMLS award, your organization must be eligible and in compliance with applicable IMLS, administrative and national policy requirements.
Application Completeness and Deadline
A pplicants must submit their materials by the deadline indicated in the Opportunity Overview. We won’t consider late applications for funding under this notice.
If your request for federal funding as shown on the IMLS Budget Form, including all direct and indirect costs, is outside the funding range for the program ($5,000 - $250,000), we may reject your application from consideration for funding in this program.
Your application must be complete, and your project and budget must adhere to the program’s guidelines and funding restrictions.
Cost share is allowed but not required for the NANH program.
Cost share is the portion of project costs that is not paid by IMLS funds. Common examples of cost share include cash outlays; contribution of property and services; and in-kind contributions, such as staff or volunteer time that support project activities. Federally appropriated funds, whether they are disbursed directly to you by an agency of the federal government or indirectly through another organization, may not count toward cost share.
Cost share is not considered in review of NANH applications.
Calculate any cost share you include in your project budget carefully. If you receive an award, you will be required to meet your cost share commitments.
The mission of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is to advance, support, and empower America’s museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development. Three agency-level goals, with two objectives each, guide our grantmaking.
Agency-Level Goal 1 Champion Lifelong Learning |
Objective 1.1 Advance shared knowledge and learning opportunities for all. Objective 1.2 Support the training and professional development of the museum and library workforce. |
Agency-Level Goal 2 Strengthen Community Engagement |
Objective 2.1 Promote inclusive engagement across diverse audiences. Objective 2.2 Support community collaboration and foster civic discourse. |
Agency-Level Goal 3 Advance Collections Stewardship and Access |
Objective 3.1 Support collections care and management. Objective 3.2 Promote access to museum and library collections. |
The NANH program supports the achievement of these agency-level goals to facilitate the delivery of significant results consistent with the IMLS federal authorizing legislation (20 U.S.C. §9101 et seq.; in particular, § 9173(d) (Services for Native Americans)). Each award that we make through the NANH Program will contribute meaningfully to the achievement of both program and agency-level goals.
S earch awards made through the NANH program by year, award number, state, city, and/or keyword.
Reflecting IMLS’s agency-level goals, NANH has one program goal and three associated objectives. Your proposed project should align with the program goal and one of the associated objectives. You’ll select an objective on the IMLS Museum Program Information Form, and you should clearly identify your choice in your project Narrative.
NANH
Program Goal: |
Objective 1 Support the preservation and perpetuation of Indigenous languages and cultural practices. |
Objective 2 Support the professional development of the workforce of Indigenous museums. |
Objective 3 Support the management and care of Indigenous collections and their associated documentation. |
We use four performance measures as a basis for understanding how well the NANH program is meeting its goal and how awardees are managing individual projects.
E ffectiveness: The extent to which activities contribute to achieving the intended results of the NANH program
E fficiency: How well resources (e.g., funds, expertise, time) are used while generating maximum value for the target group
Q uality: How well the activities meet the requirements and expectations of the target group
T imeliness: The extent to which each task/activity is completed within the timeframe proposed
You will need to provide a Performance Measurement Plan to describe how you will use these four performance measures to monitor and assess your performance in carrying out your project and meeting your selected program goal and objective.
You may use IMLS funds and cost share only for allowable costs as found in IMLS and OMB government-wide cost-principle rules.
Please consult 2 C.F.R. part 200 and 2 C.F.R. part 3187 for additional guidance on allowable costs.
The following lists include some examples of generally allowable costs and unallowable costs, both for IMLS funds and for cost share under this announcement.
A llowable Costs |
|
U nallowable Costs |
|
You must explain all proposed expenses in the Budget Justification.
If you have questions about whether specific activities are allowable, contact us for guidance.
When a project requires the payment of federal funds to third parties (such as partners, consultants, collaborators, vendors, and/or service providers), it is your responsibility to determine whether you should characterize a third party as a subrecipient or a contractor and include that determination in your agreement with them.
IMLS grant funds may not be provided to any Federal agency serving as a third party.
You can choose to:
use a rate not to exceed your current indirect cost rate already negotiated with a federal agency;
use an indirect cost rate proposed to a federal agency for negotiation, but not yet finalized, as long as it is finalized by the time of the award;
use a rate not to exceed 15 percent of the Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC) if your organization currently does not have a Federally Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (NICRA) and is not subject to other requirements; or
not include any indirect costs.
S tatute: 20 U.S.C. § 9101 et seq.; in particular, § 9173(d) (Services for Native Americans).
Regulations: 45 C.F.R. Chapter XI, 2 C.F.R. Chapter XXXI, and 2 C.F.R. Title 2
Award recipients must follow the IMLS regulations that are in effect at the time of the award.*
You can find the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance on Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance) at 2 C.F.R. part 200.
*Please note: OMB has recently updated the Uniform Guidance (see Uniform Guidance Revisions). For IMLS awards made after October 1, 2024, the Uniform Guidance Revisions will apply. We have tried to align this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) to the Uniform Guidance Revisions. In the event of any differences between the Uniform Guidance Revisions provisions and the current (pre-Oct. 1, 2024) Uniform Guidance provisions, the Uniform Guidance Revisions provisions shall govern.
With certain IMLS-specific additions, IMLS regulations at 2 C.F.R. part 3187 have formally adopted the current (pre-October 1, 2024) Uniform Guidance and will automatically adopt the Uniform Guidance Revisions when they become effective on October 1, 2024.
IMLS does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age.
For further information, email the Civil Rights Officer at CivilRights@imls.gov or write to the Civil Rights Officer, Institute of Museum and Library Services, 955 L’Enfant Plaza North, SW, Suite 4000, Washington, DC, 20024-2135.
In this step:
4. Application Contents and Format 19
Instructions for Required Documents 24
Conditionally Required Documents 32
Disclosure of Information in Applications 36
5. Submission Requirements and Deadline 37
Programmatic, Administrative and Technical Support Contacts 37
Before you apply, your organization must have:
a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number;
a current and active System for Award Management (SAM) registration; and
an active Grants.gov registration with an approved Authorized Organization Representative (AOR).
Check your materials and registrations now to ensure that they are accurate, current, and active.
We strongly recommend that you obtain a UEI number and complete registration with SAM and Grants.gov well ahead of the application deadline.
You must apply electronically through Grants.gov Workspace or a Grants.gov system-to-system solution.
Use one of the following identifiers to locate the application package in Grants.gov:
Funding Opportunity Number: NANH-FY25
Assistance Listing Number: 45.308
To request an audio recording of this announcement, call 202-653-4744. To request a paper copy of this announcement, call 202-653-4744 or email imls-museumgrants@imls.gov.
Persons who are deaf or hard of hearing (TTY Users) can contact IMLS at 202-207-7858 via 711 for TTY-Based Telecommunications Relay Service.
Applying for an award takes time. Registering with SAM.gov can take several weeks. There are a few important things you’ll need to do before you can apply.
Be
sure to…
Carefully read through this NOFO
to get a good understanding of how
to craft your narrative, what
documents we require, and how
we review applications.
Review
the eligibility requirements for this program and confirm that
your organization is eligible.
Organization type
Organization location
Organizational eligibility
criteria
Review
the Funding Restrictions and keep them in mind as you develop
your application and budget.
Register in SAM.gov (or make sure
your organization’s registration is current) as early as
possible. Remember that SAM registration can take several
weeks.
To
register, go to SAM.gov
Entity Registration and click Get Started.
See the SAM.gov
Entity Registration checklist for what you’ll need to
register in SAM.
Get a Unique Entity Identifier
(UEI) number. You’ll get your organization’s UEI when
you register in SAM.gov.
(This is not a DUNS number. See the DUNS
to UEI transition information.)
Make sure you understand the
review criteria.
Review the post-award
requirements to make sure you can meet them.
Find the application package. Go
to Grants.gov
and search for Funding Opportunity Number:
NANH-FY25 or Assistance Listing Number:
45.308
Get familiar with Grants.gov
Workspace.
Contact
an IMLS Program Officer to discuss your ideas, or if you have
questions related to the application process.
This section outlines the components, format, and content requirements to help you prepare a complete application.
You must apply by 11:59 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time on November 15, 2024. We make awards only to eligible applicants that submit applications through Grants.gov on or before this deadline.
If your application is missing any Required Documents or Conditionally Required Documents from the list below, we will consider it to be incomplete, and may reject it from further consideration (see 2 C.F.R. § 3187.9.).
You must include all these components for your application to be complete.
Component |
File Requirements |
The Application for Federal Domestic Assistance/Short Organizational Form (SF-424S) |
Format: Grants.gov web form |
Format: Grants.gov web form |
|
File Format: PDF Page Limit: 1 page (recommended). File Name: OrganizationalProfile.pdf |
|
File Format: PDF Page Limit: 7 pages max. File Name: Narrative.pdf |
|
File Format: PDF Page Limit: 1 page per year (recommended) File Name: Scheduleofcompletion.pdf |
|
File Format: IMLS PDF form File Name: Budget.pdf |
|
File Format: PDF File Name: Budgetjustification.pdf |
|
File Format: PDF Page Limit: 1 page (recommended) File Name: Projectstaff.pdf |
|
File Format: PDF Page Limit: 2 pages each (recommended) File Name: Resumes.pdf |
|
File Format: PDF Page Limit: 2 pages (recommended) File Name: Perfmeasurement.pdf |
You must include these components if they are applicable to your institution or your project. Refer to Conditionally Required Documents to determine which, if any, you need to include in your application.
Component |
File Requirements |
Proof of Private, Nonprofit Status (for organizations that primarily serve and represent Native Hawaiians) |
File Format: PDF File Name: Proofnonprofit.pdf |
Proof of Eligibility (for organizations that primarily serve and represent Native Hawaiians) |
File Format: PDF File Name: Proofeligibility.pdf |
File Format: PDF File Name: Indirectcostrate.pdf |
|
File Format: PDF Page Limit: 2 pages (recommended) File Name: Digitalproduct.pdf |
|
Detailed Condition Reports and/or Conservation Treatment Proposals |
File Format: PDF File Name: Treatment.pdf |
You may include additional documents to support your proposal.
Component |
File Requirements |
Information that supplements the Narrative and supports your project |
File Format: PDF File Name(s): Supportingdoc1.pdf |
Document Format and File Size
Aside from the SF-424S and the IMLS Museum Program Information Form, which are created in Grants.gov Workspace, all application components must be submitted as PDF documents.
Use standard formatting and fonts in your application components, and limit individual file sizes to 200mb or less.
Page Limits
Note the page limits listed in the table of Application Components. We will remove any additional pages and not send them to reviewers as part of your application.
Naming Convention
Use the naming conventions indicated in the tables of Application Components.
I MPORTANT: Attachment file names are limited to the following characters: A-Z, a-z, 0-9, underscore (_), hyphen (-), space, period (.). If attachment file names use any other characters, your application may be rejected by Grants.gov.
Attachment Order
In Grants.gov, attach all application components in the sequence listed in the table of application components above. Use all 15 fields in the “Attachments Form” first. If your application requires more than 15 attachments, select the “Other Attachments Form.” Note that if you select the “Other Attachments Form,” you will be required to upload the 16th attachment in the “Mandatory Other Attachment” field first; any subsequent attachments should be uploaded under the “Optional Other Attachments.”
Find detailed instructions to help you complete these Grants.gov forms:
A pplication for Federal Domestic Assistance/Short Organizational Form (SF-424S)The SF-424S is part of the application package that you complete in Grants.gov Workspace. It collects basic information about your organization and your project.
The IMLS Museum Program Information Form is part of the application package that you complete in Grants.gov Workspace. In it, we collect details about your project, its goals, and financial information.
Write a brief Organizational Profile for the lead applicant and save it as a PDF. We recommend limiting the Organizational Profile to one page. Include the following information:
Your Tribe or organization’s mission or statement of purpose, noting the source, approving body, and date of the official document in which it appears.
Your Tribe or organization’s governance structure.
Your service area (i.e., communities and/or audiences served, including size, demographic characteristics, and geographic area).
A brief history of your organization, focusing on the organizational unit that will be directly involved in carrying out the work.
Write a Narrative using the structure and format below and save it as a PDF. Be clear and concise with a minimum of technical jargon and acronyms. Include references throughout your Narrative to any Supporting Documents that provide supplementary material.
When writing your narrative, consider the review criteria and the program goal and objective you selected.
Narrative - Required FormatPage Limit: 7 numbered pages We will remove any additional pages and will not send them to reviewers as part of your application. File Name: Narrative.pdf IMPORTANT: Attachment file names are limited to the following characters: A-Z, a-z, 0-9, underscore (_), hyphen (-), space, period (.). If attachment file names use any other characters, the application may be rejected by Grants.gov. File Format: PDF Font Size: 11-point or higher Margins: 0.5 inches or greater Components: Organize the Narrative using the following section headings, and respond to the question prompts in the Guidance for Narrative Sections:
|
Narrative Section |
Guidance |
Project Justification |
|
P roject Work Plan
|
Note: You must include $3,000 per year in your project budget for travel to attend IMLS-designated meetings.
|
P roject Results
|
|
Refer to the Evaluation Resources on the IMLS website for program planning tools, evaluation definitions, and methodologies.
Refer to our guidance on disclosing information in your application.
Reviewers may also choose to visit your organization's website, as listed on the SF-424S form provided with your application.
The Schedule of Completion should reflect each major activity identified in your application Narrative and the project dates identified on the SF-424S and the IMLS Budget Form. It should show when each major project activity will start and end. The schedule should be no longer than one page per project year. See the sample Schedule of Completion below. Save this document as a PDF.
Find detailed instructions to help you complete an IMLS Budget Form and write a Budget Justification:
I MLS Budget FormDownload and complete the current IMLS Budget Form (PDF, 1.7MB).
Write a Budget Justification to identify each expense and show the method of cost computation used to determine each dollar amount, including any that you may have consolidated and summarized on the IMLS Budget Form. Save this document as a PDF.
Write a list of only those staff and consultants whose expertise is essential to the success of the project and save it as a PDF. Do not list all staff involved in the project. If you cannot identify key project staff by the application deadline, then list the position title(s) instead. This list must include the Project Director listed in Item 7 of the SF-424S. We recommend limiting this list to one page.
Provide a resume for each person whose expertise is essential to the success of the project. We recommend limiting each resume to two pages. Use standard fonts and formatting, and save all the resumes in a single PDF. You must include the resume of the Project Director listed in Item 7 of the SF-424S.
If you cannot identify key project staff by the application deadline, then instead of a resume, provide position description(s) including the qualities, range of experience, and education necessary to successfully implement and complete project activities.
Refer to our guidance on disclosing information in your application.
Your Performance Measurement Plan should show how you will monitor and assess your performance as an awardee and achieve your selected program goal and objective from the perspectives of Effectiveness, Efficiency, Quality, and Timeliness for your overall project.
For each performance measure, identify what data you will collect from what source, the method you will use to collect it, and according to what schedule. The chart below provides sample statements for each measure and a space to record your own. We've provided a fillable version of this chart (DOCX, 25KB), which you are welcome, but not required, to use. We recommend limiting your Performance Measurement Plan to two pages. Save your document as a PDF.
(Back to Table of Application Components)
These documents may be required for your application, depending upon the circumstances. Refer to the table below to determine which, if any, Conditionally Required Documents you may need to provide.
If you fail to provide a Conditionally Required Document, we will consider your application incomplete, and may reject it from further consideration.
If you are: |
Then you must provide: |
Notes: |
Applying as a nonprofit organization that primarily serves and represents Native Hawaiians (as indicated by choosing “M” as the Applicant Type code in 5d of the SF-424S form). |
Proof of private, nonprofit status - a copy of the IRS letter indicating your eligibility for nonprofit status under the applicable provision of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended, or an official document identifying the organization as a unit of State or local government or other tax-exempt multipurpose organization, AND Proof of eligibility - the organization’s charter documents, including the articles of incorporation. |
Since an organization’s status may change over time, you must submit these documents with each application, even if you have submitted it with other applications in the current year or in previous years. We will not accept a letter of State sales tax exemption as proof of nonprofit status. If prepared specifically for this application, any nonprofit status certification from a unit of State or local government must be on the ‘parent’ organization’s letterhead and certified by an authorized official of the parent organization. |
Using a Federally negotiated indirect cost rate in your budget. |
A copy of your current Final Federally Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement. |
If you do not have a current negotiated (including provisional) indirect cost rate and elect to charge a de minimis rate of up to 15 percent of Modified Total Direct Costs (see 2 C.F.R. part 200, including 2 C.F.R. §§ 200.1 and 200.414(f)), you do not need to provide any documentation. |
Proposing to generate any digital content, resources, assets, or software |
A Digital Products Plan (two pages, recommended) Describe the types of digital content or products you will create during your project and address issues relating to availability, access, and sustainability for each type. |
|
Proposing to undertake conservation treatment as part of your project |
A document that identifies your Tribe or organization’s conservation priorities and describes how they were established. Provide detailed condition reports and/or treatment proposals for each object, specimen, or group to be treated. |
This document might be one or more of the following:
|
(Back to Table of Application Components)
Applicants may submit a reasonable number of optional Supporting Documents that supplement the Narrative in support of the project description. Optional Supporting Documents should help IMLS staff and reviewers envision the project in greater detail, but they should not be used to introduce new topics nor to continue answers to the Narrative questions. Please refrain from attaching hundreds of pages of supplemental material, as this may cause issues with your application submission through Grants.gov.
Give each document a clear, descriptive title at the top of the first page. You may wish to include the following:
Letters of commitment from partners, consultants, or any third party that will receive grant funds or make substantial contributions towards the completion of project activities
Letters of support from experts, stakeholders, or Tribal leadership
Relevant images that support your proposed project
Exhibit design plans
Reports from planning activities
Contractor quotes
Equipment specifications
Bibliography or references relevant to your proposed project design or evaluation strategy
Products or evaluations from previously completed or ongoing projects of a similar nature
Collections, technology, or other departmental plans for the Tribe or organization as applicable to the proposed project
Web links to relevant online materials
Needs assessments.
(Back to Table of Application Components)
Use this checklist to make sure you have everything you need to submit a complete proposal.
General Readiness |
|
Forms (follow form and Grants.gov instructions) |
Files Formatting Instructions |
|
We may share grant applications, products, and reports to further the mission of the agency and the development of museum, library, archival, and information services. As a general practice, and except for information that is privacy-protected, information contained in IMLS applications that receive funding may be made public. Please identify any information you deem confidential and/or proprietary and seek to have protected.
You must submit your applications for funding using Grants.gov Workspace. Do not submit through email or postal mail to IMLS.
Review the Registration Requirements and time frames. We strongly recommend that you obtain a UEI number, register with SAM and Grants.gov, and complete and submit your application early. Leave plenty of time and use the contact information below to reach out to IMLS, the Federal Service Desk, or Grants.gov Help for questions and technical difficulties.
IMLS staff are available by phone and email to answer programmatic and administrative questions relating to this grant program. We also host webinars to introduce potential applicants to funding opportunities. For more information, see our list of webinars and instructions for accessing them.
Visit the Federal Service Desk or call 1-866-606-8220 for questions about registering or renewing your registration with login.gov or SAM.gov. Hours of operation are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time.
Visit Grants.gov Support, email support@grants.gov, or call Grants.gov Applicant Support at 1-800-518-4726 for assistance with software issues, registration issues, and technical problems. Grants.gov Applicant Support is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, except for federal holidays.
Be sure to obtain a case number when calling the Federal Service Desk or Grants.gov for support.
For the NANH Program, Grants.gov will accept applications through 11:59 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time on November 15, 2024.
We award grants only to eligible applicants that submit complete applications, including attachments, through Grants.gov, on or before the deadline, as indicated by the date stamp generated by Grants.gov.
Grants.gov will generate a series of emails confirming the status of each application. Applicants can check the status of their application(s) in Grants.gov by using “Track My Application.” For further details, visit Check Application Status at Grants.gov.
Under certain circumstances, we allow an extension of grant application deadlines for adversely affected applicant organizations located in counties listed in Emergency Declarations and/or Major Disaster Declarations. See Application Deadlines for further information.
This funding opportunity is not subject to intergovernmental review per Exec. Order No. 12372.
In this step:
6. Application Review Information 43
Eligibility and Completeness Checks 43
We assess every application to make sure it meets basic requirements for eligibility and completeness. We won’t consider an application that:
does not meet the eligibility criteria for the program
is submitted after the deadline
requests funding outside of the applicable range
does not adhere to the program’s funding restrictions and guidelines.
is missing required or conditionally required application components.
If your application is rejected during these initial eligibility and completeness checks, we’ll notify you by email. If you believe we rejected your application in error, you can appeal the decision in writing within ten business days of the date we sent the rejection notice.
We use a peer review process to evaluate all complete applications from eligible institutions. Reviewers are professionals in the field with relevant knowledge and expertise in the types of project activities identified in the applications.
Learn more about our
peer review process
The IMLS Director considers the input from the review process and makes final funding decisions consistent with the purposes of the agency’s mission and programs.
We instruct reviewers to evaluate applications according to the review criteria listed in this section and to consider all Required, Conditionally Required, and Supporting Documents.
Cost share is not required for NANH and is not considered in the review of applications.
Review Criteria |
|
Project Justification
|
|
P roject Work Plan
|
|
Project Results
|
|
For awards with a total amount of Federal share greater than the simplified acquisition threshold, we’re required to review and consider applicant information in the designated integrity and performance system.
This information is accessible through SAM. The simplified acquisition threshold is currently $250,000 but is periodically adjusted.
You may review information in the designated integrity and performance systems accessible through SAM and comment on any information about your organization that a federal awarding agency previously entered.
We will consider any comments by the applicant, in addition to the other information in the designated integrity and performance system, in considering the applicant’s integrity, business ethics, and record of performance under federal awards when completing the review of risk posed by applicants.
We will not release information about the status of an application until we have completed the peer review process and all deliberations.
We expect to notify successful and unsuccessful applicants of final funding decisions by email in June 2025.
Successful Applicants
If your application is successful, we’ll send the Authorizing Official, Project Director, and Grant Administrator you listed on the SF424S Application Form an email notification with our congratulations and instructions for accessing our electronic grants management system, eGMS Reach. Once you activate your eGMS Reach account, you’ll have access to your Official Award Notification, award letter, reporting schedule, IMLS-approved budget document, and anonymized reviewer feedback from your application’s peer review.
T he signed Official Award Notification is the only document obligating funds and authorizing you to begin performance on its specified dates. Unless you’ve confirmed and received prior written approval from us that pre-award costs are allowed, incurring those costs before the period of performance is at your own risk.
Unsuccessful Applicants
If your application is unsuccessful, we’ll send your Authorizing Official, Project Director, and Grant Administrator an email notification to let you know that your application isn’t being funded. We’ll share the number of applications and the total of requested funding we received for the program this year. We’ll also provide anonymized reviewer comments and scores to help you understand the decision and help you decide whether to revise the proposal and submit it again to IMLS or another funding agency in the future.
.
In this step:
There are important laws and regulations you’ll need to understand and comply with if you receive an award. Awardees are subject to:
2 C.F.R. part 200 Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards, 2 C.F.R. part 3187 (IMLS grant regulations);
The IMLS General Terms and Conditions for IMLS Discretionary Grant and Cooperative Agreement Awards (PDF, 460KB); and
Applicants for federal funds must certify that they are responsible for complying with certain nondiscrimination, debarment and suspension, drug-free workplace, and lobbying laws. These are set out in more detail, along with other requirements, in the IMLS Assurances and Certifications. By submitting the application, which includes the IMLS Assurances and Certifications, you certify that you are in compliance with these requirements and that you will maintain records and submit any reports that are necessary to ensure compliance. Failure to comply with these statutory and regulatory requirements may result in the suspension or termination of an award and require that the recipient return funds to the government. For information about award termination, please see the IMLS General Terms and Conditions for IMLS Discretionary Grant and Cooperative Agreement Awards and 2 C.F.R. § 200.340.
Please note: OMB has recently updated the Uniform Guidance (see Uniform Guidance Revisions). For IMLS awards made after October 1, 2024, the Uniform Guidance Revisions will apply. We have tried to align this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) to the Uniform Guidance Revisions. In the event of any differences between the Uniform Guidance Revisions provisions and the current (pre-Oct. 1, 2024) Uniform Guidance provisions, the Uniform Guidance Revisions provisions shall govern.
With certain IMLS-specific additions, IMLS regulations at 2 C.F.R. part 3187 have formally adopted the current (pre-October 1, 2024) Uniform Guidance and will automatically adopt the Uniform Guidance Revisions when they become effective on October 1, 2024.
Awardees must comply with the following reporting requirements.
Interim and final financial and performance reports are due according to the reporting schedule in your official award documents. You must submit your performance and financial reports in eGMS Reach. We may publish interim and final performance report content on the IMLS website.
You must also comply with 2 C.F.R. §§ 180.335 and 180.350 and 2 C.F.R. part 3185 with respect to providing information regarding all debarment, suspension, and related offenses, as applicable.
If the federal share of the federal award is more than $500,000 over the period of performance, you should refer to the reporting requirements reflected in 2 C.F.R. part 200, Appendix XII – Award Term and Condition for Recipient Integrity and Performance Matters (see also 2 C.F.R. §§ 200.113 (Mandatory disclosures) and 2 C.F.R. §§ 200.211(c)(1)(iii) (Information contained in a federal award).)
In this section:
9. Other Important Information 50
IMLS Assurances and Certifications 50
Conflict of Interest Requirements 50
Additional Information about IMLS 50
IMLS Obligations to Make Awards 50
Link to IMLS assurances and certifications.
Awardees must include acknowledgement of IMLS support in all grant products, publications, websites, and presentations developed with IMLS funding.
All work products should reference IMLS and include the associated award number(s). Our Grantee Communications Kit provides guidance for fulfilling these requirements.
As a non-federal entity, you must follow IMLS conflict of interest policies for federal awards. You must disclose in writing any potential conflict of interest to an IMLS Program Officer, or to the pass-through entity if you are a subrecipient or contractor. This disclosure must take place immediately whether you are an applicant or have an active IMLS award.
The IMLS conflict of interest policies apply to subawards as well as contracts, and are as follows:
As a non-federal entity, you must maintain written standards of conduct covering conflicts of interest and governing the performance of your employees engaged in the selection, award, and administration of subawards and contracts.
None of your employees may participate in the selection, award, or administration of a subaward or contract supported by a federal award if he or she has a real or apparent conflict of interest. Such a conflict of interest would arise when the employee, officer, agent, board member, or any member of his or her immediate family, his or her partner, or an organization which employs or is about to employ any of the parties indicated herein, has a financial or other interest in or a tangible personal benefit from an organization considered for a subaward or contract. The officers, employees, agents, and board members of the non-federal entity must neither solicit nor accept gratuities, favors, or anything of monetary value from subrecipients or contractors or parties to subawards or contracts.
If you have a parent, affiliate, or subsidiary organization that is not a state, local government, or Indian tribe, you must also maintain written standards of conduct covering organizational conflicts of interest. Organizational conflicts of interest means that because of relationships with a parent company, affiliate, or subsidiary organization, you are unable or appear to be unable to be impartial in conducting a subaward or procurement action involving a related organization.
Visit the IMLS website for additional information on IMLS and IMLS activities.
This announcement does not obligate IMLS to make any federal award or commitment.
Any individual who is interested in serving as a peer reviewer is welcome to enter their contact information and identify their experience and expertise through the IMLS online reviewer application portal. IMLS staff will notify the individuals who are identified as potential reviewers by email prior to the next review period to confirm availability.
Awardees may copyright any work that is subject to copyright and was developed under an award or for which ownership was acquired under a federal award. IMLS reserves a royalty-free, nonexclusive, and irrevocable right to reproduce, publish, or otherwise use the work for federal purposes and to authorize others to do so. For additional information, please see 2 C.F.R. § 200.315 (Intangible property).
Complete applications include the elements listed in the Table of Application Components. IMLS estimates the average amount of time needed for one applicant to complete the narrative portion of this application to be 45 hours. This includes the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and writing and reviewing the answers.
We estimate that it will take an average of 30 minutes per response for the IMLS Museum Program Information Form and three hours per response for the IMLS Budget Form.
We welcome your suggestions for improving this collection of information and for making it as easy to use as possible. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to our Office of Grants Policy and Management. Please note that applicants are not required to respond to any collection of information unless it displays a currently valid U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number.
OMB Control No.: 3137-####, Expiration date: M/DD/YYYY
In this section:
Guidance for Required Registrations 56
Getting a Unique Entity Identifier 56
Registering with Grants.gov 57
Guidance for Completing Forms and Other Application Components 58
IMLS Museum Program Information Form (M-PIF) 62
Indirect Costs in the Budget 68
Student Support Costs in the Budget 70
Proof of Private, Nonprofit Status 74
Guidance for Conservation Surveys 79
General Conservation Survey 79
The Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number is a non-proprietary alphanumeric identifier assigned to all entities (public and private companies, individuals, institutions, or organizations) who register to do business with the Federal Government. The UEI is requested in, and assigned by, the System for Award Management (SAM). Awardees must inform any first-tier subrecipients that the awardee may not make a subaward unless the subrecipient has also obtained a UEI. First tier subrecipients, but not second-tier subrecipients nor contractors, are required to obtain a UEI. Subrecipients are not required, however, to complete full registration in SAM.gov to obtain their UEI.
If your organization has an active SAM registration, you can find your assigned UEI in your SAM record. If you don’t yet have an active SAM registration, you will receive a UEI when you register in SAM.
The System for Award Management (SAM) is a federal repository that centralizes information about grant applicants and awardees. It is always free to all users. You must register with SAM before registering with Grants.gov. Learn how to check an organization’s registration status in SAM.
If you’re registering with SAM for the first time, you must begin by creating a SAM user account through Login.gov. Click here to learn how to create a secure Login.gov account. Then proceed to the SAM registration process.
We recommend that you allow several weeks to complete the SAM registration.
You must always maintain an active SAM registration with current information while you have an active award or an application under consideration. We may not make an award to you until you have complied with all applicable Unique Entity Identifier and SAM registration requirements. If you have not fully complied with the requirements by the time we’re ready to make a federal award, we may make an award to another applicant.
You must renew your organization’s registration in SAM at least every 12 months or whenever your organization’s information changes. An expired registration will prevent you from submitting applications via Grants.gov and receiving awards or payments. Award payments will be made to the bank account that is associated with your organization’s SAM registration.
Grants.gov is the centralized website for grant seekers to find and apply for federal funding opportunities. Grants.gov is owned and operated by the Federal Government and is always free to all users.
You must register with Grants.gov prior to applying. The multistep registration process cannot be completed in a single day. You should make sure your institution’s SAM registration is current and active before registering with Grants.gov. If your organization is not already registered, allow several weeks before the application deadline to complete this one-time process. Do not wait until the day of the application deadline to register.
The Grants.gov user ID and password you obtain when you register are required to submit your application.
After your organization registers with Grants.gov and creates an Organizational Applicant Profile, the request for the organization’s Grants.gov roles and access is sent to the eBiz POC. The eBiz POC will then log into Grants.gov and assign the appropriate roles to individuals within the organization. This will include the Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) which will give permission to complete and submit applications on behalf of the organization.
T IP: Designating more than one Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) when you register in Grants.gov will help avoid last-minute crises if a single AOR is unavailable when you are ready to submit the application. It is also important to update the contact information and password in Grants.gov whenever an AOR changes.
Visit Grants.gov/Support, email support@grants.gov, or call Grants.gov Applicant Support at 1-800-518-4726 for technical assistance. Grants.gov Applicant Support is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, except for federal holidays.
The SF-424S Form, or the Application for Federal Domestic Assistance/Short Organizational Form, is part of the application package in Grants.gov.
SF-424S Item |
Instructions |
Items 1 - 4 |
Grants.gov automatically populates items 1-4. |
Item 5. Applicant Information |
I: Indian/Native American Tribal Government (Federally Recognized), or M: Nonprofit with 501c3 IRS Status (Other than Institution of Higher Education) if applying as an organization that primarily serves and represents Native Hawaiians.
Use the following format: two-letter state abbreviation, followed by a hyphen, followed by a zero, followed by the two-digit district number. For example, if the organization is located in the 5th Congressional District of California, enter “CA-005.” For the 12th Congressional District of North Carolina, enter “NC-012.” For states and territories with “At Large” Congressional Districts—that is, one representative or delegate represents the entire state or territory—use “001,” e.g., “VT-001.If your organization does not have a congressional district (e.g., it is located in a U.S. territory that does not have districts), enter “00-000.” To determine your organization’s district, visit the House of Representatives website and use the “Find Your Representative” tool. |
Item 6. Project Information
|
NOTE: We use Login.gov for user authentication in our electronic grants management system, eGMS Reach. Login.gov helps protect user identity through stronger passwords and two-factor authentication. L ogin.gov requires that the email addresses for the Project Director, Primary Contact/Grants Administrator, and Authorized Representatives in Items 7, 8, and 9 on the SF-424S Form be unique to those individuals. General email addresses or those used by several people in a single office are not acceptable. |
Item 7. Project Director
|
The Project Director will have primary responsibility for carrying out your project’s activities. Enter the requested information for this individual here. The Project Director must be a different person than the Authorized Representative. |
Item 8. Primary Contact/Grants Administrator
|
The Primary Contact/Grants Administrator has the core responsibility for administering the award. Enter the requested information for this individual here. Please still complete both items 8 and 9 if the Primary Contact/Grants Administrator is the same as the Authorized Representative. In some organizations this individual may be the same as the Project Director. If this is the case, check the “Same as Project Director” box and skip to Item 9. |
Item 9. Authorized Representative
|
The Authorized Representative has the authority to legally bind your organization. Enter the requested information for this individual here. The Authorized Representative cannot be the same person as the Project Director. By checking the “I Agree” box at the top of Item 9, this individual certifies the applicant’s compliance with the IMLS Assurances and Certifications and any other relevant federal requirements. Grants.gov automatically populates the “Signature of Authorized Representative” and “Date Signed” boxes upon submission of the application. This is the person whose name was listed as your organization’s authorized representative when you registered with Grants.gov. Please note that this name might not be the same as the name and other information you entered in Item 9 above. |
By submitting the electronic application, you acknowledge that your organization certifies compliance with relevant federal requirements, including but not limited to the IMLS Assurances and Certifications, to the same extent as a signature does on a paper application.
The IMLS Museum Program Information Form is part of the application package in Grants.gov. Sections of this form are dynamic, so your answers to certain questions will determine what questions you see next.
PIF Section |
Instructions |
Section 1. Grant Program |
Select Native American/Native Hawaiian Museum Services. |
Grant Program Goals and Objectives |
The Native American/Native Hawaiian Museum Services Program has a single goal with three accompanying objectives. Select one objective that best aligns with your proposed project. |
Section 2. Applicant Information |
Refer to the legal applicant entity listed in Section 5a of the SF-424S Form. Does this entity have an organizational unit that will carry out the activities described in your application? Review the definitions of organizational unit and legal applicant on the Program Information Form. Then select YES if your organization has an organizational unit and NO if it does not. Then make selections from the choices provided for institution type. |
Section 3. Financial Information |
Federally recognized Indian Tribes, including Alaska native villages, regional corporations, and village corporations, are not required to submit this information. If you are applying as one of these entities, this section will not appear. Nonprofit organizations that primarily serve and represent Native Hawaiians should provide the information requested in a-d. If you named an organizational unit in Section 2 of this form, this information must pertain to that unit. Please complete the table with figures representing the most recently completed fiscal year in the top row, followed by those for the previous year, and concluding with those for the year before that. |
Section 4. Museum Profile |
Not applicable for the NANH program. |
Section 5. Funding Request |
Refer to the Grant Fund and Cost Share totals in Section 10 of the IMLS Budget Form (PDF, 1.7MB) that you are submitting with your application. Provide the amount in dollars that you are requesting from IMLS and the amount of non-federal funding you are providing as cost share/match, if any. Enter “0” if your budget includes no cost share/match. |
Section 6. Indirect Costs |
Refer to the IMLS Budget Form – Indirect Costs in the Budget guidance. Select one option and provide any required information for your selection. Your selection should match the choice you make on the IMLS Budget Form that you are submitting with your application. |
Section 7. Abstract |
Write an Abstract of no more than 3,000 characters (including spaces) in a concise narrative format for a general audience. Address the following:
Enter or paste your text into the form. |
Section 8. Project Keywords |
Select from one to eight keywords that best characterize your project from the options provided on the form. You can also find the full list of keywords here. We may use these keywords as search terms in our compilations describing the agency’s grantmaking and/or provide them as tools to help applicants, other awardees, and the public understand more about what we support. |
Make sure that JavaScript is enabled in your web browser. Download the IMLS Budget Form (PDF, 1.7MB) to your computer and work on it outside your web browser. When you’ve completed the form, save it as a PDF and upload it as part of your application through Grants.gov.
The IMLS Budget Form accommodates up to three years of project activities and expenses. Project timelines, allowable costs, and other budget details vary by program. Be sure to review the Notice of Funding Opportunity for the grant program/project type to which you are applying and the cost principles in 2 C.F.R. part 200 and 2 C.F.R. part 3187.
The Year 1 columns should include costs for activities that begin on the project start date (as listed on 6c of the SF-424S) and end 12 months later. If the project timeline exceeds one year, list the costs for the next 12 months in the Year 2 columns. If the project extends beyond two years, list the costs for the next 12 months in the Year 3 columns.
Tips for completing your budget form:
T he budget should include the project costs that will be charged to grant funds as well as those that will be supported by cost share, if any.
In-kind contributions to cost share may include the value of services (e.g., donated volunteer or consultant time) or equipment donated to the project between the authorized start and end dates of your project.
All the items listed, whether supported by grant funds or cost share, must be necessary to accomplish project objectives, allowable according to the applicable federal cost principles, auditable, and incurred during the award period of performance.
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 your organization.
You must report all revenues generated with project funds during the award period of performance as program income.
If you need more lines for a specific section, summarize the information in the IMLS Budget Form and explain it further in the Budget Justification.
Budget Form Section |
Instructions |
|
Include both temporary and permanent staff as well as volunteers engaged in project activities. Document the method of cost computation in your Budget Justification by including the base salary or wages for each person and the percentage of time each person is allocated to the project activities, which may be shown as a percentage of time, number or days, or number of hours. |
|
Fringe benefits can be claimed as a direct cost for only those positions included in your direct cost pool and only on the portion of salaries and wages identified for this project. Indicate your organization’s fringe benefit rate (in percent) and the base (in dollars) to which the rate is applied (e.g., 20% x $175,089.00). |
|
You must include $3,000 per year in award (federal) funds for travel to attend IMLS-designated meetings. No additional explanation for this cost item is required. For all other travel costs, explain the method of cost computation for each, including subsistence, lodging, and transportation, in your Budget Justification. You must use the lowest available commercial fares for coach or equivalent accommodations, and you must use U.S. flagged air carriers for foreign travel when such services are available, in accordance with applicable U.S. legal requirements. |
|
List the costs of supplies, materials, and equipment purchased specifically for the proposed project. For definitions and other information, please see 2 C.F.R. part 200. Use the Budget Justification to explain or describe these items in further detail. |
|
List each third party that will undertake project activities and their associated costs as an individual line item on your IMLS Budget Form. Designate each third party as either a subaward or a contract using the dropdown menu on each line. Itemize these third-party costs in your Budget Justification. |
|
If your project includes Student Support costs, enter them in this section. Refer to Student Support Costs in the Budget for a definition and examples. |
|
Use this section for costs that cannot be assigned to other categories. Do not use this section to list items that do not fit in the lines allotted for another section. |
|
These amounts will total automatically. |
|
Indirect costs are expenses that are incurred for common or joint objectives that cannot be easily identified with a particular project. Indicate your organization’s indirect cost rate (in percent) and the base (in dollars) to which the rate is applied (e.g., 34% x $123,456.78). Refer to Indirect Costs in the Budget for more information. |
|
These amounts will total and round up to the nearest dollar automatically. |
Cost share is the portion of the project costs that is not paid by IMLS funds. Common examples of cost share include cash outlays; contribution of property and services; and in-kind contributions, such as staff or volunteer time that support project activities.
All expenses, including cost share, must be incurred during the award period of performance unless otherwise specified and allowed by law. Federal funds from other federal awards may not be used for cost share. All federal, IMLS, and program requirements regarding the use of funds apply to both requested IMLS funds and to cost share. See 2 C.F.R. §§ 200.1 and 200.306 for more information on cost share.
Indirect costs are expenses incurred for common or joint objectives and thus cannot be readily associated with a particular project. Some examples include depreciation on buildings and equipment, the costs of operating and maintaining facilities, and general administration and general expenses, such as the salaries and expenses of executive officers, personnel administration, and accounting. See 2 C.F.R. part 200 for additional guidance.
You can choose to:
use a rate not to exceed your current indirect cost rate already negotiated with a federal agency;
use an indirect cost rate proposed to a federal agency for negotiation but not yet finalized, as long as it is finalized by the time of the award;
use a rate not to exceed 15 percent of Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC) if the organization currently does not have a Federally Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (NICRA) and is not subject to other requirements; or
not include any indirect costs.
A Federally Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (NICRA) is a document that reflects an estimate of indirect costs negotiated between the Federal Government and a non-federal entity. There are several types of indirect cost rates (e.g., Provisional, Predetermined, Fixed, Final), and some agreements identify several locations to which a particular rate applies (e.g., on-site/campus, off-site/campus), and/or program types for which a particular rate may be used (e.g., Instruction, Organized Research, All Programs, Other Sponsored Activities).
If your organization already has a NICRA in effect, you may use one of the approved rates in the calculation of your project’s indirect costs and by extension, your total project costs, if you apply the appropriate rate and include a copy of the current agreement with your grant application. You may choose to use a rate lower than a rate in your agreement, but you may not choose a higher one. We will accept only those NICRAs that are current by the award date.
Carefully review your institution’s negotiated indirect cost rate(s) to make sure you are using the appropriate rate for your project.
Please be aware that the indirect cost rate used in your approved IMLS budget (and that will also appear on the Official Award Notification if an award is made) will apply throughout the life of your award. You may not use a different rate for the award, even if you negotiate a new rate with your cognizant agency after the award has begun.
If your organization is currently negotiating a NICRA with a federal agency, you may use the indirect cost rate proposed to the federal agency to estimate indirect and total project costs. In such situations, if we issue an award, we will accept the rate only if the negotiations are final by the award date and a copy of the final agreement is submitted to us. IMLS staff will work with you to adjust your budget prior to issuing an award.
You may choose to charge a de minimis rate of up to 15 percent of Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC), as long as you do not have a current NICRA and you meet the applicable requirements. See 2 C.F.R. part 200, including 2 C.F.R. §§ 200.1 (Definitions), 200.414(f), and 200.510(b)(6), for additional guidance.
Modified Total Direct Costs means:
all direct salaries and wages,
applicable fringe benefits,
materials and supplies,
services,
travel, and
up to the first $50,000 of each subaward (regardless of the period of performance of the subawards under the award).
MTDC excludes:
equipment,
capital expenditures,
charges for patient care,
rental costs,
tuition remission,
scholarships and fellowships,
participant support costs, and
the portion of each subaward in excess of $50,000.
Other items may only be excluded when necessary to avoid a serious inequity in the distribution of indirect costs, and with the approval of the cognizant agency for indirect costs. See 2 C.F.R. § 200.1 for additional information.
If you are using the up to 15 percent de minimis indirect cost rate, check the box indicated on the IMLS Budget Form. No additional documentation is required.
You may, if consistent with 2 C.F.R. part 200 (Uniform Guidance), apply your indirect cost rate to your total direct costs covered by cost share, but you must account for any costs you claim as cost share in the cost share column on the IMLS Budget Form. IMLS funds can be used for indirect costs, but only for the portion of the total direct costs for which you are requesting IMLS funds (the Grant Funds column). (See, for example, 2 C.F.R. §§ 200.412-414.)
If you have a current NICRA, you must follow its conditions and requirements.
As noted above, if you do not have a current NICRA and meet applicable requirements, you may elect to charge a de minimis rate of up to 15 percent of the Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC) in your indirect cost calculations.
If you have a current NICRA with a rate of less than 15 percent, you must use it rather than the de minimis rate in your indirect cost calculations.
Please see the section above on the up to 15 percent de minimis rate as well as 2 C.F.R. § 200.414(f) and § 200.1.
Students are:
Individuals enrolled in a community college, undergraduate, or graduate program of study
Individuals participating in post-master’s or post-doctoral programs that are focused on supporting their careers or professional development
Library, archives, and museum staff participating in education and training activities focused on their careers or professional development
Examples of Student Support include:
Tuition support for students participating in the project
Salaries or stipends for graduate assistant work, if their work is focused on research and teaching activities (therefore contributing to their education)
Pay and benefits for a resident or fellow to work in a position that is intended to support their learning outcomes or professional development
Costs for travel and conference registration provided to support a student or participant’s learning outcomes or professional development
Costs of supplies and equipment provided to students to support a student’s learning outcomes or professional development
Activities not considered Student Support include:
Students employed in roles that are primarily administrative or clerical, doing work that is not primarily focused on their career or professional development. These costs should be listed in the Salaries and Wages section of the budget, and tuition paid on behalf of these students would not be considered Student Support.
See 2 C.F.R. § 200.466 (Scholarships and student aid costs); see also 2 C.F.R. § 200.430 (Compensation – personal services).
To write your Budget Justification, follow the format of the IMLS Budget Form’s section headings and save it as a PDF. Address both grant funds and cost share, if included.
Budget Section |
Instructions |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
You are responsible for making a case-by-case determination as to whether the agreement you make with a third party should be a subaward or a contract. That determination will depend upon the nature of your relationship with the third party with respect to the activities to be carried out. See 2 C.F.R. § 200.331 (Subrecipient and contractor determinations). |
|
Explain your method for calculating the costs listed in this section. See the definition and examples of Student Support. |
|
Use this section for costs that cannot be assigned to other categories. |
|
Indicate the total direct costs and specify how much you are asking from IMLS and how much you intend to provide as cost share, if any |
|
If you include indirect costs in your project budget, identify the indirect cost rate (in percent) and the base (in dollars) to which the rate is applied. Read about indirect costs in the Budget.. |
|
Indicate the total project costs here and specify how much you are asking from IMLS and how much you intend to provide as cost share, if any. |
An organization applying as a nonprofit that primarily serves and represents Native Hawaiians must submit a copy of the letter from the Internal Revenue Service indicating its eligibility for nonprofit status under the applicable provision of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended. (See 2 C.F.R. § 3187.7(b).) IMLS will not accept a letter of state sales tax exemption as proof of nonprofit status.
If your organization is a unit of state or local government or other tax-exempt multipurpose organization, you must provide an official document identifying yourself as such. If prepared specifically for this application, any nonprofit status certification from a unit of state or local government must be on the ‘parent’ organization’s letterhead and certified by an authorized official of the parent organization.
An organization applying as a nonprofit that primarily serves and represents Native Hawaiians must submit a copy of the organization’s charter documents, including the articles of incorporation, and may submit any additional documentation that demonstrates how your organization meets the requirement of primarily serving and representing Native Hawaiians.
As defined in 20 U.S.C. § 7517, the term “Native Hawaiian” means any individual who is (a) a citizen of the United States, and (b) a descendant of the people who, prior to 1778, occupied and exercised sovereignty in the area that now comprises the state of Hawaii, as evidenced by:
genealogical records,
Kupuna (elders) or Kamaaina (long-term community residents) verification, or
certified birth records.
We are committed to expanding public access to digital products created using federal funds. We ask each applicant to create and submit a Digital Products Plan describing how you will address specific aspects of creating and managing digital products, employing practices and standards that are most appropriate for your specific project. IMLS staff and peer reviewers will assess your plan, and it will be important in determining whether your project will be funded. Organize your plan to address the following:
Type
Availability
Access
Sustainability.
We participate in the Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative (FADGI), a collaborative effort by federal agencies to define common standards, guidelines, methods, and best practices for creating digital collections. Visit the FADGI website for a growing list of links to relevant standards, recommendations, and other resources. While this list is not exhaustive—nor do we endorse any specific resource—applicants considering digital projects may find the information useful.
Use the guidance below to help you create and organize your Digital Products Plan.
T ype
What digital products will you create?
Most projects are likely to generate digital content, resources, or assets. They may be digitized or born-digital products created by individuals, project teams, or through community gatherings. Examples include, but are not limited to, still images, audio files, moving images, microfilm, object inventories, object catalogs, artworks, books, posters, curricula, field books, maps, notebooks, scientific labels, metadata schema, charts, tables, drawings, workflows, teacher resources, and software, including source code, algorithms, applications, and digital tools, plus accompanying documentation.
In your Digital Products Plan,
describe the digital content, resources, or assets you will create or collect,
the quantities of each type,
the digital file format(s),
the accompanying metadata, and,
any relevant standards you will use.
If you are developing software, you should also specify the programming languages, platforms, frameworks, software, or other applications you will use to create your software and explain why you chose them.
A vailability
How will you make your digital products openly available (as appropriate)?
We encourage grant recipients to make works produced with IMLS support widely available, and to share their work products (including publications, datasets, educational resources, software, and digital content) whenever possible through free and open-access journals and repositories. Your project may involve making digital products available through public or access-controlled websites, kiosks, or live or recorded programs.
We expect you to ensure that publications produced under an award (including but not limited to peer-reviewed manuscripts resulting from research conducted under an award) are made available in a manner that permits the public to access, read, download, and analyze the work without charge.
In your Digital Products Plan,
describe how you will make the digital content, resources, assets, software, and metadata available to the public;
include details such as the delivery strategy (e.g., openly available online, available to specified audiences) and underlying hardware/software platforms and infrastructure (e.g., specific digital repository software or leased services, accessibility via standard web browsers, requirements for special software tools to use the content, delivery enabled by IIIF specifications); and
identify and explain the reasons for any limitations on availability.
Access
What rights will you assert over your digital products, and what limitations, if any, will you place on their use?
Will your products implicate privacy concerns or cultural sensitivities, and if so, how will you address them?
Award recipients may copyright any work that is subject to copyright and that was developed under an award or for which ownership was purchased. However, IMLS reserves, for Federal Government purposes, a royalty-free, nonexclusive, and irrevocable right to reproduce, publish, or otherwise use the work and authorize others to reproduce, publish, or otherwise use the work.
We expect applicants receiving federal funds for developing or creating digital products to release these files under open-source licenses to maximize access and promote reuse. All work products resulting from IMLS funding should be distributed for free or at cost unless IMLS has provided written approval for another arrangement.
In your Digital Products Plan,
identify any licenses under which digital products will be shared (e.g., Creative Commons licenses, RightsStatements.org statements);
describe what intellectual property rights you will assert over your digital products and explain any limitations or conditions you will place on their use, and;
if your products implicate privacy concerns or cultural sensitivities, describe these issues and how you plan to address them.
S ustainability
How will you address the sustainability of your digital products?
To the maximum extent possible, the digital products created with IMLS funding should be freely and readily available for use and reuse by libraries, archives, museums, and the public, as appropriate.
Some digital products that are generated during a project should be long-lived, requiring permanent preservation, and others (e.g., preliminary analyses, drafts of papers, plans for future work, peer-review assessments, most social media communications, and communications with colleagues) should be retained and shared in the medium- or short-term.
In your Digital Products Plan,
describe your plan for preserving and maintaining digital products during and after the period of performance;
identify the appropriate length of time different digital products should be curated;
address storage systems, shared repositories, technical documentation, migration planning, and commitment of organizational funding for these purposes.
The following guidance applies if you’re requesting support for general conservation surveys, detailed conservation surveys, and environmental surveys.
A general conservation survey is a broad assessment of all an organization’s collections and environmental conditions. Its purpose is to describe conditions, identify conservation problems, and suggest future conservation activities in general terms. For most institutions, it is the logical first step in collections conservation.
The general conservation survey report should include the following:
an executive summary;
general information about your Tribe or organization;
the goals of the survey;
an overview of the collections, their condition, and policies governing their care;
descriptions of the condition of your building, facilities, and all exhibition and storage areas;
descriptions of climate control and environmental conditions;
information about staffing, including training needs; and
recommendations for future conservation care in order of priority (to be used as the basis of a long-range conservation plan).
A detailed conservation survey is a systematic, item-by-item examination of all or part of a museum’s collections by a conservation professional. The product of a detailed conservation survey should be a set of condition reports that identifies the condition of each object or specimen, its treatment priority, and the cost and method of treatment. A detailed conservation survey should precede any request for an IMLS grant to fund treatment.
This type of survey can help you identify conservation problems specific to a particular collection, object, or specimen, including the need for treatment; establish priorities for treatment; and determine the resources and time necessary to address any issues.
An environmental survey is an assessment of environmental conditions, including but not limited to temperature, relative humidity, and light. It is conducted by a conservation professional with input from other types of consultants as needed. You may use funds to survey environmental conditions in exhibition areas, storage areas, and other places where collections are housed.
An environmental survey can help you:
identify specific environmental problems,
set priorities for making environmental improvements,
design specific solutions for correcting environmental problems,
develop a monitoring program to better determine existing environmental conditions, and
map collections (for living plants).
In Section 8 of the IMLS Museum Program Information Form, we ask you to select from one to eight keywords that best characterize your project from the options that appear alphabetically below. We may use these keywords as search terms in our compilations describing the agency's grantmaking and/or provide them as tools to help applicants, other awardees, and the public understand more about what we support.
A-B-C
D-E-F-G
H-I-J-K-L
M-N-O
|
P-Q-R-S
T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z
|
File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
File Title | Native American/Native Hawaiian Museum Services FY25 NOFO |
Subject | Inspire! Grants for Small Museums |
Author | InstituteofMuseumandLibraryServices@imls.gov;JBalutis@imls.gov |
File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
File Created | 2024-09-11 |