We The People Challenge Grants

Bruce Cole

Readers of the OAH Newsletter may find the following description of the new NEH We the People Challenge Grants of interest.

Deepened understanding of United States history requires a strong institutional base for teaching, research, preservation, and public programming. Through its Challenge Grants program, the National Endowment for the Humanities has a distinguished record of helping local, state, and national institutions secure their humanities resources and activities for the future. As part of NEH’s overall We the People initiative, the Office of Challenge Grants is offering special encouragement for proposals to strengthen programs that enhance understanding of the nation’s founding events, democratic institutions, and cultural heritage. NEH is particularly interested in projects that advance knowledge of founding principles of the United States in their full historical and institutional context.

Applications for We the People Challenge Grants are welcome from colleges and universities, museums, libraries, historical societies and historic sites, public television and radio stations, scholarly associations, state humanities councils, and other nonprofit entities. A college, for example, might seek to endow a teaching professorship in early United States history. A research library might want to digitize and endow maintenance of its collection of rare colonial family documents, thus improving access for scholars. A university might seek to endow a research center for the study of democratic theory. A museum might seek aid to renovate gallery space and to endow a series of educational exhibitions on United States economic history from the Federalist through the Jacksonian periods. A historical society might apply to endow a program of seminars for high school history teachers, bringing scholars and teachers together at a significant historic site to further understanding of crucial events in our nation’s history.

Challenge grants are flexible tools that can support a variety of purposes. The funds can augment or establish endowments to pay for humanities staff and programming. The money can be used to renovate or construct facilities, purchase capital equipment and upgrade technology, add to library holdings, and preserve existing collections. With their three-to-one matching requirement, NEH Challenge Grants help institutions broaden their base of financial support. Since its inception in 1977 the Challenge Grants program has leveraged over 1.3 billion dollars in nonfederal contributions to the humanities.

Restrictions in the regular NEH Challenge Grants program regarding subsequent challenge grants do not apply to We the People Challenge Grants. The waiting period and 4:1 matching ratio required of recipients of prior NEH challenge grants are suspended for this special initiative. Prior recipients, current holders, and current applicants for regular NEH challenge grants are welcome to apply. The next deadline for submissions is February 2, 2005. Further information and application guidelines can be found on the NEH website at <http://www.neh.gov/>. To discuss an idea for a proposal, call Challenge Grants staff at 202-606-8309 or email <challenge@neh.gov>.