The Mercer County Executive and Board of County Commissioners, through the Mercer County Cultural & Heritage Commission (MCC&HC), offers grants to Mercer County-based organizations that demonstrate professionalism, commitment, and excellence in supporting and producing history-related sites, events, and programs.
Donor Name: Mercer County
State: New Jersey
County: Mercer County (NJ)
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 08/29/2025
Size of the Grant: $1000 to $10,000
Grant Duration: 1 Year
Details:
Funding Categories
- General Operating Support (GOS)
- GOS grants are available to non-profit history organizations only. Requests may not exceed 30% of the average of last year and the current year total operating income, not to exceed $7,000, and require a 1:1 cash match. GOS grants provide funding for the basic operating costs of a historical society, historical museum, historic site, or other not-for-profit history organization based in Mercer County. Applicants should describe the full range of their organization’s operations, and their grant must demonstrate high standards of history programming and management.
- Annual budget expenditures may include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following:
- Staff salaries
- Consultant fees
- Professional development
- Staff, volunteer, and board training
- Fees (for certified signer, e.g.) or materials to enable compliance with the ADA of 1990
- Printing, postage, telephone, utilities costs
- Marketing, publicity
- Fundraising and development
- Historic maintenance: collections, interiors, etc.
- HVAC expenses directly related to preservation of historic collections
- Lease and mortgage expenses
- Related equipment purchase, installation or lease
- Insurance and/or audit expenses
- GOS grants are available to non-profit history organizations only. Requests may not exceed 30% of the average of last year and the current year total operating income, not to exceed $7,000, and require a 1:1 cash match. GOS grants provide funding for the basic operating costs of a historical society, historical museum, historic site, or other not-for-profit history organization based in Mercer County. Applicants should describe the full range of their organization’s operations, and their grant must demonstrate high standards of history programming and management.
- Special Project Support (SP)
- Special Project (SP) grants are available to Mercer County-based non-profits and government units. A 1:1 match is required; however 50% of the match for SP grants may be in the form of in-kind donations. These grants support history events, programs, or projects related to the history of NJ, Mercer County, or its municipalities. These grants may not be used for general administrative salaries
- Eligible SP projects include:
- Public historic/heritage programs including: lectures, performances, demonstrations, workshops, exhibitions, conferences, tours
- Educational projects that focus on New Jersey, Mercer County or local history Research, writing, and/or producing of publication projects with public benefit, including historic brochures and signage
- Technical assistance projects addressing a specific organizational need (e.g., fundraising, long-range planning, developing capacity to offer programming on-line, etc.)
- Conservation and preservation of historic materials
- Oral history projects (must include transcriptions and public access provision)
- Media and digital historic projects, and microfilming
- Research related to historic preservation projects
- Work necessary to nominate a site for State or National Registers of Historic Places
- Genealogical projects resulting in research tools that have use to the wider historical community
- ADA assistive services for historical programming, including sign or audio interpretation, rental of listening devices, publication of large print programs, etc.
Funding Information
The total amount requested may not exceed $7,000.
Grant Period
January 1 – December 31, 2026.
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligible applicants must be:
- Mercer County-based, non-for-profit history organizations, societies, and sites (eligible to apply for GOS or SP grants)
- Other Mercer County non-profit organizations offering special programs, services, activities, or materials that relate to the history of the State, County or any of the County’s 12 municipalities (eligible to apply for SP grants ONLY)
- Mercer County-based community and educational entities, including libraries, universities, colleges, and schools (eligible to apply for SP grants ONLY).
- Non-profit applicants must:
- be based in Mercer County
- be incorporated in the State of New Jersey
- have been in existence for at least two (2) years prior to submitting a grant application; and must demonstrate an ability to provide history or related services/programs to the general public
- be approved as a non-profit organization under the Internal Revenue Service’s Section 501(c)(3) or Section 501(c)(4) – or have approval pending at the time of application.
For more information, visit Mercer County.
