The Museums Empowered is a special initiative of the Museums for America grant program to support projects that use the transformative power of professional development and training to generate systemic change within museums of all types and sizes.
Donor Name: Institute of Museum and Library Services
State: All States
County: All Counties
U.S. Territory: Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, or Republic of Palau
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 11/15/2023
Size of the Grant: $5,000 – $250,000
Grant Duration: 3 years
Details:
Projects are expected to involve multiple levels of staff, leadership, and volunteers in a set of logical, interrelated activities tied directly to addressing a key need or challenge; reflect a thorough understanding of current practice and knowledge about professional development; and generate measurable results.
Goals
- Goal 1, Digital Technology: Provide museum staff with the skills to integrate digital technology into museum operations.
- Goal 2, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Support museum staff in providing inclusive and equitable services to people of diverse geographic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds and to individuals with disabilities.
- Objective 2.1: Create training and learning opportunities that increase cultural competency of museum staff and enhance relevancy of museum programs.
- Objective 2.2: Develop and implement inclusive and equitable fellowship, internship, and mentoring programs to increase support for emerging professionals from diverse communities entering the museum field.
- Goal 3, Evaluation: Strengthen the ability of museum staff to use evaluation as a tool to shape museum programs and improve outcomes.
- Objective 3.1: Increase staff knowledge of program evaluation methods and the usefulness of evaluation reports, tools, data, and metrics.
- Objective 3.2: Provide museum staff with the tools and strategies to adapt evaluation methods to address a specific audience or institutional need.
- Goal 4, Organizational Management: Strengthen and support museum staff as the essential part of a resilient organizational culture.
- Objective 4.1: Develop comprehensive organizational learning opportunities that address one or more emerging priorities facing a museum.
- Objective 4.2: Develop programs that address the specific learning and growth opportunities identified by staff needs assessments.
Funding Information
- Total amount of funding IMLS expects to award through this announcement $4,299,000
- Expected amount of individual awards $5,000 – $250,000
- Average amount of funding per award experienced in previous years $214,950
Period of Performance
September 1, 2024 – August 31, 2027. Project activities may be carried out for one to three years.
Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible for an award under this Museums for America Notice of Funding Opportunity, your organization must meet all three of the following criteria:
- Must be either a unit of State, local, or tribal government or be a private, nonprofit organization that has tax-exempt status under the Internal Revenue Code;
- Must be located in one of the 50 States of the United States of America, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, or the Republic of Palau; and
- Must qualify as one of the following:
- A museum that, using a professional staff, is organized on a permanent basis for essentially educational, cultural heritage, or aesthetic purposes; owns or uses tangible objects, either animate or inanimate; cares for these objects; and exhibits these objects to the general public on a regular basis through facilities that it owns or operates.
- What types of institutions are included in the term “museum”? If they otherwise meet these requirements, “museums” include, but are not limited to, aquariums, arboretums, art museums, botanical gardens, children’s/youth museums, general museums (those having two or more significant disciplines), historic houses/sites, history museums, natural history/anthropology museums, nature centers, planetariums, science/technology centers, specialized museums (limited to a single distinct subject), and zoological parks.
- What does it mean to be “using a professional staff”? An institution uses a professional staff if it employs at least one staff member, or the full-time equivalent, whether paid or unpaid, primarily engaged in the acquisition, care, or exhibition to the public of objects owned or used by the institution.
- What does it mean to “exhibit the objects to the general public”? An institution exhibits objects to the general public if such exhibition is a primary purpose of the institution. An institution that exhibits objects to the general public for at least 120 days a year is deemed to exhibit objects to the general public on a regular basis. An institution that does not have the exhibition of objects as a primary purpose and/or does not exhibit objects to the public for at least 120 days a year may be determined to be eligible as a museum under certain circumstances. For more information,
- A public or private nonprofit agency that is responsible for the operation of a museum that meets the eligibility criteria in 1, 2, and 3(a), applying on behalf of the museum. Native American tribal organizations may apply if they otherwise meet the above eligibility requirements.
- A museum that, using a professional staff, is organized on a permanent basis for essentially educational, cultural heritage, or aesthetic purposes; owns or uses tangible objects, either animate or inanimate; cares for these objects; and exhibits these objects to the general public on a regular basis through facilities that it owns or operates.
Eligibility of Museums Located within a Parent Organization
A museum located within a parent organization that is a State, local, or tribal government or multipurpose nonprofit entity, such as a municipality, university, historical society, foundation, or cultural center, may apply on its own behalf if the museum:
- is able to independently fulfill all the eligibility requirements
- functions as a discrete unit within the parent organization;
- has its own fully segregated and itemized operating budget; and
- has the authority to make the application on its own. When any of the last three conditions cannot be met, a museum may only apply through its parent organization.
Eligibility of Nonprofit Organization Affiliated with a Museum
- IMLS may determine that a nonprofit organization that is affiliated with a museum is eligible for this program where the organization can demonstrate that it has the ability to administer the project and can ensure compliance with the terms of this Notice of Funding Opportunity and the applicable law, including the IMLS Assurances and Certifications. The applicant organization must submit an agreement from the museum that details the activities that the applicant and museum will perform and binds the museum to the statements and assurances made in the grant application.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
