Museums Empowered: Professional Development Opportunities for Museum Staff is a special initiative of the Museums for America grant program. It is designed 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
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: 11/15/2022
Size of the Grant: $250,000
Grant Duration: 3 years
Details:
Museums Empowered has four project categories:
- Digital Technology: Provide museum staff with the skills to integrate digital technology into museum operations.
- Diversity and Inclusion: Support museum staff in providing inclusive services to people of diverse geographic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds and to individuals with disabilities.
- Evaluation: Strengthen the ability of museum staff to use evaluation as a tool to shape museum programs and improve outcomes.
- Organizational Management: Strengthen and support museum staff as the essential part of a resilient organizational culture.
The choice of program goal also informs the choice of project category (i.e., Digital Technology, Diversity and Inclusion, Evaluation, and Organizational Management), which is requested in the IMLS Museum Program Information Form.
- Goal 1, Digital Technology: Provide museum staff with the skills to integrate digital technology into museum operations.
- Goal 2, Diversity and Inclusion: Support museum staff in providing inclusive 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 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.
- o 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
- Award Ceiling: $250,000
- Award Floor: $5,000
- Anticipated period of performance September 1, 2023 – August 31, 2026. Project activities may be carried out for one to three years
Eligibility Criteria
- To be eligible for an award under this Museums Empowered 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
- 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 listed in the above three criteria;
- 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.
- 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.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
