Inspire Grants for Small Museums is a special initiative of the Museums for America grant program designed to support small museums of all disciplines in project-based efforts to serve the public through educational programs and exhibits, community partnerships, and collections stewardship activities.
Donor Name: Institute of Museum and Library Services
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 03/13/2026
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: 3 Years
Details:
The goal of the Inspire program is to build the capacity of small museums to provide museum services to their communities through supporting:
- The development of experiential learning and discovery in small museums; and
- The management and care of collections in small museums.
The primary audiences for this program are small museums, museum professionals, and the publics they serve. Eligibility is restricted to organizations that are:
- Located in the United States or any U.S. Territories or freely associated States; AND
- A unit of state, local or Tribal government or a private, nonprofit organization; AND
- A museum or a parent entity that operates a qualifying small museum.
A special note regarding small museums: IMLS does not have fixed parameters to determine the size of a museum. All applicants have the opportunity to describe structural or organizational issues that restrict the abilities and capacity of the museum in the Organizational Profile. Attributes that should be addressed include, but are not limited to:
- number of staff members and volunteers;
- estimate of total person-hours worked per week;
- operating budget and sources of revenue;
- number and types of objects in the collection;
- size of facility and property;
- types and numbers of audiences served; and
- size relative to other organizations of the same discipline, or within the same geographic region.
Funding Information
- Total amount of funding IMLS expects to award through this announcement: $3,000,000
- Expected amount of individual awards
- Small Project: $5,000 – $25,000
- Large Project: $25,001 – $75,000
- Average amount of funding per award experienced in previous years: $43,147
Project Period
September 1, 2026 – August 31, 2029.
Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible for an award under the Inspire program, your organization must meet all three of the following eligibility criteria.
Your organization must be:
- a unit of State, local, or Tribal government; or
- a private, nonprofit organization that has tax-exempt status under the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended (you will need to include proof of this if applicable to your organization.
Your organization 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.
Your organization must qualify as one of the following:
- A museum that:
- uses a professional staff;
- is organized on a permanent basis for essentially educational, cultural heritage, or aesthetic purposes;
- owns or uses tangible objects, including living collections;
- 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 university, historical society, foundation, or cultural center, may apply on its own behalf if the museum:
- can 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
They may determine that a nonprofit organization affiliated with a museum is eligible for this program if:
- its sole mission is to support the specified museum;
- it has the ability to administer the project; and
- it 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.
