Climate Smart Humanities Organizations NOFO Sept. 2023 20230914-CLI.pdf

Notice of Funding Opportunity

Funding Opportunity Title:

Climate Smart Humanities Organizations

Funding Opportunity Number: 20230914-CLI

Funding Opportunity Type: New

Federal Assistance Listing Number: 45.130

Application Deadline: September 14, 2023

Ensure your SAM.gov and Grants.gov registrations and passwords are current.

It may take up to one month to register with SAM.gov and Grants.gov.

NEH will not grant deadline extensions for lack of registration.

Office of Challenge Programs Email: challenge@neh.gov

Telephone: 202-606-8309 Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1

OMB control number 3136-0134, expiration date October 31, 2024 mailto:challenge@neh.gov

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Executive Summary The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Office of Challenge Programs is accepting applications for the Climate Smart Humanities Organizations program. This program supports comprehensive assessment and strategic planning efforts by humanities organizations to mitigate physical and operational environmental impacts and adapt to a changing climate.

Projects will result in climate action and adaptation planning documents or similar detailed assessments including prioritized, measurable actions and their expected outcomes. Proposals must address how strategic planning for climate change will increase the organization’s resilience and support its work in the humanities over the long term. Projects are financed through a combination of federal matching funds and gifts raised from third-party non-federal sources.

Funding Opportunity Title Climate Smart Humanities Organizations

Funding Opportunity Number 20230914-CLI

Federal Assistance Listing

Number

45.130

Optional Draft Deadline August 9, 2023, 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time

Application Deadline September 14, 2023, 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time

Anticipated Award

Announcement

April 2024

Anticipated FY 2024 Funding Approximately $6,000,000

Estimated Number and Type of

Awards

Approximately 20-30 grants

Award Amounts Up to $300,000

Matching Requirements Yes, 1:1, non-federal third-party gifts. See C2. Matching

Requirements.

Period of Performance Up to 24 months.

Projects must start between May 1 and September 1, 2024.

Eligible Applicants • nonprofit organizations recognized as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code

• accredited institutions of higher education (public or nonprofit)

• state and local governments and their agencies

• federally recognized Native American Tribal governments

See C. Eligibility Information for additional information.

Program Resource Page Climate Smart Humanities Organizations | The National Endowment for the Humanities

Pre-Application Webinar

Recording https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efo1wBej6mw

Published May 5, 2023 https://www.neh.gov/program/climate-smart-humanities-organizations-0 https://www.neh.gov/program/climate-smart-humanities-organizations-0 https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Defo1wBej6mw&data=05%7C01%7Clrodriguez%40neh.gov%7C9f204bdbda964d1dd79c08db316b8269%7C93b06459c77d44b6af7fe813cddcdcc3%7C0%7C0%7C638158110048250399%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=MnruWwAvmb51hMU06lEfW84SbTZG5Ez0C1b7bSCES54%3D&reserved=0

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Table of Contents

A. Program Description

1. Purpose

2. Background

B. Federal Award Information

1. Type of Application and Award

2. Summary of Funding

C. Eligibility Information

1. Eligible Applicants

2. Matching Requirements

3. Other Eligibility Information

D. Application and Submission Information

1. Application Package

2. Content and Form of Application Submission

3. Unique Entity Identifier and System for Award Management

4. Submission Dates and Times

5. Intergovernmental Review

6. Funding Restrictions

E. Application Review Information

1. Review Criteria

2. Review and Selection Process

3. Assessment of Risk and Other Pre-Award Activities

4. Anticipated Announcement and Award Dates

F. Federal Award Administration Information

1. Federal Award Notices

2. Administrative and National Policy Requirements

3. Reporting

G. Agency Contacts

H. Other Information

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A. Program Description

1. Purpose The Climate Smart Humanities Organizations program strengthens the institutional base of the humanities by funding organizational assessments and strategic planning that sustain and protect historical, cultural, educational, intellectual, and physical assets from the risks of climate change. As energy costs rise and natural disasters become more frequent, humanities organizations – such as museums, libraries, archives, historic sites, and colleges and universities

– face an enormous task: to anticipate operational, physical, and financial impacts of current and future climate-related events on their institutions and the audiences they serve, while also reducing their own impacts on the environment.

To increase climate-related resilience, organizations should establish plans and prioritize actions that reduce their impact on the environment through mitigation and their vulnerability from extreme events through adaptation. Together, mitigation and adaptation can inform comprehensive resilience planning that addresses climate challenges, protects assets, reduces costs, and facilitates collaboration between executive leadership, staff, volunteers, consultants, board members, community leaders, and the audiences served by the organization. Strategic planning for climate change is an essential part of sustaining humanities organizations’ operations and activities – becoming climate smart.

The Climate Smart Humanities Organizations program offers federal matching funds to support comprehensive organizational assessments like those described above. The strategic planning project might consider challenges including – but not limited to – reduction of the institution’s carbon footprint or greenhouse gas emissions, climate-related threats to physical facilities, continuity of operations, staff and visitor safety, financial sustainability, and the role of humanities organizations as community leaders before, during, and after climatic events.

Organizational assessments and strategic plans must convey direct, tangible benefits to the applicant institution.

Examples of climate smart projects might include:

• A university museum develops a strategic plan to meet campus-wide zero emissions targets and increase its resilience. The process includes an audit of current energy use, evaluation of building and mechanical systems, and calculating the carbon footprint of daily operations. Working with university facilities and outside contractors, the museum establishes a step-by-step plan that details operational and physical changes required to meet zero emissions, along with required resources.

• An archive located adjacent to a river analyzes the costs, risks, and benefits of adapting its current building to meet increasing flood hazards, renovating or relocating an existing building farther inland, or building a new, purpose-built structure outside of the local community. Activities include working with local experts to identify projected flood risk, pre-decisional cost estimates for renovation and new construction, and community listening sessions to evaluate the impact of a relocated archive.

• Five historic homes establish a consortium to coordinate resilience efforts through individual and joint strategic planning. Working with a shared consultant, each site identifies climate-related risks and opportunities that impact their humanities

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collections and programming and develops a comprehensive climate action plan specific to their buildings and operations. The group also engages in joint training exercises and establishes a formal partnership to develop a shared off-site collection storage space that is more energy efficient, reduces costs, and protects humanities collections from climate-related hazards.

Assessment and planning activities Climate smart strategic planning focuses on two distinct but related types of activities that increase resilience: mitigation planning that focuses on reducing your institution’s environmental impact and energy costs; and adaptation planning that prepares for and adjusts to actual and expected climate change scenarios to protect humanities-focused institutional assets and facilities. To learn more about mitigation and adaptation, see the Frequently Asked Questions on the program resource page.

NEH encourages you to propose comprehensive assessment and strategic planning activities that address both mitigation and adaptation, but you may choose to focus on one or the other.

All projects will result in one or more strategic planning document(s) and a prioritized list of climate smart actions that includes targets, timelines, and required resources. Strategic planning documents should be informed by a range of assessments and activities that address the whole of a humanities organization’s operations. The plans should also articulate the benefits to the organization’s cultural and educational assets, facilities, services, staff, and audiences served. To increase awareness of climate smart strategic planning efforts, NEH encourages wide public and professional dissemination of your final plan. See Grant products.

Mitigation activities inform a comprehensive climate action plan or similar strategic document that details a framework for measuring and reducing your organization’s carbon footprint and other climatic impacts to reduce energy costs and increase resilience. Climate action plans generally include an inventory of existing emissions and waste production, energy audits or benchmarking, emission reduction or clean energy targets, and prioritized reduction actions and resources necessary to achieve stated goals. Comprehensive climate action plans should be based on multiple building and operational assessments such as:

• comprehensive energy audits of an organization’s building(s), land use, utilities, operations, and facilities

• calculating the organization’s carbon footprint, including energy sources, transportation, material use, and supplies

• testing of existing HVAC, natural gas, water, and other systems to improve efficiency

• installation of energy, waste, or carbon footprint monitoring and sub-metering equipment to measure consumption

The resulting climate action plan might set intentions for short-, medium-, or long-term organizational actions such as:

• evaluating alternative energy sources, such as solar, geothermal, wind, or hydrogen fuel cells as long term cost-efficient and sustainable options

• identifying building improvements that would result in increased operational efficiencies and lower energy use

• landscape improvements, such as reforestation or native groundcover, to support better environmental conditions and offset carbon producing-activities

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• encouraging lower-carbon transportation options for visitors, staff, and operations such as bicycle and pedestrian access, public transportation, and ride sharing

• establishing organizational recycling, composting, reuse, and water reduction plans

Adaptation activities inform a comprehensive climate vulnerability assessment or similar risk-based adaptation plan that identifies the likelihood of future climate hazards and their potential impact on your humanities organization’s building(s), operations, finances, programming, staff, and audiences. A risk-based adaptation plan generally includes an assessment of demographic and environmental context, impact of past climatic events, modeling of climate trends and future scenarios, and a prioritized list of action steps and resources required to reduce risk. A comprehensive climate adaptation plan should be informed by multiple types of risk-based assessments such as:

• examining location-specific risks associated with sea level rise, extreme weather, flooding, or wildfire

• assessing buildings and grounds to determine capacity to withstand current and future climatic events

• evaluating the impact of changing environmental conditions on programs and operations, such as timing and location of events, operating hours, and seasonal programming

• collecting data to record trends in temperature, weather, or other climate-related events over time and modeling future scenarios

• assessing current emergency and continuity of operation plans to align with climate-smart strategic planning and support the humanities mission of the organization

The resulting climate adaptation plan might set intentions for short-, medium-, or long-term actions for your organization such as:

• developing conceptual plans to retrofit, relocate, or strengthen existing buildings, systems, and landscaping

• considering climate smart water management, such as reduction of impervious surfaces, and water recycling/reuse efforts that capture rainfall and mitigate water damage to humanities-centered buildings, collections, and programming

• establishing emergency and continuity of operation plans and training for staff, volunteers, and visitors

• development of mutual aid networks of related humanities organizations in a geographic area

• establishing community partnerships that support the organization’s adaptation and resilience efforts

Comprehensive organizational resilience planning will involve overlapping activities that support both mitigation and adaptation efforts. NEH encourages you to develop proposals that reflect both institutional and audience needs and include climate smart strategic planning activities specific to your location, humanities mission, and resources. A comprehensive planning process might include additional climate smart activities such as:

• hiring a sustainability officer or contractor to evaluate current operations and coordinate assessment efforts for the final strategic plan

• training to encourage climate smart behavior of staff and visitors/users to reduce institutional environmental impact and raise awareness of climate smart efforts

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• forming internal and external working groups, including consultants and community forums

• collecting and analyzing data, writing reports, and working with outside experts

• developing educational materials, signs, equipment, and training activities directly associated with humanities-centered climate smart strategic planning

• disseminating the completed strategic plans; for example, through online posting, publication, and presentations

Consortium proposals

You may propose to undertake planning efforts for your organization alone or as part of a consortium of humanities organizations in the same location or region. Consortium proposals consist of two or more humanities organizations working together on strategic planning for climate change and might include sharing consultants, training, or resources. Project outcomes will include actionable climate smart strategic plans for each consortium member and/or a detailed, actionable climate smart plan for future partnership activities, including roles and responsibilities of each consortium member. Joint activities may include:

• utilizing consultants or sharing existing staff with smaller humanities organizations to support comprehensive strategic planning for climate change

• establishing a mutual aid network of humanities institutions with shared emergency supplies, training with first responders, and contracts for remediation services after severe weather events

• planning for shared resources, such as sourcing alternative energy, shared collection storage spaces, or transportation partnerships that result in mutual benefit, lower costs, and reduced carbon footprint

• initiating collective efforts to meet organizational, state, or local climate targets, such as emissions or energy use reduction, building standards, or zero waste goals

• establishing partnerships that facilitate reuse and repurposing of materials and/or supplies

• developing shared climate literacy efforts for staff, visitors, students, or other users

Your organization and all organizations that receive NEH funds in a consortium proposal must work in the humanities (see A2. Background). You must identify these consortium organizations in the budget as subrecipients (see F5. Subawards/Consortiums/Contractual Costs in the budget instructions) and provide a letter of commitment from each that explains their role in the project in Attachment 5: Letters of commitment and support. Subrecipients must meet NEH eligibility requirements and provide you with a subrecipient budget in Attachment 8:

Subrecipient budget(s). Subrecipients may raise and contribute third-party non-federal gift funds to help meet your organization’s match requirement; however, funds may not originate directly from the subrecipient organizations. See Subrecipient monitoring requirements.

Nonprofit organizations whose work is not in the humanities, such as performing or creative arts centers, may participate in consortium activities and should provide a letter of commitment but may not receive NEH funds. NEH will require successful applicants to submit a formal Memorandum of Agreement signed by all consortium participants.

Grant products Projects must result in one or more detailed, data-informed climate smart strategic planning documents with specific goals, targets, and associated actions that your organization intends to undertake after the period of performance of the NEH award. The climate smart plan should

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describe the expected benefits to the organization’s cultural and educational assets, facilities, services, staff, and audiences served, and how it will enhance, promote, and sustain work in the humanities. It may exist in digital or hard copy and may include information regarding the planning process, operational assessments, impact on the humanities, results of energy or building audits, conceptual design documents, educational materials, future targets, and evaluation metrics.

You should propose activities to disseminate the completed strategic plan to appropriate stakeholders, including board members, staff, audiences (e.g., visitors, students, users), municipal partners (e.g., first responders), volunteers, community representatives, and peer institutions. NEH encourages you to make your plan publicly available on your website and in other public-facing formats. You must submit a white paper and your completed plan to NEH.

See F3. Reporting.

Restriction on implementation activities, design, renovation and construction

Implementation activities proposed in the final climate smart strategic plan must be pre-decisional; that is, they do not commit the organization to a particular plan of action beyond the period of performance of the NEH award. Rather, as with all strategic plans, the implementation activities are considered iterative and set intentions - but not final policy - for future organizational behavior.

Similarly, building or site renderings and preliminary design documents developed as part of climate smart strategic planning must also be pre-decisional, that is, they can inform opportunities identified in the final climate smart plan, but not commit the organization to a particular course of action. No element of the final climate smart plan may restrict the subsequent consideration of alternatives to avoid or minimize adverse effects on historic properties or sites. Advanced schematic design and construction documents, including those intended to be used for procurement and/or financing, and planning solely intended to inform future construction or renovation are not allowable in this program. See Related funding opportunities.

If your application includes activities that would require review under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, NEH will remove those from the scope of the project prior to issuing an offer or award. Removal of these activities may result in a corresponding budget reduction.

See D6. Funding Restrictions for unallowable activities.

See E1. Review Criteria for the criteria NEH will use to evaluate applications under this notice.

2. Background NEH offers this funding opportunity under the authority of 20 U.S.C. § 956. Awards are subject to 2 CFR Part 200 Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards, and the General Terms and Conditions for Awards to Organizations (for grants and cooperative agreements issued January 1, 2022 or later).

Under Section 3(a) of the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965, as amended, “The term ‘humanities’ includes, but is not limited to, the study of the following:

language, both modern and classical; linguistics; literature; history; jurisprudence; philosophy;

https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?hl=false&edition=prelim&req=granuleid%3AUSC-prelim-title20-section956 https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=236bb02f01d2e050f7a5b60c88a67066&mc=true&node=pt2.1.200&rgn=div5 https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=236bb02f01d2e050f7a5b60c88a67066&mc=true&node=pt2.1.200&rgn=div5 https://www.neh.gov/general-terms-and-conditions-awards-organizations-grants-and-cooperative-agreements-issued-january-2022 https://www.neh.gov/general-terms-and-conditions-awards-organizations-grants-and-cooperative-agreements-issued-january-2022 https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-1998-title20/pdf/USCODE-1998-title20-chap26-subchapI-sec952.pdf https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-1998-title20/pdf/USCODE-1998-title20-chap26-subchapI-sec952.pdf

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archaeology; comparative religion; ethics; the history, criticism and theory of the arts; those aspects of the social sciences which have humanistic content and employ humanistic methods;

and the study and application of the humanities to the human environment with particular attention to reflecting our diverse heritage, traditions, and history and to the relevance of the humanities to the current conditions of national life.”

Use the Funded Projects Query Form to find examples of NEH-supported projects.

Learn more about NEH.

American Tapestry: Weaving Together Past, Present, and Future American Tapestry: Weaving Together Past, Present, and Future is a wide-ranging special initiative at NEH that leverages the humanities to tackle some of the most pressing challenges of our time: strengthening our democracy, advancing equity for all, and addressing our changing climate. The initiative encourages humanities projects that elevate the role of civics in schools and public programs, advance knowledge of the country’s history and political institutions, and examine threats to its democratic principles. The initiative also encourages projects that explore the untold stories of historically underrepresented groups and build capacity at cultural and educational institutions to benefit underserved communities. Finally, the initiative welcomes projects that promote research into the historical roots and cultural effects of climate change and support the cultural and educational sectors in building climate resilience. By supporting humanities projects that align with these three themes — strengthening our democracy, advancing equity for all, and addressing our changing climate — the American Tapestry initiative seeks to tell our country’s history in all its complexity and diversity.

NEH also encourages projects that include Native American organizations and communities as applicants and project partners. NEH will give all applications equal consideration in accordance with the program’s review criteria.

B. Federal Award Information

1. Type of Application and Award NEH seeks new applications in response to this notice.

NEH will provide funding in the form of grants.

2. Summary of Funding

Award amounts NEH anticipates awarding approximately $6,000,000 to an estimated 20-30 recipients per deadline.

You may request up to $300,000 in federal matching funds. Your request should be appropriate to your organization’s fundraising capacity, number of participating organizations, and the goals of the project.

Successful applicants will receive an offer of federal matching funds, subject to specific regulatory and other conditions. See C2. Matching Requirements. NEH will issue the award only when you have met the conditions of the offer. Recipients must certify that they have raised https://securegrants.neh.gov/publicquery/main.aspx https://www.neh.gov/about https://www.neh.gov/americantapestry

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eligible contributions from third-party non-federal gifts before NEH releases federal matching funds (see NEH Federal Matching Funds Guidelines). The full amount of federal matching funds may not be available for release in the first year of a multi-year period of performance. Typically, NEH distributes federal matching funds on an annual basis over the period of performance.

NEH will not determine the amount available until Congress makes appropriations for FY 2024.

NEH will issue awards subject to the availability of appropriated funds. NEH is publishing this notice as a contingency action to ensure that NEH can process applications and issue awards in a timely manner, should sufficient funds become available.

If you receive an offer, NEH will assess your institution’s ability to raise and certify funds, meet award conditions, and the progress of your proposed project. NEH may withdraw its offer if you fail to meet the offer conditions or raise matching funds with supporting documentation. See E4.

Anticipated Announcements and Award Dates.

Issuance of an award and funding beyond the first year is dependent on the availability of appropriated funds in subsequent fiscal years, satisfactory performance (including meeting the offer conditions and raising third-party non-federal gifts), and a decision that continued funding is in the best interest of the federal government. Failure to raise third-party non-federal gifts according to the agreed upon funding schedule may also result in a reduction or forfeiture of award funds.

Period of performance You may request a period of performance up to 24 months with a start date between May 1 and September 1, 2024.

The period of performance is the span of time during which you may incur expenses to carry out the work under the award. It must start on the first day of the month and end on the last day of a month.

C. Eligibility Information

1. Eligible Applicants To be eligible to apply, your organization must be established in the United States or its jurisdictions as one of the following types:

• a nonprofit organization recognized as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code

• an accredited institution of higher education (public or nonprofit)

• a state or local government or one of their agencies

• a federally recognized Native American Tribal government

The organization or its subunit must work primarily in the humanities and support research, education, preservation, or public programming in one or more fields of the humanities.

If your organization is an eligible applicant, it may apply on behalf of a consortium of collaborating humanities organizations. Your organization will function as the recipient of the NEH award and will be programmatically, legally, and fiscally responsible for the award, including reporting and compliance requirements, financial transactions, certification of gifts to https://www.neh.gov/grants/manage/federal-matching-funds-guidelines https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/search-for-tax-exempt-organizations https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/search-for-tax-exempt-organizations https://ope.ed.gov/dapip/#/home https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/01/28/2022-01789/indian-entities-recognized-by-and-eligible-to-receive-services-from-the-united-states-bureau-of

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release federal matching funds, and subrecipient monitoring, if applicable. The recipient may not function solely as a fiscal sponsor; your organization must make substantive contributions to the success of the project.

Individuals and other organizations, including foreign and for-profit entities, are ineligible.

Institutions of higher education and local governments In most cases, the primary applicant for Climate Smart Humanities Organizations must work solely in one or more areas of the humanities. Institutions of higher education and local/tribal governments are eligible applicants only if they are applying on behalf of one or more humanities-based subunits, such as a library, archive, or museum. Institutions of higher education and units of government proposing projects that do not focus exclusively on humanities-based subunits and result in strategic planning documents for humanities-based institutions are not allowable. Completed plans must be specific to the subunit(s) named in the application.

Institution-specific foundations Typically, the institution undertaking a Climate Smart Humanities Organizations award applies for, receives, and manages the award (both federal matching funds and third-party non-federal gifts). However, in some instances, institution-specific foundations specifically created for the purpose of raising money for a single entity, such as a university or a museum, may serve as the legal recipient.

The institution-specific foundation must have a memorandum or other form of legal agreement in place designating it as the agent for the recipient for soliciting and receiving donations for the Climate Smart Humanities Organizations award. If NEH makes an award, the arrangement is subject to the flow down requirements at 2 CFR § 200.332.

Creative and performing arts organizations Organizations dedicated to the creation or performance of art, such as arts centers and performing arts venues, are not eligible. Such organizations may participate as a consortium member but may not receive NEH award funds. See Consortium proposals.

2. Matching Requirements

Budget expectations and fundraising You may propose a budget of up to $600,000 ($300,000 from NEH plus $300,000 in third-party non-federal gifts). The budget should be appropriate to project activities and institutional fundraising capacity. In general, NEH anticipates that budgets for projects proposed by individual organizations will be less than those proposed by consortiums.

NEH will issue awards with federal matching funds and require you to raise third-party non-federal gifts at an equal ratio to the amount you request from NEH (1:1). NEH will not release funds until you raise and certify eligible gifts. In-kind gifts and funds derived from the recipient organization are not eligible sources of certified gifts in this program.

If you apply on behalf of a consortium, consortium members may raise third-party non-federal gifts in support of the NEH award, but such gifts may not originate from the members themselves.

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-D/subject-group-ECFR031321e29ac5bbd/section-200.332

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If NEH selects your project for funding, you should raise and certify all eligible gifts and pledges from third-party non-federal sources (see Federal Matching Funds Guidelines) by March 31, 2025. If you fail to certify required gifts by then, NEH may reduce or terminate your award.

You may certify gifts at the time of application. See Attachment 9: Certification of gifts.

You must maintain auditable records of the source and use of required certified gifts. See 2 CFR § 200.306.

For additional information on allowable gifts and certification requirements, see NEH Federal Matching Funds Guidelines.

Allowability of gifts You must raise gifts from third-party non-federal sources. Gifts may not originate from the recipient institution itself. This restriction also applies to superordinate multi-campus college and university systems. You may not shift or reallocate internal funds for matching purposes.

The applicant submitting on behalf of a consortium is responsible for certifying all gifts.

Consortium members that are subrecipients may independently fundraise and secure eligible third-party non-federal gifts; however, funds may not originate from consortium members’ budgets or general operating funds.

You must use Climate Smart Humanities Organizations funds (federal matching funds and third-party non-federal gifts) only to support the purposes outlined in the approved budget within the period of performance.

See NEH Federal Matching Funds Guidelines for information on allowable gifts and the supporting documentation you must submit to NEH.

3. Other Eligibility Information If you are a current recipient of an award from the Office of Challenge Programs, you may apply to the Climate Smart Humanities Organizations program if you are in the final calendar year of your period of performance. If your project is selected for funding, NEH will not issue the Climate Smart Humanities Organizations award until you have completed all activities of the active Challenge award and you have submitted all final reports, and NEH has approved them.

This restriction only applies to awards issued through the Office of Challenge Programs; you may have multiple applications and awards through other NEH offices or divisions. Contact program staff at challenge@neh.gov if you have questions about this restriction.

If you submit multiple applications (including submitting to the wrong funding opportunity or making corrections/updates), NEH will only accept your last validated submission prior to the deadline under the correct Grants.gov funding opportunity.

You may revise and resubmit previously rejected applications. Submissions are subject to the application requirements and review criteria of this competition.

Per 2 CFR § 200.403(f), you must not include the same project costs in more than one application for federal funding and/or approved federal award budget. However, you may submit multiple proposals for complementary aspects of the same overall project. NEH may https://www.neh.gov/grants/manage/federal-matching-funds-guidelines https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=3aeab4e3a836f5b6807999701e518c94&mc=true&node=pt2.1.200&rgn=div5#se2.1.200_1306 https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=3aeab4e3a836f5b6807999701e518c94&mc=true&node=pt2.1.200&rgn=div5#se2.1.200_1306 https://www.neh.gov/grants/manage/federal-matching-funds-guidelines https://www.neh.gov/grants/manage/federal-matching-funds-guidelines https://www.neh.gov/grants/manage/federal-matching-funds-guidelines https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-E/subject-group-ECFRea20080eff2ea53/section-200.403

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disallow costs or reject applications with overlapping project costs. An individual’s level of effort cannot exceed 100% across multiple active federally funded awards.

NEH does not make awards to other federal entities. If your project is so closely intertwined with a federal entity that the project takes on characteristics of the federal entity’s own authorized activities, it is ineligible. Proposals for the construction of permanent improvements to lands or facilities that belong to another federal agency are typically ineligible for NEH support. You may use funds from, or sites and materials controlled by, other federal entities in your project, but you may not use them as gifts to release NEH matching funds.

NEH does not provide financial assistance to foreign institutions or organizations. If you are an eligible domestic entity, you may apply for collaborative projects involving foreign organizations provided you do not use NEH funds for the purpose of issuing subawards to any foreign organization, as defined in 2 CFR §§ 200.1 and .331(a). You may obtain the services of foreign individuals and consultants to carry out programmatic activities on a fee-for-service basis, as specified in 2 CFR § 200.459. You may obtain goods and services from foreign vendors, such as in-country transportation services, in accordance with 2 CFR § 200.331(b). If you plan to submit an application involving international collaboration, contact program staff at challenge@neh.gov.

Except for the rare cases covered by its late submission policy, NEH must receive your application by the deadline.

NEH will not consider incomplete, nonresponsive, or ineligible applications for funding.

NEH will not review applications that exceed page limits or deviate from formatting instructions. See the Application Components Table.

D. Application and Submission Information

1. Application Package You must apply using Grants.gov Workspace or a Grants.gov system-to-system solution. You can find this funding opportunity in Grants.gov under number 20230914-CLI. There is also a link on the program resource page.

Once you have located the funding opportunity in Grants.gov, you will find the application package under the “Package” tab. It includes a series of required and conditionally required forms. You will upload additional application components using the Attachments Form.

You must complete a multistep registration process to submit your application. See D3. Unique Entity Identifier and System for Award Management.

Contact challenge@neh.gov to request a paper copy of this notice.

If you are deaf or hard of hearing, you can contact NEH using telecommunications relay at 7-1-1.

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2. Content and Form of Application Submission Your application will include a narrative, budget, and other forms and attachments. You will complete the forms within Grants.gov Workspace and upload other components into the Attachments Form. See the Application Component Table.

NEH has assigned each application component one of the following designations:

• Required: You must submit this component.

• Conditionally Required: You must submit this component if your proposal meets the specified conditions.

• Optional: You may submit this component, but NEH does not require it.

You must submit all required components and conditionally required components relevant to your proposal. NEH will not review applications missing any required documents or relevant conditionally required documents.

In addition, NEH has established page limits for some application components:

• Mandatory: You must not exceed the page limit.

• Suggested: NEH encourages, but does not require, you to abide by the page limit.

Take note of the page limits and formatting instructions in this notice. NEH will not review applications that exceed mandatory page limits or deviate from formatting instructions.

Your application components must conform to the following formatting requirements, unless otherwise indicated:

• pages no larger than standard letter (8 ½" x 11”)

• at least one-inch margins on all sides for all pages

• a font no smaller than 11 points

In addition, you are encouraged to format your components consistent with the following:

• single-spacing

• a readable font such as Arial, Georgia, Helvetica, or Times New Roman

• any standard citation style (citations are included in page counts)

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Application Component Table Application Component File Name Designation Page limits

Grants.gov forms

SF-424 Application for Federal

Assistance - Short Organizational

Required

Supplementary Cover Sheet for

NEH Grant Programs

Required

Project/Performance Site(s)

Location Form

Required

Research and Related Budget Required

Attachments Form Required

Certification Regarding Lobbying Conditionally required

Standard Form-LLL “Disclosure of

Lobbying Activities”

Conditionally

Attachments

1: Narrative narrative.pdf Required 10 pages

(mandatory)

2: Work plan workplan.pdf Required 2 pages

(suggested)

3. Institutional profile profie.pdf Required 2 pages

(suggested)

4: Résumés of project team members resumes.pdf Required 2 pages per person

(suggested)

5: Letters of commitment and support letters.pdf Required

6: Consortium participants consortium.pdf Conditionally required

1 page per organization

(suggested)

7. Other supporting documentation documentation.pdf Optional up to 5 pages

(suggested)

8: Subrecipient budgets subrecipient.pdf Conditionally

Required

9: Certification of gifts certification.pdf Optional

10: Federally negotiated indirect cost rate agreement delinquentdebt.pdf Conditionally

11: Explanation of delinquent federal debt delinquentdebt.pdf Conditionally

Narrative Compose a comprehensive description of your proposed project. Your narrative should be succinct, well organized, and free of technical terms and jargon so that peer reviewers can understand the proposed project.

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You must limit the narrative to ten single-spaced pages with one-inch margins and a font size of at least eleven points. Do not include an executive summary or a table of contents. You may include images, charts, diagrams, footnotes, and endnotes if they fit within the page limit. You may include hyperlinks to outside references or sources; however, all key information must be contained within the narrative.

Organize your narrative using the following section headings. Each section aligns with one or more review criteria NEH will use to evaluate your proposal.

Humanities significance and impact (about 2 pages; aligns with review criterion 1)

Briefly describe your organization, its site, mission, governance, and humanities focus (collections, research, educational activities, and/or programs). Identify the audience(s) you serve, including its size. Make a case for the significance of your organization in advancing the humanities at a local, regional, national, and/or international level. You may refer to the institutional profile in Attachment 3 and provide two or three examples and links to online offerings to illustrate your humanities collections and activities. Outline the expected impact of the proposed climate smart planning (both on the organization and its audiences), its contribution to climate mitigation and adaptation, and its benefits to the organization, including long-term sustainability.

If your organization is leading a consortium proposal, explain the benefits of collaborative planning and its increased impact. You may refer to the list of consortium members in Attachment 6.

Strategic goals and institutional commitment (about 1 page; aligns with review criteria 1 and 2)

Describe the motivations leading up to the current proposal including current and expected impacts of climate change on your organization and its humanities mission. Explain how comprehensive and strategic climate smart planning aligns with long-term institutional goals and whether it is part of a larger institutional, municipal, state, or other strategic planning process. Describe any preliminary efforts and how this proposal will build upon, expand, or supplant those efforts. Describe the commitment of your organization’s leadership and staff to climate smart planning and intentions for future implementation of goals, including possible sources of financial support. Refer to letters of commitment and support in Attachment 5. If applicable, include a brief description of consortium members’ goals and commitments.

Project outline and methodology (about 2 pages; aligns with review criterion 3)

Detail the climate smart planning activities you would undertake. Explain how the proposed activities will result in a comprehensive strategic planning document. Indicate whether the assessment and final plan will address both mitigation and adaptation, or only certain aspects of climate smart planning. Discuss the choice of the approach or methodology underlying the planning process and refer to any specific standards, best practices, or assessment types that will inform the project. Describe the role of consultants and other outside participants. Identify the resources you consulted as you developed the application.

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Work plan and budget (about 2 pages; aligns with review criterion 4)

Provide a timeline in narrative form to explain the climate smart activities that will lead to the completed strategic plan and its dissemination (e.g., meetings and working groups internal to the organization; meetings with consortium members, if applicable; assessment, data gathering and testing processes; consultations with visitor/user and local community groups; writing the plan; dissemination). Identify the stakeholders who will be involved in activities at each juncture (e.g., leadership, different groups of institution staff, consortium members, community representatives, or local government representatives). Indicate which or what kind of consultants you will retain for different stages and aspects of the planning.

Summarize how you would expend award funds. Indicate the estimated total staff time and cost;

costs for consultants; testing and data collection; payments to consortium members, if applicable; other compensation; and plan for assessment, publication, and/or dissemination.

The narrative should align with the work plan in Attachment 2 and the Research and Related Budget and budget justification.

Fundraising plan (about 1 page; aligns with review criterion 4)

Demonstrate your organization’s long-term financial stability and its history of fundraising.

Describe your plans and potential sources for raising the third-party non-federal gifts required to release the federal matching funds. Delineate the fundraising strategy and timeline in alignment with the work plan in Attachment 2 and the requested period of performance. If applicable, detail funds raised to date and plans for soliciting the balance. If applicable, explain the role of consortium members in raising third-party non-federal gifts.

Project and fundraising teams (about 1 page; aligns with review criterion 5)

Explain your organization’s capacity to undertake comprehensive climate smart planning or how it will obtain the knowledge and means to do so. Identify the key members of the project team at your organization and briefly explain their roles in the planning and fundraising process. Do the same for consultants, contractors, advisors, and consortium partners, if applicable. For consortium proposals, discuss the distribution of responsibilities across each member institution and how they will collaborate. Explain the involvement of external consultants and advisors and whether they are already engaged or need to be hired. If applicable, identify collaboration with key stakeholders such as community leaders, local government, or other partners. You may refer to Attachment 4.

Deliverables, dissemination, and next steps (about 1 page; aligns with review criterion 6)

Describe the expected form and content of the climate smart strategic plan. Explain when and how your organization, and, if applicable, consortium members, intend to move forward to evaluate, modify, and implement the findings of the climate action and adaptation plan beyond the period of performance. Detail how you will disseminate the plan and engage various audiences and stakeholders (e.g., online and/or print publication, local events, and presentations at meetings of professional organizations.)

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Narrative Alignment Each section of the narrative aligns with corresponding review criteria. Use the crosswalk to ensure you address all criteria.

Narrative Section Review Criteria

Humanities significance and impact 1. Humanities significance and impact

Strategic goals and institutional commitment

1. Humanities significance and impact

2. Institutional commitment

Project outline and methodology 3. Quality of the plan

Work plan and budget 4. Work plan and budget

Fundraising plan 4. Work plan and budget

Project and fundraising teams 5. Quality of the project team

Deliverables, dissemination, and next steps

6. Plan assessment, dissemination, and next steps

Research and Related Budget You must submit a project budget using the Research and Related Budget form included in the Grants.gov application package and attach a budget justification.

Complete a single detailed budget for the entire period of performance. The form will generate a cumulative budget.

Your budget must total the federal matching funds requested from NEH and the required third-party non-federal gifts. See the NEH Federal Matching Funds Guidelines regarding the allowability of gifts for matching purposes.

The total federal matching funds and third-party non-federal gifts must equal the amounts indicated on the Supplementary Cover Sheet for NEH Grant Programs in the “Federal Matching” and “Cost Sharing” fields. Learn about types of funds NEH offers.

The form indicates required fields in yellow. Round all costs to the nearest whole dollar. The inclusion of a cost category on the Research and Related Budget does not necessarily mean that an expense is allowable. See D6. Funding Restrictions to ensure that proposed costs are allowable.

If you will provide voluntary cost share, do not include it on the Research and Related Budget form. You may describe it in your budget justification.

All costs, whether supported by NEH funds or required third-party non-federal gifts, must be reasonable, necessary to accomplish project objectives, allowable in terms of 2 CFR 200 Subpart E - Cost Principles, auditable, and incurred during the period of performance. All costs are subject to audit, record retention, and other requirements set forth in 2 CFR 200 Subpart F - Audit Requirements.

You should only include your own employees under A. Senior/Key Person and B. Other Personnel. Include team members in leadership roles in the project under A. Senior/Key Person.

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