Fieldwork 2024 and 2025 NOFO 032125.pdf

Notice of Funding Opportunity

Archaeological and Ethnographic Field Research

Funding Opportunity Number: 20240925-RFW

Funding Opportunity Type: New

Federal Assistance Listing Number: 45.161

Application Deadline:

September 25, 2024 September 24, 2025

Applicants to NEH for awards with expected issuance dates on or after October 1, 2024, should be aware of revisions to the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (2 CFR Part 200) effective from that date. All NEH awards issued on or after October 1, 2024, will be subject to the revised regulations.

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

It may take several weeks to register with SAM.gov and Grants.gov.

NEH will not grant deadline extensions for lack of registration.

Division of Research Programs Telephone: 202-606-8200 Email: fieldwork@neh.gov Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1

OMB control number 3136-0134, expiration date October 31, 2027 mailto:fieldwork@neh.gov

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Executive Summary The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Division of Research Programs is accepting applications for the Archaeological and Ethnographic Field Research program. The purpose of this program is to provide funding for empirical research in the United States or abroad that answers significant humanities questions through archaeological and/or ethnographic methods.

This program supports field-related costs, such as travel, accommodation, field staff and equipment, and salary replacement for the project director and collaborating scholars.

Funding Opportunity Title Archaeological and Ethnographic Field Research Funding Opportunity Number 20240925-RFW Federal Assistance Listing Number 45.161 Deadlines for Optional Draft July 15, 2024, 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time

June 16, 2025, 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time Application Deadlines September 25, 2024, 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time

September 24, 2025, 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time Anticipated Award Announcements 2024 deadline: April 30, 2025

2025 deadline: April 30, 2026 Anticipated FY 2025 Funding Approximately $800,000 per deadline Estimated Number and Type of Awards Approximately 6 grants per deadline Award Amounts Up to $150,000 Cost Sharing/Match Required Conditionally required. See C2. Cost Sharing.

Period of Performance 4 to 36 months

2024 deadline: Projects may start between June 1, 2025, and May 1, 2026.

2025 deadline: Projects may start between June 1, 2026, and May 1, 2027.

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 https://www.neh.gov/program/archaeological-and-ethnographic-field-research

Pre-Application Webinar A pre-recorded webinar will be posted to the program resource page by June 26, 2024.

Published Modified

Modified Modified

June 20, 2024 February 11, 2025: A2. Background, and D6. Funding Restrictions March 7, 2025: D6. Funding Restrictions March 21, 2025: D6. Funding Restrictions https://www.neh.gov/program/archaeological-and-ethnographic-field-research

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Table of Contents

Executive Summary ................................................................................................ i Table of Contents ................................................................................................... ii 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. Cost Sharing

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 Archaeological and Ethnographic Field Research program supports empirical field research projects that answer significant humanities questions through archaeological and/or ethnographic methods.

Archaeological methods may include field survey and remote sensing, documentation or visualization, and excavation to answer research questions in ancient studies, archaeology, art history, classical studies, epigraphy, regional studies, and related disciplines. Ethnographic methods may include participant observation, interviews, long-term site visits, or oral history to answer research questions in anthropology, ethnolinguistics, ethnomusicology, performance studies, folklore studies, sociology, and related disciplines. While ethnographic approaches may vary, some level of immersion with host communities or participants is expected for ethnographic field research.

Competitive submissions will embody exceptional research design, describe rigorous field methodologies, and clearly articulate a project’s value to humanities scholars, general audiences, or both. NEH strongly encourages you to work closely with local collaborators and communities in the co-creation of knowledge and the preservation of culture, whenever possible. This program is designed specifically to support fieldwork. If your project is primarily focused on collections, archives, or legacy data, or your methods are predominantly laboratory-based, NEH will not consider your application in this competition.

NEH Field Research awards provide up to three years of support for domestic or international fieldwork projects. Allowable costs may include:

• travel, lodging, and subsistence

• permits, fees, and visas for project personnel

• field equipment and supplies

• labor, specialists, translators, and other local vendors

• salary or salary replacement costs for the project director and compensation for collaborating scholars, including support for foreign individuals who are named as collaborating scholars

NEH Field Research awards also allow up to $5,000 per 12-month period for conservation or preservation efforts, such as site and artifact conservation, and/or community outreach efforts.

NEH invites applications from institutions where the project director is a scholar who holds a Ph.D. or the equivalent in any discipline of the humanities or related subfields of the social sciences. NEH encourages applications from junior faculty. While a project may include collaborating scholars, NEH does not permit co-project directors in this program.

While the ultimate expectation of these awards is public dissemination through peer-reviewed publications and other media, NEH does not allow publication and manuscript preparation costs in this program. The primary purpose of the program is to support work in the field.

Analyses and data processing are allowable secondary activities, but they should not account for more than 50% of the activities or budget If your project includes substantial post-fieldwork

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research and manuscript preparation, consider the Collaborative Research program or NEH’s fellowship programs for individuals.

Field school costs are not permitted.

Project Outputs The outputs of an Archaeological and Ethnographic Field Research award may include, but are not limited to, field notes, maps, audio or video recordings, interview transcriptions, and databases. Describe your project’s outcomes and outputs in the “Plans for dissemination” section of the Narrative. If you receive an award, NEH will assess your performance based on the outputs you identify in the proposal. See F.3 Reporting.

See D6. Funding Restrictions for unallowable activities. Applications unrelated to the purpose of this program or that include unallowable costs or activities may be judged nonresponsive and returned without review.

See E1. Review Criteria for the standards 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;

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.

B. Federal Award Information

1. Type of Application and Award NEH seeks new applications in response to this notice. Eligible institutions may revise and resubmit previously rejected applications.

NEH will provide funding in the form of grants.

https://www.neh.gov/grants/research/collaborative-research-grants https://www.neh.gov/grants/listing?f%5B0%5D=individual_or_organization%3AIndividual 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://securegrants.neh.gov/publicquery/main.aspx https://www.neh.gov/about

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2. Summary of Funding

Award amounts You may request up to $75,000 for a project with a period of performance between four and twelve months.

You may request up to $75,000 per year for a project with a period of performance of one to three years, but your total request cannot exceed $150,000.

Any applicant may request up to $50,000 in federal matching funds, but institutions of higher education with a tenured faculty member as project director must request at least $20,000 in federal matching funds. The application budget for tenured faculty must reflect the total NEH funds requested plus an additional $20,000 or more in required third-party cost share, and the applicant must demonstrate the ability to raise third-party gifts eligible to complete the required match. (As an example: $130,000 outright request + $20,000 in federal matching funds + $20,000 required cost share/match = $170,000 in total project costs, direct and indirect). Institutional support does not qualify as third-party cost share. Third party funding does not need to be in hand by time of application, but the application should briefly discuss plans to raise the funds in the budget justification. Examples of qualifying sources of third-party cost share include grants from non-federal organizations and gifts from private donors. See C2. Cost Sharing and the NEH Federal Matching Funds Guidelines.

Successful applicants who do not request matching funds will be awarded outright funds, which are not contingent on additional funding from other sources.

NEH anticipates approximately $800,000 to fund an estimated six recipients.

NEH will not determine the funding available each fiscal year until Congress enacts the final budget. This notice is subject to the availability of appropriated funds and is a contingency action taken to ensure that, should funds become available for this purpose, NEH can process applications and issue awards in a timely manner.

Period of performance The period of performance is the 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 the month.

You may request a period of performance up to four to 36 months.

If you apply for the 2024 deadline, your period of performance must start between June 1, 2025, and May 1, 2026.

If you apply for the 2025 deadline, your period of performance must start between June 1, 2026, and May 1, 2027.

https://www.neh.gov/grants/manage/federal-matching-funds-guidelines

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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:

• 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

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

If your organization is eligible, you may apply on behalf of a consortium of collaborating organizations. If NEH selects your proposal for funding, you will be programmatically, legally, and fiscally responsible for the award.

The recipient may not function solely as a fiscal agent but should make substantive contributions to the success of the project.

2. Cost Sharing Cost sharing or matching is the portion of the project costs not paid by NEH funds. Peer reviewers will not consider cost share in their evaluation of applications.

If NEH issues you an award, you must maintain auditable records of the source and use of contributed cost share. See 2 CFR § 200.306.

Learn about types of funds NEH offers.

Required cost sharing NEH requires cost sharing in this program for institutions of higher education whose project director is a tenured faculty member. Such applicants must request at least $20,000 in federal matching funds and raise at least $20,000 in third-party non-federal funds to release the NEH matching funds.

For institutions of higher education whose project director is an adjunct faculty member, non-tenured, non-tenure-track, or a post-doctoral researcher, there is no cost sharing requirement, unless the applicant voluntarily requests federal matching funds.

NEH will determine cost share requirements based on the project director named on the SF-424 Application for Federal Assistance - Short Organizational. A change in project director from a non-tenured faculty member to a different tenured faculty member may result in NEH recalculating the award’s required cost share. If the initial project director’s tenure status changes during the period of performance, NEH will not adjust the required cost share.

If you request federal matching funds, you must raise third-party non-federal gifts dollar-for-dollar. NEH will certify the allowability of these gifts before releasing federal matching funds.

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 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/types-funding

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Typically, NEH will distribute federal matching funds on an annual basis over the period of performance. See the NEH Federal Matching Funds Guidelines.

Include required third-party non-federal gifts on your Research and Related Budget and identify them in your budget justification.

Federal matching funds Any applicant may request up to $50,000 in federal matching funds, but institutions of higher education with a tenured faculty member as project director must request at least $20,000 in federal matching funds. Funds to satisfy the program matching requirement must be from sources outside of the applicant institution (a third party) consistent with the NEH Federal Matching Funds Guidelines. If you request federal matching funds, you must raise third-party non-federal gifts dollar-for-dollar.

Include your plans to secure third-party non-federal gifts in the Research and Related Budget and identify what project activities they will support in the budget justification.

Successful applicants will receive an offer of federal matching funds, subject to specific regulatory and other conditions. NEH will certify the allowability of these gifts and will issue the award only when you have met the conditions of the offer. 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.

If NEH selects your project for funding, you must raise and certify all eligible gifts and pledges six months prior to the end of the period of performance. NEH advises applicants who are requesting matching funds to consider a period of performance that allows adequate time to raise and certify funds. If you fail to certify required gifts by the deadline, NEH may reduce or terminate your award. See NEH Federal Matching Funds Guidelines.

NEH will not release federal matching 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.

You must maintain auditable records of the source and use of cost share. See 2 CFR § 200.306.

Learn about types of funds NEH offers.

Voluntary cost sharing You may contribute voluntary cost share if the total project costs exceed the amount awarded by NEH. Voluntary cost share includes:

• cash contributions made to the project by you or a third party

• your unrecovered indirect costs

• in-kind contributions (non-cash contributions, such as property or services, that benefit the project and are contributed without charge) by you or a third party

While you may describe voluntary cost share in your budget justification, you should not include it on your Research and Related Budget. The Research and Related Budget should only include funds you are requesting from NEH.

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.neh.gov/grants/manage/types-funding

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Peer reviewers will not consider any voluntary cost share in their evaluation of applications.

3. Other Eligibility Information You may submit multiple applications for separate and distinct projects under this notice, but an individual may serve as project director on only one application submitted under this notice per year. While a project may include collaborating scholars, NEH does not permit co-project directors in this program.

Project directors must be scholars in the humanities or related subfields of the social sciences with a Ph.D. or the equivalent terminal degree. Project directors must be scholars, not administrators. The project director must be affiliated with the applicant institution. Project directors must devote significant, sustained time and effort to the project during the period of performance. While the program welcomes junior scholars as project directors, degree candidates cannot be project directors. While a project may include collaborating scholars, NEH does not permit co-project directors in this program. You may revise and resubmit previously rejected applications. Submissions are subject to the application requirements and review criteria of the current competition.

Per 2 CFR § 200.403(f), you must not include the same project costs in more than one application for federal funding or approved federal award budget. If one application to NEH is pending, a second application for the same project costs, even if to a different program, may be ruled ineligible. However, you may submit multiple proposals for complementary aspects of the same overall project. If you are submitting complementary proposals to other NEH programs or government agencies, specify when and to whom in the Supplementary Cover Sheet for NEH Grant Programs. NEH may disallow costs or reject applications that include overlapping project costs. An individual’s level of effort cannot exceed 100% across multiple active federally funded awards.

NEH does not issue 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. 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 federal 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, you may wish to contact program staff at fieldwork@neh.gov.

Except for the rare cases covered by its late submission policy, NEH will not consider applications submitted after the deadline.

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

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-E/subject-group-ECFRea20080eff2ea53/section-200.403 https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=35fcd29238edd42c8b1f8b1628e39d47&mc=true&node=pt2.1.200&rgn=div5#se2.1.200_11 https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=b76712a585433486e57dafcd521c952e&mc=true&node=pt2.1.200&rgn=div5#se2.1.200_1331 https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=35fcd29238edd42c8b1f8b1628e39d47&mc=true&node=pt2.1.200&rgn=div5#se2.1.200_1459 https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=b76712a585433486e57dafcd521c952e&mc=true&node=pt2.1.200&rgn=div5#se2.1.200_1331 mailto:fieldwork@neh.gov.

mailto:fieldwork@neh.gov.

https://www.neh.gov/grants/policy-on-late-submissions

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NEH will not consider applications that exceed mandatory 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 20240925-RFW. 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 prior to submitting your application. See D3. Unique Entity Identifier and System for Award Management.

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

If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.

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.

Application formatting 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, NEH encourages you 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 (include citations in page counts)

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.

mailto:fieldwork@neh.gov

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• Conditionally required for recipients: You are encouraged but not required to submit this component when you apply. You may submit it if you receive an award.

NEH will not review applications missing any required documents or relevant conditionally required documents.

Do not include attachments other than those listed in the table in this notice. If you do, NEH will reject your application.

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.

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

Application Component File Name Designation Page limit Attachments 1: List of key personnel personnel.pdf Required 1 (mandatory) 2: Narrative narrative.pdf Required 10 (mandatory) 3: Work plan workplan.pdf Required 3 (mandatory) 4: Bibliography bibliography.pdf Required 3 (mandatory) 5: Résumés for key personnel resumes.pdf Required 2 pages per person (mandatory)

6: Statement of funding received and requested funding.pdf Conditionally required

2 (mandatory)

7: Site conditions site.pdf 8: Additional supporting documentation supporting.pdf Optional 15 (mandatory)

9: Subrecipient budget(s) subrecipient.pdf Conditionally required

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

11: Explanation of delinquent federal debt delinquentdebt.pdf Conditionally required for recipients

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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 and Budget Justification

Required

Attachments Form Required Certification Regarding Lobbying

Conditionally

Standard Form-LLL “Disclosure of Lobbying Activities”

Conditionally

Application Components: Attachments Each attachment must be a single PDF file. See the Attachments Form instructions for further guidance about file requirements. Read those instructions carefully, as Grants.gov will not accept files that do not meet the requirements.

Attachment 1: List of key personnel (required) Provide a list alphabetized by surname of all collaborators and other key personnel, designating the project director. Include institutional affiliations and professional title for everyone listed.

For those not affiliated with a nonprofit educational institution, provide occupation and employer; if none, list city and state of residence.

Your list of key personnel must not exceed one page. Name the file personnel.pdf.

Attachment 2: Narrative (required) 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.

You must limit the narrative to ten single-spaced pages. Do not include an executive summary, cover page, or table of contents. You may include images, charts, diagrams, footnotes, or endnotes if they fit within the page limit. You may also include illustrations like charts and maps in “Additional supporting documents.”

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

http://disclosure/#_Standard_Form-LLL,_ http://disclosure/#_Standard_Form-LLL,_ http://disclosure_1/#_Standard_Form-LLL,_ http://disclosure_1/#_Standard_Form-LLL,_ http://disclosure_1/#_Standard_Form-LLL,_

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Argument for intellectual significance (aligns primarily with review criterion 1) Provide a clear and detailed explanation of the project’s research questions and their significance to the humanities. Situate your project in the context of existing humanities discourse to highlight its contribution, and explain how it will complement, challenge, or expand relevant existing studies and literature. Describe the anticipated impact of your project’s proposed outcome(s) on the intended audience and on future scholarship. If you're applying for funds for an established project, describe the impact previous research has had on humanities scholarship and the project's overall intellectual significance.

Research design and methods (aligns primarily with review criterion 2) Describe your project’s theoretical framework and research design. Indicate the current state of the project and the stage that this award would support. Specify the arrangements for access to sites needed to conduct the research. Describe your plans for consultation, collaboration, and any established relationships with host, descendant communities, or interlocutors if applicable.

Explain your methods for collecting accurate data to answer your specified research questions.

Describe how you will store and analyze your data, how you will mitigate long-term damage to the site or sites you will study, and how you will minimize possible long-term effects on the community or communities you will work with.

For archaeology proposals, state your research questions and explain how your proposed field methods will address them. If you propose a survey, describe the location, method of data collect and analysis, and the anticipated results. For documentation or visualization projects, explain what you will record, the methods, and how the work will advance a specific research agenda (versus a conservation, preservation, or presentation agenda). If you are proposing excavations, indicate how many trenches you will open, their size and location. Explain your methods for collecting accurate data to answer your specific research questions. Describe the data analysis and storage plans and plans to mitigate against long-term damage to the study site(s).

For ethnography proposals, state your research questions and explain how your proposed field methods will address them. For projects involving participant observation, detail the length of the site visits, the methods for engaging the host community, and anticipated insights. Indicate the methods by which you will administer survey or interview questions and record participant responses. Describe the selection process and anticipated number of participants. For documentation projects, explain what information or behavior you will capture, the method of recording, and how this will advance a specific research agenda (versus a conservation, preservation, or public education agenda). Describe the data analysis and storage plans and plans to minimize possible long-term effects on the communities of study. Use Attachment 8:

Additional supporting documents to provide examples of interview and/or survey questions.

Project director and collaborators (aligns primarily with review criterion 3) Summarize the specific qualifications and responsibilities of all key personnel (those named in Attachment 1: List of key personnel). Describe the qualifications, responsibilities, and contributions of any additional team members. State anticipated time commitment, in percentage of time or hours per week for the project director and key personnel.

Explain the project director’s expertise and qualifications as relevant to the proposed project.

Indicate the tenure status of the project director here and in the project director’s resume. If the

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area of inquiry is new to the project director, explain their reasons for working in it and their qualifications.

If applicable, specify team members and/or the project director’s competence in any language needed for the study. For project team members providing technical support, scientific or conservation work, or laboratory analysis, explain how their activities are important for achieving the project’s goals.

Plans for dissemination (aligns primarily with review criterion 4) While this program does not support costs associated with publication or the preparation of manuscripts, describe how you intend to disseminate the results of the proposed research.

Describe any relevant governmental, academic, public, or community outreach. If the project has a website, provide the URL. You may provide a list of expected field reports, interpretive essays, articles, or books with their prospective authors and proposed publishers.

If publications will appear in a language other than English, explain how access and dissemination will be affected.

Name the file narrative.pdf.

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

Argument for intellectual significance 1

Research design and methods 2

Project director and collaborators 3

Plans for dissemination 4

Attachment 3: Work plan (required) Provide a detailed description, preferably in table form, of what will be accomplished during the period of performance, indicating major tasks and milestones. Identify the relevant key personnel involved in specific tasks, including approximate time commitments in percentages or days.

For established projects, you may include what you have already accomplished on this project and what you will accomplish between submitting your application and the start of the period of performance.

If you will be conducting archaeological field research in the United States, or United States territories, NEH advises you to consider a work plan and project timeline that allows for adequate consultation as part of the Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act.

Your work plan should reflect major activities described in your narrative and the project dates identified on the SF-424 Application for Federal Assistance - Short Organizational and the Research and Related Budget. It should not repeat information included in the narrative.

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Your work plan must not exceed three pages. Name the file workplan.pdf. This attachment aligns with review criterion 5.

Attachment 4: Bibliography (required) Provide a list of the main primary and secondary sources cited in the proposal and relevant to the project’s goals and methods. Any standard bibliographic format is acceptable.

Your bibliography must not exceed three pages. Name the file bibliography.pdf. This attachment aligns with review criterion 2.

Attachment 5: Résumés for key personnel (required) Provide brief, two-page résumés for key personnel, with mailing and email addresses, highest degree earned, the institution awarding the degree, professional positions held, institutional affiliations, and major publications. For the project director, indicate their tenure status.

The résumés must not exceed two pages per person. Name the file resumes.pdf. This attachment aligns with review criterion 3.

Attachment 6: Statement of funding received and requested (conditionally required) If the project has received previous support from federal or nonfederal sources, including NEH;

is currently receiving such support; or is applying for or planning to apply for such support, provide a one- to two-page list of the sources, dates, federal award identification numbers, and amounts of these funds. List the NEH awards already received by year. Include fellowships and individual awards received by project personnel. If there is a long history of non-NEH support, group and summarize the sources and contributions.

If you previously received NEH funding for any phase of the proposed research project you must: 1) discuss how the previously funded project met, or did not meet, its goals according to its original or (if appropriate) revised work plan; and 2) include a table with relevant dates, comparing the stated goals with actual accomplishments during the period of the most recent NEH awards, listing any changes that occurred.

Your statement of funding received and requested must not exceed two pages.

Name the file funding.pdf.

Attachment 7: Site conditions (conditionally required) If your project involves any ground disturbing activities (such as core samples, test pits, or excavation) in the United States and United States territories, you must include a description of the site, project, and potential anticipated environmental and historic preservation impacts for NEH’s review as part of your application.

Include the following information (as applicable):

A. Site Conditions

1. Identify the address of the project site. Where an address is not available, or more precision is required, geographic coordinates may be used. Locational data should be recorded with a Global Positioning System (GPS) device or web-based map service using NAD 83, or WGS 84 datum using decimal degrees latitude and longitude, with at least 6 decimal places and a minus (-) to show west longitude or south latitude.

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2. Identify the size of the project site, in terms of measured acreage or square units (e.g., 1.5 acres, 0.8 sq. km

3. Identify the arrangement by which you have use of the site.

4. Provide a succinct description of the work to be supported with project funds (NEH and required matching funds). For example:

The proposed project involves five sites. They consist of a stable, a barn, and three other sites to be determined from archaeological survey. Excavations will exclude any work that would impact the area of the church cemetery. The immediate area of the sites consists of lawns and scrub. At the stable and barn sites, the institution will conduct 5ft x 5ft excavation units to reveal an area of at least 80ft x 90ft for any below-ground features. These features will then be excavated and documented to recover artifacts and to help understand the types of structures and activities that were at these sites. For the other 3 sites, the institution will conduct 10ft gridded metal detector survey (non-invasive), shovel test pits, and limited 5x5 excavation units to determine stratigraphy and presence of features.

5. Provide your data recovery plan.

6. Has physical work on the project already underway? If so, what work has occurred?

B. Historic Preservation Information

1. In accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), does the property possess historic significance, and/or is it listed or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places or is it a National Landmark?

2. Will the project occur at, in, or near properties listed on or eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places?

3. Is the project located within or adjacent to any known federal, state, or local historic districts?

4. Will the project potentially involve properties with religious or other significant meaning to Indian Tribes?

5. Does the affected property have potential to contain human remains?

6. Identify any consulting parties that may have an interest in the proposed project. This may include parties with legal or economic interest in the undertaking or affected historic properties, or those concerned with the undertaking’s effects on historic properties, such as individual tribal members with special knowledge or expertise in identifying properties of traditional religious and cultural significance to that tribe (see 36 CFR § 800.2(c)(5)).

C. Environmental Conditions

1. Are there known environmental compliance requirements related to the real property

(easements, existing site conditions)?

D. Human environment and controversy

1. Are there any public concerns or controversy with respect to the project site, adjacent sites, or effects of the project on low income or minority populations, Indian Tribes, or historic, cultural, or environmental resources?

2. Are there other known controversies with the proposed project?

Name the file site.pdf.

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Attachment 8: Additional supporting documents (optional) If applicable, you may include additional supporting documents if the information was not included in the narrative or other attachments:

• images, maps, plans, or other illustrations

• letters of support from local stakeholders and government officials

• letters of support from Indigenous, host, or descendant communities

• samples of oral history or interview questions

• permits or other official permissions already granted or pending

Do not include letters of recommendation or assessments of previous applications.

Additional supporting documents are optional, but if you choose to include them, they must not exceed 15 pages. Name the file supporting .pdf.

Attachment 9: Subrecipient budget(s) (conditionally required) If your project includes subawards, you must provide a separate Research and Related Budget and budget justification for each subrecipient.

Download a fillable PDF of the Research and Related Budget form from the NEH website for each subrecipient. You must open and complete this form in Adobe Reader 8.0 or higher rather than in your web browser.

Prepare a budget and budget justification for each subrecipient using the same instructions in this notice, with a few exceptions:

• Enter the subrecipient’s Unique Entity Identifier, organization name, and period of performance start and end date (these fields will not prepopulate).

• For “budget type,” check “Subaward/Consortium.”

If your subrecipients have a federally negotiated indirect cost rate, you must honor it. If they do not have a federally negotiated indirect cost rate, they may negotiate a rate with you consistent with 2 CFR § 200.414 or use the de minimis rate.

Rather than attaching related documents (budget justification, additional personnel, additional equipment) to the form itself, you will separately convert each document into a PDF and combine all subrecipients’ budget forms and related documents into a single document. Do not attach portfolios containing multiple PDFs.

NEH cannot accept security-enhanced PDFs (e.g., XFA files, PDFs that include password-protection, encryption, digital signatures). Remove these features (or “flatten” these files) before merging them into a single PDF and uploading it to the Attachments Form.

Name the file subrecipient.pdf.

Attachment 10: Federally negotiated indirect cost rate agreement (conditionally required) If your organization is claiming indirect costs and has a current federally negotiated indirect cost rate agreement, provide a copy of the agreement. If applicable, provide the indirect cost rate https://www.neh.gov/sites/default/files/inline-files/RR_Budget10_3_0-V3.0.pdf https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=d22b09774a679ad264cf0098635dabb8&mc=true&node=pt2.1.200&rgn=div5#se2.1.200_1414

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agreements for subrecipients claiming indirect costs. If you and your subrecipients are requesting the de minimis rate, you do not need to submit this attachment.

Name the file agreement.pdf.

Attachment 11: Explanation of delinquent federal debt (conditionally required for recipients) If your organization is delinquent in the repayment of any federal debt, explain why. Provide evidence that you have entered into a repayment agreement with the Internal Revenue Service, if applicable, and that you are current on all payments due. Examples of relevant debt include delinquent payroll or other taxes, audit disallowances, and benefit overpayments. See OMB Circular A-129.

Name the file delinquentdebt.pdf.

Application Components: Grants.gov Forms

SF-424 Application for Federal Assistance – Short Organizational (Grants.gov form) This form requests basic information about your institution, the proposed project, and key contacts. Items 1, 2, and 4 will be automatically filled in; leave item 3 blank.

5. Applicant Information a-d. Provide your organization’s legal name, address, and web address. Select the applicant type that best describes your organization from the drop-down menu.

e-f. Provide your organization’s employer/taxpayer identification number (EIN/TIN), and Unique Entity Identifier assigned by the System for Award Management. If you do not know your identifier, contact your grant administrator or chief financial officer. See D3. Unique Entity Identifier and System for Award Management.

g. Provide your congressional district with your two-character state abbreviation followed by your three-character district number. For example, if your institution is located in the 5th congressional district of Alabama, enter “AL-005.” If your institution is in a state or U.S.

jurisdiction that does not have districts, enter “000” in place of the district number. If your institution is outside the U.S., enter “00-000.”

6. Project Information

a. Provide your project’s title. It should be brief (no more than 125 characters, including spaces), descriptive of the project, and easily understood by the general public. If NEH funds your project, the agency may retitle your project for clarity in internal and external communications, including the public announcement of awards. Regardless, you may use your preferred title when carrying out the project.

b. Provide a brief description of your project (no more than 1,000 characters, including spaces).

You should write the description for a nonspecialist audience, clearly stating the importance of the proposed work and its relation to larger issues in the humanities. This description will appear on the cover sheet of your application and will serve as a project abstract during the review process. If funded, this description will also appear in NEH’s database of funded projects.

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/omb/circulars_a129_rev2013 https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/omb/circulars_a129_rev2013 https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

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c. State your project’s period of performance start and end dates. Your project must start on the first day of a month and end on the last day of a month. See B2. Summary of Funding for allowable periods of performance.

7. Project Director Provide the project director’s name, title, and contact information. The project director is responsible for the programmatic aspects and day-to-day management of the proposed project.

You must notify the NEH Office of Grant Management immediately if you need to change project directors.

If the project director is not employed by the applicant organization, you must have a formal written agreement with the project director that specifies an official relationship between the parties even if the relationship does not involve a salary or other form of remuneration.

8. Primary Contact/Grant Administrator Provide the name, title, and contact information for the official responsible for the administration of the award (e.g., negotiating the budget and ensuring compliance with the terms and conditions of the award).

As a matter of NEH policy, the project director and primary contact/grant administrator must not be the same person.

The grant administrator (also called the “institutional grant administrator”) functions as the representative of the recipient organization. This individual should have authority to act on the organization’s behalf in matters related to the administration of the award. The institutional grant administrator must sign or countersign financial reports and prior approval requests such as budget revisions, extensions to the period of performance, and changes in key personnel.

NEH will address official correspondence (for example, the offer letter or Notice of Action) to the institutional grant administrator and copy the project director.

9. Authorized Representative Provide the name, title, and contact information for the authorized organization representative (AOR) who is submitting the application on behalf of the institution. This person, often called an “authorizing official,” is typically someone from the Office of Sponsored Projects, or the institution’s president, vice president, executive director, or board chair. The institution’s Grants.gov E-Business Point of Contact must designate the AOR. The AOR’s signature must match the contact’s name. See the Grants.gov Online User Guide.

Supplementary Cover Sheet for NEH Grant Programs (Grants.gov form)

1. Project Director Select the project director’s major field of study from the drop-down menu.

2. Institutional Information Select your institution type from the drop-down menu.

3. Project Funding

• Under “Outright Funds,” enter the amount of outright funds you are requesting.

https://apply07.grants.gov/help/html/help/index.htm?callingApp=cust…