Institutes_2025_020725.pdf

Notice of Funding Opportunity

Institutes for Higher Education Faculty Institutes for K-12 Educators

Funding Opportunity Number:20250212-EH-ES

Funding Opportunity Type: New

Federal Assistance Listing Number: 45.163

Application Deadline: February 12, 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. You may incorporate these changes into your applications now. Additional information is available at https://www.neh.gov/grants/manage/2024-Revisions-to-2-CFR-200.

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 Education Email: institutes@neh.gov Telephone: 202-606-2324 Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1

OMB control number 3136-0134, expiration date October 31, 2027 https://www.neh.gov/grants/manage/2024-Revisions-to-2-CFR-200 mailto:institutes@neh.gov

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Executive Summary This notice solicits applications for the Institutes for Higher Education Faculty and Institutes for K-12 Educators programs. Institutes are residential, virtual, and combined format professional development programs that convene higher education faculty or K-12 educators from across the nation to deepen and enrich their understanding of significant topics in the humanities and enrich their capacity for effective scholarship and teaching.

Funding Opportunity Title Institutes for Higher Education Faculty

Funding Opportunity Number 20250212-EH-ES Federal Assistance Listing Number 45.163 Deadline for Optional Draft January 6, 2025, 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time Application Deadline February 12, 2025, 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time Anticipated Award Announcement August 2025 Anticipated FY 2025 Funding Approximately $1,500,000 for Higher Education

Faculty and $1,500,000 for K-12 Educators Estimated Number and Type of Awards Approximately 9 grants for Higher Education

Faculty and 9 grants for K-12 Educators Award Amounts Up to $220,000 Cost Sharing/Match Required No Period of Performance October 1, 2025 – December 31, 2026 (15 months) 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 Higher Education Faculty:

https://www.neh.gov/grants/education/institutes-higher-education-faculty K-12 Educators:

https://www.neh.gov/grants/education/institutes-k-12-educators

Pre-Application Webinar A pre-recorded webinar is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r2lqsKjB6k

Published Modified

November 20, 2024 February 7, 2025: A2. Background, and D6.

Unallowable Activities https://www.neh.gov/grants/education/institutes-higher-education-faculty https://www.neh.gov/grants/education/institutes-higher-education-faculty https://www.neh.gov/grants/education/institutes-k-12-educators https://www.neh.gov/grants/education/institutes-k-12-educators https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r2lqsKjB6k

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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. 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 This notice solicits applications for Institutes for Higher Education Faculty and Institutes for K- 12 Educators that will take place in 2026.

Institutes are residential, virtual, and combined format professional development programs that convene higher education faculty or K-12 educators from across the nation to deepen their understanding of significant topics in the humanities and enrich their capacity for effective scholarship and teaching.

Institutes:

• allow immersive study of topics significant to humanities study and teaching

• foster new fields of study and/or revitalize existing areas of inquiry using multiple, rigorous approaches

• model excellent scholarship, teaching, and collegial dialogue

• strengthen humanities teaching and learning in participants’ professional settings

• consider how the humanities topics engage recent developments in the scholarship, teaching, and curricula of participants’ professional settings

• build lasting communities that foster participants’ intellectual and professional collaboration

• reach the widest possible audience for whom the topic is relevant

Project Design Institutes run from one to four weeks and may adopt a variety of schedules and formats to suit the needs of the topic and audience. One week is equivalent to five or six days of structured study. Scheduled meetings may or may not be continuous.

You must select one of three formats for the institute:

• Residential: All participants attend the duration of the program at the host site.

• Virtual: All participants attend the duration of the program using an online platform.

This can include synchronous and asynchronous sessions.

• Combined: All participants attend a portion of the program virtually and a portion of the program at the host site. Virtual and residential sessions occur at different times, but all participants must attend the same format simultaneously unless modifications are needed for accessibility accommodations.

All participants must be engaged in the same format simultaneously unless modifications are needed for accessibility accommodations.

Given the importance of intensive, immersive study to an institute’s purpose, you should consider the demands and variety of academic-year calendars. If you are proposing activities outside the summer season (the third week of June through the second week of August), you may consider asynchronous and synchronous sessions before and/or after the summer component.

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NEH has scheduled required meetings, participant application deadlines, and reporting dates.

See Attachment 3: Work Plan for those dates, which you should consider when designing your project schedule and work plan.

Institutional Resources The following types of institutions may host and/or be involved in an institute:

• institutions of higher education and non-profit organizations

• museums, historic preservation sites and societies, and libraries or other repositories

• centers for advanced study, cultural and community organizations, and professional associations

• schools or school systems

Institutes with a residential component may take place at a college, university, learned society, center for advanced study, library or other repository, cultural or professional organization, or other appropriate location with suitable meeting spaces, research collections, and on-site computing resources. The project site must be in the United States or its jurisdictions.

Institutes with a virtual component must include digital resources, such as online meeting spaces, research collections, databases, technical capacity, and content management systems.

Federal regulations require that all NEH-funded projects be accessible to a diverse group of participants in alignment with the requirements of Sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Host institutions must provide reasonable accommodations for project team members, participants, presenters, and institution staff when facilitating residential and virtual program activities and visiting sites during the institute. Project-specific accessibility accommodations (e.g., audio description, sign-language interpretation, closed or open captioning, large-print brochures/labeling) are eligible costs.

Project Audience

Institutes for Higher Education Faculty You must design your Institutes for Higher Education Faculty program for a diverse group of 25-36 higher education faculty participants drawn from across the nation.

• You must target a national audience of full- or part-time faculty who teach undergraduate students and/or whose work in the humanities lies outside undergraduate teaching but who demonstrate that their participation will advance project goals and enhance their own professional work.

• You must identify a primary audience for your institute by subject area(s). You may target a specific audience by, for instance, requiring foreign language proficiency, but the primary audience should be large enough to yield a complete participant group.

• You must reserve 20% of available spaces for non-tenured/non-tenure track faculty members.

• You must reserve 10% of available spaces for advanced graduate students, defined as those who have reached candidacy in a doctoral program or are in the final year of a terminal degree program.

https://uscode.house.gov/statviewer.htm?volume=87&page=394 https://www.section508.gov/manage/laws-and-policies/ https://www.section508.gov/manage/laws-and-policies/

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You must design your Institutes for K-12 Educators program for a diverse group of 25-36 K-12 educator participants drawn from across the nation.

• You must target a national audience of full- or part-time K-12 educators who teach in public, charter, independent, and religiously affiliated schools, or as home schooling educators.

• You must identify a primary audience for your institute by grade level(s) and subject area(s). You may target a specific audience by, for instance, requiring foreign language proficiency, but the primary audience should be large enough to yield a complete participant group.

• You must reserve 20% of available spaces for early-career educators (those who have been teaching for five years or fewer).

• You may admit museum educators and other K-12 school personnel who demonstrate that participation will advance project goals and enhance their own professional work.

For both Institutes programs, participants must meet the eligibility criteria outlined in C3. Other Eligibility Information.

Project Team Your project team should include the following roles:

Project director or co-director team (required):

• should be established scholars; they are responsible for all intellectual and administrative aspects of the project

• do not need to possess a terminal degree or be affiliated with an institution of higher education

• must be present for the duration of the institute and cannot assume any other commitments

Replacement director(s) (required):

• must be appropriately qualified and capable of assuming leadership of the project should a director become unable to fulfill their role

• must be a co-director or project team member, as appropriate, who is already familiar with the project

Institutional grant administrator (required):

• the designated representative of the applicant institution with authority to act on the organization’s behalf in matters related to the administration of NEH awards

• is accountable for both the appropriate use of funds and the performance of the NEH-supported project or activities as specified in the approved application and in compliance with 2 CFR Part 200 and the terms and conditions of the award

• The project director(s) may not serve as the institutional grant administrator.

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K-12 education specialist (required for Institutes for K-12 Educators):

• K-12 Institutes must designate at least one person with significant experience in K-12 education, such as teacher education faculty, a curriculum developer, museum educator, or an educator with experience facilitating professional development.

• K-12 education specialists contribute to the planning of the sessions and facilitate the incorporation of content and experiential learning strategies into classroom teaching in relevant and creative ways during the institute.

Project faculty and academic staff (recommended):

Examples of project faculty and academic staff may include:

• library or museum personnel, tour guides, independent scholars, and academic faculty from institutions different from the host site

• experts in specific pedagogical approaches, such as applied humanities, archival research, field research, or other learning activities appropriate to the project

• members of cultural or community organizations, professional societies, or other external collaborators relevant to the project

• If you are proposing an online component, you should include a staff member with online teaching experience and/or familiarity working with online instructional platforms.

Project administrators:

• may include codirectors, professional managers, graduate students, or on-site coordinators

• provide planning assistance, administrative support, and/or on-site logistical coordination to ensure that the institute runs effectively

• This role is distinct from that of the institutional grant administrator.

Project Website If NEH selects your project for funding, you must create a project website that supports participant recruitment, explains the application and selection process, provides intellectual and practical resources for participants, and serves as a resource for participants beyond the conclusion of the institute. Project websites must be ready to accept participant applications by the December preceding the Institute.

Program Outputs and Outcomes The primary output of an Institutes award must be one to four weeks of sustained engagement with a humanities topic for 25-36 participants.

The outcome of an Institutes award is to deepen participants’ understanding of significant topics in the humanities and enrich their capacity for effective scholarship and teaching.

In Attachment 3: Work plan you will describe what the results of your project will be by identifying the project output. If you receive an award, NEH will assess your performance based on the outputs you identify in the proposal. See F.3 Reporting.

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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.

that document and explore the history of the federal Indian boarding schools as well as projects that contribute to Native and Indigenous cultural and language revitalization.

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 You may request up to $220,000, depending on the duration of your proposed institute. This includes the sum of direct and indirect costs.

One week Two weeks Three weeks Four weeks $120,000 $175,000 $200,000 $220,000

NEH anticipates awarding approximately $1,500,000 among an estimated nine recipients for Higher Education Faculty and $1,500,000 among an estimated nine recipients for K-12 Educators.

bookmark://_6.__Funding/ bookmark://_1._Review_Criteria/ 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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NEH will award successful applicants outright funds, which are not contingent on additional funding from other sources.

NEH will not determine the exact amount available for funding until Congress makes official appropriations for FY 2025. NEH will issue awards subject to the availability of appropriated funds. NEH is publishing this notice as a contingency to ensure that NEH can process applications and issue awards in a timely manner, should sufficient funds become available.

Period of performance All projects must have a start date of October 1, 2025, and a period of performance of 15 months, ending on December 31, 2026.

The period of performance is the time during which you may incur expenses to carry out the work under the award.

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.

See C3. Other Eligibility Information for participant eligibility.

2. Cost Sharing NEH does not require cost sharing in this program.

Cost sharing refers to project costs that are covered with non-NEH funds. 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 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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• 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

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

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

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.

3. Other Eligibility Information An institution may submit multiple applications for separate and distinct projects under this notice. An individual may not serve as project director for multiple proposed projects under this notice.

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

As a matter of programmatic policy, NEH will not make awards in the Institutes for Higher Education Faculty and Institutes for K-12 Educators programs for the same project in consecutive years. For example, if NEH funded your project in 2024 (for a 2025 offering), you are not eligible to apply for the same project in 2025 (for a 2026 offering).

You are considered a returning applicant if your project director or any codirectors have been previously awarded under the Institutes, Landmarks, or Seminars programs.

If you previously received an NEH Institutes, Landmarks, or Seminars award, you must address additional questions included in section D2, and you must include complete and unedited participant evaluations from your most recent Institutes, Landmarks, or Seminars program without modifications.

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.

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 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 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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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 institutes@neh.gov.

NEH will not review proposed projects that are not designed for the required number of participants or that take place outside of the U.S. and its jurisdictions.

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, or applications submitted to the wrong funding opportunity.

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

Participant eligibility In addition to the requirements described in A.1 Purpose, Institute participants must be:

• United States citizens, including those teaching abroad at U.S. chartered institutions and schools operated by the federal government;

• residents of U.S. jurisdictions; or

• foreign nationals who have been residing in the United States or its jurisdictions for at least the three years immediately preceding the application deadline.

The following are not eligible to participate in NEH-funded institutes:

• foreign nationals teaching abroad

• individuals who are related to the project director(s)

• individuals who are affiliated with the applicant institution (e.g., employees, currently enrolled students, etc.)

• individuals who have been taught or advised in an academic capacity by the project director(s)

• individuals who are delinquent in the repayment of federal debt (e.g., taxes, student loans, child support payments, and delinquent payroll taxes for household or other employees)

• individuals who have been debarred or suspended by any federal department or agency

• individuals who have attended a previous NEH professional development project

(Seminars, Landmarks, or Institutes) led by the project director(s)

NEH does not require participants to have earned an advanced degree.

The OMB Guidelines to Agencies on Governmentwide Debarment and Suspension (Nonprocurement) in 2 CFR Parts 180 and 3369 apply to this award. Recipients must comply, and must require subrecipients to comply, with Subpart C of these regulations.

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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 20250212-EH-ES. There are also links on the Institutes for Higher Education Faculty and Institutes for K-12 Educators program resource pages.

This funding opportunity includes two application packages, which you can find under the “Package” tab. Select the appropriate one based upon your project type.

EH2025 – Institutes for Higher Education Faculty ES2025 – Institutes for K-12 Educators

Each package 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 institutes@neh.gov to request a paper copy of this notice.

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 attachments must be PDFs and 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 attachments 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.

• Recommended: NEH encourages, but does not require, you to submit this component.

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• Conditionally required for recipients: You are encouraged but not required to submit this component when you apply. You must submit it if you receive an award if your proposal meets the specified conditions.

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 mandatory page limits for some application components. 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: Narrative narrative.pdf Required 10/12

(mandatory) - See narrative instructions

2: Academic schedule and readings schedule.pdf Required

3: Work plan workplan.pdf Required 4: Résumés for key personnel resumes.pdf Required 2 pages per résumé (mandatory)

5: Letters of commitment and support letters.pdf Required

6: Evaluations evaluations.pdf Required for previously funded projects

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

8: Federally negotiated indirect cost rate agreement agreement.pdf Conditionally

9: Explanation of delinquent federal debt delinquentdebt.pdf Conditionally

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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 required for recipients

Standard Form-LLL “Disclosure of Lobbying Activities”

Conditionally required for recipients

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: 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.

• If you have not been previously funded in the Institutes, Landmarks, or Seminars programs, you must limit your narrative to ten pages.

• If you have previously received an award under the Institutes, Landmarks, or Seminars programs, you must limit your narrative to twelve pages.

Do not include an executive summary, cover page, or table of contents. You may include images, charts, diagrams, footnotes, endnotes, and bibliographies if they fit within the page limit.

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

Nature of the request Provide a one-paragraph summary at the start of your application that includes:

• The project title and its thematic or topical focus.

• If this is a new project, or, if applicable, how many times you have offered it previously.

• The institute’s duration (one, two, three, or four weeks), the dates of the proposed program, and the proportion of time dedicated to residential and/or virtual formats.

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• The specific number of participants the program will accommodate. (Institutes must host 25-36 participants.)

• For Institutes for Higher Education Faculty: While projects must be open to all eligible applicants, you must indicate the specific audience by subject area(s).

• For Institutes for K-12 Educators: While projects must be open to all eligible applicants, you must indicate if the institute would appeal to participants in both specific grade level(s) and subject area(s).

Intellectual content and significance (aligns with review criterion 1)

• Introduce the institute’s subject and explain its intellectual significance.

• Outline the questions, themes, and approaches to the topic (which you will detail in the program of study) and explain how they support relevant scholarship and teaching.

• For previously-funded projects: Describe revisions to scholarship, questions, themes, and approaches informed by the most recent iteration of the project.

Format and program of study (aligns with review criteria 1, 2, and 3)

• Describe the structure of the institute and show how participants will explore its subject matter.

• Describe the academic sessions and the core readings that will support them.

• Explain how you will employ the readings and academic sessions to illuminate a variety of approaches to the subject and to respect diverse viewpoints.

• Explain how you will cultivate a collegial environment and encourage the active intellectual engagement of participants.

• Describe opportunities for project faculty and participants to integrate the material under study into regular classroom teaching.

• Explain how the program’s length and format will maximize the project’s intellectual goals.

• For projects with a virtual component, identify the platforms to be used and explain why they were chosen.

• For previously-funded projects: Describe revisions to the program of study based on feedback included in evaluations from the most recent iteration of the project.

If you are proposing an institute with virtual components spread out over multiple days, you should clearly account for five to six days of structured study as the equivalent of one week; activities may include group meetings as well as individual reading and/or project work.

You will provide a more detailed institute schedule in Attachment 2: Academic schedule and describe your planning, preparation, and follow-up in Attachment 3: Work plan.

Project team (aligns with review criteria 1, 2, and 3)

• Describe the qualifications of the project director(s) as they pertain to the topic and programmatic administration and explain their approach to working with project faculty, the K-12 education specialist (for K-12 institutes), staff, and participants. If you propose codirectors, explain how the team will share responsibilities.

• Identify at least one qualified replacement director who is capable of assuming leadership of the project should a project director become unable to fulfill their role. If the replacement director is a codirector, state clearly that each codirector is prepared

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and qualified to assume full intellectual and administrative leadership of the project, if necessary.

• Identify additional project faculty and academic staff on the project team, noting their expertise, roles, and time commitments to the project. Explain how they will bring varied perspectives to the project and meaningfully engage with participants. If two or more project faculty and/or academic staff members are present at any given time, explain their shared role and how it will enhance the participants’ experience.

• Identify key administrative and technical experts, noting their expertise, roles, and time commitments to the project.

• For Institutes for K-12 Educators: identify the K-12 education specialist, noting their expertise, role, and time commitment to the project. Explain how they will enhance pedagogical effectiveness.

• For previously-funded projects: Describe revisions to the composition of the project team, faculty, staff, and/or presenters informed by the most recent iteration of the project.

Institutional resources (aligns with review criteria 2 and 3)

• Discuss the institution’s capacity to host the institute project and provide reasonable physical and programmatic accommodations to ensure equitable access and involvement.

• Identify relevant material and digital assets available at the host institution, partner organizations, and related project sites.

• For institutes with a residential component, describe the availability, accessibility, quality, and costs of housing, as well as meal and transportation options, including considerations for special dietary and travel needs.

• For Institutes for K-12 Educators: If you will offer professional development to participants (continuing education, in-service, or graduate credit), describe how you will provide necessary documentation. If graduate credit will require additional work by participants beyond the institute, such as writing a research paper, describe these requirements. See D6. Funding Restrictions.

• For previously-funded projects: Describe revisions to accessibility and resource availability informed by the most recent iteration of the project.

Participants and follow-up (aligns with review criteria 2 and 3)

• Describe your intended audience and explain how you will attract a robust and diverse pool of applicants from across the nation, including those from historically underrepresented communities, including individuals with disabilities.

• Identify the non-director members of the selection committee.

o For Institutes for K-12 Educators: at least one member of the selection committee must be a K-12 educator.

• Describe how you will provide appropriate resources to and communicate with participants before and during the institute.

• Describe your plans for follow-up with participants.

• For previously-funded projects: Describe revisions to recruitment, communication, and follow-up plans based on the most recent iteration of the project.

Name the file narrative.pdf.

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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

Nature of the request Not applicable

Intellectual content and significance 1

Format and program of study 1, 2, 3

Project team 1, 2, 3

Institutional resources 2, 3

Participants and follow-up 2, 3

Attachment 2: Academic schedule and readings (required) Include a schedule for the institute and a list of relevant readings or resources for the project.

The schedule should describe the participants’ day-to-day activities and how their time would be structured.

Name the file schedule.pdf.

Attachment 3: Work plan (required) Include a work plan that accounts for activity throughout the period of performance, except that which takes place during the academic program covered above.

The work plan should begin with a statement identifying indicators the project team will use to demonstrate the project’s success.

Your work plan should reflect major activities described in your narrative, including the NEH required project dates provided below, the project dates identified on the SF-424 Application for Federal Assistance - Short Organizational, and the Research and Related Budget.

Include these NEH required dates:

• October 2025: required virtual project team meeting with NEH

• December 2025: project websites go live, participant applications open

• February 2026: required virtual project team meeting with NEH

• March 2026: participant application deadline, review applications and select participants

• April 2026: notify applicants; selected participants have two weeks to accept or decline

Name the file workplan.pdf.

Attachment 4: Résumés for key personnel (required) Provide résumés (two-page limit for each resume) for the project director(s), codirector(s) (if relevant), potential replacement director(s) (if needed), and all project faculty.

Name the file resumes.pdf.

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Attachment 5: Letters of commitment and support (required) Provide letters or email messages of commitment from:

• relevant leadership at the host institution (i.e., president, provost, dean, executive director, etc.), confirming the institution’s commitment to the project and ensuring that relevant offices will provide timely and effective support

• the project team o codirector(s) not employed by the applicant institution o the potential replacement director(s) o the education specialist(s), where required

• invited presenters, site-based collaborators, and other consultants scheduled to participate in the institute

Elected government officials (except Tribal leaders writing in their capacity as institutional leaders of a Tribal college or university), NEH staff, and current members of the National Council on the Humanities may not serve as letter writers.

Name the file letters.pdf.

Attachment 6: Evaluations (Required for previously funded projects) Include all participant evaluations from the most recent iteration of your NEH Institutes, Landmarks, or Seminars program. Evaluations cannot be edited or submitted in a format that replaces the original evaluations received from past program participants.

Name the file evaluations.pdf.

Attachment 7: 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.

https://www.neh.gov/about/national-council-on-the-humanities https://www.neh.gov/about/national-council-on-the-humanities 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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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 8: 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 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 9: Explanation of delinquent federal debt (conditionally required) 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 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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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.

c. State your project’s period of performance start and end dates. The period of performance for this award is October 1, 2025-December 31, 2026. See B2. Summary of Funding.

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.