OCP Convenings NOFO 2024.pdf

Notice of Funding Opportunity

Graduate Education in the Humanities: A National Convening

Funding Opportunity Number: 2024o806-CHC

Funding Opportunity Type(s): New

Federal Assistance Listing Number: 45.130

Application Deadline: August 6, 2024

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.

Office of Challenge Programs Email: challenge@neh.gov Telephone: 202-606-8309 Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1

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

20240806-CHC i

Executive Summary The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Office of Challenge Programs is accepting applications for Graduate Education in the Humanities: A National Convening, a cooperative agreement to plan and host a national convening to evaluate the current state of graduate education in the humanities, to make recommendations for programs to prepare graduate students for a variety of humanities-related careers, and to develop a roadmap that articulates a strategic vision for graduate education in the humanities. The project will be funded through a combination of federal matching funds and related fundraising from non-federal third parties.

Funding Opportunity Title Graduate Education in the Humanities: A National Convening

Funding Opportunity Number 2024o806-CHC Federal Assistance Listing Number 45.130 Deadline for Optional Draft June 26, 2024, 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time Application Deadline August 6, 2024, 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time Anticipated Award Announcement December 2024 Anticipated FY 2025 Funding Approximately $500,000 Estimated Number and Type of Awards Approximately 1 cooperative agreement Award Amounts Up to $500,000 Cost Sharing/Match Required Yes Period of Performance Up to 3 years, starting March 1, 2025

Projects must start between March 1, 2025, and July 1, 2025.

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/graduate-education-humanities-national-convening

Published May 6. 2024 https://www.neh.gov/program/graduate-education-humanities-national-convening

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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. Matching Requirements

3. Other Eligibility Information

D. Application and Submission Information

1. Application Package

2. Content and Form of Application Submission

3. Unique Entity Identifier and System for Award Management

4. Submission Dates and Times

5. Intergovernmental Review

6. Funding Restrictions

E. Application Review Information

1. Review Criteria

2. Review and Selection Process

3. Assessment of Risk and Other Pre-Award Activities

4. Anticipated Announcement and Award Dates

F. Federal Award Administration Information

1. Federal Award Notices

2. Administrative and National Policy Requirements

3. Reporting

G. Agency Contacts H. Other Information

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A. Program Description

1. Purpose This notice solicits applications for Graduate Education in the Humanities: A National Convening.

NEH’s Office of Challenge Programs supports projects that strengthen the institutional base of the humanities and have long-term impacts on humanities institutions. Graduate Education in the Humanities: A National Convening will support a project to assess the current state of graduate education, explore and discuss current challenges, and disseminate innovative models and methods that meet those challenges. Those models and methods will help graduate programs in disciplines across the humanities expand training opportunities and prepare students for careers in a wide variety of fields and capacities, thereby opening new paths for graduates of humanities programs to help address the most complex problems of our time, such as climate change, racism, inequality, public health crises, the dangers and opportunities of technology, and other urgent issues.

This cooperative agreement supports the planning and implementation of a national gathering to address challenges in graduate humanities education by providing opportunities for experts and practitioners to share best practices; offering meaningful guidance for departments, graduate programs, universities, and other organizations interested in improving graduate education in the humanities; and developing a strategic vision for graduate education in the humanities.

The recipient of this cooperative agreement will be required to:

• assemble and support a steering committee and working groups with representatives who can speak to the geographic, demographic, institutional, economic, and social diversity of graduate education throughout the United States;

• plan and host an in-person, virtual, or hybrid national convening focused on the current state of, and future prospects for, graduate training in the humanities; and

• publish and disseminate a report based on the findings of the working groups and the national convening.

See B2. Type of Application and Award for more information about recipient and NEH responsibilities under this cooperative agreement.

Possible topics to be covered by working groups and/or the national convening include, but are not limited to:

• preparing graduate students for diverse humanities careers

• internships and experiential education

• diversity, equity, and inclusion

• alternatives to the graduate thesis and doctoral dissertation

• innovations in research training and methods

• opportunities for graduates in public humanities

• graduate student labor issues

• interdisciplinary graduate training

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Successful applicants will demonstrate a thorough knowledge of graduate education in the humanities and should be informed by a clear understanding of the current state of the field and the broader environments (e.g., demographic, social, technological, and economic) that affect practitioners in institutional and educational settings. Your proposal should include methodology for identifying issues of importance to the field, collecting data, evaluating proposed solutions, and presenting a forward-thinking analysis to a range of stakeholders.

You must demonstrate that you can raise the required matching funds from third-party, nonfederal sources and establish strategic collaborations with key stakeholders including national leaders, researchers, educators, funders, and others who have or can build on national partnerships.

Program Outcomes and Outputs The primary output of Graduate Education in the Humanities: A National Convening will be a national convening addressing graduate education in the humanities. In addition, following the conclusion of the convening you must create, publish, and disseminate a post-convening report on the state of humanities graduate education in the United States no later than the last day of your period of performance. This report will be made widely available to external stakeholders through a robust dissemination strategy, including both traditional and digital media. Report(s) should include a summary of convening outcomes as well as high-level analysis of actions and priorities for the field. See F3. Reporting.

You will describe your project outcomes and outputs, and how they would support the overall purpose of the Graduate Education in the Humanities: A National Convening program, in Attachment 1: Narrative. If you receive an award, NEH will assess your performance based on the outputs you identify in the proposal.

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.

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

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Learn more about NEH.

NEH Areas of Interest NEH is especially interested in supporting projects that advance humanities-related work in the following areas. NEH will give all applications equal consideration in accordance with the program’s review criteria.

NEH encourages projects that include Native American organizations and communities as applicants and project partners.

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

United We Stand: Connecting Through Culture Hate must have no safe harbor in America – especially when that hate fuels the kind of violence we’ve seen from Oak Creek to Pittsburgh, from El Paso to Poway, and from Atlanta to Buffalo.

When ordinary Americans cannot participate in the basic activities of everyday life – such as shopping at the grocery store or praying at their house of worship – without the fear of being targeted and killed for who they are, our security as well as democracy are at risk. In coordination with the White House “United We Stand” Summit in September 2022, NEH launched a new initiative titled United We Stand: Connecting Through Culture that uses the humanities to combat hate-motivated violence and promote civic engagement, social cohesion, and cross-cultural understanding. As a part of this initiative, NEH encourages humanities projects that further our understanding of the nation’s racial, ethnic, gender, and religious diversity; examine the sources of hate and intolerance in the United States; and explore progress towards greater inclusiveness. NEH especially welcomes projects that explore the Muslim American and/or the Jewish American experience, including the history of Islamophobia and/or antisemitism.

NEH’s Support for the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative As a part of NEH’s partnership with the Department of the Interior on the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, NEH encourages projects that further public understanding and knowledge of the Federal Indian boarding school system. From 1819 through the 1970s the government of the United States operated a system of schools for Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children premised on a policy of coerced cultural assimilation. Native children were forcibly separated from their families and sent to attend https://www.neh.gov/about https://www.neh.gov/news/american-tapestry-weaving-together-past-present-and-future https://www.neh.gov/unitedwestand https://www.neh.gov/bsi https://www.neh.gov/bsi

2024o806-CHC 4 federal Indian boarding schools, where they were frequently subject to harsh treatment and abuse. A number of these students died, and others never returned to their families and communities. Many were also deprived of their cultural inheritance. NEH encourages projects 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 one cooperative agreement, a financial assistance mechanism in which NEH will have substantial programmatic involvement. Under this cooperative agreement, NEH’s purpose is to support the project’s activities by working collaboratively in a partnership role but not assume direction. Prime responsibilities of the project reside with the recipient.

Under this cooperative agreement and in collaboration with NEH, the recipient will:

• match the NEH financial contribution by raising an equivalent total of gifts from third-party, nonfederal sources. See C2. Matching Requirements.

• establish a convening steering committee, ensuring that representation is geographically, demographically, and institutionally diverse and representative of the stakeholder base.

• establish working groups of experts, stakeholders, and members of other relevant audiences to address specific issues determined by the steering committee.

• facilitate communication with and between steering committee and working group members via in-person or virtual meetings.

• plan, develop, and implement an in-person, virtual, or hybrid national convening focusing on topics identified by steering committee members. The recipient will work with NEH on the agenda, timing, location, and logistics of the convening.

• provide ongoing logistical support (travel arrangements including lodging and per diem) to speakers and principals participating in the national convening, as required for the project’s format.

• disseminate the public report, including traditional and digital media, to the higher education community, national leaders, funders, educators, and the general public.

Under the cooperative agreement, NEH will:

• participate in steering committee meetings;

• consult on the selection of topics to be addressed by working groups and participate in working group meetings;

• participate in the planning, development, and implementation of the national convening;

• contribute to the organization and editing of the final report(s);

• contribute to the dissemination of report(s) via social media and press releases; and

• fulfill other responsibilities negotiated prior to the award.

The terms and conditions at time of award will identify responsibilities of both parties.

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2. Summary of Funding

Award amounts You may request up to $500,000. This includes the sum of direct and indirect costs.

NEH anticipates awarding approximately $500,000 to one recipient.

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.

Funding beyond the first year is dependent on the availability of appropriated funds for Graduate Education in the Humanities: A National Convening in subsequent fiscal years, satisfactory performance, and a decision that continued funding is in the best interest of the Federal Government.

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.

To receive the full funding amount, you must select a period of performance that allows adequate time to raise and certify matching funds. See C2. Matching Requirements.

You may request a period of performance up to 36 months with a start date between March 1, 2025, and July 1, 2025.

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.

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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2. Matching Requirements NEH requires cost sharing in this program.

You may request up to $500,000 in federal matching funds to leverage third party funding.

Funds to satisfy a matching requirement must be from sources outside of the applicant institution (a third party) consistent with the NEH Federal Matching Funds Guidelines. You must raise third-party non-federal gifts dollar-for-dollar. NEH will not release funds until you raise and certify eligible gifts. In-kind gifts and funds derived from the recipient organization are not eligible sources of certified gifts in this program.

You may propose a budget of up to $1,000,000 ($500,000 from NEH plus $500,000 in third-party non-federal gifts). Include third-party non-federal gifts on your Research and Related Budget and identify what project activities they will support in the budget justification. The budget should be appropriate to project activities and institutional fundraising capacity. In general, NEH anticipates that budgets for projects proposed by individual organizations will be less than those proposed by consortiums.

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. Consortium members may raise third-party non-federal gifts in support of the NEH award, but such gifts may not originate from the members themselves.

Gift certification 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. NEH will not release federal matching funds until you raise and certify eligible gifts.

If NEH selects your project for funding, you must raise and certify all eligible gifts and pledges at least one year prior to the end of the period of performance (see Federal Matching Funds Guidelines). If you fail to meet this deadline, NEH may reduce or terminate your award. You may certify gifts up to three times a year to release federal matching funds or to fulfill any portion of the matching requirement.

You may certify gifts at the time of application. See Attachment 5: Certification of gifts.

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

If you submit on behalf of a consortium, you are responsible for certifying all gifts. Consortium members that are subrecipients may independently fundraise and secure eligible third-party non-federal gifts; however, funds may not originate from consortium members’ budgets or general operating funds.

You must use Graduate Education in the Humanities: A National Convening funds (federal matching funds and third-party non-federal gifts) only to support the purposes outlined in the approved budget within the period of performance.

https://www.neh.gov/grants/manage/federal-matching-funds-guidelines%22%20/t%20%22_blank https://www.neh.gov/grants/manage/federal-matching-funds-guidelines

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See NEH Federal Matching Funds Guidelines for information on allowable gifts and certification requirements. You must maintain auditable records of the source and use of required certified gifts. See 2 CFR § 200.306.

Learn about types of funds NEH offers.

3. Other Eligibility Information An organization may submit only one application under this notice.

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

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, contact program staff at challenge@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.

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

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%22%20%5Cl%20%22se2.1.200_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 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 https://www.neh.gov/grants/policy-on-late-submissions

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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 2024o730-CHC. 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 challenge@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.

• 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.

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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.

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Application Component File Name Designation Page limit Attachments 1: Narrative narrative.pdf Required 15 (mandatory) 2: Work plan workplan.pdf Required 2 pages

(suggested) 3: Résumés resumes.pdf Required 2 pages per person (suggested)

4: Letters of commitment letters.pdf Required 5: Certification of Gifts certification.pdf Optional 6: Subrecipient budget(s) subrecipient.pdf Conditionally required

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

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

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: 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.

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You must limit the narrative to fifteen 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. Name the file narrative.pdf.

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

Intellectual rationale (aligns with review criteria 1, 2, and 4) Outline national issues of critical significance in graduate humanities education, including current and future challenges. Describe specific topics and themes including those facing different types of institutions and organizations, underrepresented groups, and faculty, staff, students, and others involved in humanities graduate education. Specific topics and themes could include preparing humanities graduate students for diverse careers; the role of internships and experiential education in humanities graduate education; diversity, equity, and inclusion in humanities graduate programs; or training humanities graduate students to contribute to complex contemporary issues, such as climate change, the dangers and opportunities of technology, or inequality. Discuss how your convening and report will address these issues.

Discuss how the steering committee, working groups, and convening would respond to, build upon, and/or challenge previous research on the state of graduate humanities education.

Discuss your understanding of the potential impacts of the development of a strategic vision for graduate humanities education, addressing such factors as the demographic, social, technological, institutional, and economic conditions that affect graduate education within the humanities.

Explain whether your proposed convening is in-person, virtual, or a combination, and why you chose this format. Outline the scope, organization, and setting (physical location or virtual platform) of the proposed meeting, the rationale for such choices, and the institutional resources available to support them.

Discuss how you will evaluate, analyze, and compile the results of the national convening into a report establishing a strategic vision and set of best practices for graduate education in the humanities.

Design, content, and implementation (aligns with review criteria 1, 2 and 3) The convening is not required to adhere to a particular format or schedule. You should tailor your project design to the strengths and needs of your audience, project team (including the presenters), organizational partners, and proposed host sites.

Describe your plans and potential sources for raising the third-party non-federal gifts required to release the federal matching funds. Delineate the fundraising strategy and timeline in alignment with the work plan in Attachment 2 and the requested period of performance. NEH will evaluate your proposal, in part, on how well these elements cohere. See E1. Review Criteria.

Describe how steering committee and working group participants will be selected and recruited.

Explain how participants and project personnel will communicate and evaluate key topics.

Discuss the roles and responsibilities of the steering committee and the working groups, including time commitment and resources that will be provided to members before, during, and after the convening. Explain the role, if any, of steering committee members in development of the post-convening strategic vision for humanities graduate education.

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Describe the specific content and structure of the national convening. Explain how the combination of presentations, break-out sessions, small group discussions, and other scheduled activities will inform the long-term vision and strategic goals.

Describe your strategy, including the use of traditional and digital media, for advertising the convening and inviting or recruiting participants.

Describe proposed outcomes of the convening and the methodology that will be used for evaluating, prioritizing, and promoting a vision for humanities graduate education to various national audiences.

Project staff (aligns with review criteria 1 and 2) Identify the project director(s), relevant institutional support staff, and the individuals who will participate in the steering committee and/or working groups (if known). Provide a brief description of the qualifications and roles of the project director, support staff, and other key personnel, including their subject matter expertise. Note that supporting résumés or brief biographies (not to exceed two single- spaced pages) are required as Attachment 3. Letters of commitment from consultants, speakers, and other key personnel are required as Attachment 4.

Institutional expertise and resources (aligns with review criteria 2 and 3) Describe your institution’s mission and resources and how these would support the proposed activities. If the project includes collaborations with other institutions or organizations, indicate how the mission and resources of those institutions would support the project. Describe your institution’s subject matter expertise in graduate education in the humanities, as well as its experience in coordinating national convenings. If you are collaborating with one or more institutions, include a letter of commitment from each one in Attachment 4. (The applicant institution does not need to provide a letter of commitment.)

Impact and dissemination (aligns with review criteria 1 and 4) Describe how the project will inform the development of a strategic vision for graduate education in the humanities. Explain how the report will reach the proposed audiences of national leaders, practitioners, educators, and the general public. Explain your plans for publicizing the final recommendations. Describe plans for composing, publishing, and disseminating the public report.

Attachment 2: Work plan (required) Your work plan should reflect the major activities you describe in your narrative, the project dates on your SF-424 Application for Federal Assistance - Short Organizational, and your Research and Related Budget.

Describe the activities that will take place during the period of performance to achieve each of the proposed objectives. Use a timeline that includes each activity, including fundraising, and identifies responsible staff. Explain how outcomes from one activity will carry over into the next.

For multi-institutional collaborative projects, discuss the distribution of responsibilities across each institution. As appropriate, identify meaningful support and collaboration with key stakeholders in planning, designing, and implementing activities.

Name the file workplan.pdf.

Attachment 3: Résumés for key personnel (required)

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Include résumés for the project director(s), members of the steering committee and working groups (if available), consultants, speakers, and other key personnel.

This attachment has a suggested length of two pages per person. Name the file resumes.pdf.

Attachment 4: Letters of commitment and support (required) Include letters of commitment from members of the steering committee and working groups (if applicable), consultants, presenters, and collaborating institutions (if any). Letters of commitment should confirm the individual’s intention to participate and briefly describe their role in the project. The applicant institution does not need to provide a letter of commitment.

Elected government officials, NEH staff, and current members of the National Council on the Humanities may not serve as letter writers.

Name the file letters.pdf.

Attachment 5: Certification of Gifts (optional) If you have raised third-party non-federal gifts prior to the application deadline you may certify gifts with the application by completing the Certification of Gifts/ Pledges Form, available on the program resource page. If your gift certification includes pledges, you must attach supporting documentation, including the date pledges will be paid. In-kind gifts and funds derived from the recipient organization or consortium members are not eligible sources of certified gifts in this program.

See NEH Federal Matching Funds Guidelines.

Name the file certification.pdf.

Attachment 6: 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/gift-certification-form.pdf https://www.neh.gov/program/graduate-education-humanities-national-convening https://www.neh.gov/grants/manage/federal-matching-funds-guidelines 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 7: 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 8: 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, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/omb/circulars_a129_rev2013 https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/omb/circulars_a129_rev2013 https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

2024o806-CHC 15 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. 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.

https://apply07.grants.gov/help/html/help/index.htm?callingApp=custom#t=GetStarted%2FGetStarted.htm

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

3. Project Funding

• Under “Outright Funds,” enter zero.

• Under “Federal Match,” enter the amount of federal matching funds you are requesting.

• Under “Cost Sharing,” enter the required cost share you will provide to release the federal matching funds (dollar-for-dollar). Do not include voluntary cost share.

Learn more about the types of funding NEH offers.

4. Application Information Indicate whether you or others will submit complementary proposals to other NEH programs, government agencies, or private entities. If so, specify when and to whom. NEH will not consider this information when evaluating the merits of your proposal. See C3. Other Eligibility Information for restrictions regarding overlapping costs.

For type of application, check “new.”

Select the project’s primary discipline from the drop-down menu. If applicable, select the project’s secondary and tertiary disciplines.

Project/Performance Site Location(s) Form (Grants.gov form) Provide the primary location and any other locations where you will conduct project activities during the period of performance.

Enter congressional districts using the two-letter state abbreviation followed by your three-character district number. For example, if your institution is 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.”

The form has space for 300 sites. If your project includes additional locations, list them in a separate document. Save the document as a PDF named additionallocations.pdf and attach it under “Additional Locations.”

Research and Related Budget (Grants.gov form) You must submit a project budget using the Research and Related Budget form included in the Grants.gov application package and attach a budget justification. Complete the SF-424 Application for Federal Assistance - Short Organizational form prior to completing your Research and Related Budget.

Complete a separate detailed budget for each 12-month span of the period of performance. The form will generate a cumulative budget.

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

https://www.neh.gov/grants/manage/types-funding https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

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Your budget…