Museum Grants for African American History and Culture

Museum Grants for African American History and Culture (AAHC) is designed to build the capacity of African American museums and support the growth and development of museum professionals at African American museums. The program supports projects that

The Museum Grants for African American History and Culture (AAHC) program builds the capacity of African American museums and supports the growth and development of museum professionals at African American museums. The program supports projects that nurture museum professionals, build institutional capacity, and increase access to museum and archival collections at African American museums and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The goals of this program are to: • Build the capacity of African American museums and HBCUs to serve their communities; and • Support the growth and development of a professional workforce at African American museums and HBCUs. The primary audiences for this program are museums, museum service organizations, institutions of higher education (especially Historically Black Colleges and Universities), and museum professionals. Secondary audiences include museum visitors and future museum professionals.

An applicant to Museum Grants for African American History and Culture must meet geographic and governance criteria and qualify as one of following types of organizations: 1. A museum whose primary purpose, as reflected in its mission, is African American life, art, history, and/or culture, encompassing: the period of slavery; the era of Reconstruction; the Harlem renaissance; the civil rights movement; and other periods of the African American diaspora; and using a professional staff, is organized on a permanent basis for essentially educational, cultural heritage or aesthetic purposes; owns or uses tangible objects, either animate or inanimate; cares for these objects; and exhibits these objects to the general public on a regular basis through facilities that it owns or operates. For more information, please see 2 C.F.R. §3187.3. 2. A public or private nonprofit agency that is responsible for the operation of a museum that meets the eligibility criteria in 1, 2, and 3(a), applying on behalf of the museum. 3. A museum service organization or association whose primary purpose, as reflected in its mission, is to support museums whose primary purpose, as reflected in their mission, is African American life, art, history and/or culture; or 4. A historically black college or university, as defined by the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, 20 U.S.C. Section 1061, and pursuant to Executive Order 13256, dated February 12, 2002.

Grant funds must be used for the purposes outlined in the Notice of Funding Opportunity, and in accordance with the Institute of Museum and Library Services General Terms and Conditions. Examples of allowable costs include personnel salaries, wages, and fringe benefits for project staff; travel expenses for key project staff and consultants; materials, supplies, software, and equipment related directly to project activities; adaptive and/or assistive technologies and other resources and services to improve accessibility for persons with disabilities; equipment to improve collections storage and exhibit environments; third-party costs; publication design and printing; program evaluation; staff and volunteer training; student tuition and fees; paid internships/fellowships; and indirect or overhead costs.

Unallowable costs include general fundraising costs, such as development office staff or other staff time devoted to general fundraising, contributions to endowments, general operating support, acquisition of collections, general advertising or public relations costs designed solely for promotional activities other than those related to the specific project, construction or renovation of facilities (generally, any activity involving the construction trades is not an allowable cost), social activities, receptions, or entertainment, and research projects.

Projects must begin on July 1, 2025, and project activities may be carried out for one to three years.

Successful applications in this grant program are structured to build the capacity of a museum and/or support the growth and development of museum professionals at an African American museum and/or HBCU; reflect a thorough understanding of current practice and knowledge about the subject matter; define a work plan consisting of a set of logical, interrelated activities tied directly to addressing a key need or challenge; and are designed to generate measurable results that tie directly to the identified need or challenge. IMLS staff review applications for eligibility and completeness. IMLS uses a peer review process to evaluate all eligible and complete applications. Peer reviewers evaluate all eligible and complete applications according to the review criteria listed in the NOFO. Reviewers are professionals in the field with relevant knowledge and expertise in the types of project activities identified in the applications. Peer reviewers must comply with IMLS's Federal ethics and conflicts of interest requirements.

The IMLS Director takes into account the input provided by the review process and makes final funding decisions consistent with the purposes of the agency's mission and programs. Funded and non-funded applicants are notified of decisions by email after all deliberations are complete.

IMLS will not release information about the status of an application until the applications have been reviewed and all deliberations are concluded. IMLS expects to notify both successful and unsuccessful applicants of the final decisions by email by August 2026.

IMLS may extend particular grants at the discretion of the Director. Awardees may request no-cost extensions of up to a year.

IMLS will provide copies of reviewer comments and scores to all unsuccessful applicants and invite them to consult with specific IMLS staff when determining whether to revise the proposal and submit it again to IMLS or another funding agency.