Archives Collaboratives | COLLABORATIVES 202305

Opportunity Information: Apply for COLLABORATIVES 202305

The Archives Collaboratives grant opportunity is offered by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), part of the National Archives and Records Administration, to help groups of archives work together so their historical collections are easier for the public to find, explore, and use. The core idea is collaboration: the program is aimed at partnerships of at least three repositories that want to pool knowledge and capacity to improve discovery and access, especially through approaches that can be sustained over time. NHPRC is particularly interested in collaboratives that strengthen small and underserved local archives, including those that hold collections centered on the voices and perspectives of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.

A key feature of the program is flexibility in what a collaborative can look like, as long as it involves three or more participating organizations. Partners can be in the same town, across a state, or spread throughout a region, and they can also operate as a "virtual" or online collaborative. The institutions do not need to be identical; they might share a similar mission, serve similar user communities, or simply have collections with related subject matter. NHPRC envisions collaboratives using the grant to share and standardize best practices, tools, and techniques; assess each partner's strengths and gaps; build replicable and sustainable digital platforms for historical materials; virtually unify records from multiple repositories so users can discover them in a more seamless way; and establish management structures that support long-term stability and growth beyond the grant period.

Applicants can choose between two funding tracks: Planning Grants and Implementation Grants. Planning Grants support early-stage work where partners formally organize themselves and design a shared project. These awards are for one year and can be as much as $25,000 total (shared across the consortium). During the planning period, the partners are expected to develop a clear mission for the collaborative, along with a work plan and timeline, and to outline a shared project or a shared best practice, tool, or technique that will increase public access to historical records. Importantly, partner commitments must already be secured when the application is submitted, meaning the collaborative should be more than an informal idea by the time it applies. NHPRC anticipated making up to four Planning Grants, for a total of up to $100,000 in this category.

Implementation Grants fund the collaborative to carry out the action items identified through a planning process. A collaborative can apply for implementation even if it did not previously receive an NHPRC Planning Grant, as long as it can show it has done the necessary planning and is ready to execute. These awards can run for one or two years and can be as much as $100,000 total (again, shared across the consortium). Eligible implementation proposals need to show concrete commitments from member organizations, along with a detailed work plan and timeline. NHPRC expected to make up to four Implementation Grants, totaling up to $400,000 in this category. For both tracks, the application deadline listed is May 3, 2023, with a project start date of January 1, 2024.

Eligibility covers a range of public and nonprofit entities that commonly steward historical records. Eligible applicants include nonprofit organizations and institutions, colleges and universities, state or local government agencies, and federally acknowledged or state recognized Native American tribes or groups. The opportunity also points applicants to NHPRC's "What we do and do not fund" guidance, emphasizing that proposals made up entirely of ineligible activities will be rejected. Applicants are expected to review NHPRC rules and regulations for administering awards to ensure their project activities fit the program and comply with federal grant requirements.

The program requires cost sharing, meaning NHPRC will not pay the full cost of the project. NHPRC will cover no more than 75 percent of total project costs for both Planning and Implementation Grants, so applicants must provide at least 25 percent of the total costs through matching funds or equivalent contributions. The cost share can include direct and indirect expenses, in-kind support, third-party non-federal contributions, and project-generated income. One important budgeting constraint is that NHPRC funds cannot be used to pay indirect costs; any indirect costs must appear under the applicant's cost share portion rather than the NHPRC-funded portion.

There are also standard federal registration requirements that can affect whether an application is accepted on time. The applicant organization must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) before submitting, must keep that registration active through the application and award process, and must include a valid Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) in the application. Because SAM.gov and Grants.gov registration and reactivation can take up to a month, applicants are warned to confirm their accounts and passwords well ahead of the deadline, as NHPRC will not extend deadlines due to registration delays. Finally, NHPRC requires funded projects to acknowledge NHPRC support in publications and other products that result from the grant.

• The National Archives and Records Administration in the humanities (see cultural affairs in cfda) sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Archives Collaboratives" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 89.003.
• This funding opportunity was created on Nov 29, 2022.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 03, 2023. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $25,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 4 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

Apply for COLLABORATIVES 202305

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