Finding Grant Programs
If you are just entering the realm of grants and government funding, it can feel overwhelming trying to find the right program for you or your organization. When considering grants, these programs can be broadly categorized as those awarded by the federal government and those awarded by non-federal entities. Within these two categories are a variety of funding sources and program types.
Federal Grants, Funding & Benefit Programs
To sort through the federal grant programs, the authoritative source is the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA). This catalog lists all of the available funding programs to all levels of government, nonprofit organizations, for-profit businesses, and other eligible entities. Search Grants within Grants.gov allows you to search, filter, and apply for specific opportunities to receive funding from one of these programs.
Non-Federal Grant Programs
There are a large number of nonprofit organizations and for-profit businesses that also provide grants or other types of funding assistance.
Note: The information below is not exhaustive, and Grants.gov is not affiliated with, nor endorsing, any of these resources. They are provided as a convenience to prospective grant applicants.
Candid Click to View Exit Disclaimer maintains a comprehensive database on U.S. and global grant-makers and their funding opportunities. It also operates research, education, and training programs designed to advance knowledge of philanthropy at every level.
Candid's Funding Information Network Click to View Exit Disclaimer facilitates access to grant resources and publications to under-resourced entities and populations.
State and regional directories can also be found with some research. Try using the Community Foundation Locator Click to View Exit Disclaimer to find a grant-making foundation in your region. You may also use your preferred web search engine to find your state's grant or foundation directory. Local libraries may have access to subscription-based search engines or the Foundation Center Cooperating Collections, so visit your library to work with them for assistance.
Mission and Vision
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency created in 1965. It is one of the largest funders of humanities programs in the United States. Because democracy demands wisdom, NEH serves and strengthens our republic by promoting excellence in the humanities and conveying the lessons of history to all Citizens. The Endowment accomplishes this mission by awarding grants for top-rated proposals examined by panels of independent, external reviewers.
Grant Program Highlights
The Division of Education Programs works to strengthen humanities education through programs aimed at pre-collegiate and post-secondary levels of study. Through intensive summer programs of reading and discussion with recognized scholars, individual teachers have opportunities to strengthen their mastery of the subjects they teach in history, philosophy, literature and languages, world cultures, art history, and political science, among others. These residential programs encourage schoolteachers and college teachers to study common texts, visit collections in libraries and museums, exchange ideas about the art of teaching, and share insights and materials with their colleagues and students. The Division has several grant programs to support institutional endeavors.
Division of Preservation and Access Programs
A substantial portion of the nation's cultural heritage and intellectual legacy is held in libraries, archives, and museums. These repositories are responsible for preserving and making available collections of books, serials, manuscripts, sound recordings, still and moving images, works of art, objects of material culture, and rapidly expanding digital collections. The challenge is great: to preserve diverse formats of materials that are threatened by factors inherent in their physical structures or by the environments in which they are housed, and to create a level of intellectual control sufficient to enable users to find and use the materials relevant to them. Increasingly, these humanities collections are being used to create the kind of Web-based resources that NEH supports, such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, descriptive catalogs, and digital archives. Both the creators and users of these resources also need our support to develop digital tools to enhance access to and promote integration of these materials. The division's grant programs recognize that good stewardship of cultural resources requires equal attention both to preservation and to access. All of the division's programs focus on ensuring the long-term and wide availability of primary resources in the humanities.
Division of Public Programs
The Division of Public Programs supports a wide range of public humanities programs that reach large and diverse public audiences. These programs make use of a variety of formats—interpretation at historic sites, television and radio productions, museum exhibitions, Web sites, and other digital media.
Division of Research Programs
The Division of Research Programs supports scholarly research that advances knowledge and understanding of the humanities. Awards are made to scholars working on research projects of significance to specific humanities fields and to the humanities as a whole. For example, grants support projects as diverse as the deciphering and editing of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the editing of the correspondence of Charles Darwin.
