Federal granting agencies support preservation, conservation, digitization, and audio preservation initiatives to preserve and provide access to cultural collections held by America's libraries, archives, museums, historical organizations, and other nonprofits.
At NEDCC, we specialize in helping organizations plan and execute grant-funded activities, including but not limited to:
- Audio reformatting
- Book, paper, and photograph conservation
- Collection-level and item-level assessments
- Creating and updating a disaster plan
- Digital imaging
- Digital preservation assessments
- Policy writing
- Preservation assessments and consultations
- Wallpaper conservation
- and more.
Whether you need assistance with proposal development or project implementation, our team is here to guide you every step of the way.
Interested in working with NEDCC on a grant project? Contact us at:
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 978-470-1010
Or visit our staff pages for direct contact information.
America250
With the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence approaching, opportunities will be highly competitive. We encourage organizations to start planning as soon as possible to ensure projects are completed before July 2026.
Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)
- Inspire! Grants for Small Museums
Inspire! Grants for Small Museums (Inspire!) is a special initiative of the Museums for America grant program. The Inspire! initiative supports small museums of all disciplines in project-based efforts to serve the public through exhibitions, educational/interpretive programs, digital learning resources, policy development and institutional planning, technology enhancements, professional development, community outreach, audience
development, and/or collections management, conservation, and digitization.
If you are proposing conservation treatment, a conservation assessment or object proposal may be required. Object proposals are generally provided free of charge for cultural institutions and nonprofits.
Application deadline: 11/14/2025
- Museums for America Grant (MFA)
The Museums for America program supports museums of all sizes and disciplines in strategic, project-based efforts to serve the public through exhibitions, educational/interpretive programs, digital learning resources, professional development, community debate and dialogue, audience-focused studies, and/or collections management, curation, care, and conservation.
> Supports collection planning, conservation assessments and treatment, professional development, digital imaging, and audio reformatting.
Application deadline: 11/14/2025
- Museum Grants for African American History and Culture
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).
> Supports conservation and environmental surveys and developing emergency planning documents. NEDCC Preservation Specialists provide consultation services on many preservation, including creating and updating disaster plans.
If you are proposing conservation treatment, a conservation assessment or object proposal may be required. Object proposals are generally provided free of charge for cultural institutions and nonprofits.
Application deadline: 11/14/2025
- Native American Library Services (NALS): Basic Grants
The Native American Basic Grants (NAB) program assists Native American Tribes in establishing, sustaining, and improving library services and operations with their communities. As information needs change, Tribal libraries must be able to serve as knowledge and resource centers to benefit their users and the wellness of their communities. The NAB program supports Tribes across the country to address their individual information needs and priorities.
> Supports professional development and travel expenses.
Previous deadline: February 2025
- Native American Library Services (NALS): Enhancement Grants
The Native American Library Services Enhancement Grants program (NAE) assists eligible Native Communities in sustaining and improving library services with their communities. As information needs change, Tribal libraries must be able to serve as knowledge and resource centers to benefit their users and the wellness of their communities. The NAE program supports Native Communities across the country to address their individual information needs and priorities.
> Supports digital preservation, professional training, and travel expenses.
Previous deadline: April 2025
- Save America's Treasures - National Park Service and IMLS (Collections grants administered by IMLS)
Save America's Treasures is a Historic Preservation Fund grant program administered by the National Park Service in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Grants are available to fund two types of projects:
-
Collections projects support museums, libraries, archives, and all other collecting institutions in addressing conservation needs of nationally significant collections including physical conservation, care, and collections management. Collections include artifacts, museum collections, documents, sculptures, and other works of art.
-
Preservation projects fund planning and "bricks and mortar" preservation/conservation work on historic buildings and structures listed in the National Register of Historic Places for national significance or designated a National Historic Landmark.
Application deadline: TBD -
Foundation for the American Institute for Conservation (AIC) and
Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS)
- Collections Assessment for Conservation
The Collections Assessment for Preservation (CAP) program provides small and mid-sized museums with partial funding toward a general conservation assessment. The assessment is a study of all of the institution's collections, buildings, and building systems, as well as its policies and procedures relating to collections care. Participants who complete the program receive an assessment report with prioritized recommendations to improve collections care. CAP is often a first step for small institutions that wish to improve the condition of their collections.
NEDCC assessors include Bexx Caswell-Olson, director of book conservation, and Monique Fischer, senior photograph conservation.
Funding for each program year is subject to availability of funds in the federal budget. No funds have been allocated for the 2025 program year, and there are no updates on when another CAP cycle might be possible.
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)
- Grants for Arts Projects
The National Endowment for the Arts is committed to supporting excellent arts projects for the benefit of all Americans. Through project-based funding, Grants for Arts Projects (GAP) supports an expansive range of arts activities. These activities may include opportunities for public engagement with the arts and arts education, for the integration of the arts with strategies promoting the health and well-being of people and communities, and for the improvement of overall capacity and capabilities within the arts sector.
> Supports conservation.
Previous deadline: March 2025
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
- NEH Public Humanities Projects
The Public Humanities Projects program supports projects that bring the ideas of the humanities to life for general audiences through public programming. Projects must engage humanities scholarship to analyze significant themes in disciplines such as history, literature, ethics, and art history. Awards support projects that are intended to reach broad and diverse public audiences in non-classroom settings in the United States. Projects should engage with ideas that are accessible to the general public and employ appealing interpretive formats.
Previous application: September 2025
- NEH Rediscovering Our Revolutionary Tradition
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Division of Preservation and Access is accepting applications for the Rediscovering Our Revolutionary Tradition program. The purpose of this program is to preserve and improve access to primary source materials that document the history of America’s founding era and of American government in federal, state, and local contexts. Supported activities include conservation treatment and rehousing, digitization and description, transcription and translation, and updating existing digital resources to ensure long term public availability. This program is offered in honor of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 2026.
> Supports conservation treatment and digitization.
If you are proposing conservation treatment, a conservation assessment or object proposal may be required. Object proposals are generally provided free of charge for cultural institutions and nonprofits.
Application deadline: 01/15/2026
National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC)
- Archival Projects
The NHPRC seeks archival projects that will significantly improve online public discovery and use of historical records collections. We welcome projects that engage the public, expand civic education, and promote understanding of the nation’s history, democracy, and culture from the founding era to the present day. The Commission encourages projects focused on collections of America’s early legal records, such as the records of colonial, territorial, county, and early statehood and tribal proceedings that document the evolution of the nation’s legal history.
Projects may preserve and process historical records to:
- Arrange or re-house and describe collections
- Convert existing description for online access
- Create new online Finding Aids to collections
- Digitize historical records collections and make them freely available online
> Supports digitization.
Application deadline: 11/05/2025
-
Major Collaborative Archival Initiatives
The National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) of the National Archives supports projects that promote access to America's historical records to encourage understanding of our democracy, history, and culture.Major Collaborative Archival Initiatives must be collaborations among multiple institutions that undertake either of these two eligible activities to:
- digitize and publish as a “virtual” collection online historical records housed at multiple repositories but center on a common theme, organization, or important historical figure(s); or
- create and test new tools and methods for the archival field to enhance public access, especially for born-digital records
Projects that actively engage the public in the work of the project will be more competitive.
If you have a project that will process collections or digitize smaller collections and will not require more than $150,000 in grant funds, you should consult the Archival Projects program.
> Supports digitization.
Previous deadline: May 2024