Welcome to the Institute of Museum and Library Services
Informational Video American Latino Museum Internship and
Fellowship Initiative Applicant Information Session.
The goal of this video is to provide an overview of our
American Latino Internship and Fellowship Initiative program,
which we call ALMIFI for short, and the process of preparing an
application for funding.
This video is organized into six chapters.
What is the American Latino Museum Internship and Fellowship
Initiative?
This section explains the purpose and design of the ALMIFI
Grant program.
What can ALMIFI Grants fund?
This section explains the types of projects that can be funded
and ALMIFI and the amount of funds that can be requested.
Application Components Introduction This section
describes the types of documents that are needed to create an
ALMIFI grant.
Application.
Application Components Budget This section provides details on
the information to include in your project budget.
Application tips and next steps.
The concluding section provides a few tips and next steps.
The complete set of instructions for how to prepare and submit an
ALMIFI grant application are found in the Notice of Funding
Opportunity, otherwise known as the Nofo, published on
grants.gov and also available on the IMLS website.
Please refer to the Notice of Funding Opportunity for the most
detailed information To prepare your application to get the most
out of this video, we recommend that you watch all of it in its
entirety.
This will give you an understanding of the ALMIFI
Grant Program, the types of projects that can be funded, and
the necessary application components.
You may also want to review the Almifi Notice of Funding
Opportunity before, during, and after you watch the Video.
Notices of Funding Opportunities, also known as
Nofos, are documents that detail the requirements of each of our
grant programs for fiscal year 2024.
All of our Nofos can be found on imls.gov/grants as you navigate
the application process.
You can use this video as a reference tool.
If you'd like to skip to a specific section, please use the
time bar below or the links in the description box to navigate
the chapters.
So what is ALHC or Almifi?
In this section, we will answer the questions What is Almifi
providing information on the purpose and intent of this grant
program and who it is designed to serve?
The American Latino history and Culture, otherwise known as ALHC
program, was created by an act of Congress in 2020, which
authorized the Smithsonian to create the National Museum of
the American Latino, and it also authorized the IMLS to create a
grant program to improve operations, care of collections
and development of professional management at American Latino
museums.
This is referred to as the Almifi Initiative.
You can be one of the following types of organizations to be
eligible to apply to ALMIFI.
If you are applying as a museum, you will need to certify that
you use a professional.
Staff are organized on a permanent basis for essentially
educational or aesthetic purposes.
Own or use tangible objects, either animate or inanimate care
for these objects.
Exhibit these objects to the general public on a regular
basis at least 120 days a year, and conduct these activities in
facilities that you own or operate as a museum.
You should keep in mind that all applicants must meet certain
requirements to be eligible for federal funding.
Your organization must be located in one of the United
States, 50 states, its territories, or the District of
Columbia.
Also, your organization must be a unit of a state, local or
tribal government, or private nonprofit organization with tax
exempt status.
Institutions of higher education are also eligible to apply for
this.
You must also be in partnership with an Institution of Higher
Education, which includes Hispanic Serving Institutions.
The lead applicant can be the university or College in
partnership with a museum.
Either is correct as long as there is a partnership in place.
Your museum may be a stand alone organization or they may be part
of a larger institution such as a college, university, tribe, or
state or local government.
You could also qualify as a not-for-profit museum service,
organization or association whose primary purpose, as
reflected in its mission, is to support museums identified
above.
In this section, we will answer the question What can ALMIFI
fund?
Providing details on the types of projects and associated goals
within the ALMIFI grant program as well as offer some summary
data on the number of ALMIFI projects that were funded last
year.
All ALMIFI grants are designed to support project based
activities, so let us take time to consider just exactly what
that means.
The Project Management Institute defines a project as a temporary
endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or
result.
They go on further to explain that a project is temporary
because it has a defined beginning and end in time and
therefore defines scope and resources and a project is
unique and that it is not a routine operation, that rather a
specific set of operations designed to accomplish a
singular goal.
We recommend that you keep this definition in mind as you
conceptualize your IMLS project.
Think of it as a temporary non routine set of activities which
collectively have a beginning and an end in time, a defined
scope requiring specific resources, and which are
designed to accomplish a specific, singular goal.
Now I want to talk about the two program goals for Almifi.
Your project must align with one of the two program goals and a
set of corresponding objectives.
Goal and objective choices should be identified clearly in
the narrative.
In the Narrative C-section D2C.
Goal one is to support of museum based undergraduate internships.
Its objectives correspond to the types of project on meifi
supports.
An example of this would be developing a new curriculum for
museum studies programs with a lens on American Latino life for
use by museums across the country.
This would correspond to Objective 1.1.
If there's already an an existing internship program that
is being expanded in relation to American Latino culture, this
could correspond to Objective 1.2.
Goal two is about museum based fellowships to increased museum
career opportunities for individuals focused on American
Latino culture.
The two objectives are parallel to those that we saw in Goal.
One, they support the development or scaling up
fellowship models for museum professionals on topics that
increase their ability to work with the museums centering
American Latino culture.
Projects in goal two would establish or expand advanced
professional studies, mentorship, and practical
research.
All requests must be between 100,000 and 750,000 with
including both direct and indirect costs.
If you ask for less than 100,000 or more than 750,000, your
application will be rejected and not reviewed.
There is no cost share requirement for Almifi, though
you may include one if your organization will contribute
funds toward this particular project.
It is important to note that if you decide to include cost share
in your application, it must be met by the end of the award.
We will hold you to that figure, so keep that in mind when
applying.
Cost share may be in the form of cash, staff or volunteer time or
third party contributions.
It may not be funds from another federal source.
In terms of how many applications you may submit,
there is no limit to the number of applications you can file in
response to the FY24 funding announcement for ALMIFI.
As you consider the option to submit more than one
application, we urge you to think about the capacity of your
organization to manage multiple federal awards at once.
The amount of applications received and the amount of
awards made can vary from year to year.
Here's a snapshot of our most recent applications and awards
cycle.
In FY23, IMLS made eight ALMIFI awards with a total of 4.1
million in federal funds.
We received 22 ALMIFI applications, resulting in 36%
of those applications being funded.
The average amount of federal funds for each project was
$521,765.
In this section, we will introduce the components of an
ALMIFI grant application and provide an overview about the
Required, Conditionally Required and Supporting documents.
The ALMIFI Notice of Funding Opportunity includes a complete
list of all the application components.
Most of these components are created by applicants and saved
as a PDF for uploading as part of your application package in
grants.gov The Table of Application Components, section
D2A of the Nofo lists which application components are
required as well as those that are conditionally required.
For example, some components are included in the application
depending on the type of applicant or the type of
project.
Aside from the SF 424 S and the IMLS Museum Program Information
Form which are completed in the grants.gov workspace, all
application components must be submitted as PDF documents.
These are the required documents.
All applications must include the documents listed here.
Omission of even just one of these documents might result in
your applications rejection.
Also important to note, there is a 10 page limit for the
narrative.
If you exceed the page limit specified in the nofo, we must
remove the extras before your application goes out for review.
That means your reviewer may see a paragraph or sentence and in
mid air and will not and will wonder about your organizational
skills and your attentiveness to detail.
So make sure your content fits into the page limit specified,
and make sure the number of pages holds when you convert
your document to a PDF.
The second category of application components is that
of conditionally required documents.
Some applications must include 1-2 or even all three of these,
and it's your job to figure out which are required for yours.
If you're applying as a nonprofit, then you must include
your proof of nonprofit status issued by the Internal Revenue
Service IRS.
We will not accept a letter of state sales tax exemption as
proof of nonprofit status.
If you're using a federally negotiated indirect cost rate in
your budget, then you must include a copy of your final
rate agreement.
If you will create digital products during the course of
your project, then you must complete and submit a Digital
Products Plan.
Just like the required documents.
A mission of even one might result in your application's
rejection.
Please note that the term digital product includes 1
digitized and born digital Content, Resources or Assets and
two software.
If you are creating any of these types of materials, you must
include the form with your application.
The third group of application components is Supporting
documents, and there is a partial list of examples.
Supporting documents are optional.
You may submit some or none.
Include only those items that will supplement your proposal.
This is not the place to introduce brand new information,
but rather, as the name suggests, they should lend
support to your project justification, work plan, and
intended results that you've already spelled out in your
application narrative.
For example, have you identified a partner whose involvement is
key to the project success?
If so, a letter of support or commitment would go a long way
to reassuring reviewers that they are on board and the
project will succeed.
Pictures can help.
Give reviewers who may not be familiar with your institution,
programs, collections, or community and get a better idea
of what you're describing within your narrative.
Vendor quotes or equipment specifications show that you've
done some of the legwork in getting appropriate estimates
for project costs.
We recommend that you be respectful of your reviewers
time and avoid any temptation to include hundreds of pages of
extraneous material.
Being judicious really does work to your benefit, as supporting
documents can make or break an application.
Include what's important, helpful, and directly relevant
to your project and stop there.
In the following sections of this presentation, we will focus
on these application components, narrative, and budget.
Go to the Notice of Funding Opportunity for complete
instructions on how to prepare and complete all of the
application components.
In this section, we will go over the questions you will need to
answer in your project narrative and offer details on the review
criteria associated with each of the three sections Project
Justification, Project Work Plan, and Project Results.
So let's talk about the narrative of your proposal.
You have 10 pages to cover 3 very important issues, and the
Notice of Funding Opportunity provides lengthy guidance on
what the narrative should cover.
First is the Project Justification.
What need, problem or challenge will your project address and
how was it identified?
Describe how you have used demographic information,
economic circumstances, condition assessments or any
other relevant data from reliable sources to define the
need, problem, or challenge and develop the scope for the
project.
Who is the target group for your project and how have they been
involved in the planning?
Target group refers to those who will be most immediately and
positively affected by your project.
Identify the number of individuals in the target group
or in each target group if you identify more than one, who are
the ultimate beneficiaries for this project.
Beneficiaries refers to those who are likely to be aided in
the long term by your project.
They may or may not be the same as your target group.
Identify the number of individuals who will benefit
from your project in the long term, if reliable and defensible
accounts are possible.
Otherwise, describe the characteristics of the
beneficiaries you expect to be served eventually by your
project.
In Section E of the Notice of Funding Opportunity, Under
Review criteria, you will find a list of questions that reviewers
are asked to consider when they review your proposal.
It is a good idea to refer to these as you craft your
narrative to be certain you are providing reviewers clear, solid
information.
You will see that they correspond fairly directly with
the prompts you are given to write your narrative.
One of the prompts in the Project Justification section of
the narrative is the identification of the need,
problem, or challenge your project addresses.
It is foundational in your application, so keep those
points in mind.
The federal government wants to invest wants its investment to
result in something getting better.
As you defining your need, problem, or challenge,
articulate what will get better as the result of your project as
precisely as possible.
Will your museum be able to expand their services as a
result of additional staff?
Will new graduates be better prepared for the museum field
with the requisite experience?
Will collections be better cared for with their lifespan be
extended?
Will access to your collections and the information surrounding
them be expanded?
Identify why it is important that this particular change
happens.
Home your problem definition carefully in clear, succinct
terms, and lastly, gather and present data that support your
problem definition for your project work plan.
If the Project Justification section was the Why, the Project
Work Plan section is where you identify The Who, What, when and
how, Who will do what activities, when and using what
resources.
You should explain how you will track your progress toward
achieving your intended results, and what you'll do if you need
to correct course.
We also ask you to think about risks that are inherent in your
particular project, and to tell us how you've taken that into
account in your planning.
It'll say.
I'll say more about this in just a few minutes.
Again, this is the list of questions in Section E of the
Nofo that reviewers are asked to consider when they review your
proposal, so make sure your narrative is answering these
effectively.
This list ranges from proposed activities, key identified
staff, and measurable information.
Your work plan will be built on activities, so it's important to
be clear about just what an activity is.
An activity is something that someone does.
It has a beginning and an end, just like projects, and you know
when you've finished it because it doesn't need to be done
anymore.
An activity is not a goal, a result, or an outcome.
Rather, it is something you do as part of striving to achieve
those.
Aim for a reasonable level of detail in identifying your
activities.
We also ask you to think about the risks that are inherent in
your particular project and to tell us how you've taken that
into account in your planning.
Think of it as answering the question What if there is no
checklist of risks?
That every project has them.
The best proposals will show you that you are aware of them and
have thought through a plan for dealing with them.
Look at your activities and think about what you what could
go wrong.
Focus on the ones where your experience your own or that of
your group tells you yes, that could happen, and identify steps
that you would take in response.
IMLS knows that things go differently than expected.
We just want you to prepare by identifying implementable
options.
Here's some examples of risk that might be part of your
project for which you might seek a Fifi.
Funding a project may be dependent upon fundraising to
generate the cost share that it is not complete by the time the
application is submitted.
What will the institution do if that money is not available by
the time the project gets under way?
A project may be structured around university interns who
will be selected and trained according to well thought out
processes.
So what will happen if one or more interns drops out?
What's the plan for replacing the mid project?
Or maybe a project?
Depends on your community partners.
To achieve success that one partner drops out MID project.
What do you do now?
Project results.
The third section of your narrative should be devoted to
articulating your project's intended results.
This section is your chance to convince the reviewers that your
project will result in something getting better.
The need or problem you defined in your project justification
will be addressed directly and it will be diminished or
eliminated altogether.
We ask you to tell us what data you will collect and report in
order to measure your project's success.
If your project will generate tangible products, and most do,
here's the opportunity to describe them and make the case
that they will be useful.
And last but not least, we ask that you tell us how you will
sustain the benefits of the project.
How will this improvement that you propose to make continue
once your grant is over again?
Here is a list of review questions that reviewers were
asked to consider when they read and score the Project Results
section of your narrative.
These are found in Section E of the Notice of Funding
Opportunity.
All of your results should tie back to your need, problem, or
challenge.
You may well experience essential benefits and or
positive outcomes that make sure that you identify them as in
addition to and not instead of your original intended results.
Reviewers are likely to see that as a disconnect.
We often hear that defining intended results and success
measures is challenging for applicants, so it's worth
spending a bit of time on this here.
Let's think back to the questions we referenced a couple
of slides ago when we talked about defining the need,
problem, or challenge that your project is addressing.
If you said someone will learn something, how will you know if
your problem related to segments of your community being better
able to work together?
How will you know when that has been achieved?
If you're digitizing to expand accessibility, how will you know
when you're done with it?
This focus on results and measuring success in meaningful
ways is not new.
There's been tremendous amount of work done on ways to measure
success for you as an applicant, though we encourage you to
consider using a logic model or an Outcomes Based Model
Evaluation Tool to explain your intended results and your plan
for achieving your goals.
So to recap, your narrative has three sections, Project
Justification, Project Work Plan, and Project Results, and
you have 10 pages for it.
The sections are all equally important, right?
Clearly address what we ask you to address and keep an eye on
those review criteria.
We're telling you here exactly what the reviewers will look
for, so make it easy for them to find it and understand it.
In this section, we will provide information on what to include
in your project budget and budget justification, and
provide some examples of allowable and unallowable costs.
An important component of your application is the budget.
This is the part of the application where you specify
all the costs associated with your proposed project.
The budget consists of two required components, the IMLS
budget form and the budget justification.
The IMLS budget form is a fillable PDF that accommodates
up to three years of project activities and expenses.
The budget should include the project cost that will be
charged to grant funds, as well as those that will be supported
by cost share in kind.
Contributions to cost share may include the value of services,
for example, donated volunteers or consultant time or equipment
donated to the project between the authorized start and end
dates of your project.
All the items listed, whether supported by grant funds or cost
share, must be necessary to accomplish project activities
allowable according to the applicable federal cost
principles, auditable, and incurred during the award period
of performance.
The IMLS budget form can be downloaded directly from the
IMLS website.
As you develop your budget, keep in mind that there are certain
costs that are either allowable or unallowable according to
federal regulations.
The the allowability of a cost item for all Federal grants and
specified in the are specified in the Code of Federal
Regulation.
CFR sometimes referred to as two CFR 200 for short, but the full
title is Title 2, Subtitle A Chapter Two-part 200 Uniform
Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit
Requirements for Federal Awards.
Using the two CFR 200 as a basis, we've developed a short
list of allowable costs that are most common to projects
C-section D6 of the AMIFI Notice of Funding Opportunity, which
includes A partial list of the most common examples of
allowable costs.
This short list of allowable costs are also shown on this
slide.
These costs may be part of what you ask Imls to pay for with
federal funds or what you will pay for as part of your cost
share.
The rules and allowability apply equally to grant funds as well
as cost share.
When completing your project budget, be sure to check that
all the costs you include, whether grant funds or cost
share, are allowable.
There are also some costs which are unallowable according to the
federal regulations.
In two CFR 200 in Section D6 of the ALMIFI Notice of Funding
Opportunity, we also provide an abbreviated list of unallowable
cost.
These are also listed on this slide.
Unallowable cost may not be part of what you've asked IMLS to pay
for, nor can they be part of what you will pay as part of
your cost share.
In fact, unallowable expenses can't show up anywhere in your
proposal as you prepare your application.
It's good idea to compare your list of proposed expenses
against these lists of allowable and unallowable costs and
against the appropriate set of cost principles.
If after that you have specific questions, please contact us and
we'd be more than happy to help.
In addition to the IMLS budget form, you will also prepare a
budget justification.
This is an opportunity to provide, in a more detailed
narrative format, an explanation or justification for the project
costs.
The budget justification should be written to follow the cost
categories in the IMLS budget form.
In the justification, you will identify each expense and show
the method of cost computation used to determine each dollar
amount, including any that you may have consolidated and
summarized on the IMLS budget form.
In other words, please show your math.
For example, in the section Salaries and Wages, you should
identify each person whose salary or wages will be paid
with IMLS funds or by cost share, provide their names and
describe the role in the project.
Document the method of cost for computation by including the
base salary of wages for each person and the percentage of
time each person is allocated to the project activities, which
may be shown as a percentage of time, number of days, or a
number of hours.
If cost share is being provided by unpaid volunteers, explain
how you arrived at the dollar amount used to represent the
value of their services in the section.
For supplies, materials, and equipment, you should list each
type of supply, material, and equipment you propose to
purchase or provide as cost share for the project.
Detail the number and unit cost for each item and explain how
you arrived at the dollar amounts.
You may also provide vendor quotes or price lists as
supporting documents with your application.
In summary, considering all the components of your application,
there are four general characteristics of successful
Omifi applications that reviewers will look for as you
prepare your application.
Keep these characteristics in mind.
First, institutional impact.
Your project should provide opportunities for internships
and fellowships at American Latino museums for students
enrolled in institutions of higher education, which could
include Hispanic Serving Institutions.
Second, in depth knowledge.
Your proposal should reflect a thorough understanding of
current practice and knowledge about the subject matter.
Third, project based design.
Your work plan should consist of a set of logical, interrelated
activities tied directly to addressing the key need or
challenge, and 4th demonstrate demonstrable results.
Your project should generate measurable results that tie
directly to the need or challenge it was designed to
address.
An application that has all of these four characteristics will
stand out in the review process and will have the best chance of
success for funding.
In this final section of our presentation, we offer some
application tips and next steps.
We want to share with you the places to look For more
information, such as the IMLS website where you can find the
awarded grants.
Research Search to learn more about the projects we have
funded in the past.
The awarded grant search gives you an opportunity to explore
our archive of grants that we have awarded in past years.
Using a variety of criteria such as institution name, location,
and keywords, your search will basic information about the
award and a brief description of the project.
This can be extremely helpful as you put ideas together for your
own project.
We have also posted the narrative and schedule of
completion for cross SEC for a cross section of successful
applications from 2023.
To find these examples, go to the Sample Application section
on the IMLS website.
Looking at these proposals might help clarify your thinking about
your own project.
Each PDF contains a copy of the 10 page narrative and also the
schedule of completion.
We can only make grants to eligible applicants that submit
complete applications, including attachments on or before the
deadline.
So here are some tips to help you do just that.
First, start early.
You've already done that by participating in this webinar.
Become familiar with grants.gov's Workspace.
It has many good features including upfront validation
which allows you to correct errors prior to submission, and
the opportunity to collaborate with others in creating your
application.
Consider starting with the workspace overview and check out
the tutorials.
Do your background research, make it easy for the reviewers
to see that you are up to date and know what you're talking
about.
Be sure your application is complete, check it against the
table of application components in the Nofo, make sure all
application components are in the proper format and follow the
correct naming conventions.
And lastly, submit to grants.gov early so you can correct any
errors and avoid any trauma created by technology
challenges.
It's important that you get your application submitted online
through grants.gov before the deadline.
IMLS does not accept applications by mail or e-mail.
In order to register with grants.gov, you must have an
active sam.gov registration and unique entity identified number.
Make sure that your registration for both of these sites are
complete, that your accounts are active, and that any necessary
passwords are current.
These registrations expire periodically, so do not wait
until it's time to hit the submit button and check in on
your accounts.
You should coordinate with any other staff members, such as
your authorized organization representative, who may hold the
account or passwords that you will need to submit.
Both the sam.gov and grants.gov websites have robust help
features and FAQs.
If you run into technical issues with either of these sites, you
should reach out to their help desk and request a tracking case
or ticket number in order to document your issue and attempts
at resolving it.
Failure to have an active sam.gov or grants.gov
registration by the application deadline is not an excuse for
submitting a late application, So again, start early.
There are many components to the application and the narrative,
and it is essential and critical part of the package.
Peer reviewers, museum professionals from all types of
museums, will be selected by IMLS to read each application
and provide constructive and critical comments on the
strengths and weaknesses of the proposed projects.
They also base the reviews only on the information contained in
the application, so don't assume that a reviewer or IMLS will
know something about your museum or your proposed project.
To help make sure your narrative is as clear and complete as
possible, revisit the Almifi Notice of Funding Opportunity
and follow the narrative outline that it provides.
Be sure to consider the review criteria associated with each
section of the narrative.
Use headings, subheadings, or numbered sections in your
narrative to make it easy for reviewers to read.
Avoid generalities, acronyms, or jargon.
The people who will review your application are museum
professionals, but they not may not be totally familiar with
your particular field shorthand, so make it easy for them to
understand what you mean.
An advantage to starting your application early as you can ask
a colleague to review everything with fresh eyes before you
submit.
Ask them to act like a reviewer.
We're seeing this for the very first time.
Here are a few important dates relating to a ME fee
applications.
Applications must be received through grants.gov by 11:59 PM
Eastern Time on March 1st, 2024.
The date is non negotiable.
The time stamp is auto generated by grants.gov system.
And we have no ability to override it.
We will say this repeatedly to start early and submit your
application early.
That way if you incur encounter a difficulty of any kind when
submitting your proposal, you will have some time to resolve
the problem and resubmit after the application deadline.
IMLS staff will review your application for completeness and
eligibility, and you will hear from us via e-mail if there are
any problems.
Next, we will select experienced and knowledgeable peer reviewers
to read your application and provide scores and comments
based on the criteria outlined in the ALMIFI Notice of Funding
Opportunity.
IMLS staff will extending your budget, your financials, and
track your record with past current grants.
We then prepare materials for the IMLS Deputy Director for
Museums and the IMLS Director.
By law, the IMLS Director is charged with the authority and
responsibility to make final award decisions, and this
typically happens in May.
In July 2024, we will notify you by e-mail of the award decisions
and provide the scores and comments created by the
reviewers.
Almifi projects must be scheduled to start on the first
day of August 2024.
As you read through the Nofo and prepare your application,
additional questions may arise before the application deadline.
We can help you with learning more about the ALMIFI Grant
Program or other grant programs that IMLS address, any specific
concerns with the various application components, or help
you understand the review process.
You may contact IMLS Program staff by e-mail or phone.
Contact information is listed on the Grant Program landing page
on the IMLS website.
You may also schedule a counseling call to meet directly
with program staff.
Use the links found on the Grant Program landing page to find an
available time slot on your calendar.
You will then receive an e-mail with the Calendar invite and
Microsoft Teams meeting link.
Thank you for watching this presentation.
Good luck on your applications.