Hello and welcome to the Institute of Museum and Library
Services, Office of Museum Services Informational Video,
the Museums for America Grant Program Applicant Information
Session. My name is Mark Isaksen, one of the program
staff in the Office of Museum Services at IMLS, and I'll be
narrating this presentation.
The goal of this video is to provide an overview of our
Museums for America grant program, which we call MFA for
short, and also review the process of preparing an
application for funding. This video is organized into six
chapters. First is, What is Museums for America? The section
explains the purpose and design of the Museums for America grant
program. What can MFA grants fund?
This section explains the types of projects that can be funded
in MFA and the amount of funds that can be requested. Next is,
Application Components and Introduction, where we describe
the types of documents that are needed to create an MFA grant
application. Following that is the Application Components
Narrative section, which focuses on composing the narrative part
of the application.
And next is a section that provides details on the
information to include in your budget. And finally, the
concluding section provides a few tips and next steps. The
complete set of instructions for how to prepare and submit an MFA
grant application are found in the Notice of Funding
Opportunity published on Grants.gov and 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 it in its entirety. This will give you an understanding
of the MFA grant program, the types of projects that can be
funded, and the necessary application components. You may
also want to review the MFA 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, and all of the NOFOs can
be found at imls.gov/grants. As you navigate the application
process, you can use this video as a reference tool; and 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.
What is MFA? In this question, we're going to provide
information on the purpose and intent of this grant program and
who it is designed to serve. Museums for America is our
largest grant program, receiving the largest number of
applications each year and the one through which we make the
largest number of awards.
The overall goal of the program is to support activities that
strengthen the abilities of individual museums to serve
their publics. This might be through activities that reflect
museums as active resources for lifelong learning, as
institutions important in improving the wellbeing of their
communities, or as good stewards of the nation's collections. MFA
is all about what your museum needs in order to better serve
your public.
And it may well be exactly the same as what the museum across
town or in a neighboring state needs, And that's okay. The
important thing here is that our support should help you make a
local impact. MFA projects are expected to focus on a key
component of your museum strategic plan. IMLS wants to
help advance something that is a priority for your museum and,
hopefully, something that will ultimately benefit your
community.
To help demonstrate that connection in your grant
application, we ask for a summary of your strategic plan,
usually no more than two pages, so that reviewers will be able
to understand how your proposed projects activities will further
your institutional goals and objectives. The strategic plan
summary is your opportunity to make a thoughtful and
well-constructed connection between the proposed project and
your museum's priorities.
The priorities in your strategic plan may connect to a range of
activities from exhibitions and educational and interpretive
programs, digital learning resources, professional
development or community debate, dialogue, audience focused
studies, broad collections management activities, or
curation care, and conservation of the collection. These are the
kinds of activities that can be funded in the MFA grant program.
Characteristic of a successful MFA grant application is making
that connection between the proposed project and a key need
or challenge that faces your museum and whose resolution is
identified in your strategic plan. Now, keep in mind that MFA
is a grant program for museums, and 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; and your organization must be a private, nonprofit
organization with tax exempt status or a unit of state or
local or tribal government. Now, if you meet these two
requirements, then the next step is to consider what it means to
be eligible for IMLS funding as a museum.
And museums must: have at least one full-time or equivalent
professional staff person, either paid or unpaid; have a
physical location that you own or operate; have been open to
the public for at least 120 days in the year prior to the grant
application, which is November 15th, 2023;
and, also, you should own or use tangible objects. Now, museums
can also be a standalone organizations or part of a
larger institution such as a college or university or tribe
or state or local government. If you have any questions about
these categories, please feel free to reach out to one of our
Office of Museum Services program staff to discuss your
situation.
And of course, MFA is a grant program for all types of
museums. And here's a brief list of some of the types of museums
that routinely apply to this grant program. Many do and, in
many ways, apply each year, so please consider yourself one of
these types. Now in this section, we will answer the
question, "what can MFA fund?", providing details on the types
of projects and associated goals
within the MFA grant program as well as offer some summary data
on the number and type of MFA projects that were funded last
year. So, MFA grants are designed to support
project-based activities. So, let's take a minute to consider
just what that means. The Project Management Institute has
a good definition which is, "A temporary endeavor undertaken to
create a unique product, service, or result." That's a
project.
And they go on further to explain that a project is
temporary because it has a defined beginning and end, and
therefore a defined scope and needed resources. And a project
is unique in that it is not a routine operation, but 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, a defined scope requiring specific
resources, which are designed to accomplish a specific singular
goal. Now, keeping our focus on project-based activities, let's
look a little further at what characteristics are most often
seen in successful MFA applications.
First is, Institutional Impact. The project should address a key
goal identified in the institution's strategic plan.
Next is, In-depth Knowledge. The project should reflect a
thorough understanding of current practice and knowledge
about the subject matter.
Next is, Project-based Design. The work plan should consist of
a set of logical interrelated activities tied directly to
addressing the key need or challenge. Finally, Demonstrable
Results. The project should generate measurable results that
tie directly to the need or challenge it was designed to
address. Again, successful projects most often exemplify
all of these characteristics, and will most likely fit well
within the MFA grant program.
And it's been our experience that unfunded applications
usually fail to deliver on one or more of these
characteristics. So, if project-based design and
institutional impact are core elements of your idea, then now
it's time to consider how your application aligns with the
grant program polls and associated objectives.
The type of project activity you are seeking to fund should align
with one of these three options: Lifelong Learning, Community
Engagement, and Collection Stewardship and Access. Now, why
is your decision about which project goal to choose so
important? For one thing, your application will be reviewed by
museum professionals who have experience and expertise in
these general categories.
And for another, your application will be competing
against others who have chosen the same category or goal. So,
in short, the entire review process sort of incorporates an
assumption that your project aligns with one of these goals,
the one that you identified. So, it's an important choice. So,
let's take a look at the kinds of activities that might fit
within these goal areas and in this one and the two slides that
follow
the objectives provide some of the types of projects that fit
within the goal. Now, a project in Lifelong Learning might
include, but is not limited to: design and fabrication of an
exhibit program development for all types of audiences; maybe
creating interpretive plans or new media; or training for
teachers; or partnerships with schools or out of school
audiences;
professional development opportunities for museum staff;
or some sort of program evaluation. And as you plan your
project in the Lifelong Learning category, we strongly recommend
starting with the concept of putting the learner at the
center, build around that concept. Spend time really
thinking through who your learners are in this project and
what are their needs. And it's not like they're going to be
everybody. So, who is it really?
Name that audience and think about what they want to learn
and what do you want them to learn and what's the best way to
achieve that goal, and we'll get to the whole idea of problems
and needs in a few minutes. But a major take away here is to be
focused on identifying your audience and thinking about how
you're going to serve them.
Now, in the next goal, under Community Engagement, these
projects are likely to include activities that contribute
directly to your institution's role as an essential partner in
addressing community needs. So, successful community engagement
projects strive to create a better quality of life within
and also with communities. So, projects in this category will
demonstrate a direct involvement
by members of your community in planning your project, as well
as direct involvement in the implementation of activities and
the evaluation of results. Your application should clearly
define who or what the community is that you are serving. Many
museums regularly undertake activities that engage with
their communities, such as exhibitions and public programs
and audience development and outreach,
and civic engagement and other kinds of things that we we've
talked about. And so how do you know if your project is a better
fit within Lifelong Learning the goal in the previous slide or
Community Engagement, which we're talking about on this
slide. So, if your project requires the involvement of
community partners to co-create the content or to drive the
programming in some in some way,
then it may be a strong fit for the Community Engagement goal.
Now, if your project involves mostly museum staff working
internally with within the museum to produce content,
perhaps with some element of external input, then that might
be a better fit within the Lifelong Learning goal. Now,
both approaches are allowable, and both are certainly fundable.
Ultimately, it's your choice, and what's important is that you
choose a goal and write your application to align with that
program goal and associative objective. If you're still
uncertain about this, if it's a great opportunity to talk to one
of our program staff and really think through where your project
might fit best. Our third category is that of Collections
Stewardship and Access.
And this includes just about anything you need to do for your
collection and with your collection except acquire them.
Now, we're very open to projects that have multiple components
configured in ways that make sense for you. So, one project
might consist of cataloging, taking digital photographs, and
updating a database of records, while another my combine
digitization activities with rehousing. We invite
applications for projects that involve
preparing to mitigate the impact of natural and man-made
disasters on collections; as well as projects that might be
focused on planning and training in emergency preparedness, or
developing networks for response, executing strategies
for recovery, or developing resilience and preparation for
the next time. We also support conservation projects of all
kinds.
Both general, detailed and environmental surveys, as well
as treatments and environmental improvements. And you're welcome
to incorporate aspects of training and collections
management into these projects, if doing so makes sense for your
situation. It's important to note that this project category
encourages a step-by-step progressive approach to
collections work, including conservation.
So, this means assessing needs, creating a prioritized list of
activities, and then following through by doing the most
important things first. Now, projects should fit within one
of these three program goals, but sometimes there's an overlap
in the kinds of activities you are proposing, which may make it
difficult to select one goal. Now, we expect that projects
aligned with a specific goal will address different problems,
maybe use different approaches, and measure success in different
ways. So, how are you going to choose which category, if you're
confused about which one is the best to align with your project?
So, here's a few things you might want to try. Think about
what is in the center of your project. Is it the learner? Will
people who engage with you as a result of your project -- let's
say to create a new exhibition and related programming --
will they acquire new knowledge or develop a skill as a result
of your exhibit? Or is it the community that's in the center
of your thinking? Is your project one that will address an
important community need and require engaging a number of
community members or partners; and you're doing it because your
museum can help to address that need? You have resources you can
leverage to address that need. Or is your project about the
collections? Will your project result in a better managed,
better cared for
and more accessible set of objects and associated data in
your collection. A second way to go about this might be to think
about who you want to review your application. If you apply
in Lifelong Learning, we will put your application in front of
museum educators, exhibit professionals, and interpretive
specialists; people with a deep experience and understanding how
people learn in museum environments. Or would you
rather we put you in front of a combination of experts in civic
engagement
and social justice, community outreach. If that sounds right,
then it might push you to into the Community Engagement aligned
goal. Now, if you apply under Collections Stewardship, you can
be confident that your application will be reviewed by
some combination of registrars and collections managers and
curators and conservators. And if that seems appropriate, then
you found the right goal category.
And you know, another option is really just list out the
activities you plan to carry out and think about the project
budget and where is most of the time and resources going, and
pick the goal based on that. Again, our most important advice
is to choose one goal and write your proposal accordingly. And
of course, reach out to IMLS staff if you have any further
questions. Now, MFA supports projects of all sizes, but
there's a specific range of funding available in this
program.
Your project budget can request a minimum of $5,000 to a maximum
of $250,000 in federal funds, and if you ask for less than
$5,000 or more than $250,000 in federal funds, your application
may be rejected, not reviewed. So, remember to keep your budget
aligned to the scope and scale of your project, including all
costs necessary to complete the proposed activities. So, here
are some examples: In the MFA grant program,
all project budgets are required to have a one-to-one non-federal
cost share. So, say your total project budget for all the work
you want to do is $100,000, then you could request 50,000 in
federal funds and provide a cost-share at least $50,000.
Thus, your total project budget of $100,000. Say, your total
project budget was $300,000, then you would be able to
request
$150,000 in federal funds and provide cost share of $150,000.
Or if your total project was $500,000, then you'd be able to
request $250,000 in federal grant funds and provide a
cost-share of at least $250,000. Cost-share can take a number of
forms. Among them are cash, staff time, volunteer time,
third party contributions, grants from foundations, support
from state and local government. Cost-share.
cannot come from other federal sources. The amount of
applications received and the amount of awards made can vary
from year to year, but here's a snapshot of the most recent
cycle. In FY23 we made 122 MFA awards with a total of $24.3
million in federal funds. We received 281 MFA applications
last year, resulting in 43% of those applications being funded.
And you know, generally about 45% of the MFA awards went to
the Lifelong Learning goal, about 35% into Collections
Stewardship and about 20% to Community Engagement. And the
average amount of each award was about $199,000. Now on the IMLS
website, you can use the Search Awarded Grants function to
explore our archive of grants that we have awarded in past
years.
All of the 122 MFA awards announced in August are listed
here, along with those from prior years. You can search this
database using a variety of criteria, such as institution
name, location, and keyword. Your search will retrieve basic
information about each award, including the amount of federal
funds awarded and a brief description of the proposed
activities and expected results.
In this section, we will introduce the components of an
MFA grant application and provide an overview about the
Required, Conditionally Required and Supporting documents. The
MFA Notice of Funding Opportunity or NOFO includes a
complete list of all the application components and 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 starting on page 7
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 application or the type of project. So aside from the
SF-424 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
might result in your application's rejection. Also
important to note, there's a seven-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 well see a paragraph or
sentence and in midair. So, make sure your content fits into the
page limit specified and make sure that the number of pages
hold when you convert your document to a PDF. The second
category of application components
is that of conditionally required documents. Some
applications must include one, two, or even all of these, and
it's your job to figure out which are required for yours.
Now, if you're applying as a nonprofit, then you must include
your proof of nonprofit status and a determination letter
that's issued by the Internal Revenue Service. 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. And if you will create digital products during
the course of your project, then you must complete and submit a
Digital Products Plan. And if you're requesting support for
conservation treatment, then you must include a detailed
Condition Report or formal Conservation Treatment Proposal.
Now, just like the required documents, omission of even one
might result in your applications rejection. Please
note that the term digital product includes digitized and
born digital content, resources or assets as well as software.
So, if you're 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 here is a partial list of a few examples.
Supporting documents are optional. You may submit some or
none. Include only those items that will supplement your
proposal. This is the place to provide documents that support
your project justification, your work plan, and your intended
results.
Things that you've already spelled out in your application
narrative. So, for example, if you've identified a partner
whose involvement is key to the project success, then a letter
of support or commitment would go a long way to reassuring
reviewers that this project partner is on board. Now,
pictures also can help give reviewers, who might not be
familiar with your institutions, programs, or collections
a better idea of what you're describing within your
narrative. Vendor quotes or equipment specifications show
you've done some of the legwork in getting appropriate estimates
for projects. We recommend that you be respectful of your
reviewer's time and avoid the temptation to include hundreds
of pages of extraneous material. So, be judicious. It will be
helpful to the reviewers as well.
Include what is important, helpful, and directly relevant
to your project and stop there. In the following sections of
this presentation, we will focus on the following application
components, the narrative, and the budget. Let's go to the
notice of Funding Opportunity for complete instructions on how
to prepare and complete all the application components.
In this section, we'll go over the questions, you will need to
answer in your project Narrative and offer details on the review
criteria associated with each section, project justification,
project work plan, and the project results. So, let's talk
about the Narrative of your proposal. You have 7 pages to
cover 3 very important issues in the NOFO. The Notice of Funding
Opportunity provides lengthy guidance on what the Narrative
should cover.
First, Project Justification. What need, problem or challenge
will your project address, and how did you identify it?
Describe how you use demographic information or economic
circumstances or condition assessments or other data to
define the need, problem, or challenge. Here's another
example. Who's the target group for your project and how have
they been involved in the planning?
For our purposes, "Target Group" refers to those who will be most
immediately and positively affected by your project. So,
identify the number of individuals in the target group
or in each group, if you've identified more than one.
Another example, who are the ultimate beneficiaries for this
project. "Beneficiaries", for our purposes, 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, so
identify the number of individuals who will benefit
from your project in the long-term; and describe the
characteristics of those beneficiaries you expect to be
served, eventually, by your project. Now, 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. Those
questions are listed here on the slide. It's a good idea to refer
to these as you craft your narrative to be certain that you
are providing reviewers clear, solid information. You'll 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 the project addresses. It's a foundational
part of your application. So, here's a few points to keep in
mind. The federal government wants its investment to result
in something getting better. So, as you define your need,
problem, or challenge,
articulate what will get better as a result of your project; and
be as precise as possible. Will someone learn something or
develop a skill? Will members of your community be better able to
work together to solve problems? Will collections be better cared
for, or will their lifespan be extended? Or will access to your
collection and the information surrounding them be expanded?
Again, identify why it's important that this particular
change happens. Hone your problem definition carefully,
using as clear and succinct terms as possible; and gather
and present data that support your problem definition. Now, if
the Project Justification section is the "why",
the Project Work Plan section is where you identify the "who,
what, when, and how". Who will do what activities, when will
they do that, 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, I'll say more about that in a few minutes. Now
again, here's a list of the questions the review criteria.
These are also in Section E of the Notice of Funding
Opportunity. These are the criteria that reviewers are
asked to consider when they review your proposal. So, make
sure that your narrative is answering these effectively.
Now, your work plan is going to be built on a set of activities,
and so it's important to be clear about what is an activity.
An activity is something that someone does, and it has a
beginning and an end, just like projects. And you know when you
finished it because it doesn't need to be done anymore. An
activity is not a goal or a result or an outcome. Rather
it's just something you do,
as part of trying to achieve all those goals, results and
outcomes. We also asked you to think about risks that are
inherent in your particular project and to tell us about how
you've taken that into account when you're planning. And this
is sort of the question, "What if?" So, there's no checklist of
risks, and every project probably has some risks
somewhere.
Now, the best proposals will show that you're aware of them
and thought them through and you have some plan for dealing with
them. So, look at your activities and think about what
could go wrong and focus on the ones where, in your experience,
well that probably could happen; and identify steps you would
take in response. We just want you to be prepared by
identifying implementable options if there's some major
risk. So, here are some examples.
A project may be dependent upon fundraising to generate the
cost-share, but it is not complete by the time the
application is submitted. So, what will the institution do if
that money is unavailable by the time the project gets underway?
Or maybe a project depends on your community partners to
achieve success, but what if one partner becomes unavailable?
Then what do you do?
Or maybe a project involves rehousing collections into new
museum quality storage furniture. You might have some
delays in the delivery of the cabinet. So, what happens to the
collection items then? How will the institution ensure that they
remain safe and secure? The final section of the Narrative
is about results, and this should be devoted to
articulating your intended results.
It's your chance to convince the reviewers that your project will
result in something getting better. Remember, the need or
problem you identified in your Project Justification will be
addressed directly, or diminished, or eliminated, or
somehow modified by the Work Plan. So, now is your chance to
tell us what are the Results.
And we ask you to tell us what data you're going to collect and
report in order to measure your success, and if your project
will generate tangible products. And many do. Here's the
opportunity to describe them and make the case that those
products will be useful, particularly for the intended
audience. And last but not least, we ask that you tell us
how you'll sustain the benefit of the project.
Now again, here is the list of review questions that reviewers
are asked to consider when they read and score the project
results part of your narrative. All of your results should tie
back to your need, problem, or challenge. You may experience
some tangential benefits or positive outcomes, and you can
identify those in addition to or instead of your original
intended result
But here's your chance to articulate them. When you think
about results, we often hear that defining those intended
results and success measures can be challenging for some
applicants. So, let's just look a little bit more at that. When
we think back to the questions we referenced a couple of slides
ago, we talked about defining the need, problem or challenge
that your project is addressing.
Now, if you said someone will learn something, how are you
going to know if that person has learned something? Or if your
problem was related to a segment of your community being better
able to work together, how are you going to know when that's
been achieved? Or if the collections will be better cared
for, how will you be sure and how will you measure "better"?
Or maybe if you're digitizing materials to expand
accessibility, how will you know that this has been expanded. The
focus on results and measuring success in meaningful ways is
not new, there's been a tremendous amount of work done
on ways to measure success. We encourage you to consider using
a logic model or an outcomes-based evaluation tool
to explain your intended results and your plan for achieving
them. So, to recap, your Narrative has three sections:
Project Justification, Project Work Plan, and Project Results,
and you have 7 pages to write about those things. The sections
are all equally important, so clearly address what we ask you
to address.
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 the information and understand your process and your
project. Now, in this section, we will provide information on
what to include in your Project Budget and Budget Justification.
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 Budget Form is a fillable PDF that
accommodates up to three years of project activities and
expenses.
The budget should include the project costs, those that will
be charged to grant funds, as well as those that will be
supported by cost-share. Any kind contributions to cost-share
may include the value of services like volunteer time or
consultant time that's donated, 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. As you develop your budget, keep in mind that
there are certain costs that are either allowable or unallowable
according to federal regulations.
The allowability of a cost item for all federal grants are
specified in the Code of Federal Regulations, also known as CFR,
or" 2 CFR 200" for short, but the full title is "Title 2,
Subtitle A, Chapter II, Part 200 - Uniform Administrative
Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for
Federal Awards". Now using the 2 CFR 200 as a basis,
we've developed a short list of allowable costs that are most
commonly seen in MFA grant applications. The Notice of
Funding Opportunity includes a partial list of the most common
examples of allowable costs. This short list of allowable
costs is also shown on this slide. These costs may be part
of what you asked IMLS to pay for with federal funds or what
you pay for as part of your cost share.
The rules about allowability of a cost apply equally to grant
funds as well as cost-share. And when completing your project
budget, be sure to check that all of your costs that you've
included, whether on grant funds or cost-share, are allowed.
There are also some costs which are unallowable according to the
federal regulations in 2 CFR 200.
And in the Notice of Funding Opportunity, we provide an
abbreviated list of unallowable costs, which are also listed on
this slide. Unallowable costs may not be part of what you've
asked IMLS to pay for, and they cannot be part of what you pay
for as part of your cost share. In fact, unallowable expenses
can't show up anywhere in your proposal. Now, as you prepare
your application, it's a 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
looking at that you have a specific question, please
contact us and we'll be happy to help. In addition to the IMLS
Budget Form, you'll 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.
So, in other words, this is the place to show your math. For
example, in the section under Salaries and Wages, you should
identify each person whose salary or wage will be paid for
with IMLS funds or cost share by their names. Describe their
role. Document the method of cost computation by including
their base salary or wages for each person and the percentage
of time each person is allocated to the project.
You can do this as a percentage of time or number of days or
number of hours. If cost share is being provided by unpaid
volunteers, you have to 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 that you propose
to purchase or provide as cost-share.
Detail the number and unit 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 this final section of our presentation, we
offer some tips on application process and next steps.
We can only make grants to eligible applicants that submit
complete applications, including attachments on or before the
deadline. So, here are a few tips to help you do just that.
Start the process early, and by watching this informational
video, you're off to a good start. Become familiar with
Grants.gov's workspace. There's many good features, such as the
opportunity to collaborate with others and creating your
application,
as well as a validation process that allows you to correct
errors prior to submission. They even have tutorials available on
grants dot gov. Also be sure that your application is
complete. Check it against a table of application components
in the Notice of Funding Opportunity. Also make sure that
your application components are in the proper format and follow
the correct naming conventions.
And be sure to submit your application in Grants.gov well
before the deadline. That way you can correct any errors and
avoid any issues created by technology challenges. It's
important to get your application submitted online
through Grants.gov before the deadline, and we don't accept
any applications by mail or e-mail. Now, in order to
register with Grants.gov, you must have an active SAM.gov
registration and Unique Entity Identifier number.
So, make sure your registrations for both of these sites are
complete, your accounts are active, and that any necessary
passwords are current. These registrations expire
periodically, so don't wait until it's time to hit the
submit button to check on them. You should coordinate with any
other staff members, such as your authorized representative,
who may hold the accounts and passwords that you'll need to
submit. Both SAM.gov
and Grants.gov websites have robust help features as well as
FAQ's, frequently asked questions. If you run into
technical issues with either of these sites, you should reach
out to their help desk and request a tracking number or
case number or ticket number, in order to document your issue and
attempts at resolving it. Remember that failure to having
an active Sam.gov and
Grants.gov registration by the application deadline is not an
excuse for submitting a late application. So, start early.
There are many components that make up the Narrative of the
entire application. And the Narrative is an essential and
critical part of the package. Now, peer reviewers, museum
professionals from all types of museums
will be selected by IMLS to read each application and provide
constructive comments on the strengths and weaknesses of the
proposed projects. They also base their 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. Help make sure your narrative is as
clear and complete as possible again.
Revisit the Notice of Funding Opportunity and follow the
narrative outline it provides. Use the same headings and
subheadings and numbered sections in your narrative to
make it easy for your reviewers to read. Be sure to consider the
review criteria associated with each section of the narrative.
Try to avoid generalities or acronyms and jargon.
Now, the people who review your application are museum
professionals, but they might not be completely familiar with
your particular shorthand, so make it easy for them to
understand what you mean. And of course, an advantage to starting
your application early is that you can ask a colleague to
review everything with fresh eyes before you submit. Ask some
to act like a reviewer who's seeing this for the first time.
Now, we've also posted the narrative and scheduled
completion from six or actually many more successful
applications from 2023. To find these examples, go to the sample
applications on the IMLS website and scroll down the page to find
the Museums for America examples. There are an
assortment of funded applications listed under each
grant program goal. Each sample application PDF contains a copy
of the seven-page narrative
and also, the schedule of completion. Many of these
samples were identified by our peer reviewers as good examples
of well-written applications that provided all the essential
information necessary for them to review the application.
Looking at these proposals might help clarify your thinking about
your own. Now here are a few important dates related to
Museums for America applications.
All applications must be received through Grants.gov by
11:59 PM Eastern Time on November 15th, 2023. The date is
non-negotiable. The time stamp is generated by the Grants.gov
system and we have no ability to override. Be sure to start early
and then if you encounter a difficulty of any kind when you
submit your proposal, you'll have time to resolve the problem
and resubmit before the deadline.
After the application deadline, IMLS staff will review your
application for completeness and eligibility, and you may hear
from us via e-mail if there are any problems. Next, we will
select experienced and knowledgeable peer reviewers to
read your applications and provide scores and comments
based on the criteria outlined in the MFA Notice of Funding
Opportunity. IMLS staff will examine your budget and the
financials you provided
and your track record with past and current grants. We then
prepare materials for the IMLS Deputy Director for Museums, as
well as for the IMLS Director. And by law, the IMLS Director is
charged with the authority and responsibility to make final
award decisions. This typically happens in July, so by early
August 2024, we will notify you and other successful applicants
by e-mail
of the award decisions and provide the scores and comments
created by the reviewers. MFA projects must be scheduled to
start on the first day of September 2024. In conclusion,
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 MFA grant program
or other grant programs at IMLS.
You can address any specific concerns you may have 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 our calendar.
You'll then receive an e-mail with a calendar invite and a
Microsoft Teams meeting link. So, thank you for listening to
our presentation and best of luck to you in preparing and
submitting your IMLS grant application.