Hello, I'm Helen Wechsler, and I want to welcome you to the
Institute of Museum and Library Services, Office of Museum
Services,
informational video about the National Leadership Grants for
Museums.
The goal of this video is to provide an overview of our
National Leadership Grants for Museums program, which we call
"NLG-M" for short, and the process of preparing an
application for funding.
This video is organized into five chapters.
First, we will discuss the purpose and design of the NLG-M
grant program.
Then we'll talk about the types of projects that can be funded
in NLG-M and the amount of funds that can be requested.
Chapter 3 describes the types of documents that are needed to
create an NLG-M grant application, and Chapter 4
provides guidance on drafting the narrative part of the
application.
Note that there will be a separate video on preparing a
budget and budget justification.
Finally, in the concluding chapter, I'll provide a few tips
and next steps. To get the most out this video,
we recommend that you watch it in its entirety.
This will give you an understanding of the NLG-M grant
program, the types of projects that can be funded, and the
necessary application components.
You may also want to review the NLG-M Notice of Funding
Opportunity before, during, and after you watch the video.
Notices of Funding Opportunity, also known as NOFOs, are
documents that detail the requirements of each of our
grant programs.
All of our Fiscal Year 25 NOFOs can be found at 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.
In this section, we will answer the question "What is NLGM?"
providing information on the purpose and intent of this grant
program and who it is designed to serve.
National Leadership Grants for Museums support projects that
address critical needs in the museum field and that have the
potential to advance practice in the profession so that museums
can improve services for the American public.
NLG-M is all about addressing the challenges of the museum
field, our institutions, and our professionals.
We invest in institutions and partnerships that understand the
challenges and opportunities facing the field and devise
plans to move the field forward through the development of
resources and tools for use by multiple institutions and/or
groups of museum professionals.
Let's talk about institutional eligibility for a moment.
First, you must be located in one of the United States'
50 states, its territories, or the District of Columbia. And
your organization must be a unit of state, local or tribal
government or a private nonprofit organization with tax
exempt status.
You can be one of three types of organizations to be eligible to
apply to NLG-M.
To be eligible for funding as a museum, your organization must
have at least one full time or equivalent professional staff
person, either paid or unpaid, have a physical location that it
owns or operates,
have been open to the public for at least 120 days in the year
prior to November 15th, the deadline this year, and own or
use tangible objects, including living collections.
Museums may be stand-alone organizations, or they may be
part of a larger institution such as a college or university,
tribe, or state or local government.
You can also be eligible for NLG-M if you are an organization
or association that engages in activities designed to advance
the well-being of museums and the museum profession, or if you
are a college or university.
When we talk about museums, we include a broad range of
institution types.
Here's a list of some of the types of museums that our grant
programs support.
In this section, we will discuss the types of projects that the
program funds, its goals and objectives, and I'll provide
some data on the number and type of NLG-M projects that were
funded in recent years.
Making sure your concept shares the characteristics of
successful NLG projects is an important first step to
preparing an application.
We are looking for projects that are designed intentionally to
produce results that can be used by the field to advance and
improve practice.
We're looking for tangible results such as models, tools,
curriculum resources, research findings, or new services that
can be widely used, adapted, scaled, or replicated to extend
the benefit of the federal investment across the field or
segment of the field.
Projects should reflect a thorough understanding of
current practice, knowledge about the subject matter, deep
familiarity with previous work on the project topic, and an
awareness of and support for current strategic priorities in
the field.
We encourage collaboration as it demonstrates broad need, field
wide buy-in and input, and access to appropriate expertise.
Your project should align with one of these three project
goals.
As you can see here, you should be seeking to advance the museum
field's work in either Lifelong Learning, Community Engagement,
or Collections Stewardship and Access.
So let's take a look at what kinds of project activities
might fit within these goals.
In this and the two next slides, the numbered objectives provide
some of the types of projects that fit within the goal.
A project in Lifelong Learning might include, but is not
limited to, developing models with tools for scaling and
adapting by other museums, research on museum-based
learning, and forums that bring together experts to explore
current and emerging issues in the field.
A Community Engagement project will need to focus on producing
resources that help museums better meet community needs and
be welcoming places for everyone.
Projects may help museums be more inclusive of all segments
and parts of their communities, improve access and remove
barriers to participation, better engage with community
organizations and leaders for planning and civic engagement,
or support forums that bring together experts to explore
current and emerging issues for the field as they relate to
community engagement.
Under the Collections Stewardship and Access goal,
projects can develop tools that help museums facilitate access,
management, preservation, sharing, and use of museum
collections.
Projects can undertake research on management, conservation, and
preservation issues.
And like the other two goals, projects can bring together
experts to explore issues and inform the field of collection
topics.
NLG-M projects can request anywhere from $50,000 to
$750,000.
Full projects that result in robust results for the field
require a one-to-one cost share.
Cost share may be in the form of cash, staff or volunteer time,
other grantee-contributed costs, or third party or partner
contributions.
It may not be funds from another federal source.
Scale your budget request to the needs of your project.
Your budget should include the costs of the activities needed
to accomplish the results.
It's important that the amount of funds requested match the
scope and scale of your project.
Research projects from $50,000 to $750,000 do not require a
cost share.
We'll talk more about research projects a little later.
The number of applications received and the amount of
awards made can vary from year to year.
Here's a snapshot of our last two award cycles.
In FY24 we made 18 awards totaling $9.41 million and in
FY23 we made 19 awards with a total of just over $8.44
million.
In FY24, we received 54 applications and in FY23 we
received 48.
Averaging the two years, about 36% of applications were funded.
You can also see from the pie charts that the percentages of
awards by program goal can differ greatly from one year to
the next.
We do not have funding set aside for each goal, nor any quotas.
Instead, we look we are looking for the strongest projects
poised to provide the most benefit to the museum field.
On the IMLS website, you can use the Search Awarded Grants
function to explore an archive of grants that we have awarded
in the past years.
All of the FY24 NLG-M awards announced in August are listed
here, along with those from prior years.
You can search the database using a variety of criteria such
as institution name, location, 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
for each project.
In this section, we'll introduce the components of an NLG-M grant
application and provide an overview about the required,
conditionally required, and supporting documents.
The NLG-M Notice of Funding Opportunity includes a complete
list of all the application components.
The table of application components in the NOFO lists
which application components are required as well as those that
are conditionally required, meaning their inclusion depends
on the type of applicant, or the type of project.
Aside from the SF-424S and the IMLS Museum Program Information
Form, which are both web-based forms 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 note that there is a 10-page limit for the narrative.
If you exceed the page limit specified in the NOFO, we must
remove the extra pages before your application goes out for
review.
That means your reviewers may have to stop reading in
mid-sentence, which is never good.
Other docs have suggested page lengths. So, make sure your
content fits into the page limits specified and make sure
the number of pages holds when you convert your document to
PDF.
The second category of application components is that
of conditionally required documents.
Some applications must include one, two, or even all four of
these, and it's your job to figure out which are required
for your application.
If you are applying as a nonprofit, then you must include
your proof of nonprofit, which is a letter from the Internal
Revenue Service.
We will not accept a letter of State sales tax exemption as
proof of nonprofit status.
If you are 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
Product Plan.
If you are proposing a research project, then you must submit a
Data Management and Sharing Plan.
Just like the required documents,
omission of even one might result in your application's
rejection.
Please note that the term "digital product" includes
digitized and born-digital content, digital resources or
assets, and software.
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 examples.
Supporting Documents are optional.
You may submit one or none.
Include only those items that will supplement your proposal.
This is not the place to introduce brand new information.
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 in the project's 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.
Vendor quotes or equipment specifications show you've done
some of the legwork to get appropriate estimates for
project costs.
We recommend that you be respectful of your reviewers'
time and avoid the 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 is important, helpful, and directly relevant
to your project and stop there.
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 Project Results.
Remember that there is a separate video focusing on
crafting your budget and budget justification that I highly
recommend watching.
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.
The first section is the Project Justification.
In it, you're answering which program goal and associate
objective of the National Leadership Grant for Museums
program your project will address.
What field wide need, problem, or challenge will your project
address, and how was it identified?
You'll describe the sources you have used to define that need,
problem, or challenge.
Who's the primary audience for your project, and how have they
been involved in the planning?
Primary audiences refer to those who will be most immediately and
positively affected by your project. Who are the ultimate
beneficiaries of the project? How will the museum field
benefit from your project, and how does this proposed project
differ from, complement, or build upon existing theory,
scholarship, and practice?
In the Notice of Funding Opportunity under Review
Criteria, you will find a list of questions for each section of
the narrative that reviewers are asked to consider when they
review your proposal.
It's a good idea to refer to these as you craft your
narrative to be certain you're providing reviewers clear, solid
information.
You will see that they correspond fairly directly with
the prompts you were given to write your narrative.
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 and using what
resources.
You should explain how you will track your progress towards
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.
Again, this is a list of questions that reviewers are
asked to consider when they review your proposal, so make
sure your narrative is answering these effectively.
For research projects, reviewers are asked to weigh in on another
set of criteria.
They'll look for appropriate research design and answers to
the questions outlined in the Guidance for Research
Applications.
This is a section you will find in the Notice of Funding
Opportunity.
If you find it difficult to answer these questions for your
project, you might actually not have a research project at all.
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 identified in your project
justification will be addressed directly.
The results should relate directly to the need you
identified in the museum field.
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 benefit of the project.
How will this improvement that you propose to make continue
once your grant is over?
Again, here's a list of questions that reviewers are
asked to consider when they read and score the Project Results
section of your narrative, and you can find these in the Notice
of Funding Opportunity.
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.
Write clearly, address what we ask you to address, and keep an
eye on those Review Criteria.
They tell you exactly what the reviewers will look for, so make
it easy for them to find it and understand it.
Finally, make sure all sections of the narrative are connected.
The work plan should describe the activities required to
address the field wide need, and the results should provide a
solution to the need you identified.
In this final section of our presentation, we'll offer some
application tips 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 some tips to help you do just that.
Start early, and you've already done that by listening to 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 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
Notice of Funding Opportunity.
Make sure all application components are in the proper
format and follow the correct naming convention.
Submit to grants.gov early so you can correct any errors and
avoid any trauma created by technology challenges.
It's important to 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 identifier number.
So make sure your registration for both of these sites are
complete, your accounts are active, and that any necessary
passwords are current.
These registrations expire periodically, so you don't want
to wait until it's time to hit submit button to check them.
You should coordinate with any other staff members, such as
your authorized organization representative, who may hold the
accounts and passwords you'll need to submit.
Also, carefully review your institution sam.gov record to
ensure that there are no federal debts or proceedings or problems
reported by other federal agencies.
These will need to be cleared up prior to IMLS making an award to
your institution.
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 desks and request a tracking
case or ticket number in order to document your issue and
attempts at resolving it.
Failure to have active sam.gov or grants.gov registrations 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 is
an 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 project.
They 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.
To help make sure your narrative is clear and complete as
possible, revisit the NLG-M Notice of Funding Opportunity
and follow the narrative outline it provides.
Be sure to consider the review criteria associated with each
section of the narrative.
Use headings and subheadings to make it easy for reviewers to
read.
Avoid generalities, acronyms, and jargon because the people
who will review your applications are museum
professionals, but they may not all be totally familiar with
your particular field's shorthand.
Make it easy for them to understand what you mean.
An advantage of starting your application early is that you
can ask a colleague, friend, or family member to review
everything with fresh eyes before you submit.
Ask them to act like a reviewer who's seeing this for the first
time.
IMLS offers a few ways to find examples of funded projects.
We already talked about the Search Awarded Grants function
on our website.
You can see the filters I've selected on the left the last
three years at the top and National Leadership Grants for
Museums at the bottom.
We've also posted the abstract, narrative and schedule of
completion for a cross section of successful NLG-M
applications.
The proposals posted present a variety of project types, meet
the overarching goal of NLG-M program, and were considered to
be clear and well written by reviewers.
Looking at these exemplary proposals might help clarify
your thinking about your own application.
The image on the right shows the sample application page.
You will Scroll down to find NLG-M examples.
Here are a few important dates related to NLG-M applications.
Applications must be received through grants.gov by 11:59 PM
Eastern Time on November 15th, 2024.
The time stamp is auto generated by grants.gov and we have no
ability to override it.
So again, submit your application early if at all
possible.
That way, if you encounter a difficulty of any kind, you'll
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 Notice of Funding
Opportunity.
IMLS staff will examine your budget, your financials, and
your track record with past and current grants.
We then prepare materials for the IMLS Director, who by law,
has the authority and responsibility to make final
award decisions.
This typically happens in July.
In early August 2025, we will notify you by e-mail of the
award decisions and provide the scores and comments created by
the reviewers.
NLG-M projects must be scheduled to start on the first day of
September 2025.
As you read through the NOFO and prepare your application,
additional questions may arise before the application deadline.
We can answer questions about our grant programs, address
specific concerns with the various application components,
or help you understand the review process.
You may schedule a counseling call to talk 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 a calendar invite and a
Microsoft Teams meeting link.
Thank you for listening and best of luck.