Promotion of the Humanities_Digital Humanities Initiative (45.169)

Program

45.169 Promotion of the Humanities_Digital Humanities Initiative

Federal Agency

Agency: National Endowment For The Humanities

Authorization

National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965, as amended, Public Law 89-209, 20 U.S.C. 951 et seq. , Public Law 89-209, 20 U.S.C 951.

Program Number

45.169

Last Known Status

Active

Objectives

To support innovative humanities projects that utilize or study the impact of digital technology for research, preservation, access, education, and public programming.

Types of Assistance

PROJECT GRANTS

Uses and Use Restrictions

Grants support large-scale training institutes or seminars on advanced topics in the digital humanities that explore new technology-driven methodologies; innovative start-up projects that are in the first phases of planning, brainstorming, and creating prototypes that explore the use or impact of digital technology for the humanities; projects that explore and enrich humanities materials using digital technology, thereby enhancing teaching, research, and public access.. Expenses may include salaries and wages, consultant and other contract services, supplies and limited equipment purchases, travel, and per diem.

Eligibility Requirements

Applicant Eligibility

U.S. nonprofit organizations or institutions; state and local governmental agencies and Native American tribal organizations; and U.S. citizens or foreign nationals who have been living in the United States or its jurisdictions for at least the three years immediately prior to the time of application.

Beneficiary Eligibility

Credentials/Documentation

Costs will be determined in accordance with OMB Circular No. A-87 for State and local governments. OMB Circular No. A-21 for educational institutions and OMB Circular No. A-122 for nonprofit organizations apply. OMB Circular No. A-87 applies to this program.

Application and Award Process

Preapplication Coordination

Prior to submitting a proposal, applicants are encouraged to contact program officers who can offer advice about preparing the proposal, and review draft proposals. These comments are not part of the formal review process and have no bearing on the final outcome of the proposal, but applicants in other programs have found them helpful in strengthening their applications. Program staff recommend that draft proposals be submitted six weeks before the deadline. Time restraints may prevent staff from reviewing draft proposals submitted after that date. Draft proposals may be submitted by E-mail attachment (odh@neh.gov). This program is excluded from coverage under E.O. 12372. Environmental impact information is not required for this program. This program is excluded from coverage under E.O. 12372.

Application Procedure

This program is excluded from coverage under OMB Circular No. A-102. This program is excluded from coverage under OMB Circular No. A-110. Applications for this program must be submitted via Grants.Gov. Before using Grants.gov for the first time, each organization must register with the Web site to create an institutional profile.

Award Procedure

Knowledgeable persons outside NEH will read each application and advise the agency about its merits. The Endowment's staff comments on matters of fact or on significant issues that otherwise would be missing from these reviews, then makes recommendations to the National Council on the Humanities. The National Council meets at various times during the year to advise the NEH chairman on grants. The chairman takes into account the advice provided by the review process and, by law, makes all funding decisions.

Deadlines

Contact the headquarters or regional office, as appropriate, for application deadlines.

Range of Approval/Disapproval Time

From 120 to 180 days. Applicants will be notified by mail within five months after the submission of the application.

Appeals

None, but applicant may reapply.

Renewals

Renewal grants are processed and awarded in competition with and in the same manner as new applications.

Assistance Considerations

Formula and Matching Requirements

Statutory formulas are not applicable to this program.

This program has no matching requirements.

MOE requirements are not applicable to this program.

Length and Time Phasing of Assistance

Typically 6 to 24 months. Method of awarding/releasing assistance: by letter of credit.

Post Assistance Requirements

Reports

Program reports are not applicable. A Federal Cash Transactions Report will be due within 30 days of the end of each calendar quarter. A final Financial Status Report will be due within 90 days after the completion date of the award period. Final performance reports will be required. Expenditure reports are not applicable. No performance monitoring is required.

Audits

In accordance with the provisions of OMB Circular No. A-133 (Revised, June 27, 2003), "Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations," nonfederal entities that expend financial assistance of $500,000 or more in Federal awards will have a single or a program-specific audit conducted for that year. Nonfederal entities that expend less than $500,000 a year in Federal awards are exempt from Federal audit requirements for that year, except as noted in Circular No. A-133. In accordance with the provisions of OMB Circular No. A-133 (Revised, June 27, 2003), "Audits of States, Local Governments, and Nonprofit Organizations," nonfederal entities that expend financial assistance of $500,000 or more in Federal awards will have a single or a program-specific audit conducted for that year. Nonfederal entities that expend less than $500,000 a year in Federal awards are exempt from Federal audit requirements for that year, except as noted in Circular No. A-133. For nongovernmental recipients, audits are to be carried out in accordance with the provisions set forth in OMB Circular No. A-110, "Grants and Agreements with Institutions of Higher Education, Hospitals, and Other Nonprofit Organizations Uniform Administrative Requirements" and with OMB Circular No. A-133. In addition, grants are subject to inspection and audits by NEH and other Federal officials.

Records

Documentation of expenditures and other fiscal records must be retained for 3 years following the submission of the final expenditure report.

Program Accomplishments

Fiscal Year 2008: In FY08, 287 applications were received and 41 awards were made. Fiscal Year 2009: No Current Data Available Fiscal Year 2010: No Current Data Available

Financial Information

Account Identification

59-0200-0-1-503.

Obligations

(Project Grants) FY 08 $2,009,541; FY 09 est $4,000,000; FY 10 est $4,000,000

Range and Average of Financial Assistance

FY 09 from $5000 to $250000.

Regulations, Guidelines and Literature

45 CFR 1100 and 1105. Guidelines are available online at http://www.neh.gov/grants/grants.html or by request from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Washington, DC 20506. Available from the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402, is the Endowment's official publication, "Humanities" by subscription (6 issues annually, $24.00 domestic, $30.00 foreign).

Related Programs

45.149 Promotion of the Humanities_Division of Preservation and Access

Information Contacts

Regional or Local Office

None.

Headquarters Office

Office of Digital Humanities Office of Public Information, National Endowment for the Humanities, Room 402, Washington, District of Columbia 20506 Phone: 202-606-8400

Web Site Address

http://www.neh.gov.

Examples of Funded Projects

Fiscal Year 2008: (1) An award to a university to hold a series of planning meetings and site visits aimed at developing archival tools and best practices for preserving born-digital documents produced by contemporary authors. (2) An award to a university to hold training institutes for faculty on the topic of advanced text encoding for humanities collections. Fiscal Year 2009: No Current Data Available Fiscal Year 2010: No Current Data Available

Criteria for Selecting Proposals

The criteria used to determine funding priorities include the (1) intellectual significance of the long-term project, including its potential to enhance research, teaching, and learning in the humanities; the likelihood that it will stimulate new research or approaches to the humanities or use new digital technologies to communicate humanities scholarship to broad audiences; its relationship to larger themes in the humanities; and the significance of the material on which the project is based; (2) the appropriateness of the proposed methods; the appropriateness of the technology employed in the project; the feasibility of the work plan; (3) qualifications, expertise, and levels of commitment of the project director and key project staff or contributors; (4) promise of quality, usefulness to the targeted audience, and/or impact on scholarship of the long-term project; soundness of the dissemination plans, including benefit to the audience identified in the proposal and the strength of the case for employing print, microform, digital format, or a combination of media; (5) quality of the assessment and evaluation of the activities, and the potential contribution of this evaluation to the realization of the long-term goals; and (6) potential for success, including the likelihood that the work proposed will be completed within the projected time frame; where appropriate, the project's previous record of success; and the reasonableness of the proposed budget in relation to anticipated results.