State Board Programming Grants | STATE 202305

Opportunity Information: Apply for STATE 202305

The State Board Programming Grants opportunity is a National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) funding program, administered by the National Archives and Records Administration, that is designed to strengthen the work of State Historical Records Advisory Boards (SHRABs) and the state-level systems that support archives and historical records. The core emphasis is on helping state boards run practical, public-facing programs that preserve historical records, expand online access to those records, and connect people to primary sources in their own communities and through the internet. A major theme is public engagement and civic education: proposals are expected to show how archival records can help people better understand US history, democracy, and culture, not just as abstract topics, but through direct interaction with original documents, photographs, recordings, and other primary sources.

The Commission explicitly encourages projects that tie into the upcoming 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, especially projects that use archival collections to explore the founding ideals of the United States and the ways those ideals have been interpreted, contested, and debated over the last 250 years. At the same time, the program strongly prioritizes efforts that elevate collections documenting Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) histories and perspectives. Competitive applications are expected to show intentional outreach to archives and collections that have historically been overlooked, and to demonstrate how programming will broaden who is represented in the historical record and who benefits from archival resources.

Funded work under this program generally falls into several established categories of state board programming. State boards can use grant support to operate state regrant programs that provide subawards to local repositories to preserve records and improve online availability. They can also run "traveling archivist" services that provide hands-on, on-site technical assistance to smaller organizations, followed by continued guidance after the visit. Additional eligible activities include workshops, educational programs, and outreach initiatives that increase student and community engagement with historical records; scholarships and training opportunities that build the capacity of repositories (with special attention to underserved communities); collaborations among organizations to address shared statewide or regional archival problems; and convenings such as meetings and public forums on major archival issues.

NHPRC makes clear that applications will be more competitive when they align with tactics in the agency's strategic plan, particularly tactics aimed at equity, capacity-building, and broader participation in the archival profession and archival programming. Examples of these preferred approaches include targeting institutional advancement for small and underserved archives (including HBCUs, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, other Minority-Serving Institutions, and tribal entities), creating outreach strategies that engage collections centered on African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, and Native American experiences, and supporting professional development pathways for BIPOC archivists. Proposals are also encouraged to include workshops that help potential applicants understand project design and navigate the NHPRC application process, and to pursue both proven programming models and thoughtful experiments with new methods of public participation in archives.

A notable requirement is that applicants must build evaluation and feedback into their program design. The application should explain how the state board will follow up with participating institutions and individuals (for example, regrant recipients, scholarship recipients, and workshop attendees) to understand how they benefited, and it should also describe how the board will evaluate overall program effectiveness and adjust programming based on what is learned. NHPRC also points applicants to its published list of activities it does and does not fund; proposals made up entirely of ineligible activities are rejected, so applicants are expected to check those limitations carefully.

Funding is offered in two tiers. Level I awards support one-year projects up to $12,000. Level II awards can support one-year projects up to $40,000 or two-year projects up to $80,000. An applicant may request either Level I or Level II funding, but not both in the same application. NHPRC anticipates making up to about 30 awards in this category, totaling up to $800,000. For the referenced cycle, the earliest start date is January 1, 2024, and recipients must acknowledge NHPRC support in publicity and in any products produced with grant assistance.

Eligibility is tightly defined around state board infrastructure. Only State Historical Records Advisory Boards (or the state agency responsible for the board, typically the state archives) may receive these grants, although another state agency or a nonprofit partner such as a foundation or university may apply on behalf of the designated state agency. Eligible "states" include not only the 50 states, but also the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and US territories. Projects must include at least one of the program's eligible activity types, and applications must include all required components, including the SF-424, a narrative, the NHPRC budget form, and required supplemental materials; incomplete applications are not considered.

Cost sharing is required, and NHPRC will provide no more than 75 percent of total project costs. That means applicants must cover at least 25 percent through non-federal contributions, which can include cash, allowable in-kind support, third-party contributions, and certain project-generated income. A key budgeting constraint is that NHPRC funds cannot be used for indirect costs; if indirect costs are part of the project budget, they must be counted as part of the applicant's cost-share contribution rather than charged to the federal award. The opportunity also includes standard federal administrative requirements: applicants must be registered in SAM, maintain that registration through the process, and include a valid UEI. Because SAM and Grants.gov registration can take weeks, applicants are expected to plan ahead, and NHPRC does not offer deadline extensions due to registration delays.

Finally, the notice encourages state boards and state archives to consider the separate NHPRC Archival Collaboratives Planning and Implementation Grants program as a complementary pathway, especially when the goal is to build more durable, shared infrastructure across repositories. The collaboratives program can support staffing, consultants, travel, and other costs needed to create sustainable multi-institution partnerships that extend the impact of regrants and trainings, and that help repositories build enough capacity to pursue future funding either on their own or as part of a consortium.

• The National Archives and Records Administration in the humanities (see cultural affairs in cfda) sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "State Board Programming Grants" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 89.003.
• This funding opportunity was created on Nov 29, 2022.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 03, 2023. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $40,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 30 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

Apply for STATE 202305

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