Outreach Grant

Grants support projects and activities that improve public understanding of conservation and support under resourced institutions in meeting their collection care needs. This could include collaborating with an institution on rehousing of collections or giving a public lecture to help advance awareness of the conservation field. Priority will be given to projects and programming that develop community awareness of conservation, engage media coverage of conservation activities, and create connections between conservation practitioners and allied practitioners and/or the public.

Funding may be used to help defray organizational costs, necessary materials and supplies, travel costs, honoraria, site fees, and other expenses such as marketing and publicity. Grants are not intended to support focused conservation treatment, large scale initiatives such as a collections assessment or ongoing programming, or activities at the AIC Annual Meeting.

Partnering organizations may include historic houses, museums, libraries, archives, or cultural organizations.

Feasibility of project, including reasonableness of budget and organization’s ability to publicize.
Urgency of project.
Financial need of project team or partnering institution(s).
Level of commitment demonstrated from team and/or partnering institution(s).
Project team’s capability and capacity to convey information about conservation and meet all stated goals.
Ability to publicize project to raise awareness of conservation among the public and/or within institution and community.
Number of people reached, other projected outcomes.

Applications are submitted through an online application portal. When you enter the portal, you will be prompted to login to the system using a login ID and password. This system is not currently synced with F/AIC’s main database, so your login information may be different. If you do not have an account in the system, you can quickly set one up before you begin your application.

The online form will take you through three sections of the application:

Description (site information, letter of commitment from site director, project description)
Coordinator (names, contact information, and letters of commitment from Project Coordinator and Site Coordinator)
Budget (project costs and funding request)

You can save and return to your application later to complete it. When you are satisfied with your responses, “save and finalize” to submit your application. Once the application has been submitted, you cannot return to edit the form.

Applications are reviewed by members of the AIC Education and Training Committee and a recommendation is made to the FAIC board for approval. Reviewers will follow the Reviewer Guidelines and an established evaluation rubric based on the criteria for review to evaluate all applications. Notification of awards are made six to eight weeks after the application deadline.

All applicants will receive a notification letter via email to notify them of the status of their application following the review. Awardees will also receive their letter via DocuSign and must sign and return their letter in order for the funding to be sent. Awards of $600 or more require a W9 form from awardees within the US, as these funds are subject to taxes. Awardees within the US will receive a check in the mail shortly after the documents are submitted to FAIC. Awardees outside the US must complete a wire transfer form and the funding will be sent via wire transfer shortly after the documents are submitted to FAIC.

A final report consisting of a 500 - 1,000 word narrative, at least two images, and a final financial report summarizing the expenses and sources of revenue is due within 14 months after the application deadline (April 15 and November 15). Final reports should be sent to funding@culturalheritage.org and are required to be eligible for future funding. Reports may be published in part or in full by FAIC, including posting on our website.

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