Illinois Humanities COVID-19 Emergency Relief Grants

Apply for a Program Innovation or Community Resilience project grant.

Program Description

Illinois Humanities is committed to ensuring access to free, high-quality humanities experiences throughout Illinois. COVID-19 has put an unprecedented strain on non-profit organizations in Illinois and on the people who make public humanities happen. With the support of funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities through the CARES Act, Illinois Humanities COVID-19 Emergency Relief Grants will provide $635,000 in general operating and program support to humanities and cultural nonprofits throughout Illinois. The deadline for general operating support is May 15th at 5 PM and the deadline for program support is June 15th at 5 PM.

The main goals of the Illinois Humanities COVID-19 Emergency Relief Grants are to:

1) Provide emergency relief support for humanities-based organizations throughout the state who are impacted by COVID-19;

2) Help enable humanities-based organizations to innovate, adapt, and strengthen access to their programming;

3) Support humanities-based efforts to make community experiences during the pandemic visible and highlight resiliency throughout the state.

If you have further questions, reach out to Mark Hallett, Program Manager, Grants, at mark.hallett@ilhumanities.org.

Program Innovation and Adaptation

Deadline: June 15th at 5 PM

Illinois Humanities will be awarding $100,000 in program innovation and adaptation grants to support the efforts of humanities-based organizations to innovate, adapt, and strengthen programming. Examples of this type of support include (but are not limited to): efforts to digitize or archive content; moving programs to virtual platforms; community engagement; closed-captioning, translation, and other accessibility efforts for digital and virtual content; involving humanists to develop new content or public programs. The deadline for program innovation and adaptation support is 5 PM on June 15th.

Guidelines

Applications for program innovation and adaptation grants will be accepted from May 15th – 5 PM on June 15th. Decisions will be made by July 6th.
Grants are for $5,000. No matching funds are required.
As required by the National Endowment for the Humanities, organizations must have a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number in order to receive funding. A DUNS number is not required to apply, however, funds cannot be awarded to organizations not registered. If you do not have a DUNS number – please register for one here. There is no cost to register. Please note that it can take up to two weeks to receive a DUNS number.

Eligibility

Non-profit humanities and cultural organizations based in Illinois with a demonstrated commitment to public humanities.
Annual budgets of $1.5M or less.
501c3 status or non-profits designated by the state.
The following types of organizations are ineligible: K-12 schools; universities, colleges, and academic departments; chapters of national organizations; organizations focused solely on the arts that do not have an explicit commitment to humanities programming; for-profit organizations; religious organizations; individuals.

Apply

Community Resilience

Deadline: June 30th at 5 PM

Illinois Humanities will be awarding $60,000 in Community Resilience project grants. The goal of this grant category is to support organizations in using the humanities to make visible the experiences of residents during the COVID-19 pandemic and highlight stories of community resiliency throughout the state. Grant funds may be used to cover operating, documentation, and program accessibility expenses, and to pay storytellers, scholars, writers, humanists, artists, musicians, photographers, interviewees, or other individuals participating in the project. Ten projects will be funded across the entire state of Illinois.
Examples of this type of support include (but are not limited to): Pairing artists and writers to capture stories and create a poster series; creating a photo essay with reflection questions; engaging a storyteller to implement a program that enables members of a community to reflect on their experiences during COVID-19; publishing an Instagram series paired with quotes from community members; pairing existing local history and cultural artifacts with reflective prompt questions that help people reflect on our current moment; creating a listening station and curating an audio series. Funded projects need to document their story-capturing process and resulting projects must be available to the public and shareable.

This grant takes inspiration from community history and public humanities and art efforts including Paper Monuments; One Poem at A Time; Fill the Walls with Hope; the Pulitzer Center’s “Mother of Mothers”; and the national Works Progress Administration posters.

Strong applications will be informed by the history and specificity of each place or community and draw on local and/or community assets. The deadline for community resilience support is 5 PM on June 30th.

Guidelines

Applications for Community Resilience project grants will be accepted from May 15th – 5 PM on June 30th. Decisions will be made by July 24th.
Grants are for $6,000. No matching funds are required.
Projects must be completed by October 31st.
Funded projects need to document their story-capturing process.
Resulting projects must be available to the public and shareable.
As required by the National Endowment for the Humanities, organizations must have a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number in order to receive funding. A DUNS number is not required to apply, however, funds cannot be awarded to organizations not registered. If you do not have a DUNS number – please register for one here. There is no cost to register. Please note that it can take up to two weeks to receive a DUNS number.

Eligibility

Non-profit humanities and cultural organizations based in Illinois with a demonstrated commitment to public humanities.
Annual budgets of $1.5M or less.
501c3 status or non-profits designated by the state.
The following types of organizations are ineligible: K-12 schools; universities, colleges, and academic departments; organizations focused solely on the arts that do not have an explicit commitment to humanities programming; for-profit organizations; individuals.

Apply

General Operating Support

Illinois Humanities will provide $475,000 in emergency relief general operating grants for humanities and cultural non-profit organizations with budgets up to $1.5M impacted by COVID-19. Two funding pools are available: one designated for organizations based within Cook County and one designated for organizations based outside Cook County. The deadline for general operating support applications is 5 PM on May 15th.

Guidelines

Applications for general operating support will be accepted from April 27th – 5 PM on May 15th. Decisions will be made by June 8th.
Grants range from $2,500-$7,500 based on organizational budget size. No matching funds are required.
Please use the appropriate location-specific application. Choose the location based on whether your organization is based within (or outside of) Cook County, regardless of where programming takes places. Illinois Humanities is committed to geographic diversity and equitably serving the entire state.
As required by the National Endowment for the Humanities, organizations must have a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number in order to receive funding. A DUNS number is not required to apply, however, funds cannot be awarded to organizations not registered. If you do not have a DUNS number – please register for one here. There is no cost to register. Please note that it can take up to two weeks to receive a DUNS number.

Eligibility

Non-profit humanities and cultural organizations based in Illinois with a demonstrated commitment to the public humanities.
Annual budgets of $1.5M or less.
501c3 status or non-profits designated by the state.
The following types of organizations are ineligible for general operating support: public libraries; K-12 schools; universities, colleges, and academic departments; chapters of national organizations; organizations focused solely on the arts that do not have an explicit commitment to humanities programming; for-profit organizations; religious organizations; individuals; and recipients of the first round of Illinois Humanities COVID-19 Emergency Relief Grants.

Apply

Frequently Asked Questions

What sorts of activities will the COVID-19 Emergency Relief Grants support?

Through this program Illinois Humanities will be supporting general operations, which means you can apply these funds to any aspect of your organization’s expenses as you see fit, as well as program innovation and adaption, which will provide support to your organization in order to adapt current programming and content to meet the needs of our current moment and to innovate new programs that will help strengthen your organization. Finally, we will be funding a community resiliency project that will help make community experiences during the pandemic visible and highlight resiliency throughout the state.

What do you mean exactly when you say a humanities organization?

A humanities organization has a mission explicitly connected to the humanities along with a track record of specifically working in the humanities, as opposed to a group that occasionally tackles or delves into humanities-based themes or activities. Humanities organizations include, but are not limited to, historical societies, historic houses, groups doing oral history projects, cultural centers, museums, groups that celebrate preservation, libraries of various sorts, archives, groups that use the arts to explore humanities themes (again, on a regular basis), literary groups, groups that celebrate the lives of leaders in the humanities, groups that use creative means to engage people of all ages in exploring humanities-based questions and content.

How do you define the humanities?

The humanities are the examination of what it means to be human through the interpretation and discussion of all forms of thought, interest and expression. While we value traditional humanities disciplines, such as art history, literature, history, and philosophy, our emphasis is on the public humanities, which means that we look at the humanities as more than an academic discipline.

For us, the public humanities are a mode of inquiry and conversation that aims to engage, support, or challenge the ideals, beliefs, tensions, and prejudices of the communities in which we live. We believe that important thought can happen outside of the academy – in neighborhood institutions, schools, churches, and at kitchen tables across the country. We are especially interested in instances of the public humanities that promote civic engagement – in raising critical issues facing everyday people and conducted with the hope of increasing their thirst for staying engaged. Rather than being defined by rigid disciplinary boundaries, it is the humanistic lens, which emphasizes curiosity, questioning, and dialogue, that matters.

How are you defining community?

Are groups able to apply to more than one COVID-19 Illinois Humanities Emergency Relief Grants opportunity?

Yes, but there are limitations. If you have already been awarded general operating support through the COVID-19 Emergency Relief Grants, as part of the applications that were available April 3rd (Round 1), please do not apply again for General Operating Support.

Also, of the three categories being announced at this time (general operating support, program innovation and adaptation, and community resiliency project) we ask that you only choose two categories to apply. A separate application is required for each category.

Are individuals eligible for any of the grants being announced at this time?

If a group is a nonprofit but not a 501c3, will it qualify for support? ?

Yes, these grants are open to nonprofits, whether 501c3 or as designated by the state of Illinois. The following organizations are ineligible for Illinois Humanities COVID-19 Emergency Relief Grants: K-12 schools; universities, colleges, and academic departments; chapters of national organizations; public libraries; organizations focused solely on the arts that do not have an explicit commitment to humanities programming; for-profits; churches and individuals. Note that public libraries, however, are eligible for the Program Innovation and Adaptation as well as the Community Resilience grants.

What will be the reporting requirements for COVID-19 Emergency Relief Grants?

Will Illinois Humanities continue with its normal grants programs during this period?

Yes! The remainder of 2020 is a busy year for our grants program. In addition to the COVID-19 emergency relief grants, we are continuing to provide support through: 1) Community Grants program, with deadlines on May 15th and September 15th 2) Activate History micro-grants, with a September 1st deadline; 3) Envisioning Justice grants, which will be announced on May 30th, with deadlines on August 15th and October 15th. If you’re interested in learning more, go to www.ilhumanities.org/grants.