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American Rescue Plan: Humanities Grants for Libraries is a grantmaking program to deliver relief to libraries recovering from the coronavirus pandemic.

The following information is created for the 200 libraries selected to receive funding through ALA's competitive, peer-reviewed process.

Contact Information

If you have questions about grant requirements, timeline, eligibility of expenses, or anything else related to your institution's American Rescue Plan: Humanities Grants for Libraries grant, please contact ÂÜÀòÍøÊÓƵPublic Programs Office staff at publicprograms@ala.org or 312.280.5045.

Key Dates

• Grant checks distributed: by February 28, 2022
• Orientation Webinar (Required for Project Directors): Thursday, February 24, 2022, from 1-2 p.m. CT
• Grant implementation period: March 1 - August 31, 2022; all funds must be spent down within this six-month period
• Final report due to ALA: October 31, 2022

Quick Links

• ÂÜÀòÍøÊÓƵConnect (used for communicating with other grant recipients and ÂÜÀòÍøÊÓƵstaff):
• ÂÜÀòÍøÊÓƵGrants Management Platform (used for grant application, official forms and reporting):

Award Information

As a grant recipient, your institution will receive:

• $10,000 to support humanities functions of the library
• One print copy of “Going Virtual: Programs and Insights from a Time of Crisis” (ÂÜÀòÍøÊÓƵEditions, 2021)
• Access to a community of practice for grant recipients, via the ÂÜÀòÍøÊÓƵConnect platform, throughout the grant term
• Online resources to announce the grant locally (e.g., template press release, social media messaging, web graphics)

Participation Requirements

Libraries that receive American Rescue Plan: Humanities Grants for Libraries funding agree to:

• Appoint one staff member as the Project Director (local point of contact) for the grant. This individual will be responsible for attending a required Orientation Webinar and overseeing the library’s grant performance and reporting.
• Attend a required Orientation Webinar on Thursday, February 24, 2022, from 1-2 p.m. CT.
• Use the ARP funding to support humanities efforts of the library; grant funds must be spent within the six-month grant implementation period.
• Complete a final report, using ÂÜÀòÍøÊÓƵgrants management platform, by Oct. 31, 2022.
• Share information about their grant with elected officials. (A template email is available under Promotional Materials below.)
• Share information about ARP-funded achievements with ÂÜÀòÍøÊÓƵstaff, as requested, for communications purposes.

Spending Grant Funds

Your use of the grant funds should align with the plans you outlined in the Budget narrative section of your grant proposal.

We understand that sometimes things change. If you anticipate a variance of more than 10% of the total award amount (i.e., $1,000) in any of your planned expenses, please submit a request in writing to publicprograms@ala.org.

Below are several examples of eligible expenses, as outlined in the project guidelines. Note that this list is not exhaustive:

• Salary and benefit support for library workers engaged in humanities activities
• Costs related to humanities programming (in-person or virtual), such as book clubs, guest lectures, exhibition development, oral history collection, digitization projects, or heritage festivals
• Purchases of books, e-books, or technology for use in humanities programming
• Marketing and advertising to support library humanities efforts

Ineligible expenses include:

• overlapping project costs with any other pending or approved application(s) for federal funding and/or approved federal awards
• competitive regranting
• cancellation costs
• pre-award costs incurred more than 90 days before the subrecipient’s period of performance
• equipment costs in excess of 20% of total project costs
• travel (both foreign and domestic)
• construction, purchase of real property, major alteration and renovation
• collections acquisition (note that purchases for use in humanities programs are allowable)
• the preservation, organization, or description of materials that are not regularly accessible for research, education, or public programming
• promotion of a particular political, religious, or ideological point of view
• advocacy of a particular program of social or political action
• support of specific public policies or legislation
• lobbying
• projects that fall outside of the humanities and the humanistic social sciences
• for any eligible American organization located overseas, support of non-U.S. citizens
• unallowable expenses as defined in

Online Platforms

As a Project Director, you will use the following two ÂÜÀòÍøÊÓƵonline platforms over the course of your grant.

is the web-based platform you used to submit your application and grant acceptance forms. You will use the same platform it to submit your final report. Log in using the same username and password that you used for your application.

is an online platform for discussion and collaboration between ÂÜÀòÍøÊÓƵmembers. Whether you are an ÂÜÀòÍøÊÓƵmember or not, American Rescue Plan: Humanities Grants for Libraries Project Directors will use this platform to communicate throughout the grant.

You will need to have a free ÂÜÀòÍøÊÓƵConnect account in order to access the American Rescue Plan group. If you do not already have an ÂÜÀòÍøÊÓƵConnect account, you will receive instructions to create one. After you have created your account, you will receive an email invitation to join the group.

Once you are a member of the discussion list, you will automatically receive any message a member sends to the list and may make posts yourself. See detailed instructions here.

Promotional Materials

We encourage you to share the news of your American Rescue Plan grant far and wide! ÂÜÀòÍøÊÓƵhas developed the following resources to help.

• Read ALA's press release announcing the 200 ARP libraries (published February 15, 2022)

Templates

The following templates can be used to share the news that you have received an American Rescue Plan: Humanities Grants for Libraries grant and to briefly explain your plans. You can distribute these any time after ÂÜÀòÍøÊÓƵannounces the grant.

Note: You are welcome to edit these documents to meet your needs, but please keep ÂÜÀòÍøÊÓƵand NEH acknowledgments, tags, and hashtags in place.

• Announcement press release template (Word Document): Use this template to share the news of your grant with local media.
• Social media post template (Word Document): Use these templates to post the news of your grant on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or other social media channels.
• Elected official email template (Word Document): Use this template to share the news of your grant with elected officials. You can edit this email to invite them to an event, ask them to help promote a new library service, or to generally inform them about the grant.

If you create your own social media posts, please use the hashtag #SHARP ("Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan"). This is a request from NEH and will help your grant get national visibility.

Please tag ÂÜÀòÍøÊÓƵand/or NEH whenever possible using the following handles:

ÂÜÀòÍøÊÓƵ:

• Twitter:
• Instagram:

National Endowment for the Humanities

• Twitter:
• Instagram:

American Rescue Plan: Humanities Grants for Libraries themed slide deck template

• ARP themed slide deck (click to download .thmx)
  • To import this color theme, open your presentation slides in Power Point. On the Design tab, in the Themes group, click the drop-down arrow. Now click Browse for Themes. A new window will open, where you need to select the presentation (ARP Humanities Grant theme.thmx) that contains the theme you want to import.

Graphics

Add these graphics to your library’s website or social media channels when talking about your ARP grant.

• Instagram post graphic: "Grant Recipient" (click to download full size)

• Facebook share graphic: "Grant Recipient" (click to download full size)

• Social media profile photo/Web square: "Grant Recipient" (click to download full size)

Acknowledgment and Credit Statement

If the above templates do not meet your needs, you are welcome to create your own materials, provided they include the proper logos/acknowledgments.

Acknowledgment to use in print materials and verbal credit during programs: "American Rescue Plan: Humanities Grants for Libraries is an initiative of the ÂÜÀòÍøÊÓƵ (ALA) made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021."

Logos: Grant recipients are authorized to use logos only for American Rescue Plan project purposes for the duration of the grant. Please use logos in print material and programming material (presentation slides, handouts, etc.) related to your grant.

• NEH Logo color jpg
• NEH Logo black jpg
  
  

Final Report Walkthrough

The final report for the ARP Humanities Grant is due October 31, 2022. The final report can be accessed through the . You can preview the list of questions on the final report here.

Check out the video below for a walkthrough of how to complete the final report. If you have any questions or concerns while completing the final report, please email publicprograms@ala.org.