Instructions for applying

Before you begin, you may wish to refer to the “Glossary of Terms Used” and the list of “Frequently Asked Questions”.

Step 3: Use the instructions on the following pages to
complete your grant application.

A: Cover Sheet
You may photocopy the Grant Application Cover Sheet printed at the back of this booklet or download it from the OHC website. Grant applicants also may replicate the cover sheet, by scanning or other means, for easier preparation. However, forms which have reduced or compressed type or which exceed space limits will not be accepted.

Project Title: Describes the topic of your project.

Project Dates: For mini grants, plan to begin your project at least 5 weeks after submitting your application; for regular grants, 8 weeks; for major grants, 12 weeks.

Project Budget: Complete the budget sheet before filling in
this information.

Sponsoring Organization, Authorizing Official, Project Director, Project Bookkeeper: These terms are defined in the glossary provided on p. 17.

Project Summary: Self-explanatory. Compliance Questions: By signing and submitting this grant proposal, the authorizing official of the sponsoring organization is providing the applicable certifications regarding debarment and suspension and compliance with the nondiscrimination statutes.

B: Project Narrative
This section is the heart of your grant proposal. Answer the following questions in the order they are listed. Reviewers pay particular attention to Questions 2-5, so you may wish to devote more space to those answers. Be sure read through the list of “Special Project Formats” on p. 12 to determine if you need to answer additional questions specific to the type of project you plan to implement.

Format requirements
for the project narrative:

	Limit your narrative to no more than 6 typed pages in length, using 8 1/2 x 11 white paper. Single-spaced lines are fine. Number all pages.
	Be sure to use 12-point type and standard 1- inch margins. OHC will not accept any proposals which use smaller type and margins!
	Present your project narrative in a clear and visually appealing way. Here are some suggestions: Place important names and dates in bold. Use bullet points to highlight goals or project activities. If you choose to singlespace your narrative, break the text up into cohesive paragraphs. Remember that in an open competition, presentation counts. Proofread everything. Double-check your math calculations.

Do not:

Reduce or compress type or exceed space limitations. Staff will not submit such proposals for funding consideration.

Attach appendices, unless approved in advance by OHC staff or unless specified by our guidelines for certain types of projects (e.g., exhibits, teachers institutes, media projects). In general, OHC discourages attachments to grant applications. By answering the project narrative questions, you are giving our reviewers the information they need to assess your project’s likelihood of promoting and advancing the humanities in Ohio.

Project Narrative Questions

1. Who is the sponsoring organization?
Briefly tell us about your organization. How long have you been in existence? What are your goals and usual activities? How are you qualified to carry out the proposed project? Refer to your board-approved mission statement, if applicable.

If you are working with other organizations on this project, describe your collaboration.

2. Why is your project important?
Who is your intended audience?
Tell us how you discovered a need for your project. How will the project benefit your community and others outside your community? Describe the need for your project in such a way that it can be used later to judge the success of the project.

Who is your intended audience? How many people will you reach? Why will this project be of interest to them?

Will you charge admission fees? Explain how you will encourage the attendance and participation of people who cannot pay these.

3. Why is this a humanities project?
Which humanities disciplines are relevant to your project? What questions or issues will be addressed? Put in another way, what will your audience learn, experience, or gain as a result of your project? Be as specific as possible; give examples.

Who are your humanities scholars and/or established humanists, and what are their qualifications? What are their specific roles in the project?

4. What do you plan to do?
Tell us about your project in detail, focusing primarily on those activities to be supported with OHC funds. Provide a clear picture of what will take place, where, and when. As much as possible, describe who will perform which activities. (Note: The participation of all speakers, advisors, consultants, and other key project personnel should be confirmed at least conditionally at the time the application is submitted.)

What resources will you use? How do you plan to share the results of your project with the community?

5. How will you publicize your project?
Tell us how you will let people know about your project. If you hold a public event, how many people are likely to attend? Who will they be? If your organization has an established constituency, how will you attract new audience members? Outline your schedule for publicity. If you will use newspapers, radio, television, list these.

6. How will you evaluate the effectiveness of your project?
How will you determine whether your project activities have met your project’s stated goals? Who are your evaluators? Projects funded at the Regular or Major level must have one or more outside evaluators.

An outside evaluator is anyone qualified to judge the success of a project in reaching its stated goals. The outside evaluator should not be connected to the project in any other way. How will you ensure an objective evaluation of your project?

7. How will this project strengthen your organization?
How will this project help your organization fulfill its mission? Will it increase your organization’s capacity for serving the public?

Will you charge an admission or registration fee? If so, how much and what will it be used for?

Additional Questions for Special Project Formats:

For exhibit projects only: What are your exhibition’s main themes? What will be exhibited (objects, photographs, art work, media, etc.) and how do these illustrate the stated themes? List the dates and locations of the exhibit and any related programs. If applicable, describe the credentials of your exhibit designer.

For media projects only (film, radio or TV
programming, web sites, CD-ROMs, etc.):
Refer to OHC’s Special Notes for Electronic Media Proposals, which is available on OHC’s website. Please contact the OHC office (1-800-293-9774) to request a copy by mail.

For teachers institutes only: Describe how teachers and/or school administrators have helped plan your institute. Provide a preliminary schedule showing how each day of the institute will be organized and describing the major activities planned. Attach as an appendix the proposed syllabus of lectures, readings, written assignments, and meeting times. Explain your plan for recruiting applicants who teach diverse or underserved student populations. Your budget should include costs for participants’ travel, campus room and board, and supplies.

Refer to the Grants Guidelines section in OHC’s web site, www.ohiohumanities.org, for further information

Please Note

Money matters to keep in mind:

	Grant funds should be spent or obligated during the grant period. The date that OHC approves the grant is the beginning date of a project, so expenses incurred while the proposal is being developed cannot be charged to the grant. The grant period ends 30 days after the last public program or project activity takes place.
	Your budget must include cost-share (cash, outside gifts & grants, donated goods & services, or a combination of these) that equals or exceeds the amount of the OHC grant request.
	OHC funds cannot cover: indirect costs, permanent acquisitions, equipment over $5000, alcoholic beverages, reception expenses, or costs listed as “miscellaneous.”

C: Budget Sheet
The budget must show how the project’s expenses were determined. The project budget is broken down into six categories— personnel, travel & per diem, project expenses, promotion, office, and other expenses—to help you anticipate and account for common project costs. OHC considers the cost-effectiveness of projects in making its funding decisions.

Under “Computation,” explain what rates were used to arrive at the total figure, e.g., “Project Bookkeeper: Jim Smith, 20 hrs @ $12 per hour.” Be sure to give full names for project personnel.

Under “OHC Grant Request,” indicate the project costs which you would like to charge to the OHC grant. Under “Sponsor Cost-Share,” include those project costs which will be covered by A) cash contributed to the project by the sponsoring organization (e.g., staff salaries, overhead costs); B) cash given to your project by outside organizations; C) fees and other expenses to be paid for by project participants; and D) donated services, equipment, and facilities.

Budget Sheet Categories

A. Personnel
Project Director, Authorizing Official, Project Bookkeeper & Other Sponsor Staff: For many projects, a large portion of the required cost-share is met through time spent on the project by the project director, staff, and volunteers, although OHC can pay for salaried staff or hired staff working on the project. OHC has no set formula for determining administrative salaries, except that they should be reasonable with regard to the time and expertise needed to accomplish the assigned tasks. We suggest a range of $10-$20 per hour. Higher compensation levels should be justified and shown as at least part of the sponsor’s cost-share.

Humanities Scholars, Established Humanists, and Other Resource Personnel: Typically, OHC will not provide more than $1,500 toward the honorarium of an individual presenter. Sponsoring organizations which engage scholars with higher speaker fees can charge up to $1,500 to the OHC grant and show the remainder as cost-share. If a scholar does extended work for a project such as researching and writing a script or conducting multiple workshops, OHC may choose to approve higher compensation amounts, figured according to the number hours or presentations. Reasonable stipends for the following activities might be: for a major presentation requiring research, $250-$1,000; for a smaller presentation requiring research, $250-$500; for moderators, discussion leaders, or panelists, $75- $150; for researchers, $10-$45 per hour, depending upon qualifications; for outside evaluators, $50- $150, depending upon time spent.

B. Travel & Per Diem
OHC encourages proposals that are economical in travel-related costs. Airfare will be reimbursed by the OHC at coach rates; travel by car at the current rate of $.40/mile. (Call the OHC office for an updated rate.) Calculate actual expenses for food and lodging for out-of-town project personnel. Reasonable rates for lodging might be $60-85 per night, and for meals, $35-50 per day.
C. Promotion
Be sure your promotion budget is proper for the size of your project. While larger projects often warrant extensive and systematic publicizing, OHC seldom funds proposals for which the majority of OHC funds will be spent on publicity expenses.

Printing: Costs for flyers, posters, postcards, or invitations, should be itemized, showing the cost per item and total cost. Some print shops may offer a special rate to nonprofits; the difference between that and the going rate may be claimed as cost-share.

Postage: Calculate the number and size of mailings and show this expense in the budget. Remember to use the nonprofit bulk mailing rate when possible.

Advertising: Have radio and television stations place a value on free promotion and use it for costshare.
You may also budget for any paid advertising.

D. Project Expenses
These include but are not limited to: exhibit rental or development; media production & post-production; study guides, program booklets, exhibit catalogues, books and other educational or instructional materials intended for the project audience or participants; equipment rental or purchase; and room rental.

E. Office Expenses
Often calculated as cost-share, office expenses include photocopying; expendable supplies such as name tags and folders; long-distance phone calls; and office space used for program planning.

F. Other Expenses
Include as cost-share reception expenses and indirect costs.

Glossary of Terms Used

Authorizing Official: The representative of the applicant organization who has authority to submit the grant application on behalf of that organization. The authorizing official also makes sure that grant responsibilities are met in time.

Cost-Share: Project costs not charged to the OHC grant. The sponsoring organization’s cost-share must equal or exceed the amount requested from the OHC. Cost-share may include: actual monies committed to the project by the sponsoring organization (e.g., the money used to pay salaried staff who are assigned to the project as part of their duties); actual monies raised from outside sources (e.g., foundations and corporations) to realize the proposed project; the current market value of donated services, goods, or facilities (e.g., the time of volunteers or the use of equipment, supplies, and office space); and anticipated program income from participants (e.g., admission or registration fees, payment of program-related costs such as continuing education credits or books).

Debarment: The ineligibility of an entity to receive any assistance or benefits from the federal government, either indefinitely or for a speci- fied period of time, based on legal proceedings taken pursuant to agency regulations implementing Executive Order 12549.
Equipment: Tangible, non-expendable personal property having a useful life of more than one year and an acquisition cost of $5000 or more per unit.
Established Humanist: Someone without a graduate degree but with advanced training, acquired expertise, or an established reputation in one of the humanities disciplines. Established humanists include writers and poets with a significant body of published work;local historians and independent scholars who have pursued sustained and disciplined study of their communities; professional museum curators, librarians, teachers, and others whose work is strongly grounded in the humanities; and persons representing various cultural traditions—an American Indian tribal chief, for example —if they are recognized as spokespersons for their traditions.

Grant Period: The period established in the grant agreement during which OHC support begins and ends. Grant monies may not be spent before the beginning date. All obligations must be liquidated within 90 days of the end date of the grant period.

Grantee: The nonprofit organization which submits the grant application, receives the grant award, sponsors the proposed humanities project, and is accountable for appropriate use of grant funds. Also known as the “sponsoring organization.”

Honoraria: The stipends paid to project personnel for their professional services.

Humanities Scholar: Someone with a graduate, frequently a doctoral, degree in a humanities discipline who is actively researching, writing, or teaching in the humanities.

Media Projects: Broadcast or other widely disseminated programming through radio, television, web sites, or other media.

Project Bookkeeper: An individual or an organization experienced in standard accounting procedures who is responsible for receiving, disbursing, and accounting for all grant and cost-share funds.

Project Director: The person responsible for coordinating the project, serving as the liaison with OHC staff, and preparing interim and final reports.

Sponsoring Organization: The nonprofit organization which submits the grant application, receives the grant award, sponsors the proposed humanities project, and is accountable for appropriate use of grant funds. Also known as the “grantee.”

Suspension: 1) The suspension of a grant is the temporary cancellation of federal sponsorship, including withdrawal of authority to incur expenditures against grant funds, pending corrective action by the grantee, or pending a decision for termination of the grant. 2) The suspension of an individual or organization causes that party to be temporarily ineligible to receive any assistance and benefits from the federal government pending completion of investigation and legal proceedings as prescribed under agency regulations implementing Executive Order 12549. Such actions may lead to debarment of the grantee.

Teachers Institutes: Intensive professional development opportunities for K-12 teachers. Usually led by university professors and established humanists in conjunction with K-12 master teachers, institutes focus primarily on content rather than methodology and may be conducted over the course of a weekend or 1-3 weeks during the summer. Institutes provide teachers with intellectual stimulation and advanced knowledge of the humanities fields they teach.

Download Grant Application and Budget Form Below

Adobe PDF Version

Microsoft Word Version

Print out and submit the completed
cover sheet and budget form, send them to:

Ohio Humanities Council
471 E. Broad St.,Suite 1620
Columbus, Ohio 43215-3857