Plan your visit
Heritage Support Grants
Local History ServicesFloor Plans
Funding local history
The Indiana Historical Society is pleased to support Indiana’s local, county and regional historical societies, museums and sites in their important work through Heritage Support Grants, made possible by Lilly Endowment Inc.
Grants are available for projects that will help Indiana’s local history organizations meet high-priority needs in areas of capacity building, collections stewardship, innovation and collaboration. In addition to the grant awards, IHS also offers fundraising education workshops, ongoing coaching for grant applicants and opportunities to serve on grant award selection committees.
The IHS Heritage Support Grants program will award an average of $500,000 in five cycles through 2019, including both large project grants and mini grants. These grants will help history organizations in Indiana improve stewardship of the cultural materials in their care and develop institutional capacity to play greater, more effective roles in their communities.
Heritage Support Grants are provided by the Indiana Historical Society and made possible by Lilly Endowment Inc.
The objective of the Heritage Support Grants program is to advance the care of and access to history in Indiana, while increasing the capacity of organizations that carry out this work.
In order to apply for a project or mini grant, organizations must meet all the following criteria:
- Be incorporated in the State of Indiana as a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation*
- Reflect history as a significant component of its mission and/or propose a project that is clearly history focused.**
Priority will be given to Indiana history projects. - Have an annual budget of less than $300,000
**A history-focused project should interpret, present or otherwise disseminate historical narrative or information. Structures and landscapes will only be considered if they are primarily used to facilitate historical interpretation or house significant historical collections.
Project Grants ($5,000 to $50,000)
Feb. 1, 2018 – Summary of Proposal (mandatory)
May 3, 2018 – Full Proposal
Mini Grants ($500 to $4,999)
Feb. 1, 2018
July 10, 2018
To review grant guidelines, including funding priorities and grant cycle information, see Guidelines.
General inquiries
Tamara Hemmerlein
(317) 234-0170
themmerlein@indianahistory.org
Workshop and training inquiries
Jamie Simek
(317) 234-9514
jsimek@indianahistory.org
Online grant portal inquiries
Curt Barsic
(317) 234-7798
cbarsic@indianahistory.org
