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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 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 awarded an average of $500,000 in five cycles through mid-2018, including both large project grants and mini grants. These grants helped 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.
NOTE: ALL GRANT DEADLINES HAVE PASSED. PLEASE CHECK BACK FOR UPDATES.
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.
General and online grant portal inquiries:
Tamara Hemmerlein
(317) 234-0170
themmerlein@indianahistory.org
Fundraising training inquiries:
Bryce Gorman
(317) 234-9514
bgorman@indianahistory.org
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