Applying for NEH grants using Grants.gov

National Endowment for the Humanities

NEH and Grants.gov From 2006, all institutions applying for an NEH grant must apply

via Grants.gov, the government-wide grants portal.  To help our applicants, NEH has created this presentation to:

• provide an overview of Grants.gov

• walk you through the application process

Please consult the grant program guidelines located on NEH’s website (www.neh.gov) to learn how to prepare the substantive materials, such as your narrative and budget, that you will submit to NEH using Grants.gov.

Grants.gov is . . .

• a cross-agency e-government initiative, spanning 1000 grant programs and over $400 billion in annual awards

• a unified “storefront” for all customers of federal grants to electronically

– find grant opportunities

– apply for grants

– manage grants

• an e-government initiative, covering over 30 federal grant making agencies and is managed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Grants.gov provides robust functionality

It allows the grant community to:

– search for available grant opportunities and related application packages

– receive automatic e-mail notices about new grant opportunities from the NEH or other agencies

– download application packages

– submit completed application packages

– track the status of submitted applications

– submit all their applications to one place – no need to learn one system for NEH, another for NSF, another for NIH, etc. All agencies use Grants.Gov.

Grants.gov provides significant support to its users:

• Online user support

– online tutorial, training demonstration, context-sensitive help, FAQs, user guide

– available at: http://www.grants.gov/CustomerSupport

• Personalized support

– e-mail: support@grants.gov

– toll-free phone number: 1-800-518-4726

Grants.gov Home Page

Use this page to find out about grant opportunities or to get help with using Grants.gov.

You can tell Grants.gov to send you automatic e-mail notifications about grants in certain funding categories.

In this example, you will be notified about all humanities grants from any agency.

You can also have Grants.gov send you notices about all grant opportunities from particular agencies.

In this example, you will be notified about any new grant opportunities for both NEH and IMLS.

To learn about NEH grant opportunities, visit NEH’s Apply for a Grant page.

You will be able to access the guidelines for all our programs.

NEH guidelines include step-by-step instructions for applying via Grants.gov

We remind you to register your institution with Grants.gov if you haven’t done so already.

As part of this process, you will designate one or more AORs (Authorized Organization Representatives) who are authorized to submit applications on behalf of your institution.

We also include a link to our helpful registration checklist.

We then ask you to download the free PureEdge viewer software needed to fill out the application package.

PureEdge is a form-filling program similar to Adobe Acrobat.

Now you are ready to click the button to download the application.

Note the large button that appears in every NEH guideline.

After you click the button, you are taken directly to the download page on Grants.gov.

You can now download the application package and save it on your hard drive.

After downloading the application package, you open it using PureEdge.

You do not have to be on the Internet to work on your application.

Note there are three forms or “documents” you must complete.

You then fill out each of the three forms, using the step-by-step instructions provided in NEH’s grant guidelines.

Using the attachments form, you’ll attach the files that make up the heart of your application, including your narrative.

NEH requires that you convert your files to PDF (Acrobat) format before attaching them.

At any time, you can click SAVE to save a copy of your application on your hard drive.

You can return to work on your application later or even e-mail it to your colleagues so that they can work on it as well.

When you are done with your application, you should send it to your AOR (Authorized Organizational Representative).

The AOR will open it in PureEdge, click the SUBMIT button, and use his/her username and password to send it to Grants.gov

In summary …

• Register early!! Even if you’re not planning on applying right away, you should go ahead and register with Grants.gov so you are ready to go.

• Consult the NEH guidelines. They contain all the information you need to register and apply, including our handy Registration Checklist. See:

– http://www.neh.gov/grants/

Presentation by Brett Bobley, NEH CIO (bbobley@neh.gov)