Deadline: November 15, 2024
Application: The FY 2025 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) (PDF, 852KB) is now available.
Grant Amount: $5,000–$250,000
Grant Period: One to three years
Cost Share Requirement: You must provide funds from non-federal sources in an amount that is equal to or greater than the amount of your IMLS request.
IMLS is extending the deadline for Museums Empowered: Professional Development Opportunities for Museum Staff from November 15, 2024 to December 13, 2024 for institutions located in Federally declared emergency and/or major disaster areas who have not been able to meet the current November 15, 2024 deadline because they have been adversely impacted by such emergencies and/or disasters.
For those applicants who have not been adversely affected by such emergencies and/or disasters, the deadline remains November 15, 2024 at 11:59pm EST.
For questions about emergency extensions, please contact IMLS’s Office of Grants Policy and Management.
Program Overview:
Museums Empowered (ME) is a special initiative of the Museums for America grant program. It supports projects that use the transformative power of professional development and training to generate systemic change within museums of all types and sizes.
IMLS recognizes the many challenges facing individual museums and the need to invest resources, time, and energy towards nurturing the professional development of staff and strengthening museum operations. The Museums Empowered grant program identifies four areas of museum operations to focus for professional development.
Digital Technology focused projects that will support the work of museum staff in using digital technology to enhance audience engagement, collections access, or general museum operations.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion focused projects that will increase cultural competency among museum staff and support relevancy of museum programs through learning activities that strengthen their ability to connect with the communities they serve.
Evaluation focused projects that will enhance the ability of museum staff to understand a broad spectrum of evaluation methods and techniques as well as better use evaluation reports, data, and metrics to improve the design and delivery of programs.
Organizational Management focused projects that will help museum staff develop and implement effective practices in organizational management, human resources, and strategic planning in response to emerging internal or external priorities.
We expect successful Museums Empowered projects to:
- Reflect a solid understanding of relevant theory and effective practices in professional development, organizational dynamics and change management.
- Engage staff, leadership, and volunteers in a series of training activities tied to directly to a key need or challenge.
- Generate systemic change or organizational growth that results in a more agile and sustainable museum.
Interested in learning more about this grant program? Here are a few resources to look at next:
- View selected examples from recently funded projects posted on the Sample Applications webpage.
- Search awarded grants to find similar projects, you can search by location or keyword.
- Watch the informational video (below) for specific details about this grant program and the process of preparing an application.
- Schedule a counseling call with a program officer. Find an available time on the calendar using this link.
Program Contact:
Mark Isaksen
Supervisory Grants Management Specialist
misaksen@imls.gov
202-653-4667
To schedule a time to talk to Mark Isaksen, click here.
Webinars:
We invite you to view two pre-recorded webinars:
Getting Started With IMLS Museum Grants for FY 2025 is a general presentation on IMLS museum grant programs. We recommend that you view this presentation for an overview before considering a specific grant program. Click here to access the recording or to read the transcript.
FY 2025 Museums Empowered provides detailed information about the goals of this specific grant program and how to apply. Click here to access the recording or to read the transcript.
*All grant programs are subject to the availability of funds and IMLS discretion.