FY25 Museum Program Information Form

OMB Number: 3137-0092 Expiration Date: 5/31/2026

IMLS Museum Program Information Form

PLEASE NOTE: Information contained within this form may be made publicly available.

Section 1. Grant Program

Select the grant program to which you are applying.

21^st Century Museum Professionals Program

Inspire! Grants for Small Museums

Refer to the Notice of Funding Opportunity for funding ranges and cost-share requirements associated with these project types

Select one project type:

• Small project with no cost share required

• Large project with 1:1 cost share required

Museums Empowered

Museums for America

Museum Grants for African American History and Culture

Refer to the Notice of Funding Opportunity for funding ranges and cost-share requirements associated with these project types.

Select one project type:

• Small project with no cost share required

• Large project with 1:1 cost share required

Museum Grants for American Latino History and Culture

National Leadership Grants for Museums

Refer to the Notice of Funding Opportunity for funding ranges and cost-share requirements associated with these project types.

Select one project type:

• Non-research

• Research

Native American/Native Hawaiian Museum Services

Grant Program Goals and Objectives

Select the grant program goal that best aligns with your proposed project. Once you have selected a goal, select one or more associated objective.

21^st Century Museum Professionals

Goal 1, Support the professional development of the current museum workforce

Obj 1.1: Develop new or enhanced professional development and training programs for the museum workforce.

Obj 1.2: Support assessment and evaluation of training and professional development programs to identify and share effective practices.

Goal 2, Recruit and train future museum professionals

Obj 2.1: Expand pathways into the museum field by adapting higher education programs to be more responsive to the needs of the 21st century museum workforce.

Obj 2.2: Recruit future museum professionals from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds through paid internships, mentoring, and fellowship opportunities.

Obj 2.3: Support assessment and evaluation of recruitment, training, and higher education programs to identify and share effective practices.

Inspire! Grants for Small Museums

Goal: Build the capacity of small museums to provide museum services to their communities.

Obj 1, Lifelong Learning: Support the development of experiential cross-disciplinary learning experiences in small museums.

Obj 2, Institutional Capacity: Support the institutional capacity of small museums.

Obj 3, Collections Stewardship and Access: Support the management and care of collections in small museums.

Museums Empowered

Goal 1, Digital Technology: Provide museum staff with the skills to integrate digital technology into museum operations. 

Obj 1.1: Support staff learning and integration of digital communication platforms and social media tools to enhance audience engagement and community outreach

Obj 1.2: Support staff learning and integration of digital tools and services that enhance access to museum collections. 

Goal 2, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Support museum staff in providing inclusive and equitable services to people of diverse geographic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds and to individuals with disabilities.

Obj 2.1: Create training and learning opportunities that increase cultural competency of museum staff and enhance relevancy of museum programs. 

Obj 2.2: Develop and implement inclusive and equitable fellowship, internship, and mentoring programs to increase support for emerging professionals from diverse communities entering the museum field. 

Goal 3, Evaluation: Strengthen the ability of museum staff to use evaluation as a tool to shape museum programs and improve outcomes. 

Obj 3.1: Increase staff knowledge of program evaluation methods and the usefulness of evaluation reports, tools, data, and metrics. 

Obj 3.2: Provide museum staff with the tools and strategies to adapt evaluation methods to address a specific audience or institutional need. 

Goal 4, Organizational Management: Strengthen and support museum staff as the essential part of a resilient organizational culture. 

Obj 4.1: Develop comprehensive organizational learning opportunities that address one or more emerging priorities facing a museum. 

Obj 4.2: Develop programs that address the specific learning and growth opportunities identified by staff needs assessments. 

Museums for America

Goal 1, Lifelong Learning: Empower people of all ages and backgrounds through experiential and cross-disciplinary learning and discovery. 

Obj 1.1: Support public programs, adult programs, family programs, and early childhood programs.

Obj 1.2: Support exhibitions and interpretation.

Obj 1.3: Support in-school and out-of-school programs. 

Goal 2, Community Engagement: Maximize the use of museum resources to address community needs through partnerships and collaborations.

Obj 2.1: Support equitable engagement and inclusive collaboration with diverse and/or underserved communities.

Obj 2.2: Support efforts to improve access and eliminate barriers to museum services for all audiences. 

Obj 2.3: Support community-centered planning, civic engagement, and resource sharing to address community needs. 

Goal 3, Collections Stewardship and Access: Advance the management and care of collections and their associated documentation. 

Obj 3.1: Support cataloging, inventorying, and registration; collections information management; and collections planning. 

Obj 3.2: Support conservation and environmental improvement and/or rehousing; conservation surveys; and conservation treatment. 

Obj 3.3: Support database management, digital asset management, and digitization. 

Museum Grants for African American History and Culture

Goal 1: Build the capacity of African American museums and their ability to serve their communities. 

Obj 1.1: Develop, enhance, or expand public programs, exhibitions, and/or school programs. 

Obj 1.2: Enhance museum operations and professional management. 

Obj 1.3: Improve care and conservation of collections and expand access. 

Obj 1.4: Foster partnerships and collaborations among museums and institutions of higher education, particularly Historically Black Colleges and Universities. 

Goal 2: Support the growth and development of museum professionals at African American museums. 

Obj 2.1: Develop and implement internship, fellowship, and mentoring programs structured to support emerging museum professionals entering the museum field. 

Obj 2.2: Develop and implement equitable and inclusive staff recruitment and retention programs. 

Obj 2.3: Create learning and growth opportunities designed to build skills, enhance knowledge, and provide opportunities to share expertise. 

Museum Grants for American Latino History and Culture

Goal 1: Build the capacity of American Latino museums to serve their communities. 

Obj 1.1: Support the development, enhancement, and expansion of public programs, exhibitions, and/or school programs in American Latino museums. 

Obj 1.2: Support the growth and development of museum professionals at individual American Latino museums. 

Obj 1.3: Support the development of management practices and institutional policies and plans that advance the organizational health of American Latino museums. 

Obj 1.4: Support the management and care of collections in American Latino museums. 

Goal 2: Advance the growth and development of a professional workforce in American Latino institutions.

Obj 2.1: Support new or existing museum-based internship and fellowship programs for students pursuing studies relating to American Latino life, art, history, and culture.

Obj 2.2: Support the creation of training and professional development programs, tools, or resources that build the knowledge, skills, and abilities of American Latino museum staff and/or volunteers in multiple institutions.

Obj 2.3: Support forums that convene experts and stakeholders, including those from adjacent fields as appropriate, to explore current and emerging issues that affect the American Latino museum sector.

Obj 2.4: Support the development and dissemination of tools and resources that serve the American Latino museums sector.

National Leadership Grants for Museums

Goal 1: Advance the museum field’s ability to empower people of all ages and backgrounds through experiential and cross-disciplinary learning and discovery.

Obj 1.1: Support the development, implementation, and dissemination of model programs that facilitate adoption by museums across the field.

Obj 1.2: Support research focusing on museums’ roles in engaging learners of all types.

Obj 1.3: Support forums that convene experts and stakeholders, including those from adjacent fields as appropriate, to explore current and emerging issues and inform the field.

Goal 2: Advance the museum field’s ability to maximize the use of museum resources to address community needs through partnerships and collaborations.

Obj 2.1: Support the development of new and innovative methods for addressing community challenges through partnerships, services, processes, or practices for use across the museum field.

Obj 2.2: Support research focusing on museums’ roles in engaging diverse audiences and fostering civic discourse.

Obj 2.3: Support forums that convene experts and stakeholders, including those from adjacent fields as appropriate, to explore current and emerging issues and inform the field.

Goal 3: Advance the museum field’s ability to identify new solutions that address high priority and widespread collections care or conservation issues.

Obj 3.1: Support the development, implementation, and dissemination of new tools or services that facilitate access, management, preservation, sharing, and use of museum collections.

Obj 3.2: Support research focusing on any broadly relevant aspect of the management, conservation, and preservation of collections.

Obj 3.3: Support forums that convene experts and stakeholders, including those from adjacent fields as appropriate, to explore current and emerging issues and inform the field.

Native American/Native Hawaiian Museum Services

Goal: Build the capacity of Native American Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations to provide museum services to their communities.

Obj 1: Support the preservation and perpetuation of Indigenous languages and cultural practices.

Obj 2: Support the professional development of the Indigenous museum workforce.

Obj 3: Support the management and care of Indigenous collections and their associated documentation.

Project Element

Select the primary element that is core to your proposed project from the list below. Your response to this question will help us match your application to reviewers with appropriate experience.

Museums for America

Project Element

• Lifelong Learning

  • Adult Programs

  • Digital Media

  • Early Learning

  • Exhibitions

  • Family Programs

  • Interpretation

  • K-12 Programs, With Schools

  • K-12 Programs, Out of School

  • Public Programs

• Community Engagement

  • Audience Accessibility

  • Civic Engagement

  • Community-Driven Programs

  • Community-Focused Planning, Outreach, and Evaluation

  • Exhibition Co-Curation

• Collections Stewardship and Access

  • Cataloguing, Inventorying, Registration

  • Collections Information Management

  • Collections Planning

  • Conservation Environmental Improvement/Rehousing

  • Conservation Survey

  • Conservation Treatment

  • Database Management

  • Digital Asset Management

  • Digitization

Inspire!

Project Element

• Lifelong Learning

  • Adult Programs

  • Digital Media

  • Early Learning

  • Exhibitions

  • Family Programs

  • Interpretation

  • K-12 Programs, With Schools

  • K-12 Programs, Out of School

  • Public Programs

• Institutional Capacity

  • Audience and/or Program Evaluation

  • Institutional Planning

  • Museum Staff Professional Development

  • Organizational Management

  • Technology Enhancements

• Collections Stewardship and Access

  • Cataloguing, Inventorying, Registration

  • Collections Information Management

  • Collections Planning

  • Conservation Environmental Improvement/Rehousing

  • Conservation Survey

  • Conservation Treatment

  • Database Management

  • Digital Asset Management

  • Digitization

Section 2. Applicant Information

Refer to the entity listed in Item 5a of the Application for Federal Domestic Assistance – Short Organizational Form (SF-424S) that you are submitting with your application.

Does this entity have an organizational unit that will carry out the activities described in your application?

Helpful Definitions

An organizational unit is governed by a larger administrative body. Examples include museums that are parts of colleges or universities and museums that are administered by units of state or local government. As a result of this arrangement, an organizational unit usually does not have its own Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) and does not have the legal authority to apply for IMLS funding on its own. It works with the larger administrative body, which is referred to as the legal applicant, to submit an application.

A legal applicant has its own Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) and has the legal authority to apply directly for IMLS funding. The name of the legal applicant is listed in Item 5a of the SF-424S. Examples include independently operating museums; nonprofit organizations that are responsible for the operation of museums; universities; and units of state, Tribal or local government that administer museums. A single legal applicant may have many organizational units or it may have none.

YES. Check here if the entity identified in Item 5a on the SF-424S submitted with your application has an organizational unit that will carry out the activities described in this application.

NO. Check here if the entity identified in Item 5a on the SF-424S submitted with your application does not have an organizational unit that will carry out the activities described in this application.

Select the institution type that most accurately describes the legal applicant:

Section 3. Financial Information

1. Complete the following table with figures representing the most recently completed fiscal year in the top row, followed by those for the previous year, and concluding with those for the year before that. Provide the information requested for the legal applicant if you have not identified an organizational unit for this application. If you have identified an organizational unit for this application, provide the information requested for that unit.

Fiscal Year	Total Revenue*	Total Expenses**	Surplus or Deficit

* For nonprofit tax filers, Total Revenue can be found on Line 12 of the IRS Form 990.

** For nonprofit tax filers, Total Expenses can be found on Line 18 of the IRS Form 990.

2. If the Total Revenue amounts declined by more than 15% for any year over year listed OR if there was a deficit of more than 10% of the Total Revenue for two or more years listed above, explain the circumstances in the box below.

3. Were there any material weaknesses identified in your prior year’s audit report?

4. Has your organization had a single or program-specific audit in the past three years?

Section 4. Museum Profile

Refer to Section C1 of the Notice of Funding Opportunity for the program to which you are applying. If your organization is eligible to apply for an IMLS grant as a museum, then answer the questions a through k below.

1. Is your organization a public, Tribal, or private nonprofit agency or institution?

Yes

No

2. Is your organization organized on a permanent basis for essentially educational, cultural heritage, or aesthetic purposes?

Yes

No

3. Does your organization own or utilize tangible objects and care for such tangible objects?

Yes

No

4. Does your organization exhibit the tangible objects to the general public in a facility that you own or operate?

Yes

No

5. What was your institution’s attendance for the 12-month period prior to the application?

Fewer than 1,000

1,000 - 9,999

10,000 - 99,999

100,000 - 999,999

1,000,000 - 9,999,999

10,000,000 +

6. How many days was your institution open to the public during these 12 months?

0 - 119

120 - 249

250 - 365

7. Does your organization use a professional staff (i.e., does your organization employ at least one staff member, or the full-time equivalent, whether paid or unpaid, primarily engaged in the acquisition, care, or exhibition to the public of objects owned or used by the organization)?

Yes

No

8. Number of full-time paid institutional staff:

0

1

2

3

4 - 10

11 - 50

51+

9. Number of full-time unpaid institutional staff:

0

1

2

3

4 - 10

11 - 50

51+

10. Number of part-time paid institutional staff:

0

1

2

3

4 - 10

11 - 50

51+

11. Number of part-time unpaid institutional staff:

0

1

2

3

4 - 10

11 - 50

51+

Section 5. Funding Request

Refer to the Grant Fund and Cost Share totals in Section 10 of the IMLS Budget Form that you are submitting with your application. Enter the amount in dollars you are requesting from IMLS and the amount of non-federal funding you are providing as cost share/match below.

IMLS Funds Requested      

Cost Share/Match Amount*      

Total      

* Enter $0 if the budget includes no cost share/match.

Section 6. Indirect Costs

Refer to the IMLS Budget Form – Indirect Costs in the Budget guidance in Options for Calculating and Including Costs in a Project Budget in Appendix Three of the Notice of Funding Opportunity for the program to which you are applying. Then select one option below. It Your selection should match the choice you make on the IMLS Budget Form that you are submitting with your application.

	Current indirect cost rate(s) have been negotiated with a federal agency. Select from list:       Rate:       (Expiration Date:       Until Amended:
	Indirect cost proposal has been submitted to a federal agency but has not yet been finalized. Select from list:       Rate:      Proposal Date:      
	Applicant chooses a rate not to exceed 10% of Modified Total Direct Costs and declares it is eligible for the 10% rate.
	Applicant chooses not to include indirect costs.

Section 7. Abstract

Refer to the instructions for writing an Abstract in Appendix Three of the Notice of Funding Opportunity for the program to which you are applying. Enter or paste your Abstract below (maximum 3,000 characters, including spaces).

PLEASE NOTE: Information contained within this form may be made publicly available.

Section 8. Project Keywords

Select from one to eight keywords that best characterize your project from the options below. IMLS may use these keywords as search terms in its compilations describing the agency's grantmaking and/or provide them as tools to help applicants, other awardees, and the public understand more about what IMLS supports.

Accessibility / Universal Design / Inclusive Design [789] Archives Practice / Management / Use [790] Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning [791] Broadband Access [792] Civic Engagement [793] Civic Technology [794] Collections Care / Conservation / Preservation [795] Collections Management [796] Community Engagement [797] Community Memory / Community History [798] Community Science [799] Crowdsourcing [800] Data Privacy / Security [801] Data Science / Computational Analysis [802] Digital Asset Management [803] Digital Preservation / Curation [804] Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility [805] Early Learning [806] Emergency / Disaster / Crisis Preparedness and Response [807] Environmental Education [808] Family Learning [809] Fellowship / Internship / Mentorship Programs [810] Gaming [811] Institutional Capacity Building/Planning [812] Language Preservation / Cultural Revitalization [813] Literacy: Civic [814] Literacy: Digital [815] Literacy: Financial [816] Literacy: Health and Wellness [817] Literacy: Information [818] Museum /Archives / Library Staff Professional Development / Training [826] Museum and Library Partnerships [819] Museum Education Technology [820] Museum Exhibitions [821]

Museum Interpretation [822] Museum Multilingual Programs / Resources [823] Museum Program Evaluations [824] Museum Visitor Services [825] Open Educational Resources [827] Oral History [828] Pre-K-12 Out of School / Summer [829] Pre-K-12 School Programs [830] Public Programs [831] Scholarly Communications [832] School Libraries / Librarianship [833] Services and Programs for Adults [834] Services for Children and Families [835] Services for College Students [836] Services for Emerging Adults [837] Services for English-Language Learners [838] Services for Immigrants / Refugees [839] Services for Incarcerated Individuals / Returning Citizens [840] Services for Individuals who are Neurodivergent [841] Services for Individuals with Disabilities [842] Services for LGBTQIA+ Individuals [843] Services for Older Adults [844] Services for Rural Communities [845] Services for Teens [850] Services for Those below the Poverty Line or Unstably Housed [846] Services for Tribal Communities [847] Services for Urban Communities [848] Services for Veterans / Active-Duty Military [849] Shared Infrastructures / Open-Source Software [851] STEM / STEAM Programming [852] Summer Services [852] Teacher / Educator Professional Development [854] Web Archiving [855] Website Creation / Enhancement [856] Workforce Development [857]