RI Humanities

GRANTMAKING

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The Rhode Island Council for the Humanities Grantmaking Program funds nonprofit organizations and individual researchers to stimulate new research in the humanities, spark thoughtful community exchange, build new audiences for the humanities, innovate new methods in the humanities, and advocate for the importance of the humanities for a lively and engaged democratic public.

Questions?

If you are interested in learning more about the Council’s grantmaking program, please contact the Council’s grantmaking staff–we would love to hear from you!

If you have not applied for a Council grant in the last five years, we particularly encourage you to reach out at least two weeks before an application deadline. Staff can answer your questions, discuss your project, and potentially provide feedback on an application draft–all support options that can strengthen your application.

Our grantmaking staff, Julia Renaud, Associate Director of Grants and Strategic Initiatives and Melissa Wong, Grantmaking Program Coordinator, are standing by to help you.

Contact us via email at grants@rihumanities.org or by phone at 401.273.2250.

FUNDING AREAS
PUBLIC PROJECTS
Rhode Island Council for the Humanities supports public humanities projects that enrich and enliven the life of our state through a variety of formats including: community conversations, talks and lectures, new media technology, museum interpretations and exhibitions, workshops, panel discussions, book or film discussions, oral histories, and radio shows all with a focus on civic engagement and education and cultural equity.

offered as:
  • major grant, annually
  • mini grants, quarterly
  Featured Grants in Public Projects
DOCUMENTARY FILM
Rhode Island Council for the Humanities supports documentary films that preserve Rhode Island’s stories and bring its history to life. The Council follows a three-phase approach to funding documentary films:

offered as:

Phase 1: Research (mini grant)
Phase 2: Script Development (development level major grant)
Phase 3: Production & Post Production (major grant)

It is only on a rare occasion that the Council funds finishing or post-production for a film for which we have not funded its development. You can learn more about documentary film grants, by reviewing the Grant Guidelines PDF (at left).

  Featured Grants in Documentary Film
INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH
Rhode Island Council for the Humanities supports original research that uncovers Rhode Island’s untold stories and sheds new light and insight on established stories all with a focus on civic engagement and education and cultural equity. The Council supports new scholarship by awarding mini grants to independent researchers to conduct research and share their findings with the public.

offered as:
  • mini grants, quarterly
  Featured Grants in Individual Research
GRANT TYPES & DEADLINES
MAJOR GRANTS (annually)
The Major Grant Program, for requests over $2,000, invites nonprofit organizations and schools to apply for funding in support of public projects, documentary films, and civic education initiatives beginning after April 1, 2023.

Major Grant Deadlines
  • Register your Intent to Apply: October 3 – November 1, 2022
  • Submit Draft for Staff Review (optional): December 1, 2022
  • Final Applications Due: January 17, 2023 (due to weekend and holiday schedules)
  • Award notifications: mid-March 2023
All materials must be submitted to the Council through the online grants portal by 5:00pm EST on the day of the established deadline. Deadlines that fall on weekends or holidays are honored on the next business day. Please pay close attention to our grant deadlines. We want your proposal to get its fair consideration, but in fairness to other applicants and to the process, we cannot make any exceptions to our deadlines.
For information on how to obtain a Unique Entity Identifier, a requirement for organizational applicants, please follow these instructions: https://bit.ly/UEIrich.
Resources:
MINI GRANTS (quarterly)
The Mini Grant Program for requests up to $2,000 invites individual researchers, nonprofit organizations, and schools to apply for funding in support of public humanities projects, documentary film, civic education initiatives, and individual research.

Mini Grant Deadlines
  • November 1, 2022
  • February 1, 2023
  • May 1, 2023
  • August 1, 2023
All materials must be submitted to the Council through the online grants portal by 5:00pm EST on the day of the established deadline. Deadlines that fall on weekends or holidays are honored on the next business day. Please pay close attention to our grant deadlines. We want your proposal to get its fair consideration, but in fairness to other applicants and to the process, we cannot make any exceptions to our deadlines.
For information on how to obtain a Unique Entity Identifier, a requirement for organizational applicants, please follow these instructions: https://bit.ly/UEIrich.
Resources:
You are welcome to download reference PDFs of our mini grant applications below. Please note that these PDFs are for reference only. To complete and submit these applications, you must log in to our grantmaking portal.

Want to learn more? Watch our Grants Information Session and Evaluation Workshop!

2022 Grant Information Session:

In September 2022, the Council held grant information sessions to provide an overview of our 2022-23 grantmaking program, and to provide details and tips for individuals and organizations interested in applying for a Council grant. If you are interested in learning more about grants at the Council, this 50-minute-long video is a great resource.

Click here to download a PDF of the slides from the information session.

Evaluation Workshop: This 30-minute evaluation workshop video will help you understand what public humanities project evaluation is, how to do it, and why it matters. We will also discuss how project evaluation fits in the context of the Council’s grantmaking process.