The Illinois Humanities Council invites you to put the humanities into action by submitting a proposal that brings scholars and citizens together to promote a greater understanding of the humanities.

THE IHC
The Illinois Humanities Council is an educational organization dedicated to fostering a culture in which the humanities are a vital part of the lives of individuals and communities. Through the programs we create and the organizations we fund, the IHC promotes greater understanding of, appreciation for, and involvement in the humanities by all Illinoisans, regardless of their economic resources, cultural backgrounds, or geographic location. Organized as a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1973, the IHC is now a private nonprofit (501 [c] 3) organization that is funded by contributions from individuals, corporations, and foundations; by the Illinois General Assembly; and by the NEH.

WHAT WE FUND
The Illinois Humanities Council (IHC) funds public humanities programs in Illinois that are shaped by and significantly involve humanities scholars and/or other community experts. It is our priority to support programs developed by, for, or aimed at reaching new or historically neglected audiences. We especially invite applications from organizations that serve these communities and strongly encourage other applicants to extend their proposed programs to include such audiences.

QUALIFIED APPLICANTS
The Illinois Humanities Council funds not-for-profit organizations that are developing programs for Illinois audiences. Because we believe the humanities should belong to everyone, we especially encourage applications from organizations that bring the humanities to new or historically neglected audiences or communities. These include but are not limited to residents of rural communities, men and women with little formal education, inner city or other underserved youth (in after school or weekend programs), people who are economically disadvantaged, or the elderly. We will consider supporting other projects on a case-by-case basis.

THE HUMANITIES
The humanities are the study of what human beings have thought, felt, and celebrated throughout the centuries and today. They grow out of an interest in the language, literature, thought, and history of humankind. The humanities engage us through stories and ideas and help us make sense of our lives and our world. By showing how others have lived and thought about life, the humanities help us decide what is important in our own lives and what we can do to make them better. By connecting us with other people through the examination and discussion of ideas, the humanities point the way to answers about what is right or wrong, or what is true to our history and our heritage.

We can do this by studying Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address," Martin Luther King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail," or the "Diary of Anne Frank"; in the storytelling of the Illinois river towns; in the murals in Joliet or Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood; among the Hmong needlework in Uptown or the earth mounds near East St. Louis; and even in the old "I Love Lucy" shows.

When people listen, think, and talk with each other about what is important to them, whether it is preserving the environment, understanding the Middle East, or learning about the founding of their community or our nation, the humanities are there enriching our lives.

The humanities emphasize analysis, interpretation, and exchange of ideas rather than the creative expression of the arts or the quantitative explanation of the sciences. These fields of study include, but are not limited to, the study of the following: language, both modern and classical; linguistics; literature; history; jurisprudence; philosophy; archaeology; comparative religion; ethics; the history, criticism, and theory of the arts; those aspects of social sciences which have humanistic content and employ humanistic methods; and the study and application of the humanities to the human environment with particular attention to reflecting our diverse heritage, traditions, and history and to the relevance of the humanities to the current conditions of national life.

The humanities should not be confused with "humanitarianism," the concern for charitable works and social reform or with "humanism," a specific philosophical belief.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
All projects must:
1. be rooted in one or more of the humanities disciplines;
2. integrally feature humanities experts in all phases of the project;
3. be public;
4. be sponsored by a not-for-profit organization;
5. comply with federal debarment and nondiscrimination statutes.

FUNDING RESTRICTIONS
The Illinois Humanities Council does NOT fund:
1. advocacy or social action;
2. projects for fundraising purposes;
3. construction or restoration costs;
4. purchase of permanent equipment;
5. library or museum acquisitions;
6. individuals, research or other endeavors intended primarily for the scholarly community, curriculum development or revisions, or academic courses for credit;
7. performing arts as ends in themselves;
8. projects directed primarily to children or students in formal school settings;
9. more than 50% of total project costs;
10. indirect costs of sponsoring organizations;
11. food and beverage costs for audiences or alcoholic beverages;
12. expenses incurred or paid out before an IHC grant award is made.

GRANT TYPES
Mini Grants, to a maximum of $2,000. A request can be made for up to $2,500 if the project has multiple sites. Technical Assistance grants may not exceed $500. Technical Assistance grants are restricted to organizations with annual budgets under $250,000. Mini Grants are restricted to organizations with annual budgets under $1 million dollars or organizations applying for new or experimental programs.

Major Grants, usually up to a maximum of $10,000. Organizations requesting grants larger than $10,000 should contact a program officer in advance of submitting the proposal.

Requests for certain projects must fulfill special criteria. We encourage you to consult
IHC staff about the following types of projects:

• Media Requests
  Development (maximum $4,000) or
  Production (usually to a maximum of $10,000);
• Website projects
• Local and community, or oral history projects;
• Exhibition projects, especially photography exhibitions;
• Repeat funding beyond 3 years; and
• Requests beyond the $10,000.

We encourage you to submit a draft proposal prior to the final deadlines. The IHC program staff is available for consultation, whether in person or on the telephone.

We host two public grant workshops in the IHC offices each year — on the first Fridays of June and December. Plus, we host one grant workshop in Springfield on the first Friday of November. We also hold grant workshops in other parts of the state. If your organization would like to sponsor a grant workshop, please contact an IHC program officer.

The IHC strongly encourages all grantees to take action to ensure that people with disabilities as defined by the American with Disabilities Act have access to benefits and services resulting from the grant project.

If you think you'd like to apply to the IHC, please call us at 312.422.5580.
You may also write to us at 203 North Wabash Avenue, Suite 2020 Chicago, IL 60601-2417, send an e-mail message to ihc@prairie.org, or visit the Applications and Forms section of this website.

GRANT DEADLINES

Type of Grant	Draft (strongly encouraged)	Proposal Deadline
Mini Grant (including Technical Assistance grants)	Approximately three (3) weeks before proposal deadline	January 15 April 15 July 15 October 15
Major Grant (Including Media Grants)	January 10 June 1	February 15 July 15

The proposal deadline is a postmark deadline. Notification of funding decisions for Mini Grants is made within 6 weeks after deadlines and for Major Grants within 12 weeks after deadline.

Funding Guidelines are also available in Spanish.
Please contact the IHC at 312.422.5580 to request a translated copy of our funding guidelines.