The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency that supports the humanities in every state and U.S. jurisdiction. The NEH supports museums, historic sites, universities, teachers, libraries, documentary filmmakers, public TV and radio stations, research institutions, scholars, and local humanities programming. In addition to all that, the NEH has major initiatives in which funding is also available. A More Perfect Union initiative supports the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in July 4, 2026 by funding projects that enhance our understanding of the country’s founding period. The Humanities Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence initiative supports projects that bring humanities insights into exploration of the challenges and opportunities AI presents for American civic and social life.
NEH Funding by the Numbers
- $6.4+ billion in funding since 1965.
- 70,000+ projects in all 50 states and U.S. jurisdictions.
- 9,000+ books including 20 Pulitzer Prize-winning books.
- 500+ film and radio programs including:
- 6 Oscar Nominees
- 30 Peabody Awards
- 27 Emmy Award Winners
- Collected papers of 12 U.S. Presidents.
- Collected papers of figures such as Mark Twain, Thomas Edison, Willa Cather, Martin Luther King Jr., and Ernest Hemingway.
The NEH also funds professional development through the NEH Institutes & Landmarks of American History & Culture Programs. NEH offers tuition-free opportunities for higher education faculty to study a variety of humanities topics. Stipends range from $650–$3,450 to help cover expenses for these 1–4-week programs.
NEH Emergency and Disaster Relief regularly provides emergency funding to cultural institutions such as archives, museums, libraries, historic sites, and colleges in the wake of natural disasters such as flooding, mudslides, hurricanes, and wildfire. These fast-track grants assist organizations in attending to urgent needs to safeguard humanities collections and facilities to prevent further damage to humanities materials from mold, water, or other environmental hazards. The NEH offers both direct emergency grants to cultural organizations and supplemental funding to state and jurisdictional humanities councils to regrant and coordinate local resources and disaster response in the region to get funds quickly. In addition, NEH provides ongoing grant support to cultural organizations for the development of disaster and emergency recovery planning, staff training in emergency response, and to conservation organizations that assist in disaster response and mitigation through grant programs administered by the agency’s Division of Preservation and Access and Office of Challenge Programs.
Other Related Disaster Relief Grant Programs:
- The Chair’s Disaster Recovery Grants for Humanities Collections program helps humanities organizations that steward collections respond to and recover from local, state, regional, and federally declared disasters, including fires, floods, hurricanes, mudslides, and climate-related disasters. NEH will consider applications only if the NEH Chair specifically invites an organization affected by a disaster to apply or issues an open call for applications from organizations affected by a disaster.
- Preservation and Access Education and Training supports educational programs for professionals who preserve and provide access to humanities collections, which may involve emergency response and preparedness training.
- Research and Development supports research on new methods and approaches to conservation, preservation, collections stewardship and management, and damage mitigation.
- Preservation Assistance Grants for Smaller Institutions is intended to assist small cultural organizations assess, manage, and expand access to their collections, these grants may be used for a wide range of preservation and conservation purposes, including staff training in disaster planning and response, risk assessment, and the purchase of environmental monitoring systems and materials.
- Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections help cultural institutions preserve humanities collections for future generations through environmentally sustainable preventative care strategies, including projects to improve systems and conditions for collections storage and display to reduce vulnerability to environmental threats.
- View a complete listing of available grants.
Liberal Arts and Humanities Opportunities with the Teagle Foundation
The Teagle Foundation works to support and strengthen liberal arts education, which we see as fundamental to meaningful work, effective citizenship, and a fulfilling life. Their aim is to serve as a catalyst for the improvement of teaching and learning in the arts and sciences while addressing issues of financial sustainability and accountability in higher education. They believe that all students, regardless of major, should have an opportunity to experience the liberal arts. Liberal education entails engagement with the most challenging ideas of past and present. It fosters humility, curiosity, empathy, and concern for others. It helps young people shape lives of meaning, purpose, and informed participation in the democratic process. They believe that the opportunity to experience such an education is part of the promise of our democracy, and that it must not be restricted to the privileged few.
Their major initiatives include the following:
- The Cornerstone: Learning for Living initiative aims to revitalize the role of the humanities in general education and in doing so, exposes a broad array of students to the power of the humanities; help students of all backgrounds build a sense of belonging and community; strengthen the coherence and cohesiveness of general education; and increase teaching opportunities for humanities faculty. This initiative is dedicated to the proposition that transformative texts – regardless of authorship, geography, or the era that produced them – perform a democratizing function in giving students the analytical tools and historical awareness to interrogate themselves as well as the culture and society by which we are all partially formed. Such texts give students access to a wide range of lived experiences and form the basis for creating a common intellectual experience that fosters a sense of community. The deadline for the next application cycle is December 1, 2026. More information on Cornerstone: Learning for Living.
- The Transfer Pathways to the Liberal Arts initiative co-sponsored with the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations aims to facilitate transfer and completion of the baccalaureate in the liberal arts by supporting statewide, regional, or consortia academic partnerships between public 2-year and private 4-year colleges to facilitate transfer and completion of the baccalaureate in the liberal arts. Grants up to $25,000 over 6-12 months for planning and up to $350,000 over 24-36 months for implementation will be made to institutions participating in this initiative. The size of the grant award will be based on the number of institutions involved and the scope of the project. Planning grants are strongly encouraged. We expect this grant program will remain open for approximately 3-5 years. Transfer Pathways to the Liberal Arts will bring the lifelong benefits of a liberal arts education to students who historically have been excluded from higher education – including low-income students, first-generation students, students of color, and immigrant students – who now constitute the “new majority” of undergraduates and depend on community college as their gateway to higher education. The initiative aims to support building comprehensive curricular frameworks between community colleges and independent colleges and ensure alignment in learning objectives between lower and upper division coursework; transferability and applicability of credits; and timely completion of the baccalaureate in the liberal arts. We give priority to projects that involve multiple four-year independent colleges coming together with community college partners to develop statewide, regional, or consortia approaches to promote transfer in the liberal arts. Proposals for bilateral agreements between pairs of institutions will not be considered. The next deadline for concept papers is August 27, 2026. More information on the Transfer Pathways to the Liberal Arts.
- The Knowledge for Freedom initiative supports programs that invite underserved high school students to college to study humanity’s deepest questions about leading lives of purpose and civic responsibility.
- The Civics in the City initiative supports efforts to prepare students to become informed and committed participants in the civic life of New York City.