Tap Into Museum Network Resources on History, Art, and Culture
The Illinois Association of Museums (IAM) is an agent for positive change in the museum community – providing advocacy, promoting best practices, and fostering the exchange of ideas.
IAM offers a variety of programs that recognize the work of museums and staff across the state, provide financial support through its grants and scholarships, and help artifacts find new homes.
Programs: Awards, Grants, Museum Clearinghouse, Mary Helen Turner Scholarships.
Illinois Humanities, the Illinois affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, is a statewide nonprofit organization that activates the humanities through free public programs, grants, and educational opportunities that foster reflection, spark conversation, build community, and strengthen civic engagement. We provide free, high-quality humanities experiences throughout Illinois, particularly for communities of color, individuals living on low incomes, counties and towns in rural areas, small arts and cultural organizations, and communities highly impacted by mass incarceration. Founded in 1974, Illinois Humanities is supported by state, federal, and private funds.
Community Grants Program
The Illinois Humanities Council gives Community Grant support to Illinois nonprofit organizations to develop public humanities programs for Illinois audiences and to provide technical assistance or general support to help accomplish their core humanities missions
Museum on Main Street (MoMS)
MoMS serves rural communities by circulating first-rate traveling Smithsonian exhibitions that focus on broad and engaging topics of American culture. The IHC assists local organizations in developing exhibitions, public programs, partnerships with other local and regional agencies, and providing technical support and assistance to the organization.
A national professional organization that serves and supports professionals and volunteers working in libraries, archives, historical societies, museums, historic sites, parks, and historic preservation and academic institutions. Programs and services include technical resources, books and periodicals, and professional development seminars and workshops.
A national professional organization that represents all types of museums and the professionals and nonpaid staff who work in them. Programs and services include museum accreditation, the Museum Assessment Program, an online information center, professional development seminars and workshops, books, the bimonthly magazine Museum News, the electronic newsletter Aviso, and an annual meeting.
A national professional organization of public and private libraries. Two divisions—Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (Preservation and Reformatting Section) and Library Administration and Management Association—provide information about preservation and fund raising.
A cross-disciplinary professional organization that promotes the best technology for conserving historic structures and their settings. Regular publications include a technical journal, Bulletin, and an electronic newsletter, Communiqué. APTI also offers training and educational activities on technical topics.
A national organization for professionals who are responsible for generating support for nonprofit organizations. It has 185 chapters throughout the world. AFP publishes a bimonthly magazine and a book series, provides educational programs about fund raising, encourages research, and maintains a resource center ((800) 688-FIND). The Ready Reference Series features basic information on a variety of fund-raising topics.
A nonprofit organization of 123 research libraries at comprehensive, research-extensive institutions in the United States and Canada. ARL publishes occasional papers on topical issues as well as ARL: A Bimonthly Report of Research Library Issues and Actions.
A biweekly newspaper (print and online) for charity leaders, fund raisers, grant makers, and others involved in nonprofits.
A national nonprofit organization that helps libraries, archives, and universities develop collaborative strategies for collection management, preservation, and access. CLIR provides technical information and education and advocates new approaches to digital and nondigital information management.
Training programs and information on fund raising and current issues of interest to the nonprofit field. The center maintains GrantDomain, subscription only databases on government, foundation, and corporate funding sources.
1125 West Sixth Street, 5th Floor, P.O. Box 17220
Los Angeles,CA 90017
Preservation Assistance Grants for Smaller Institutions
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency created in 1965. It is one of the largest funders of humanities programs in the United States.
Because democracy demands wisdom, NEH serves and strengthens our republic by promoting excellence in the humanities and conveying the lessons of history to all Americans. The Endowment accomplishes this mission by awarding grants for top-rated proposals examined by panels of independent, external reviewers.
NEH grants typically go to cultural institutions, such as museums, archives, libraries, colleges, universities, public television, and radio stations, and to individual scholars.