Mini Grant-In-Aid Application (grant amount up to $2,000)

Contingent upon funding by the Legislature, the Alaska State Museums will award grants to Alaska museums and museum-related agencies for projects scheduled to take place between July 1, 2012 and June 30, 2013.

*Museums may apply for a regular grant in amounts between $2,001 and $10,000, a mini-grant of up to $2,000, or the internship program grant. You can apply for only one of these programs per year. Each grant has a separate application form. This is the mini-grant application.

Applications must be postmarked no later than June 1, 2012. Applications postmarked after this date will NOT be considered. You may want to request a return receipt when you mail the application to confirm that your application was received. You can also email your completed application as an attachment. The email must be sent to scott.carrlee@alaska.gov before 4:30 pm AKST on June 1, 2012. You will receive an email confirming receipt of the application.

Official notification of the grant award will be provided by letter after July 1. The grant award letter may set stipulations on the content and/or cost of the project, based on the application and panel review. Grant-In-Aid (GIA) funds may be used to purchase materials, equipment, and to fund contractual services or or specific project-related personnel costs or other items necessary to support and improve museum services and operations.

Grant-In-Aid funds will NOT be provided for projects designed to restore historic sites and structures, for collection acquisitions, for costs incurred prior to the date of the grant award letter, to replace or offset employee payroll that would normally be paid otherwise, for continuing education, for re-granting purposes or for indirect costs such as administrative overhead.

Projects should be complete by June 30, 2013. Final accounting is due on or before Sept. 30, 2013. Accounting forms will be mailed in mid-May 2012. Receipts for all expenditures should be kept and copies submitted with your accounting.

• June 1 - Written request for an extension must be submitted for approval if project cannot be completed by June 30.
• June 30 - Deadline for completion of projects.
• Sept. 30 - Deadline for submission of final accounting. Also, any extended projects must be completed by this date.
• Oct. 31 - Deadline for submission of final accounting for extended projects. An organization that has not submitted its final grant accounting report for a previous year's GIA is ineligible to apply for a new grant.

Grant funding is contingent upon approval by the legislature. It is important that project budgets be realistic. Do not apply for more money than you will reasonably need. In order to match evaluated applications with available funds, the grant administrator can negotiate with individual applicants for reduced program goals and grant awards.

Scoring and awarding of mini-grant applications will be determined before scoring and awarding regular grants. The remaining amount of GIA funding will be awarded to regular grant and internship grant recipients.

The State Museum encourages Alaska museums to participate in museum assessments and evaluations as they are valuable self-help tools for planning and prioritizing. There are several options available. The Museum Assessment Program (MAP) is administered by the American Association of Museums and the Conservation Assessment Program (CAP) is administered by Heritage Preservation. The Curator of Museum Services can also perform a Standards in Excellence Program (StEPs) assessment. For additional information, contact Scott Carrlee at the Alaska State Museum at 1.888.913.6873 or scott.carrlee@alaska.gov.

Alaska museums or museum-related organizations such as historical societies, historic sites, museum support groups, cultural centers, and science centers may apply. A museum or related organization may submit only one GIA application. It is the organization’s responsibility to determine who will submit the grant application on its behalf. An applicant may submit an application for one grant only each year for one of the following: a regular grant, a mini-grant, or an internship grant.

To qualify, an applicant must:
1. be a legally organized, permanent, non-profit organization, that is essentially educational in purpose; and
2. own, care for, utilize and interpret tangible objects and exhibit them to the public; and
3. be open to the public on a regularly scheduled basis for no less than 90 days during the fiscal year for which a grant is requested; and
4. * employ at least one person, or the full-time equivalent, either paid or unpaid, whose time is primarily devoted to the care and public exhibition of objects owned or used by the museum; and
5. maintain separate and distinct itemized budget records (if part of a parent organization); and
6. have satisfactorily filed all previous years' Grant-in-Aid accounting reports, if applicable; and
7. not be a state or federal governmental entity, or be acting on behalf of a state or federal governmental entity; - OR -
8. be a legally organized, permanent, non-profit organization, the purpose of which is to augment and enhance statewide museum services, practices and education.

* Full-time during the calendar period the museum is open to the public.
Part-time positions may be combined to equal one full-time position.

APPLICATIONS MAY BE TYPED, WORD PROCESSED, OR HANDWRITTEN. IF HANDWRITTEN, USE BLACK INK.
APPLICATIONS MUST BE LEGIBLE. ILLEGIBLE PORTIONS WILL BE CONSIDERED INCOMPLETE.
EMAIL APPLICATIONS ARE ACCEPTED
NO FAXED APPLICATIONS PLEASE