Request For Proposals – 2026 Community Collaborative Grants

The New England Humanities Consortium (NEHC) is offering competitive community collaborative grants for humanities initiatives that seek to encourage cross-fertilization of ideas and interests, as well as to generate long-lasting ties and mutual support among Humanities researchers and practitioners from NEHC member institutions with community partners across New England. We seek proposals that demonstrate a reciprocal and equitable collaboration, in which scholars at NEHC member institutions and community partners jointly shape the project’s goals, methods, and outcomes through shared decision-making and mutually beneficial aims. These grants provide awards of up to $5,000 for projects that pair faculty colleagues from NEHC member institutions in collaboration with community partners in non-member regional or local community colleges, public universities, public Humanities organizations, and public cultural institutions. For projects whose total budgets exceed $5,000, applicants must list additional committed funding sources and amounts.

Potential areas of funding interest include the following (this list is by no means exhaustive):

  • Public Humanities programming series
  • Social justice humanities projects
  • Collaborative research projects
  • Digital Humanities projects
  • Shared speakers series
  • Collaborative course design
  • Exhibitions and Public Performance series

To apply, please click: 2026 Community Collaborative Application

Eligibility

Applications are welcome from individuals or teams, but the PI must be on the faculty of a NEHC member institution. While the PI of the project will come from an NEHC member institution, projects must be co-created and co-owned from the earliest stages of project design, with clearly defined roles, shared decision-making, and equitable recognition of all partners’ contributions.

Application Requirements and Procedure

Please submit materials electronically by 12:00pm (noon) EST on April 3, 2026. Proposals will not be considered without verification that the proposal and its budget follow Institutional policy and procedure prior to this date. We invite you to share your proposal and budget with the Director of the Humanities Center / Institute at the lead PI's institution for this purpose as early as possible [and by March 30, 2026]. 

Applications for the NEHC RFP must include the following:

1. Cover page (1 page) stating

  • Title of the project
  • Name, department/program/school location, and NEHC school representation of PI(s)
  • Name and contact information of community partner(s) and any relevant affiliations
  • Requested NEHC funding amount (Awards of up to $5000)

2. Project narrative (2 pages, single spaced, 1” margins, 12 pt font) detailing:

  • The goals of the project
  • How those goals address the mission of the NEHC and community partners in the humanities
  • Nature of and plans for collaboration between the NEHC member institution(s) and community partner(s), including how these goals will be pursued 
  • Expected outcomes and/or deliverables
  • How NEHC funding will be used strategically to advance the project’s goals and partnership, including why this support is essential to the project’s scope, timeline, or collaborative model. This should align clearly with the proposed budget.
  • Effect of this project on long-term relations between the NEHC institution(s) and community partner(s)
  • Project timeline describing completion of project goals and outcomes

3. CV (2 page) of Principal Investigator(s)

4.  Resume, bio, description, and/or contact information of the community partner or community organization

5. Budget and Award Period:

  • Total budget. For projects whose budgets exceed $5000, please list additional committed funding sources and amounts, as validated by an attached letter of support.
  • The award period will typically not exceed one (1) calendar year and must be stated in the application timeline. The awardees will be required to submit a detailed summary of the project at the end of their funding term.

Please see this document for FAQs.

Questions and requests for more information are encouraged and should be directed to cah@colby.edu.