Illinois Humanities offers the Action Grant, a funding opportunity designed to support nonprofit organizations in Illinois that are actively engaged in innovative projects in the digital humanities, audience engagement, or audience growth and diversification. These project grants encourage risk-taking and creativity in public humanities programming, with a focus on initiatives such as oral history projects, filmmaking, journalism, storytelling, and other public humanities projects. The goal is to support public humanities work that sparks curiosity, questioning, and dialogue, helping organizations connect with new audiences and deepen engagement with existing ones.

The funding provided through the Action Grant is up to $4,000 per project. In addition, applicants may request supplemental stipends: $150 for accessibility services such as American Sign Language interpretation or captioning, and $100 for media-related services such as documentation, photography, or videography. Projects must directly involve the humanities, as defined by Illinois Humanities, which includes disciplines like history, literature, philosophy, ethics, and cultural studies. Priority is given to organizations with annual operating budgets of $1 million or less.

Eligibility is restricted to nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations in good standing, or those with a fiscal sponsor. Projects and organizations must be based in Illinois. Applicants must also be current on any previous Illinois Humanities grants and may not have an open Vision, Action, or General Operating grant with Illinois Humanities at the time of application. Activities funded by the grant must begin no sooner than 10 weeks after the application deadline, allowing time for the review and award process. Final grant reports must be submitted within 30 days of the project’s conclusion.

The application period for this grant opens on January 21, 2025, at 9:00 am, with a submission deadline of March 17, 2025, at 5:00 pm. Applications must be completed online. The review process takes approximately eight weeks, with awards issued two to three weeks after signed grant agreements are received. Projects must align with the organization’s mission to advance the public humanities in Illinois, and projects should demonstrate intentional audience engagement strategies and contribute to the broader humanities ecosystem.

For questions and further guidance, applicants can contact Mark Hallett, Director of Grants Programs, via email at communitygrants@ilhumanities.org or by phone at (312) 422-5586. Additional information, including full guidelines and application instructions, can be found on the Illinois Humanities website. Applicants are encouraged to review all eligibility and funding guidelines prior to applying.