Skip to main content

Official Website

of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

    The .gov means its official.

    Local, state, and federal government websites often end in .gov. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania government websites and email systems use "pennsylvania.gov" or "pa.gov" at the end of the address. Before sharing sensitive or personal information, make sure you're on an official state website. 

    Apply for a Cultural and Historical Support Grant

    The PHMC offers grants to qualified museums and official county historical societies under the Cultural and Historical Support Grant program. This grant program uses funds placed in PHMC’s operating budget by the state legislature and is restricted for this purpose only. Applicants must meet organizational eligibility requirements and awards are based on a calculation that uses the operating budget from the most recently completed fiscal year.

    Eligible Organizations

    • Museums located in Pennsylvania with annual operating budgets exceeding $100,000 (excluding capital and in-kind services) and at least one full-time professional staff person (or approved equivalent).  If a museum receives operating support from another Pennsylvania agency or commission, please check to verify if the museum has a discreet and itemized operating budget for its activities to be funded through the Cultural and Historical Support Grants program. Please see the Who May Apply section below for a list of eligible museum types. . 
    • Official County Historical Societies. If the operating budget is less than $400,000, the organization must apply as an Official County Historical Society. Official County Historical Societies with operating budgets in excess of $400,000 must apply as a Museum.

    Goals

    • Strengthen the Pennsylvania museum community
    • Provide general operating support to museum and official county historical societies that are not supported by other state agency funding programs
    • Provide financial support as unrestricted operating support to address primary needs of museums
    • Allow applicants to determine and describe how they will use funds
    • Achieve geographical balance in the distribution of grants

    Application Deadline

    The Cultural and Historic Support Grant program accepts applications annually beginning in early July and closing near the end of August.  A notice will be placed at the top of this page when the program is open for applications to be submitted.  

    Application Process

    All PHMC grant program applications utilize the Commonwealth’s  Electronic Single Application for Assistance system. Your organization may need to register as a first time user for a Keystone Login . 

    Once you register and login to the new system, the easiest way to begin a new PHMC Cultural and Historical Support grant application is to:

    •  Create a Project Name such as “My PHMC museum support grant”
    •     Select “YES” for “help selecting your program”
    •     Click “Create a new application”
    •     Select “PHMC” under the Agencies heading and click SEARCH
    •     Click “Apply” next to the Cultural and Historical Support Grant program

    Applicants are not required to mail a hard copy of the application and supporting documents. 

    For technical assistance with the Electronic Single Application for Assistance system, please contact  the Enterprise eGrants Customer Service Center at: 1 (833) 448-0647 or egrantshelp@pa.gov.

    Program Fact Sheet

    This fact sheet has information about Cultural & Historical Support grants.

    Grant Awards

    As a general rule, no county shall receive an allocation greater than 37.5% of the available funds in counties that exceed this cap, individual grant awards may be notably reduced from the maximum award. Grant awards amounts are prepared by agency staff and submitted to the Commission for approval.

    • Museums - The awards for Museums are based on a calculation that uses the operating budget from the most recently completed fiscal year. Based on projected funding scenarios, awards may range from 1% to 2% of annual operating budget depending on the number of eligible applicants. The maximum award for a museum is $65,000.
    • Official County Historical Societies - The awards for Official County Historical Societies are awarded a maximum of $8,000. 

    Availability of Funds

    Grants awards are subject to the annual availability of funds from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

    American Alliance of Museums 

    PHMC encourages museums applying for support funding to demonstrate they meet standards and best practices, and show themselves to be good stewards of the collections and resources they hold in the public trust.

    PHMC does not require applicants to participate in AAM's best practices to receive support funding.  PHMC does require applicants to acknowledge if they are participating in AAM's best practices in the application.  PHMC is tracking applicant participation in the following areas:

    • Pledge of Excellence - The Pledge of Excellence is an easy and achievable step along your museum's path to excellence, and a way to show your museum's commitment to being a good steward of the resources it holds in the public trust.
    • Core Documents Verification - Core Documents Verification is a document review and recognition program that revolves around the evaluation of the five core documents against a set of required elements and include: Mission Statement, Institutional Code of Ethics, Strategic Institutional Plan, Disaster Preparedness/Emergency Response Plan, Collections Management Policy.
    • AAM Accreditation Opens - As the museum field's mark of distinction since 1971, accreditation offers high profile, peer-based validation of your museum's operations and impact. 

    Who May Apply

    Museums

    Grant awards are a minimum of $2,500 and not to exceed $65,000.

    Institutions that meet the American Association of Museums' definition that "a museum must be a legally organized nonprofit institution, essentially educational in nature, with professional staff, which owns or utilizes tangible objects, cares for them, and exhibits them to the public on some regular schedule" may apply for grant assistance. The following are the types of museums that are eligible to apply:

    • Children's Museums
    • General Museums (with two or more equally significant disciplines)
    • History Museums
    • Historic Houses/Sites
    • Military and Maritime Museums
    • Natural History Museums
    • Planetariums
    • Science/Technology Centers
    • Multipurpose Organizations. Individual museums within multipurpose government or tax-exempt organizations may apply for grants if they function as a discrete unit within the parent organization. A museum that is part of a larger organization will be deemed eligible if:
      • The museum has administrative autonomy for its operations;
      • The museum has a fully segregated and itemized operating budget within that of the parent organization; and
      • The museum is able to separately and distinctly fulfill all eligibility and application requirements as defined in these guidelines.

    To apply for a Cultural and Historical Support grant, a museum must meet the following requirements:

    • Must be located in Pennsylvania;
    • Must have tax-exempt status (501(c)(3)) with the Internal Revenue Service or be an entity of local government;
    • Must have been incorporated and have been exhibiting to the public for at least two years prior to the submission of the grant application; and
    • Must have an operating budget in excess of $100,000;
    • Must have at least one full-time professional staff person (or approved equivalent);
    • Must be registered with the Pennsylvania Commission on Charitable Organizations, as required.

    Official County Historical Societies

    Official County Historical Societies are awarded a maximum of $8,000.

    To apply for a Cultural and Historical Support grant, an Official County Historical Society must meet the following requirements:

    • Must be located in Pennsylvania;
    • Must have a designation of the organization as the official historical society for the county;
    • Must have been incorporated and operating for a minimum of two years as a membership group with at least 100 paid members prior to filing the grant application;
    • Must hold at least one public meeting per year;
    • Must have a properly adopted constitution and bylaws and have elected officers to conduct the business of the society;
    • Must have tax-exempt status (501(c)(3)) with the Internal Revenue Service;
    • Must have a permanent physical facility wherein books, documents, papers and other objects of historical interest are deposited and available to the public at least 100 days per year or by appointment;
    • Must have at least one full-time paid or unpaid staff member or the equivalent who is responsible for the operations and programs of the society; and
    • Must sponsor programs relevant to county history including educational and public programs and have an active research and publications program. Must be registered with the Pennsylvania Commission on Charitable Organizations, as required.

    Who May Not Apply

    Museums and others that are not eligible to apply include:

    • Museums supported by another state agency operational funding program unless the museum has a discreet and itemized operating budget for its historical aspects to be funded through the Cultural and Historical Support grants program. This applies to Art Museums, Aquariums, Arboretums, Botanical Gardens, Heritage Areas, Nature Centers, Zoological Parks, and others.
    • Museums and historic sites operated by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
    • Associate groups at museums and historic sites operated by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
    • Management groups at museums and historic sites owned by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
    • Museums and historic sites operated by state or federal government agencies
    • Associate groups at museums and historic sites operated by state or federal government agencies
    • Museums with annual operating budgets less than $100,000
    • Consortiums of museums
    • Individuals

    Eligible Activities

    Operating support activities cannot begin until the successful applicant has received a fully executed Grant Agreement. Cultural and Historical Support Grants may be used to fund the following general museum support expenses:

    • Salaries and Wages
    • Benefits
    • Insurance
    • Museum Store/Gift Shop
    • Food Service
    • Professional Development
    • Travel
    • Printing and Publication
    • Telephone/Postage/All Telecommunications
    • Fundraising/Development
    • Marketing Supplies
    • Equipment

    Ineligible Activities

    Cultural and Historical Support Grants may not be used to fund the following:

    • Endowments
    • Acquisition of objects for the collections
    • Capital improvement projects
    • Projects that serve a religious purpose or promote religious dogma
    • Exhibitions or public programs not available to the public or taking place outside of Pennsylvania
    • Prizes and awards
    • Expenses for entertainment
    • Lobbying-related expenses

    Program Contact Information

    Rusty Baker, Executive Director of PA Museums, is the primary contact for the program. Please contact Rusty Baker at (717) 909-4951 or c-rubaker@pa.gov  to confirm eligibility for the program. All other inquiries regarding the Cultural and Historical Support Grant program can be directed to RA-PHGrantSupport@pa.gov ​with the subject line, "CHSG."