About State Grants

October 22, 2013 3:58 PM

Do I need to be a resident non profit of a state to be eligible for a grant from that state to do a project about or for that state? Are there general guidelines regarding residency or eligibility requirements all states tend to follow or do I need to dig into each state humanities organization to find out.

I understand the NEH grants cover projects that have a national significance, but individually, will a state give a grant to someone in State A who is doing a project that specifically includes State B?

posted by CollectiveMind to Law & Government (4 answers total)

I think this is going to highly depend on what state and what grant. But I wouldn't hold my breath. To draw a parallel of how some states might consider the issue, recently the US Supreme Court ruled that states do not have to honor FOIA requests from non-residents.

A state that would deny a FOIA requests seems unlikely to me to give you grant money. Both involve spending money and state resources to benefit non-residents.
posted by sbutler at 5:49 PM on October 22, 2013

In my experience, no, there are no general residency or eligibility requirements. My data point is one state, but familiarity with a bunch of state agencies in that state. Agencies that can make grants are given that specific authority by the state legislature, so it isn't something that every agency can automatically do. Agencies that do a lot of grant making tend to have a lot of experience and formal processes; agencies that just do it occasionally or as a one-off, don't. In my state, there is not central entity that is coordinating this activity. Agencies that are disbursing funds that might have come from the federal government usually have a bunch of requirements imposed on them by the feds. It makes for a real patchwork quilt of different practices. I can think of examples of grants where the grantees were specifically constrained to the state (e.g. you had to be a municipality or a county). I can also think of examples where the focus was solving a problem and the grant went to an out-of-state organization, or to a national organization that was working with a bunch of states on the same thing. If you want to get into specifics off-line, send me a memail.
posted by kovacs at 6:43 PM on October 22, 2013

It's possible. You will find guidelines for specific grant programs online. State humanities councils, for instance, are often just as interested in scholarly projects bringing a new understanding about their state to the fore as they are at awarding grants to people in-state. Typically, though, with those there's a public programs dimension. The same can sometimes be true for arts affiliate grants.

But the question, as posed, is just too broad to give much in the way of a helpful answer. Yes, some grant programs in some states will not have residency or local work requirements. But some will, or will require a local sponsor. Basically, grants are given out according to the restrictions of the grantor agency and their partners, and those vary. So the answer to your question, definitively, will come from whomever you are targeting as a funder and what it says in their grant guidelines.
posted by Miko at 7:00 PM on October 22, 2013

Thanks to all of you for your helpful comments.
posted by CollectiveMind at 5:28 PM on October 27, 2013