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Office of Challenge Grants

Moose in snow

Moving Off the "Moose Highway"

How a new home brought greater visibility to the Vermont Humanities Council--and a safer drive to the council's friends and staff.

By Brandon Johnson
Post-renovation Byrne-Reed House

Hidden Treasure

When looking for a new home to replace its cramped office condo in a suburban strip mall far from downtown Austin, Humanities Texas director, Michael Gillette, liked the location of the Texas Oil Company building, just blocks from the state capitoI.   But while it had abundant space, access to parking, and a fair price, it was ugly: its cheap stucco façade was only surpassed by a bland interior.

Larry Aitken

NEH Supports Strategic Collaborations in Native American History, Languages, and Cultural Revitalization

We explore the role that NEH plays in supporting documentation and teaching of Native American languages, history, and culture.

Proud to Be: Writings by American Warriors, Volume 2.

Veterans' Experience

NEH grants from across the agency support projects examining American veterans' experience of war and homecoming

Image of Mannie Jackson

Harlem Globetrotter, Business Executive, and .... Humanities Philanthropist

It’s unlikely Mannie Jackson dreamed, while attending racially-segregated schools in 1950s downstate Illinois, that one day he would be involved in an educational endowment designed to encourage humanities exploration.

Child playing phonograph in cabin home

From Chopin to Public Enemy

NEH challenge grant enables the publication of an award-winning book on music and technology.

painting of North Haven, ME in 1907

Preserving an Island's History

North Haven is a small island community off the coast of Maine, with a history dating back to 1762 when the first permanent settler arrived. Thanks to a $60,000 NEH challenge grant, matched by $180,000 in nonfederal donations, North Haven was able to build an archives building to safeguard the community’s historical documents.

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Posted: March 11, 2014

Challenge Grants Fact Sheet 2015

Challenge Grant Fact Sheet

Deadline:      Challenge Grants, Tuesday May, 5, 2015

Posted: March 10, 2014

Challenge Grants Awards List November 2013

Posted: September 6, 2013

Challenge Grant Offers, Summer 2013

The National Endowment for the Humanities Office of Challenge Grants made fifteen grant offers to institutions following the November 2012 meeting of the National Council on the Humanities. 

Posted: January 19, 2012

Guiding Principles for Independent Status

Whether an affiliated or consortial organization may apply for a challenge grant, independent of its parent or member organizations, depends on three criteria for assessing the autonomy of the appl

Posted: July 1, 2011

How Challenge Grants Differ from Other NEH Awards

The Challenge Grants program, like others at NEH, supports scholarship, education, public programming, and preservation in the humanities, but it differs from other NEH programs in how humanities activities are supported, including a substantial matching-funds requirement.

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