Understand the NEH

Promoting excellence in the humanities and making the lessons offered through humanities disciplines accessible to the American people are major goals of NEH. To further these goals, NEH supports research, public programming, access and educational outreach projects - all designed to insure the humanities are relevant to Americans and our dialogue on democracy.

Like every funding agency, NEH is unique in some aspects. For example, NEH program officers want to work with you from a very early stage in your project development process to help insure your project meets their agency's needs. Also, NEH houses samples of previously funded proposals on their website so you can review what works and how best to approach a particular program. Yet another unique offering - some NEH programs encourage you to submit draft proposals to gain program officer feedback. So give yourself and your project every advantage by getting to know NEH well. For additional details about the agency, see the ORDE NEH Know Your Agency Brief and the conversation with NEH Program Officer Judith Adkins from the Division of Research Programs.

NEH Divisions that provide funding to universities are highlighted in the tabs below and include details on specific funding programs. 
[Last Updated 08/05/2021]

Looking to experiment with digital technologies that can contribute to humanities scholarship?

The NEH Office of Digital Technologies offers programs to develop new methodologies and pass along such knowledge to other humanities professionals.
Programs currently offered are:


DIGITAL HUMANITIES ADVANCEMENT GRANTS: 
Supporting innovative, experimental, and/or computationally challenging projects at different stages –
from early start-up to implementation and sustainability
– is the goal of this grants program.

  • Application Deadlines: January 14, 2022; June 24, 2021
  • Start Dates: September 1, 2022; January 1, 2022
  • Funding Range: $50,000 - $325,000 for up to 3 years

INSTITUTES FOR ADVANCED TOPICS IN THE DIGITAL HUMANITIES:
This program funds national or regional training programs for scholars, humanities professionals,
and advanced graduate students to increase their knowledge concerning use of digital
technology in their humanities research efforts.

  • Application Deadline: March 2, 2022
  • Start Date: September 1, 2022
  • Funding Level: $250,000 for up to 3 years

Also see -

NEH-Mellon Fellowships for Digital Publication under the Research Programs tab

Humanities Collections and Reference Resources Program under the Preservation and Access tab

Digital Projects for the Public under the Public Programs tab