Grants

Announcing Our New Rural Grants Initiative

In February, Humanities Texas will launch a new grant for organizations based in counties of 45,000 residents or fewer. Our Rural Grants will support educational, historical, and cultural organizations offering public humanities programs to rural communities throughout the state.

Register for a free Zoom webinar on Monday, February 3, 2025, to learn more about this funding opportunity.

Supporting Programming in Rural Texas

Humanities Texas mini-grant and major grants have been serving rural Texas for over fifty years. With this new grant line, we aim to expand our service to rural communities, where access to philanthropic resources can be limited.

Our Rural Grants will have a streamlined application that does not require cost-share. Our grants staff will provide organizations with focused support throughout the entire process, from questions about program design and budgeting, to basic grants administration, to conducting a program evaluation and writing an effective final report.

A key goal of this new initiative is to increase the fundraising and administrative capacity of the organizations that receive support.

Eligible Organizations

Humanities Texas welcomes proposals from applicants based in counties of 45,000 residents or fewer. The list of eligible counties can be found here.

Eligible organizations include, but are not limited to, museums, libraries, cultural centers, historical associations, city governments, county judge offices, community colleges, and school districts.

Applicants must have an active, publicly searchable System for Award Management Unique Entity ID (SAM UEI). Vist www.SAM.gov to check your registration status.

Eligible Programming

Rural Grants will support public programs in the humanities. Humanities content, themes, and topics include, but are not limited to, the following: history, literature, heritage, art history, philosophy, social sciences, and contemporary society and culture.

Eligible programs can take many different formats, such as book discussions, conferences, lectures and panel discussions, exhibitions, festivals, film screenings, living history, media productions, oral history, workshops, and educational digital and web media.

Eligible Costs

Rural Grants can cover many categories of program expenditures, including personnel, consultants, honorarium, travel, promotion, program evaluation, rental of a Humanities Texas exhibition, and other related program costs.

Grant Guidelines

Humanities Texas has transitioned to an online application system. Our grants portal can be accessed here.

All applicants must submit their applications on the grants portal. If you cannot access the portal, please contact our grants team. If you do not have reliable internet, or have other accessibility needs, please email our team or call us at 512-440-1991. Please read our guidelines for more information on our grants program.

• Grant guidelines
• Model rural grant budget
• Rural grant application transcript

How to Apply

The Rural Grants application will be available on February 1, 2025, on our portal. You may begin registering on our portal at any time to see our other grant opportunities. 

Application Deadlines

Rural Grant applications are accepted on a rolling basis, but applications must be received at least six weeks before the grant period start date (grant periods must begin on the first day of the month that promotion and/or project activities begin). Decisions are made within ten business days after submission of an eligible application.

How Funding Decisions Are Made

The executive director and staff, with the authorization of the Board, review Rural Grants. Projects are evaluated on the basis of Humanities Texas's organizational mission and grants guidelines. Of particular importance are the quality of each project's conception and design, the strength of its humanities component, and the extent to which it will meet the particular intellectual, cultural, or professional needs and interests of its target audience(s) in Texas. Refer to the rubric for more information on how grant applications are scored.