Sparks! Ignition Grants for Museums

The Sparks! Ignition Grants for Museums program is a special funding opportunity within the IMLS National Leadership Grants for Museums program. These small grants encourage museums to prototype and evaluate specific innovations in the ways they operate and the services they provide. Project results – be they success, failure, or a combination thereof – should offer valuable information to the museum field and the potential for improvement in the ways museums serve their communities.

To be eligible for an award under the Sparks Grants program, you must be an organization that meets all three of the following criteria: You must be either a unit of State or local government or be a private nonprofit organization that has tax-exempt status under the Internal Revenue Code; You must be located in one of the 50 States of the United States of America, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, or the Republic of Palau; and You must qualify as one of the following: a. A museum that, using a professional staff, is organized on a permanent basis for essentially educational or aesthetic purposes; owns or uses tangible objects, either animate or inanimate; cares for these objects; and exhibits these objects to the general public on a regular basis through facilities that it owns or operates. What types of institutions are included in the term "museum"? If they otherwise meet these requirements, including the criteria in (3)(a) above, museums include, but are not limited to, aquariums, arboretums, art museums, botanical gardens, children’s/youth museums, general museums (those having two or more significant disciplines), historic houses/sites, history museums, natural history/anthropology museums, nature centers, planetariums, science/technology centers, specialized museums (limited to a single distinct subject), and zoological parks. What does it mean to be using a professional staff? An institution uses a professional staff if it employs at least one staff member, or the full-time equivalent, whether paid or unpaid, primarily engaged in the acquisition, care, or exhibition to the public of objects owned or used by the institution. What does it mean to exhibit the objects to the general public? An institution exhibits objects to the general public if such exhibition is a primary purpose of the institution. An institution that exhibits objects to the general public for at least 120 days a year is deemed to exhibit objects to the general public on a regular basis. An institution which does not have the exhibition of objects as a primary purpose and/or does not exhibit objects to the public for at least 120 days a year may be determined to be eligible as a museum under certain circumstances. For more information, please see 45 CFR §1180.2(d); b. An organization or association that engages in activities designed to advance the well-being of museums and the museum profession; c. An institution of higher education, including public and nonprofit universities; or d. A public or private nonprofit agency which is responsible for the operation of a museum that meets the eligibility criteria in (a) above may apply on behalf of the museum. Note to applicants: In order to receive an IMLS award, you must be in compliance with applicable requirements and be in good standing on all active IMLS awards.

Helen Wechsler Supervisory Grants Management Specialist hwechsler@imls.gov 202-653-4779 Jill Connors-Joyner Museum Program Specialist jconnors-joyner@imls.gov 202-653-4791