Federal grant programs / Institute of Museum and Library Services

Museum Grants for American Latino History and Culture (45.033)

• Awarded, FY 2021 to 2025$4.3 million
• Grant awards11
• Typical award$438,783
• Awarded in FY 2025$4.3 million
• Size rank1,648 of 1,823
• Type of assistanceGrant

Key findings

• It is the 1648th largest of 1,823 federal grant programs by five-year awards.
• The 11 largest recipients received 100% of the money.
• Awards went to recipients in 9 states and territories.

What the program funds

This program supports projects that build the capacity of American Latino history and culture museums to serve their communities, and broadly advance the growth and development of a professional workforce in American Latino museums. The ALHC program has two goals and a set of objectives associated with each goal. Goal 1: Build the capacity of American Latino museums to serve their communities. Objective 1.1 Develop, enhance or expand public programs, exhibitions, and/or school programs. Objective 1.2: Improve care and conservation of museum collections and archives and expand access to collections. Objective 1.3: Strengthen museum operations by developing new or improved strategic plans, management practices, or institutional policies. Goal 2: Support the growth and development of a professional workforce in American Latino museums. Objective 2.1: Develop and implement internship, fellowship, and mentoring programs to support people entering the museum field. Objective 2.2: Create learning and growth opportunities designed to build the knowledge, skills, and abilities of museum staff and/or volunteers.

From the federal Assistance Listing. Read the full listing on SAM.gov.

Open opportunities

• Museum Grants for American Latino History and Culture (2027)
  Open · Closes November 13, 2026 (6 days left) · up to $500,000

Rules from the program listing

Who can apply

An applicant to this initiative must meet geographic and governance criteria and qualify as one of the following types of organizations: 1. A museum with a primary focus on American Latino life, art, history, and culture that uses a professional staff, is organized on a permanent basis for essentially educational, cultural heritage, 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. 2. A public or private nonprofit agency that is responsible for the operation of a museum that meets these criteria. 3. A museum service organization or association whose primary purpose, as reflected in its mission, is to support museums whose primary focus is on American Latino life, art, history, and culture. 4. An Institution of Higher Education, including Hispanic-Serving Institutions, that will engage in the project with one or more eligible museums. Applicants should consult the Notices of Funding Opportunity for more details.

What the money can and cannot pay for

Grant funds must be used for the purposes outlined in the Notice of Funding Opportunity, and in accordance with the Institute of Museum and Library Services General Terms and Conditions. Examples of allowable costs include personnel salaries, wages, and fringe benefits for project staff; travel expenses for key project staff and consultants; materials, supplies, software, and equipment related directly to project activities; adaptive and/or assistive technologies and other resources and services to improve accessibility for persons with disabilities; equipment to improve collections storage and exhibit environments; third-party costs; publication design and printing; program evaluation; staff and volunteer training; paid internships/fellowships; and indirect or overhead costs. Examples of unallowable costs include general fundraising costs; contributions to endowments; general operating support; acquisition of collections; general advertising or public relations costs designed solely for promotional activities other than those related to the specific project; construction or renovation of facilities; social activities, receptions or entertainment; and research projects. This is a discretionary program.

Matching requirements

This program has no statutory formula. Matching requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing. MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing.

Deadlines

Jan 13, 2026 to Mar 13, 2026

Award range and average, in the agency's words

This is a new program for FY25. IMLS expects awards to range from $5,000 to $500,000, reflecting the size and complexity of the project.

Quoted from the program's federal Assistance Listing. The notice of funding opportunity is the official source for each competition's rules.

Who usually wins

Almost all of the money went to state and local governments.

By state

No state received $1 million or 10 awards from this program, so it has no state pages.

Award amounts are federal obligations reported to USAspending.gov for fiscal 2021 to 2025; see how our data works.