National Leadership Grants

NLG supports projects that address critical needs of the museum and library fields and that have the potential to advance practice in these professions so that museums and libraries can strengthen services for the American public. NLG-Museums has three program goals with three associated objectives each.
GOAL 1:Advance museum-based learning and engagement practices in the museum field. Obj. 1.1: Support the development, implementation, and dissemination of model programs that facilitate adoption across the field. Obj. 1.2: Support research focusing on the role of museums in engaging learners of all types. Obj. 1.3: Support forums that convene experts and stakeholders, including those from adjacent fields as appropriate, to explore current and emerging issues and inform the field. GOAL 2: Advance the museum field’s ability to respond to community needs. Obj. 2.1: Support the development of new and innovative methods for addressing community challenges through partnerships, services, processes, or practices for use across the museum field. Obj. 2.2: Support research focusing on museums' roles in responding to community needs. Obj. 2.3: Support forums that convene experts and stakeholders, including those from adjacent fields as appropriate, to explore current and emerging issues and inform the field. GOAL 3: Identify new solutions that address high priority and widespread collections care or conservation issues. Obj. 3.1: Support the development, implementation, and dissemination of new tools or services that facilitate access, management, preservation, sharing, and use of museum collections. Obj. 3.2: Support research focusing on any broadly relevant aspect of the management, conservation, and preservation of collections. Obj. 3.3: Support forums that convene experts and stakeholders, including those from adjacent fields as appropriate, to explore current and emerging issues and inform the field.

NLG-Libraries has one program goal with four associated objectives. GOAL 1: Develop, enhance, or disseminate replicable practices, programs, models, or tools to strengthen library and archival services for the American public. Obj. 1.1: Serve the learning needs of the public through libraries and archives. Obj. 1.2: Improve community well-being through libraries and archives. Obj. 1.3: Provide broad access to and preservation of information and collections through libraries and archives. Obj. 1.4: Provide services to affected communities in the event of an emergency or disaster.

An applicant must meet geographic and governance criteria and qualify as one of the following six types of organizations:
1. A library or a parent organization, such as a school district, a municipality, a State agency, or an academic institution, that is responsible for the administration of a library;
2. An academic or administrative unit, such as a graduate school of library and information science that is part of an institution of higher education through which it would apply;
3. A digital library or archives, if it makes materials publicly available and provides library or archival services, including selection, organization, description, reference, and preservation, under the supervision of at least one permanent professional staff librarian/archivist;
4. A library or archival agency that is an official agency of a State, tribal, or other unit of government and is charged by the law governing it with the extension and development of public library services within its jurisdiction;
5. A library or archives consortium that is a local, statewide, regional, interstate, or international cooperative association of library entities that provides for the systematic and effective coordination of the resources of eligible libraries or archives, as defined above, and information centers that work to improve the services delivered to the clientele of these libraries or archives; or
6. A library or archives association that exists on a permanent basis; serves libraries, archives, or library or archival professionals on a national, regional, State, or local level; and engages in activities designed to advance the well-being of libraries and the library profession.

An applicant to NLG-Museums must meet geographic and governance criteria and qualify as one of the following four types of organizations:
1. A museum that, using 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. An organization or association that engages in activities designed to advance the wellbeing of museums and the museum profession;
3. An institution of higher education, including public and nonprofit universities; or
4. A public or private nonprofit agency that is responsible for the operation of a museum that meets these criteria.

The IMLS Director takes into account the input provided by the review process and makes final funding decisions consistent with the purposes of the agency’s mission and programs. Funded and non-funded applicants are notified of funding decisions by email after all deliberations are complete.

IMLS will not release information about the status of an application until the applications have been reviewed and all deliberations are concluded, but will notify both successful and unsuccessful applicants of final funding decisions by email by August 2026.