The
instructions below provide guidance on obtaining and working
Grants.gov applications. An applicant must thoroughly read
the Museum
Grants for African American History and Culture guidelines
(PDF, 611KB) for guidance on composing the application narrative,
filling out the forms, supplying the appropriate documentation,
etc.
Grants.gov Registration
Obtaining Application Packages
Working on an Application Package
Application Attachments
Grants.gov Help
Application Forms
Organizations that are applying under the January 15, 2007,
deadline for the AAHC program may submit their applications
through Grants.gov, the federal government’s online
application system.
The Grants.gov system will accept applications
through 11:59 P.M. eastern time, January 16, 2007.
While the deadline is November 15, IMLS recommends
strongly that applicants REGISTER EARLY (see
“Grants.gov Registration” section below) and COMPLETE
AND SUBMIT THEIR APPLICATION EARLY.
Applicants are urged to not wait until the
last day to submit their applications. Grants.gov can slow
down during periods of high usage, which most often occur
between 12:00 noon and 5:00 P.M. eastern time, particularly
on days near a deadline. Applicants will have a better experience
if they submit their application outside of these hours and
in advance of the deadline.
Grants.gov
Registration
All applicants who are using Grants.gov must
register with Grants.gov before submitting their application.
The multistep registration process generally cannot be completed
in a single day. Applicants who are not already registered
should allow at least two weeks to complete this one-time
process. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE DAY OF THE APPLICATION
DEADLINE TO REGISTER.
Step-by-step instructions for registering are
available at www.grants.gov/GetStarted. In addition, IMLS
has created an easy-to-follow checklist
for registering. Applicants who have problems registering
should call the Grants.gov help desk at 1-800-518-4726; e-mail
support@grants.gov;
or consult the information posted on the Grants.gov Web site
at www.grants.gov/CustomerSupport.
The Grants.gov customer service hours are 7:00 A.M. to 9:00
P.M. eastern time, Monday through Friday.
Applicants do not need to complete the registration
process to download the application package and begin to prepare
their material (see below). However, they will need their
Grants.gov UserID and password, which are obtained during
the registration process, to submit their completed application.
Obtaining
Application Packages
Electronic application packages are obtained
directly from www.Grants.gov.
Organizations applying through Grants.gov will first need
to locate the AAHC package on the site:
| 1. |
Go to www.Grants.gov.
|
| 2. |
In the left-hand column, click on "Apply
for Grants," then click on "Download a Grant
Application Package and Instructions." Under “Find,”
click "Download grant application packages."
|
| 3. |
This will take you to the "Download
Application Package" screen. On this screen, enter
one of the numbers below to locate the AAHC Application
Package:
CFDA No: 45.309
Funding Opportunity Number: AAHC-FY07 |
| |
To access, complete, and submit the application
package, applicants will need to have PureEdge Viewer,
a small, free software program, installed on their computer.
Applicants who do not already have this software can follow
the instructions on Grants.gov for installing this program.
Please note that the PureEdge viewer is compatible with
PCs running the Windows operating system. Non-Windows
users will be able to download and complete the PureEdge
forms by taking advantage of the free Citrix server. See
www.grants.gov/MacSupport
for more information.
The application package will download in a zipped file
(.zip). Applicants will need to have software that unzips
files to open them. Numerous freeware packages are available
on the Internet. The .zip contents are also available
below. |
Working
on an Application Package
| 1. |
When opening the application package that
is saved on the applicant’s computer, the Grants.gov
“Grant Application Package” screen will appear.
In the “Application Filing Name” field, applicants
should enter their organization’s legal name. |
| 2. |
The forms needed to complete the AAHC application
appear in the “Mandatory Documents” box. To
open an item, click on it to select it, and then click
on the “Open Form” button that is beneath
the “Mandatory Documents” box. Forms cannot
be opened by double-clicking. When a form is more than
one page, navigate between pages by using the “Next”
or “Previous” buttons at the top of the screen. |
| 3. |
After working on a form, click the “Close
Form” button at the top of the screen to capture
entered information and return to the “Grant Application
Package” screen. Before closing the “Grant
Application Package” screen, click on the “Save”
button. Until all of the required fields in all of the
mandatory forms are completed, clicking on the “Save”
button will generate the invalid values message referred
to in Item 4 above. Click “Yes” to proceed.
Grants.gov will also ask: “File Already
Exists. OVERWRITE?” Clicking “Yes” will
save the most recent changes to the existing file. |
| 4. |
When a form is completed, click on the
form name in the “Mandatory Documents” box
to select it, and then click the “=>” button.
This will move the form to the “Mandatory Completed
Documents for Submission” box. All forms must be
in the “Mandatory Completed Documents for Submission”
box efore an applicant will be able to submit their application.
Forms can be worked on from either the “Mandatory
Documents” or “Mandatory Completed Documents
for Submission” box. |
There are two forms in the “Mandatory
Documents” box that every applicant must fill out before
submitting their application:
Application for Federal Domestic Assistance/Short
Organizational Form (SF- 424s): This form asks for
basic information on the applicant’s organization and
project. It is equivalent to the IMLS Face Sheet form in the
conventional application package.
Attachments Form: This is not a form in
the conventional sense, but rather a place to attach the other
AAHC forms and additional items that must be included for a
Grants.gov application package to be considered complete.
Note: The Program Information Form and the Budget
Form are also mandatory components of the AAHC application.
They are included in the downloaded .zip file in both Adobe
PDF and Microsoft Word formats, and are also available for
download here. They can
be saved in either PDF or Word format, then attached to the
application using the Attachments Form.
Before completing the required forms, applicants
may want to activate the Help tool by clicking on the help
button (looks like a question mark) in the tool bar. Applicants
can then find instructions by positioning the cursor over
each item or, where relevant, over the radio button for an
item. Detailed instructions for certain items are provided
in the next section.
Application
Attachments
The Attachments Form is not a form in the conventional
sense. Rather, it is a place to attach documents/files that
are completed and saved elsewhere on the applicant’s
computer. The forms and documents that must be attached to
the Attachments Form are listed in their correct sequence
below:
1. Program Information Form
2. Narrative
3. Budget Form
4. Text Responses document
5. Any remaining attachments
Several important points about the forms and
documents to attach:
| 1. |
On the Attachments Form, there are 15 attachment
buttons, labeled “Attachment 1” through “Attachment
15.” By clicking on a button, applicants will be
able to choose the file from their computer that they
wish to attach. Applicants should attach only one copy
of each item. Applicants are encouraged to create multipaged
documents that consolidate multiple attachments into one
document, if possible. |
| 2. |
Applicants must submit all attachments
in one of the following formats: Microsoft Word (.doc),
Adobe Portable Document Format (.pdf), Microsoft Excel
(.xls), JPEG (.jpg), rich text (.rtf), or plain text (.txt).
To save the PDF versions of either the Program Information
Form or Budget Form as a PDF, applicants must use Adobe
Acrobat Approval or the full Acrobat Standard or Professional
Programs. (Acrobat Approval is no longer available for
purchase, but existing versions will work.) Caution: Applicants
using the free version of the Reader software cannot save
the filled-out forms.
Nonform documents, such as the narrative and Text Responses
document, can be created with any software, but must be
saved and submitted in one of the formats listed above.
Applicants who do not have the software needed to convert
files to PDF can use one of the many low-cost or free
software packages available. To learn more, go to www.imls.gov/pdf/
PDFConversion.pdf. Documents not available in an electronic
format should be scanned and submitted as a PDF or JPEG
file. |
| 3. |
For documents that are not forms, applicants
should make sure that pages are clearly labeled with the
organization’s legal name and the name of the item
(e.g., application narrative) and numbered sequentially. |
| 4. |
Forms and document files should be labeled
clearly and attached in the proper order so that IMLS
can correctly identify attachments. |
| 5. |
Applicants do not have to fill in all 15
Attachments Form buttons. |
| 6. |
If unable to view an attachment by clicking
the “View Attachment” button on the Attachments
Form, applicants should check the bottom of the screen
for the message “Pop-ups were blocked on this page.”
If this message is present, pressing “Ctrl”
and “View Attachment” will enable the applicant
to see the attachment. |
Grants.gov
Help
For help on how to use Grants.gov, please see
the help material on the Grants.gov Web site at www.grants.gov/CustomerSupport.
Applicants can also e-mail the Grants.gov helpdesk at support@grants.gov
or call them at 1-800-518-4726 from 7 A.M. to 9 P.M. eastern
time, Monday through Friday.
The Grants.gov help desk will assigned a case
number to each inquiry. This number only documents the inquiry
to the help desk, and is in no way related to the tracking
number that Grants.gov will assign an application once it
has been successfully submitted.
For other help with your application,
please review the instructions in the Museum
Grants for African American History and Culture guidelines
(PDF, 611KB), or contact the IMLS Museum Grants for African
American History and Culture staff at 202/653-4789.
Application
Forms
Face Sheet:
Adobe PDF |
Microsoft Word
Program Information Sheet:
Adobe
PDF | Microsoft
Word
Budget Forms:
Detailed Budget: Adobe
PDF | Microsoft
Word
Summary Budget: Adobe
PDF | Microsoft
Word
|
