National Grant Program for LGBTQ+ Historic Places

The National Grant Program for LGBTQ+ Historic Places is a nationwide historic preservation grant program facilitated by the LGBTQ+ Heritage Alliance. The Alliance is fiscally sponsored by the National Center for Civic Innovation, which serves as the official grantor and handles application processing, compliance, and disbursement of funds, while the Alliance leads program design, review, and implementation. Building on a successful pilot round, the program is intended to promote a fuller understanding of the contributions of LGBTQ+ people in American history by supporting projects directly connected to historic places. The program defines historic preservation broadly to include identifying, documenting, recognizing, protecting, and interpreting buildings, structures, sites, streetscapes, landscapes, archaeological resources, and other places important to shared cultural heritage. The program supports public-facing research, recognition, and interpretation projects concerning places with LGBTQ+ historic importance, with priority given to places connected to LGBTQ+ history before 2000. Research projects may include historic context statements, surveys of LGBTQ+ historic sites, research identifying historic LGBTQ+ spaces, reinterpretation research for house museums, research on specific historic places, place-specific oral histories, and studies of LGBTQ+ historic landscapes. Recognition projects may include nominations to State or National Registers of Historic Places, local landmark designations, historic markers, and interpretive plaques. Interpretation projects may include exhibitions, museum installations, walking tours, heritage trails, digital heritage projects, maps, websites, online exhibitions, multimedia storytelling, and educational materials tied to specific historic places. The program especially welcomes projects documenting historically marginalized communities under the LGBTQ+ umbrella and proposals from geographically underrepresented rural, suburban, and other communities. Awards range from $500 to $10,000. Applicants should request an amount appropriate to the project's scope, complexity, and anticipated deliverables, and budgets must be clear, documented, and justified. The application requires the total project budget, including eligible and ineligible costs, followed by a breakdown of eligible expenses proposed for grant support. General education programs, oral history, archiving, collecting, and digitization are ineligible unless directly tied to interpretation of a specific place with LGBTQ+ historic significance. Political advocacy campaigns, documentaries, books, social media projects, performances, travel costs, food, equipment purchases, and capital projects are always ineligible. No matching or cost-share requirement is stated. Multi-year or phased proposals may be considered, but projects funded in this round must be completed by October 31, 2027. Eligible applicants include 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations based in the United States or its territories. Individuals, initiatives, and projects that do not have their own 501(c)(3) status may apply through a 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor, which will receive and administer funds on the project's behalf if an award is made. Previous grantees may apply, applicants at all experience levels are welcome, and only one application may be submitted per grant cycle. Required eligibility and compliance materials include the nonprofit organization or fiscal sponsor's IRS 501(c)(3) determination letter, most recent IRS Form 990, board list with titles and affiliations, and most recent audited financial statements. If audited statements are unavailable, the applicant must explain why and provide either an internally prepared balance sheet and income statement or an organizational budget showing actual income and expenses for the most recently completed fiscal year. Project documentation also includes a resume, CV, or brief biography for the primary contact and up to three relevant images or documents. Applications are submitted through the online grants management platform identified on the program page. The application requests information concerning proposed activities, applicant experience, intended audiences, promotion or collaboration plans, budget, schedule, and compliance documentation. Time-limited projects such as exhibitions and walking tours must explain how results and deliverables will remain publicly accessible and connected to the place-based focus after project completion. Optional application webinars are offered on July 21 and July 23 to review program goals, eligibility, and the application process; these sessions are not recorded for participant privacy. The complete application and all required materials are due August 31 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, and incomplete applications will not be considered. Applications are reviewed by a grant review committee composed of professionals experienced in historic preservation, LGBTQ+ history, and public history. Evaluation considers the historical significance of the place, how effectively the project advances documentation, recognition, or interpretation of LGBTQ+ historic places, the clarity of the proposed work and anticipated outcomes or deliverables, the applicant's capacity to complete the project within the grant period, and whether the work will produce publicly accessible outcomes extending its impact beyond the grant period. Applicants will be notified of funding decisions in November 2026. Successful applicants must sign a grant agreement before funds are released, complete their projects during the grant period from November 2026 through October 2027, and submit a final report and project deliverables by the conclusion of the grant. Questions concerning eligibility or project fit may be directed to info@lgbtqheritagealliance.org.

Clearly demonstrate the historical significance of the specific LGBTQ+ place and explain how the work advances its documentation, recognition, protection, or interpretation. Define clear outcomes and deliverables, demonstrate capacity to complete the work within the grant period, and create publicly accessible results that extend impact beyond the project period. Projects connected to LGBTQ+ history before 2000 receive priority, and the program especially welcomes work involving historically marginalized LGBTQ+ communities and geographically underrepresented areas.