Hi,
Sounds like a great project!
I don't know if you have contacted
The Prince Edward Island Museum & Heritage Foundation
2 Kent Street,
Charlottetown PE,
Canada
C1A 1M6
http://www.peimuseum.com/index.html
902.368.6600
Fax: 902.368.6608
E-mail: peimuse@pei.sympatico.ca
If not, I would suggest getting them involved. Having a recognized
cultural institution backing you makes getting additional funding so
much easier. They may have access to local resources that wouldn't be
available to those outside of your community.
http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/pcapc-cahsp/01_e.cfm discusses funding for
Canadian Arts and Heritage Sustainability Programs. While your
organization would not be comprehensive enough to access these funds,
the connection to the Heritage Foundation might make it possible to
qualify for some of these funds.
There is a Museums Assistance Program that you might qualify for. The
application deadline was today (NOV 8) for this year. However, you can
start now with preparing the materials for requesting funds for next
year. This program also provides many resources to help with
organizing your group and getting through the application process.
http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/pam-map/index_e.cfm
Cultural Spaces Canada
http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/ecc-csp/index_e.cfm
Provides funding to "Non-profit arts and heritage organizations
incorporated under Part II of the Canada Business Corporations Act or
under corresponding provincial or territorial legislation."
Applications may be submitted at any time. For a list of projects that
have been funded and the amounts
check:http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/ecc-csp/projet_e.cfm
It looks as if you'd fit in well with this group. There is some
urgency since they have committed 87% of the funds available already.
This site lists some of those above, but adds a couple of other
possibilities
http://www.astrocom-on.com/gstone/Culture.htm
Fort Edward National Historic Site, Fort Lawrence Heritage and Fort
Petrie Museum are in Nova Scotia. They sounds very much like what you
are involved in and contacting them might produce some leads.
West Hants Historical Society (Ft. Edward)
(902) 798-4706
or
John D. Wilson
(902) 798-2823
Fort Lawrence Heritage Association
P. Ben Griffin, Chairman
RR 6 Amherst, NS B4H 3Y4
(902) 667-7338
or
Ken S. Sisson, Secretary
RR 4, Box 172, Amherst, NS B4H 3Y2
(902) 667-8977
Sydney Harbour Fortification Society (Fort Petrie)
Patricia Grezel, Secretary
5779 Union Highway, River Ryan, New Waterford, NS B1H 5J9
(902) 862-8367
or
Charlie Musial, Treasurer
5895 Gardiner, New Waterford, NS B1H 5K2
(902) 862-2902
http://highlander.cbnet.ns.ca/cbnet/comucntr/nwcomreg/fortptri/fpetrie.htm
Royal Canadian Bank funds some community activities. They state that
culture and education are areas that interest them
http://www.rbc.com/sponsorship/prog_02.html
Canadian Heritage has a page with 60 links to funding sources:
http://www.chin.gc.ca/PM.cgi?pmAP=canned_search&pmLANG=English&DTqo1=AND&DTnt=210&pmResultFormat=1&pmPR=FORUM_FUNDING&pmLM=Funding
The Foundation Center focuses on US charities, although they have some
international donors in the database. There is a charge for accessing
this information. The site is a very good resource for any group
seeking grants and funding.
Their section on sample proposals and letters of inquiry should help
you to get started.
http://fdncenter.org/learn/faqs/propsample.html
search terms: grant foundation funding cutural historical restorations
Canada
Good luck.
bcguide-ga |
Clarification of Answer by
bcguide-ga
on
10 Nov 2002 05:03 PST
Hi,
I originally searched for sites related to your project (see the
search terms in the answer).
I went back and did a search for educational grants and foudations.
That is where the best networking for grants occurs. Sure enough, I
found a lot of information. Still looking for England, but these
should keep you busy for a couple of days while I search for more.
It's a good project - I'm sure we'll come up with a few sources that
have money waiting for you :-)
Charity Village is an additional Canadian site.
http://www.charityvillage.com/guides/guide3.asp
Excellent resources and links... One of which leads to
http://www.gov.pe.ca/infopei/onelisting.php3?number=20673
InfoPEI Tourism Investment Fund.
http://www.ala.org/acrl/resmay97.html
This article not only has good links to funding sources - it has
several sites dedicated to grant writing. Excellent!!
http://www.fdncenter.org/funders/
Has an extensive listing of US based funders.
Go to the "grantmakers web sites section" about half way down the
page. Click on "Private Foundations", "Corporate Grantmakers" or
"Grantmaking Public Charities" and you will be taken to a page where
you can enter your search term. I used "history" - without the quotes.
It will be frustrating because most of the grants will not apply to
you -- even with very creative proposal writing.
These are a stretch, but take a look and decide whether you might want
to send them an inquiry. After all, if you don't ask - it's a "no"
anyway... and you never can tell, if you pitch the presentation just
right, you may get a "yes" -
http://fdncenter.org/grantmaker/starr/
The Starr Foundation
Their culture grants have gone to large museums and to small,
community-based groups. "The Foundation funds cultural exchange
organizations that further Mr. Starr's interest in international
relations and understanding." SO - that would be the focus of this
grant request. "The Foundation rarely funds overseas organizations
without U.S. tax-exempt status." The key in that phrase is rarely -
which means that they occasionally will - if you can make a strong
enough case for why they should.
http://www.fordfound.org/
In 2001 the Foundation received about 40,000 grant requests and made
2,550 grants. The competition is very, very steep here.
If you decide to apply - and I think you should - go through the
programs that have been funded during the past year or two. Find a
couple that are somewhat similar to yours... community involvement,
education, cutural identity should be stressed. Military history is
not a big focus of their grants. The educational and community aspects
are key. It is not impossible to get a grant from Ford. You have to be
able to translate your project into terms that they are interested in
funding. Normally they give grants for one year but tend to support
projects that they've invested in for slightly longer if necessary.
http://www.huttonfoundation.org/
They only give grants in certain areas in California, but...
They will occasionally fund an international project and have funded a
California railroad museum - in many respects this is the same
"cultural" focus as your project.
Wenner-Gren
http://www.wennergren.org/about.html
http://www.wennergren.org/awards.html#sca
Awards for social anthropology - It would involve someone with a
research background proposing a study of some social/cultural aspect
of the project. Officer/soldier interaction, Women's role in the time
period, Impact of the fort on the native populations... something to
that effect.
The lists of foundations giving out money are quite extensive and you
may find a few good leads.
Yahoo has a listing of "financial aid
http://dir.yahoo.com/Education/financial_aid/grants/
most are US based, but check through for anything that might be
relevant.
http://www.schoolgrants.org/grant_opps/nation_deadline.htm
Has educational grants - a few are available in both the US and
Canada. The only one I saw that would apply is AMEX - which you
already have, but check the site to make sure. They normally do
updates pretty often.
The education planet has a good selection of resources some are
already covered, but some new ones, too.
http://www.educationplanet.com/search/redirect?id=8551&mfcount=169&mfkw=grants&startval=0
I've applied for many grants - and even been awarded a Ford Foundation
grant. The key is to start with local sources of funding.
Fund raising is rather like getting a credit card or a bank loan. If
you have funding from smaller foundations, the larger ones are more
likely to look at your proposals.
Get community support and you've got an edge in the applications. Tie
in with schools in your area - the connections are readily apparent.
You are a living history, sociology, anthropology workshop. Not to
mention construction trades and several other "school-based" subjects.
I would think the local schools would jump at the opportunity to take
part in a livng example of history - especially if it won't take any
of their funds to join in. They may even be able to get a couple of
grants that you don't qualify for - to supplement the educational
aspects of the project.
Another avenue that I'd look into is getting researchers from
Universities to come and use your project as a lab. Give it some
thought. There is a lot of funding for doctoral research available -
not to you, but to university students for studies that could mean
additional assets for the whole project.
Funding projects on a shoe-string budget requires creative thought.
Step back and take a look as an unbiased observer - list every aspect
that this project touches on. It's far from "just" a military history
and restoration site. You need to incorporate every nuance in your
search for funds and in your grant proposals.
I will continue searching for any sites related to England. I'm not
sure I'll find anything, but if I do, I'll post them.
Good luck!
bcguide-ga
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