Guidelines for Proposals for $1,500 and under

Eligibility

Faculty members of all ranks, administrators, or academic programs or departments in the University may submit proposals to the Center. All proposals must involve projects in keeping with the mission and purpose of the Center. Applicants, including members of the steering committee, may not submit proposals that would benefit themselves financially (By-Laws, Article 5.1).

Standards for Proposals

Proposals to the Center must aim to foster more effective teaching, enhanced scholarly research or creative work, improved morale in the humanities, and/or increases in the number of students majoring or minoring in the humanities. The Center ordinarily will not fund events open only to students enrolled in specific classes.

Budget: Proposals must include an itemized budget of judiciously determined expenses. This budget should be set forth on the grant proposal form. The CFH only funds proposals that have financial support from one or more other sources. A list of possible funding sources is available upon request.

The committee strongly prefers that proposed programs stay within budget; however, sometimes the actual total expenses for an event or program may be more than originally proposed. In these cases, recipients, following normal procedures, should submit an amended budget with an explanation for changes, along with the original proposal, before the event or program takes place and before all funds are disbursed. The steering committee will then decide whether to approve additional funds to total no more than $1,500 for the event or program. The Center does not reimburse or pay for expenses that exceed the original budget total without steering committee approval. The steering committee does not approve expenses for events or programs that have already taken place.

Guest speakers should ordinarily spend no more than one night in Baltimore and should usually stay at a hotel recommended by the University. Receptions should be planned with restraint and according to the status of the speaker, the size of the event, etc. No more than one reception should occur within 24 hours for the same event. Meals for guests should balance hospitality with reasonable economy—restaurant meals should be limited to three or four faculty, students, and/or administrators, selected for professional reasons. Spouses or other guests should reimburse the Center. If circumstances require an exception to any of these guidelines, the reasons for this should be explained in the proposal itself.

Selection of speakers and honoraria: To ensure that the committee is considering realistic program proposals, proposed speakers should be contacted before the proposal is submitted, and tentative commitments secured; at the same time, applicants should consult page 3 of the read-only PDF version of the CFH grant proposal form for suggestions for appropriate amounts for speaker honoraria. In cases in which a proposed speaker is unable to make a commitment until closer to the planned event, those planning the event should at least determine from the speaker that it is a realistic possibility that he or she will be willing to come to campus.

The amount of a speaker's honorarium should be commensurate with his or her stature. The Center does not pay honoraria to Loyola faculty members.

The criteria for approval, applied more rigorously according to the amount of the request, include the following:

• The academic excellence of the proposed program;
• The contribution of the program to its discipline;
• The contribution of the program to interdisciplinary exchange (does the program involve more than one department? does it address interdisciplinary topics?);
• The probable interest of the program to the Loyola community and/or a wider audience;
• Whether funding from other sources has been secured; and
• The extent to which the proposal has followed the guidelines and procedures set forth in this document.

Funds from the Center for the Humanities will not be approved for what can be considered normal University expenditures.

Procedures

First-time grant proposer? Click here to view a read-only PDF version of the Qualtrics grant proposal form.

All proposals should include the following:

• Grant proposal form
• Description of the event or program proposed and an explanation of its benefit to the humanities within its discipline, in the University and/or the local and larger academic communities;
• The backgrounds and credentials for featured speakers;
• More detailed budget than that on the proposal form, if necessary;
• Publicity plans, facility plans, and reservations.

The Program Assistant will send the applicant, in writing, the Steering Committee's decision, and a brief explanation if the proposal is rejected.

A Qualtrics final report form, with an account of funds spent, must be submitted to the director of the Center no more than 30 days after the actual event.
This report should describe the success of the program, any difficulties encountered, the size and composition of the audience, etc.

Deadlines

Proposals for $1,500 and under are due on the last (working) day of the Month, August through April.

Sample Small Grant Proposals

Douglass Day proposal 2024

Allen Exhibition and Programming