Grants present a tremendous opportunity for museums to improve their collection storage. Pursuing museum collection storage grants can be an intimidating process. Delta Designs has helped museums all over the country successfully apply for and win grants to help fund collections care. Due to our extensive work with museums for the grant submittal process, along with interviews with various collections and curatorial staff, we have formulated some helpful tips in the writing of a successful grant.
Start early
Due diligence is the name of the game in grant writing. Plan to spend six months at minimum planning and preparing your application. Find the submission deadline and make sure that you have plenty of time to complete the process.
Understand the parameters
There are numerous granting opportunities available, read more here. It is important to understand the intricacies of the opportunity to ensure that you are answering in accordance with the expectations. Because these grants are highly competitive, reviewers must find ways to eliminate project submissions. Don’t get dismissed because you missed basic criteria!
Do some housekeeping
Starting early affords your team the opportunity to seek out the best museum storage solutions before the grant is submitted. As early as a year before the submission, begin talking with your staff to understand their needs and ideas for improvement. This is also an excellent opportunity to clean, organize, and inventory your space.
Assemble a dream team
Do not try to go this alone! In addition to selecting members of your staff, identify experts who can help guide your grant writing. Delta Designs is more than happy to partner on any project. We will provide a free on-site visit to help you understand how to best utilize your space and the storage options available to you. We can also help you identify other members who should be included on the grant team. For example; the museum storage solution being proposed may impact floor loading and may require an engineer to be part of the team to provide guidance.
Include appropriate information
Grant requirements are as varied as the organizations that release them. But plan to justify the requested project with supporting data. You will also want to identify who will benefit from the completed project, particularly how the public will benefit from the research conducted through the collection. Finally, have a very specific action plan for implementing your museum storage solution, paying special attention to the efficiencies created by the new storage.
Be patient!
The unfortunate reality is that most grant submissions are not awarded on the first try. It is often the second or third attempt that is awarded, but all is not lost! With a team assembled and a specific action plan in place, even if your institution is not funded through a grant, you are in an excellent position to begin raising funds, private or otherwise, for the completion of your project.
If you are ready to begin your submission process, contact us for a free site evaluation. We are honored by the opportunity to partner with you in improving your museum collection storage.