Resources for Grantees

Congratulations on Your Grant!

This page is intended for grant recipients to help you manage your grant.

For more information on types of grants, click here. For an overview of the grants management process, click here.

On this page, you will find:

  1. Grant Management
  2. Public Relations Toolkit
  3. Resources for Your Institution
  4. FAQs for Grantees

Grant Management

The following materials are for your reference and to help you keep track of the required and recommended steps for grant management throughout the grant period.

Grantee Checklist

Use the Grantee Checklist to help you keep track of your grantee requirements throughout the grant period.

Grant Agreement and Grant Guidelines

Refer to your Grant Agreement and Grant Guidelines to ensure that you are adhering to the grant requirements.

You can find your Grant Agreement on the CTH Grants Portal. Follow the instructions in the Grantee Checklist to download, sign, and submit your Grant Agreement.

Grant Guidelines:

Connecting with CTH in Bill

CT Humanities transitioned from sending paper checks for payments to electronic funds transfers using Bill in January 2023. Your organization will need to be connected with CTH in Bill in order to receive your award payment. If your organization is already connected with CTH in Bill, please double check to ensure that the information in Bill is still correct before we disburse funds.

Need help with Bill? The following resources may be helpful for you:

Help Getting Set Up:

User Profile Information:

Bank Account Links:

Email Notifications:

If you require additional help, please contact Adrianna Chesnut (achesnut@cthumanities.org).

Requesting Changes to Your Grant

If you have any major changes to your grant, you must request a change approval.

Major changes to your grant include:

  • Changes in consultants or other key speakers, presenters, or contributors paid with CTH grant funds
  • Budget shift of more than 10% within approved categories
  • Budget shift outside of approved categories
  • Your project will not be completed by the end of your grant period
  • Your Fiscal Agent or Project Director has changed

If you need to request approval for changes to your grant, please fill out the Change Request Form through the CTH Grants Portal or email Grants staff at grants@cthumanities.org. For a video tutorial on how to complete your Change Request Form, click here.

Intellectual Property Policy

CT Humanities is implementing an organization wide Intellectual Property (IP) policy that will apply to Quick Grants, Planning Grants, Implementation Grants and Capacity Grants starting on January 1, 2024. The policy codifies many of the assumptions and current practices already in use by CT Humanities and our grantee organizations.

To review the Intellectual Property Policy, click here.

Digital Humanities

CT Humanities’ Digital Humanities team manages Connecticuthistory.org, the state’s home for stories about the people, traditions, innovations, and events that make up the rich history of the Nutmeg State, and Teach It, which provides resources to help Connecticut’s teachers bring Connecticut history into the classroom through a series of inquiry-based activities that reinforce the principles found in the new social studies frameworks.

If your project is related to history or social studies, consider contributing to these resources.

For more information on contributing to Connecticuthistory.org, click here.

For questions, please contact our Digital Humanities Staff at connecticuthistory@cthumanities.org or TeachItCT@CTHumanities.org.

Final Reports

CT Humanities grants require a final report where you will share how your project went and how you spent CTH funds. Partnership Grants may also require an interim report.

To complete your final report, log in to the CTH grants portal. On your Applicant Dashboard, look for your grant. Under your grant, you should see Follow Up Forms, the last of which should be your final report. Click the blue “Start” (or “Edit” if you’ve started your final report) button to edit and submit your final report. (For a video tutorial of how to access and complete your final report form, click here.)

In the narrative questions, let us know how your project went and what successes and challenges you experienced in completing this project.

For Quick Grants, Capacity Grants, Planning Grants, and Implementation Grants, you will be asked to complete a financial report that shows how CTH funds were spent and how the grant was matched.

You will find the link to download a blank financial report form in your final report. To watch a tutorial video on completing the financial report, please click here.

For Implementation Grants only, you must also provide 1) a copy of donor checks or a letter from your donor stating the amount of the contribution and its intended use on your grant-supported project, and 2) an External Cash Certification Letter from your organization. For more detailed instructions and sample letters, please view the Certification of External Matching Funds document here.

Once submitted, CTH Grants Staff will process your final report and submit it for payment of the final installment of your award.

If you have any questions, please contact Grants staff at grants@cthumanities.org.

Submit Your Project for an Award

Consider submitting your project for an award. Submitting your project for an award helps boost your project and organization and makes a good case for continued funding.

The following organizations have annual awards that may be a fit for your project:

Public Relations Toolkit

Public Relations Guidelines

Refer to the Public Relations Guidelines for guidance on your publicity requirements for your grant.

Logo Files

CT Humanities’ logo or credit line should be used as appropriate to acknowledge funding.

Sample Press Releases and Letters of Appreciation

These sample press releases and letters of appreciation are provided as a template for you.

Sponsorships, Quick Grants, Capacity Grants, Planning Grants, Implementation Grants, and Partnership Grants are funded through State funds.

CT Summer at the Museum grants are funded through Federal funds.

Find Your Legislators and Media Outlets

The following links are provided to help you find your media outlets and legislators for press releases, letters of appreciation, and any other outreach to help publicize your project.

Find Your Legislators – State and Congressional

Find Your Media Outlet

Resources for Your Institution

Webinars

CT Humanities partners with the Connecticut League of History Organizations (CLHO) to provide resources for humanities and cultural organizations, such as the webinars shared below. For more videos from CLHO, visit their YouTube channel here.

Development

Data Collection

Creative Commons and Intellectual Property

  • Creative Commons conducted three webinars with CTH on intellectual property in spring 2023. You can view all three webinars under the Resources tab of the Intellectual Property Policy page.

For a shorter introduction to Creative Commons licenses and tools, view the segment below:

Accessibility Excellence Toolkit

How accessible is your organization’s work? This toolkit provides resources for cultural organizations looking to make their work, space, and operations more accessible to all:

Want more resources for accessibility? The CT Office of the Arts has compiled various tools and resources regarding accessibility, including resources for exhibit design, meetings and event planning, websites, and more:

Evaluation Toolkit

How should you evaluate your project? How can you identify which elements of your project to evaluate and how best to evaluate them?

Creating an evaluation plan is not only important for helping you to complete your grant’s final report with more concrete information from your constituents, but can also help you to better assess the extent to which your project met its goals and lessons learned for future projects.

Some of these tools may be useful for you as you develop an evaluation plan.

Data on the CT Cultural Sector

CT Humanities gathers data on the CT cultural sector to help us, our grantees, and the legislature better understand who the CT culture sector is and the impact the CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grants have had on our state.

This information may be used to help your organization see where it fits in to the CT Cultural Sector. This information may be used for other grant applications, presentations to your board, or making organizational decisions.

FAQs for Grantees

The following are frequently asked questions from grantees. If you don’t see your question here, please feel free to reach out to us at grants@cthumanities.org.

How are grant funds disbursed?

For Quick Grants, Capacity Grants, Planning Grants, and Implementation Grants, funds are disbursed in two installments: 80% at the time of fully executed grant agreement and the remaining 20% after completion of the final report.

For Sponsorships, funds are disbursed in one installment: 100% at the time of fully executed grant agreement.

Other grant lines may follow different disbursement schedules. All information about the disbursement of funds can be found in your grant agreement.

Starting in 2023, funds are disbursed via ACH transfers through Bill.com. If you have not previously received funds through Bill from CTH, you can follow these steps to register for Bill and connect to us for payment.

If you believe there has been a problem with your payment, please contact us at grants@cthumanities.org.

How do I submit my Grant Agreement?

Sign and submit your grant agreement in the CTH Grants Portal. Once logged in, you will see your grant on the Applicant Dashboard. Under “Documents Uploaded by Administrator,” look for the grant agreement and click the link to download it. Under “Follow Up Forms,” find your Grant Agreement follow up form and click “Edit” on the far right. Upload and submit your signed grant agreement here.

Please note that your Authorized Signatory must sign the grant agreement. We cannot accept a typed name on the signature line.

How do I make changes to my grant?

Please review the instructions under “Grant Management” above.

Can I save a copy of my grant application?

Yes. In the CTH Grants Portal, open your grant application. Under your contact information, you should see three buttons. Click the middle button “Application Packet” to create a PDF of your application.

Sign Up For Email Updates