The National Recording Preservation Foundation (NRPF) is pleased to invite proposals for its 2025 preservation grants program. This cycle of NRPF preservation grants will support the preservation of unique and at-risk audio collections. Grants awarded under this call are intended to support basic activites to preserve audio collections — including inventory, condition assessment, storage, description, and digitization — or to build capacity to care for and preserve audio materials amongst collection stewards.

NRPF grants are available to non-profit archives, libraries, museums, universities and other entities engaged in the preservation of audio materials of cultural or historical importance. Applicant organizations should be located within the United States, its territories, or sovereign states and nations associated with or within the United States.

Applications may be submitted via online form at any time before the end of the day, anywhere in the US, on June 30, 2025. See below for the link to the form.

Opportunity Details

• Amount: $5,000 to $10,000 per grant
• Eligible Applicants: Registered nonprofit organizations with a collecting, preservation, and/or access mission, including libraries, archives, and museums; proposals for preservation activities with a collection should confirm that the applicant organization holds the rights to preserve the collection in question
• Duration: 6-12 months
• Applications Due: June 30, 2025
• Proposals May Request Support for These Types of Activities:
  • Contracting a qualified vendor to digitize an audio collection for preservation
  • Hiring a qualified consultant to conduct a preservation assessment of an audio collection, which will result in a written preservation plan
  • Implementing planned preservation actions, including re-housing, inventorying, environmental monitoring, or other basic preservation activities (note that due to the degradation and obsolescence of physical audio media, our priority is to support the digitization or other recovery and preservation of audio signal, over the storage of physical assets)
  • Inventorying and assessing collections to identify media types, condition, content, and prioritize preservation actions
  • Planning and conducting workshops that increase knowledge and capacity for collections stewards to preserve, manage, or digitize audio collections, whether physical or digital (may include professional development for regular staff)

Funds may not be used for:

• Projects that do not focus primarily on audio collections
• Acquisition of collections
• Conservation or restoration of individual items
• While a portion of funds may be used to offset staff salary, a grant may not be used solely to pay or supplement a single staff member’s salary

Proposal Evaluation and Selection

Applications will be evaluated on their merits, according to:

• Significance: The cultural and historical importance of the collection, as well as the potential for the proposed work to enhance the preservation of the audio content in the collection.
• Urgency: Extent to which the collection is threatened, whether by organizational capacity, failure of media carriers, or by physical degradation of the media before it may become unplayable or the audio signal becomes unrecoverable
• Capacity: Degree to which an applicant demonstrates the ability to manage the outcomes of a project, including preserving and providing access to digitally reformatted materials, providing access to collections, or disseminating the contents and outcomes of training activities
• Planning: Relevance and feasibility of the proposed preservation activities, including appropriate personnel and a clear, actionable, and completable plan for the proposed work
• Budget: the extent to which the project’s total cost as proposed, when compared to the significance and impact of the work, is reasonable and beneficial

Grantees will be selected based on a range of factors, including the significance of the collection to be preserved, the best practices and planning for the work proposed, the capacity of the applicant to manage the outcomes of supported activities, and the responsiveness to this call for proposals.

Applications will be assessed by reviewers selected by NRPF. Reviewers will be knowledgeable in audio preservation, collections management, and the history of recorded sound. NRPF retains the final authority to select recipients and make awards based on the advice of application reviewers.

Application Deadline

June 30, 2025

Expected Awards

NRPF expects to make two to four awards in amounts ranging from $5,000 to $10,000.

Awards will be announced on or around September 1, 2025.

How to Apply

Applications should be submitted online using NRPF’s online application form, which can be accessed at: https://form.typeform.com/to/QDzTSAPB.

Application Resources

These links provide additional resources for applicants:

• Application questions and instructions in pdf - these may be used to preview the application questions and to prepare application materials
• Budget Form Template - available as a Google doc (click the “File” menu and then Download in your preferred format)
• Online application form (via Typeform)

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Who can Apply?

Libraries, archives, museums, and non-profit organizations with the mission to collect and preserve cultural heritage materials are eligible to apply.

This call for proposals does not offer grants to individuals.

In rare cases, NRPF may offer grants to entities that are not bona fide non-profit organizations, in cases when collections are of exceptional cultural and historical significance. In most such cases, however, the Foundation would request that applicants seek a fiscal sponsor that is a non-profit entity.

If you have questions about your organiztion’s eligibility, please contact NRPF or send email directly to info@recordingpreservation.org. In your message, identify your organization (or the organization that you would be applying on behalf of) and include a brief description of the project that you intend to propose.

Are commercial releases possible outcomes of a proposed project?

Outcomes of projects funded under this call should in most cases lead to the creation of preservation plans, collection documentation, catalog records, or other materials that directly benefit the preservation of audio collections. Projects leading only to a commercial release, but without a preservation emphasis, are not eligible.

Where to find a digitization vendor?

NRPF does not maintain a list of audio preservation and reformatting professionals. However, NRPF does recommend checking with those listed as providing preservation transfer services on the ARSC Audio Preservation Directory.

If I plan to work with a vendor or external contractor, what documentation is needed?

Identify in the proposal what vendor or contractor you plan to work with. If your application is selected to receive a grant, NRPF will request documentation and contract confirmation during the award finalization process.

Does NRPF support indirect costs or “overhead”?

No. These grants are intended to supply resources that go directly toward preservation activities and do not support the general operating costs of an organization. Please refer to NRPF’s grant policies for more details.

How can I get more information?

For more information, please email to info@recordingpreservation.org.