Deadline: 5 December 2019

The U.S. Embassy in Skopje and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State has announced the 2020 call for proposals for the Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation.

The Fund was established to help countries preserve their cultural heritage and to demonstrate U.S. respect for other cultures. Since its inception in 2001, the Fund has helped preserve cultural sites, practices, and objects that are historically or culturally significant in North Macedonia and around the world.

Funding Areas

Through the AFCP Program, the Department of State supports projects to preserve cultural heritage in the following three areas:

• Cultural sites  include (but are not limited to) historic buildings and archaeological sites.
  • Examples are restoration of an ancient or historic building, preservation of an archaeological site, or documentation of cultural sites in a region for preservation purposes.
• Cultural Objects and Collections
  • From a museum, site, or similar institution include archaeological and ethnographic objects, paintings, sculpture, manuscripts, and general museum conservation needs. Examples are conservation treatment for an object or collection of objects; needs assessment of a collection’s condition and strategies for improving it; inventory of a collection for conservation and protection purposes; the creation of safe environments for storage or display of collections; or specialized training in the care and preservation of collections.
• Top priority is given to project activities that are appropriate and in keeping with international standards for the preservation of cultural heritage. An appropriate preservation activity is one that protects the values of the site, object, or collection, or form of traditional cultural expressions as they are understood by stakeholders. Stakeholders may include national, regional, or local cultural authorities, the local community, and others with vested interests in the site and the outcome of a project.

Funding Information

• Floor on Amount of Individual Awards: US $10,000 per project;
• Ceiling on Amount of Individual Awards: $200,000 per project;
• In FY 2019, awards ranged from US $25,000 to US $200,000.

The Fund can NOT be used to support the following:

• Preservation or purchase of privately or commercially owned cultural objects, collections, or real property, including those whose transfer from private or commercial to public ownership is envisioned, planned, or in process but not complete at the time of proposal submission;
• Preservation of natural heritage (physical, biological, and geological formations, paleontological collections, habitats of threatened species of animals and plants, fossils);
• Preservation of hominid or human remains;
• Preservation of news media (newspaper, newsreels, radio and TV programs, etc.);
• Preservation of published materials available elsewhere (books, periodicals, etc.);
• Archaeological excavations or exploratory surveys for research purposes;
• Development of curricula or educational materials for classroom use;
• Archaeological excavations or surveys for research purposes;
• Historical research, except in cases where historical research is justifiable and integral to the success of the proposed project;
• Acquisition or creation of new exhibits, objects, or collections for new or existing museums;
• Construction of new buildings, building additions, or permanent coverings (over archaeological sites, for example);
• Commissions of new works of art or architecture for commemorative or economic development purposes;
• Creation of new or the modern adaptation of existing traditional dances, songs, chants, musical compositions, plays, or other performances;
• Creation of replicas or conjectural reconstructions of cultural objects or sites that no longer exist;
• Relocation of cultural sites from one physical location to another;
• Removal of cultural objects or elements of cultural sites from the country for any reason;
• Digitalization of cultural objects or collections, unless part of a larger clearly defined conservation or documentation effort;
• Conservation plans or other studies, unless they are one component of a larger project to implement the results of those studies;
• Cash reserves, endowments or revolving funds; funds must be expended within the grant period (up to five years) and may not be used to create an endowment or revolving fund;
• Costs of fund-raising campaigns;
• Contingency, unforeseen, or miscellaneous fees;
• Costs of work performed prior to announcement of the award unless allowable per 2 CFR 200.458 and approved by the Grants Officer;
• International travel, except in cases where travel is justifiable and integral to the success of the proposed project;
• Travel or study outside the host country for professional development;
• Individual project costing less than US$10,000 or more than $200,000; or
• Independent U.S. projects overseas.

Eligibility Criteria

Only North Macedonia’s entities, such as non-governmental organizations, museums, Ministry of Culture, or similar institutions and organizations are eligible to apply for the Fund.

Application Rating Criteria

Using a point-based system, the Embassy will rate all applications based on the program funding priorities; the quality, soundness, and comprehensiveness of the proposed project and budget; the urgency of the proposed project;; and the quality and quantity of supporting materials, such as resumes of the key project participants, images of the resource, and notices of official permission from the responsible resource steward, such as a ministry of culture.

How to Apply

Applications must be submited in English electronically at the address given on the website.

Eligible Country: North Macedonia

For more information, please visit https://mk.usembassy.gov/education-culture/grants/