(Above: Sacred Harp singing featured in an AHA-funded episode of the Alabama Folklife Association’s podcast series, Alabama Folk.)

The Alabama Humanities Alliance is once again set to offer Major Grants in support of humanities-rich public programming statewide. These grants offer up to $15,000 for eligible projects that bring Alabamians together to explore what makes us human — our shared history, literature, languages, art, archaeology, religion, philosophy, and more.

The timing of these Major Grants is intended to aid Alabama nonprofits, institutions of higher education, and governmental agencies in planning their public programming for 2027. AHA’s next two rounds of Major Grant deadlines are October 1, 2026, and February 1, 2027.

AHA’s updated grant guidelines are available now; AHA’s grant portal for Major Grant applications will open August 10. For full info on AHA grantmaking, visit alabamahumanities.org/grants.

“We are delighted to offer these Major Grants once again to support the many cultural and educational groups that rely on this funding,” says Chuck Holmes, AHA’s executive director. “AHA’s grantmaking is core to who we are and why we exist. This is how we help local communities learn more about the wider world around us, as well as the people, places, and stories that make Alabama home.”

About AHA’s Major Grants

AHA’s Major Grants often fund projects such as traveling exhibitions, oral history projects, lectures and conferences, cultural and literary festivals, teacher workshops, documentary films, and more. Competitive applications all share three essential elements: public participation, strong humanities content, and the direct involvement of humanities scholars.

These grants also often help connect the humanities to the arts, sciences, and beyond. In recent rounds of grantmaking, for instance, AHA has supported:

• A public symposium at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville that explored the relationship between the human condition and artificial intelligence;
• Series of artist interviews and public talks in support of Constructions: Contemporary Fiber, an exhibition at Dothan’s Wiregrass Museum of Art;
• Workshops and discussions exploring the past of the ancient Florence Mound, in order to help determine the best care for the historic site moving forward.

“We’re thankful for the Alabama Humanities grant that allowed us to bring national humanities speakers to our AI Symposium, exposing our community to a broad spectrum of ideas and establishing the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, and Alabama, as a leader in the AI discussion.”  -Nancy Noever, U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Huntsville

New guidelines for 2026

Interested applicants are strongly encouraged to read AHA’s updated guidelines in full. Key updates to this year’s guidelines for both Major and Mini Grants include:

• New restrictions on certain costs and activities due to federal and NEH-specific guidelines
• Examples of arts-related programs that could be eligible for humanities funding
• Requirement that all applicants have a unique entity identifier (UEI)

The grant guidelines also feature three new resources for applicants:

• An overview of how AHA reviews and evaluates grant proposals
• A checklist to review before pressing send on an application
• A calendar of all grant deadlines through April 1, 2027

In addition to the revised grant guidelines, applicants also have the opportunity to submit draft applications prior to each grant deadline – for feedback they can apply to their final application. Applicants can also set up a call to talk through eligibility and application questions with AHA’s grants director, Graydon Rust.

Funding history

This marks the first time in nearly a year and a half that AHA has been able to offer Major Grant funding for Alabama’s communities. In the spring of 2025, AHA experienced a disruption of its federal funding due to cuts directed by the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency — revoking funding that Congress had already appropriated for AHA and all other state humanities councils across the nation.

For more than 50 years, AHA has used federal funding to support its grantmaking. The arrangement is part of a longstanding federal-state partnership — created and annually renewed by Congress — that directs funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities to nonprofit and nonpartisan state humanities councils, like AHA. The goal is to empower grantmaking decisions at the state level, closest to the public programming being created by, and for, local communities.

“While our federal funding has yet to be restored to Congressionally directed levels, we are grateful that enough funds have started flowing so that we can again offer these vital grants,” says Holmes. “We know know how much Alabama’s communities rely on us. In a survey of our most recent Major Grant recipients, 90% noted that their work would not be possible without AHA’s support.”

The loss of federal funding also came at a critical time, given 2026 marked America’s 250th anniversary. Individual and institutional donors helped AHA sustain its monthly Mini Grants program (up to $2,500). Throughout 2026, AHA has prioritized funding projects that explore America’s founding history and principles and sparked community conversations on our shared past and future.

Still, the impact on Alabama’s communities is evident in AHA’s year-end 2024 and 2025 grantmaking numbers:

Grants awarded statewide:

• 2024: 65 grants ($381,063)
• 2025: 36 ($87,084)

Community events and public programs funded:

• 2024: 1,790
• 2025: 925

As another AHA grant recipient put it before last year’s pause in Major Grants:

“AHA support is the difference between many good and worthwhile programs happening or not happening in our state.”  -Mike Bunn, Historic Blakeley State Park, Spanish Fort

About the Alabama Humanities Alliance
Founded in 1974, the nonprofit and nonpartisan Alabama Humanities Alliance has served as a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Through AHA’s grantmaking and public programming, we promote lifelong learning, impactful storytelling, and civic engagement. We believe the humanities can bring Alabamians together and help us better understand the communities we call home.

May 19, 2025 — Six weeks after suspending its statewide grantmaking as a result of abrupt federal cuts, the Alabama Humanities Alliance is bringing back limited grant offerings.

Effective immediately, nonprofits across Alabama can once again apply for AHA’s Mini Grants, which offer up to $2,500 for humanities-rich public programming. Learn about these grants — and how to apply for them — at alabamahumanities.org/grants.

All AHA grantmaking was paused April 2, when the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) terminated AHA’s longstanding partnership with the National Endowment for the Humanities — eliminating two-thirds of AHA’s annual funding.

Since then, an outpouring of support from individuals, corporations, and foundations has helped preserve the Alabama Humanities Alliance, including major gifts from Hugh F. Culverhouse Jr. and from the Federation of State Humanities Councils with support from the Mellon Foundation. This support has now enabled AHA to bring back its Mini Grants.

“We are pleased to resume this support that helps thousands of Alabamians come together as they engage with the humanities in their own communities,” says Chuck Holmes, AHA’s executive director. “We have missed offering these grants as much as our local partners have missed the support. These grants illustrate what AHA is all about. We help Alabamians bring the past to life, explore our shared stories, and better understand this vibrant and complex state we all call home.”

It is AHA’s hope to offer Mini Grants for the rest of 2025, if donor support for the organization continues to sustain AHA’s capacity, Holmes says. AHA’s Major Grants (up to $10,000) and Media Grants (up to $15,000) remain paused. Those painful decisions reflect AHA’s still-tenuous financial situation. For decades, AHA has used federal dollars appropriated by a bipartisan Congress to support grantmaking across the state.

“As happy as we are to offer Mini Grants once again, the reality is that we don’t know what our ability will be to serve Alabamians in 2026, and beyond,” Holmes says. “Like many other organizations dedicated to history, civics, culture, and the arts, we need a hand right now to keep offering dynamic grantmaking and programming to Alabamians statewide.”

To support AHA today, donate at alabamahumanities.org/support.

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How to apply for a Mini Grant

Mini Grants are available on a rolling basis, with deadlines on the first of each month. Designed for flexibility, AHA’s Mini Grants feature a simplified and quicker application process to support a broad range of projects. And Mini Grant applications do not require cost share matches.

All applications submitted by June 1, 2025, will be considered in this first round of resumed grantmaking. Interested applicants are encouraged to read through AHA’s revised grant guidelines, which have been updated following the termination of our NEH partnership.

What can AHA’s Mini Grants help fund?

AHA’s Mini Grants can help fund anything from public history projects, literary festivals, and conferences to art talks, book clubs, traveling exhibits, podcasts, and much, much more.

For reference, a small sampling of AHA’s 2024 Mini Grant recipients includes:

• Alabama Authors Day celebration of the literary arts and Alabama’s natural history (Spanish Fort)
• Alabama Historical Marker enhancement project, led by Troy University, the Encyclopedia of Alabama, and Alabama Heritage magazine (Troy)
• Choctaw County historical bus tours for students to learn about local history and culture (Butler)
• Everybody, an artifact history of disability in America, based on a Smithsonian Institution exhibit (Huntsville)
• ‘History and Art of Quilting’ event exploring Alabama quilt-making (Andalusia)
• Interactive public history project exploring Gullah Geechee culture (Dothan)
• Mobile Medical Museum’s 2024 annual lecture series (Mobile)
• Oral history project documenting the stories of West and North Florence (Florence)
• Retrospective public forum on the City of Demopolis’ civil rights legacy (Demopolis)
• Summer storytelling series highlighting the tradition of Southern oral histories (Guntersville)
• ‘Sunday Afternoons at the Gallery’ speaker series on religious history, military history, and blues music in the Wiregrass (Ozark)
• Traveling exhibit on the old Memphis and Charleston Railroad Bridge connecting the communities of the Shoals (Florence, Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, Tuscumbia)

AHA’s grantmaking represents an investment in the cultural fabric of our state — and in the economies of our local communities. In 2024, AHA awarded nearly $380,000 to nonprofits statewide, making local projects available to nearly a quarter-million Alabamians. And 90% of those grant recipients said their community programming would have been impossible without AHA’s support. Since AHA’s founding in 1974, the organization has supplied thousands of grants, totaling more than $13 million.

For full information on AHA’s Mini Grants, visit alabamahumanities.org/grants.

For the latest information on how you can support Alabama Humanities, visit alabamahumanities.org/our-future.

About the Alabama Humanities Alliance
Founded in 1974, the nonprofit and nonpartisan Alabama Humanities Alliance has served as a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Through our grantmaking and public programming, we promote lifelong learning and impactful storytelling that lifts up our state. We believe the humanities can bring our communities together and help us all see each other as fully human. Learn more at alabamahumanities.org.