Rebirth Grants

Humanities scholars must play a central role in all phases of an LEH-funded project as planners, speakers, resource persons, panelists, and/or evaluators. The LEH defines a humanities scholar as an individual professionally trained and primarily engaged in the study, research, writing, and/or teaching of humanities disciplines. The individual can be employed in their field, retired, not employed, or on temporary leave from a professional position in the humanities. Affiliation with a college or university is usual but not mandatory. Scholars usually have a PhD in a humanities discipline or at least alternative credentials.

All LEH projects must focus on topics and themes drawn from the humanities or bring the analytical potential of the humanities to bear on current political, social, or economic concerns and issues.

The 1965 legislation that established the National Endowment for the Humanities, defines the humanities as follows: “The term ‘humanities’ includes, but is not limited to, the study and interpretation of the following: language, both modern and classical; linguistics; literature; history; jurisprudence; philosophy; archaeology; comparative religion; ethics; the history, criticism and theory of the arts; those aspects of the social sciences which have humanistic content and employ humanistic methods; and the study and application of the humanities to the human environment with particular attention to reflecting our diverse heritage, traditions, and history and to the relevance of the humanities to the current conditions of national life.”

To avoid advocacy and bias, programs sponsored by the LEH must provide for a balance of viewpoints, especially those projects dealing with controversial contemporary issues. For example, a project addressing the First Amendment’s relation to religion in public schools should provide subject matter for both sides of the issue.

Programs must be designed to address the out-of-school public rather than exclusively the scholarly community. The LEH especially encourages applications from minority-serving institutions and organizations as well as from rural and underserved areas of the state, but applications are welcome regardless of an organization’s size, audience, and location. The LEH encourages research and publishing project proposals to include a public component as well.

Competitive proposals will include participation from representatives of the community to complement the presence of the humanities scholars. Community participation can be demonstrated in your application through letters of support from partner organizations or individuals.

Applications are open to nonprofit organizations with a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) in SAM.gov (more below). Specifically, nonprofit entities with 501(c)(3) status, public-facing organizations operating within accredited institutions of higher learning, state and local government agencies, and federally recognized Native American tribal governments in Louisiana are eligible to apply for Rebirth funds. The LEH does not award grants to individuals.

UEI Number 

The National Endowment for the Humanities now requires all non-profit entities seeking grants from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities to have a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) in SAM.gov. Put simply, a UEI confirms that your entity is what you say it is: a unique organization with its own physical address.

Formerly the federal government uses the DUNS number, issued by Dun & Bradstreet. If your organization is currently registered with a DUNS number, please review the Quick Start Guide for Getting a Unique Entity ID for instructions on how to receive a new UEI at SAM.gov.  

All sponsoring organizations are required to contribute cost-share equal to or greater than the amount requested from the LEH. The applicant’s contribution can take three forms: (1) cash, (2) in-kind services, and/or (3) gifts.

Sponsoring organizations are obliged to provide an objective assessment of whether program activities fulfill or do not fulfill the original intent of the project as articulated in the grant proposal. All programs must include an outside independent evaluator to provide an objective assessment. Evaluation narratives supplement the quantitative data gathered from the audience.