§ 1180.9

Likely size of grants and allocation of funds among activities.

(a) In view of limited funds, it is anticipated that no museum will receive more than $50,000 under the Act for fiscal year 1983 and that most museums which are funded will receive a smaller amount. For future fiscal years, a different figure may be specified by notice published in the FEDERAL REGISTER.

(b) The Director, subject to the policy direction of the Board, determines the percent of the funds available under the Act for grants in any fiscal year which shall be reserved for § 1180.7 General Operating Support grants.

§ 1180.10 Allowable costs.

(a) Determination of costs allowable under a grant is made in accordance with government-wide cost principles in applicable OMB circulars. (OMB circular A-21 (educational institutions) February 26, 1979, published in 44 FR 12368 (March 6, 1979); OMB circular A-87 (State and local governments) January 15, 1981 published in 46 FR 9548 (January 28, 1981); and OMB circular A-122 (Nonprofit organizations) June 27, 1980, published in 45 FR 46022 (July 8, 1980)).

(b) No costs shall be allowed for the purchase of any object to be included in the collection of a museum, except library, literary, or archival material specifically required for a designated activity under a grant under the Act.

of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended.

(c) Financial statements. (1) Each applicant museum must submit, with its application at the time of filing, its financial statements for the two fiscal years immediately preceding the fiscal year for which application is made or, if not available, for the second and third immediately preceding years. Each financial statement must include a statement of financial operations and if applicable, a balance sheet. Examples of a financial statement and a balance sheet may be found in the Museum Accounting Guidelines of the Association of Science-Technology Centers (1976) or in the Museum Accounting Handbook of the American Association of Museums (1978).

(2) Every applicant which has previously received an IMS award must submit its audited financial statement for the last fiscal year immediately preceding the fiscal year in which application is made or the immediately preceding fiscal year, prepared by an individual or organization meeting the qualifications of the Comptroller General of the United States for individuals or organizations conducting Government audits. Reference is made to GAO, Standards for Audit of Governmental Organizations, Programs and Functions (1981 revision). The individual or organization performing the audit must certify that the financial statement of the museum presents fairly the financial position and the results of financial operations in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, or, in the case of a museum which uses cash basis accounting, presents fairly revenues collected and expenditures made in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards.

(3) If a museum is part of an organization such as a university, State or municipality and does not receive audits separate from those of the organization of which it is a part, it may submit its financial statement as drawn from and containing only audited figures of the organization of which the museum is a part. This financial statement, so prepared, must present fairly the financial position and the results of financial operations of the

museum, and must clearly indicate that it has been so prepared and the Director may, upon written request filed at the time of the application, waive the requirement of a separate audit and proceed to process the application on its merits. Where the organization is not audited on an annual basis, the financial statement may be drawn from the most recent audited figures of the organization.

(d) Long-range plans. Each applicant museum must include long-range plans for program and financial development.

(e) Maintenance of effort. Each museum applicant msut be able to show that it has maintained a continuing and successful fiscal effort of its own for the provision of funds for museum services. An applicant complies with this requirement if its aggregate expenditures for museum services (exclusive of Federal assistance) for the grant period are at least equal to those expenditures for the equivalent preceding period. Any applicant unable to furnish proof of the successful discharge of this requirement may be held ineligible to apply for funding.

(f) Special Project grant; schedule of completion. An application for a Special Project grant shall establish a schedule for completing the project. An application shall describe when, during the term of the grant, the applicant plans to complete each objective or phase of the project.

§ 1180.12 How applications are judged; priorities.

(a) To select grantees and determine the amount of their awards, IMS rates competitive applications under the applicable criteria stated in §§ 1180.13 and 1180.14. Normally, these applications are first evaluated by readers, panels of experts or both. Final determinations as to the award of grants are made by the Director after review by the Board.

(b) In the case of Special Project applications, priority is given to applications for (1) projects involving innovative fund raising and financial development activities, and (2) projects involving innovative cooperative endeavors among groups of museums.

(c) To achieve diversity in the distribution of assistance, the Institute may consider the location, size and discipline of the applicant in addition to the criteria in §§ 1180.13 and 1180.14.

§ 1180.13 Criteria for evaluation of applications for General Operating Support. The following criteria apply to the evaluation of all applications for General Operating Support. In applying these criteria, the total operation of the applicant museum is assessed, including the museum's operation as it would be if the General Operating Support is granted. This assessment is based primarily on the information supplied in the museum's application.

(a) Museum services. Are the applicant's museum services of high quality? IMS considers factors such as:

(1) The quality of the museum's educational and interpretive services and their relevance to the collections and audience including the special constituencies which the museum serves;

(2) The quality of the museum's physical facilities and the manner in which space is allocated to various museum activities; and

(3) The qualifications of the professional staff (both full-time and parttime; paid and volunteer) and the quality of the opportunities for professional staff development and in-service training afforded by the museum.

(b) Collections and exhibits. Are the museum's collections and exhibits of high quality and significance? IMS takes into account such factors as:

(1) The intrinsic value of the collections and exhibits;

(2) The significance of the museum's collections to the community; and

(3) The quality of the care and conservation of the collections; the quality of exhibit designs.

(c) Accessibility. How accessible to the general public are the museum's services, collections and exhibits? IMS considers such factors as:

(1) The percentage of the museum's collections on view to the general public on a regular basis; the extent of the museum's regular program for outreach, loans, and other means of exhibiting its collections to the public;

(2) The annual schedule of open hours for the museum; and

(3) The appropriateness of this schedule to the museum's audience.

(d) Population served. To what extent does the museum serve a general public which otherwise would have limited access to the type of museum services which it provides or to museum services of any type? To what extent does the public seek access to the museum's services? IMS considers such factors as:

(1) The characteristics of the audience and the community which the museum serves;

(2) The availability of other museums (or types of museums) which serve this audience and this community; and

(3) The museum's annual attendance by calendar quarters.

(e) Financial Management. What is the quality of the financial management of the museum? In how many of the last five years has the museum shown an excess of revenues over expenditures? IMS considers such factors as:

(1) The financial condition of the museum as reflected in its financial statements;

(2) The quality of the museum's plans for remedying any financial weaknesses in the museum's operations; and

of

(3) The qualifications the museum staff assigned to financial management activities.

(f) Long-range plans. What is the quality of the museum's long-range plans for financial and program development? What are the museum's plans for the expenditure of the grant funds? IMS considers such factors as:

(1) The quality of the museum's long-range plans; how the museum proposes to implement them; how practical are the steps the museum plans to take to implement them?

(2) The probability that the General Operating Support grant, if awarded, will assist the museum in carrying out its long-range plans;

(3) In what manner will this grant, if awarded, contribute to maintaining, increasing or improving the museum's services?

(g) Community commitment. How committed to the museum are its users and supporters? Does the museum have a substantial base of non-Federal support? Does it have a strong volunteer program? IMS considers such factors as:

(1) The quality and extent of the financial support that the museum receives from the private sector and other non-Federal sources and the extent to which this support is stable, broad-based and indicative of continuing community commitment;

(2) The quality of the museum's volunteer program and its program of inkind contributions and their importance to the museum's annual operations; and

(3) The commitment of its users to the museum as evidenced by such factors as participation in membership and docent programs, fund raising and other supportive activities.

(h) Non-Federal support. To what extent, if any, will the General Operating Support requested enable the museum to increase its base of State, local and private funding in the year for which assistance is requested and beyond?

(i) Past use of IMS funds (when applicable). Has the museum used its IMS funds effectively? How and in what amounts and in what manner have they been used?

§ 1180.14 Criteria for evaluation of applications for Special Project Support.

The following criteria apply to the evaluation of all applications for Special Project support:

(a) Plan of operation. What is the quality of the proposed project? In applying this criterion, IMS looks for information that shows:

(1) High quality in the design of the project; and

(2) An effective plan of management that ensures proper and efficient administration of the project.

(b) Quality of key personnel. What is the quality of the key personnel the applicant plans to use on the project? In applying this criterion, IMS looks for information that shows:

(1) The qualifications of the project director;

(2) The qualifications of each of the other key personnel used in the project; and

(3) The time that each person referred to above is obligated to commit to the project.

(c) Budget and cost effectiveness. Does the project have an adequate budget to achieve its purpose? In applying this criterion, IMS looks for information that shows:

(1) The budget for the project is adequate to support the project activities; and

(2) Costs are reasonable in relation to the objectives of the project.

(d) Adequacy of resources. Does the applicant plan to devote adequate resources to the project?

(e) General benefit. To what extent will the project, if successful, be of general benefit to museums or address a problem which is general to a number of museums but has not been adequately addressed?

(f) Unique benefit. To what extent will the project provide a unique benefit to the general public?

(g) Model or exemplary benefit. To what extent does the project represent a model or exemplary approach and solution to the problem addressed?

(h) Financial benefit; Private support; cost control. Is the project likely to produce innovative methods for (1) increasing museums' base of private support and/or (2) limiting a museum's cost of operation?

(i) Other support. Does the applicant lack alternative sources of support for the project?

(j) Dissemination. Has the applicant made satisfactory provision for disseminating the results of the project to other museums and the general public through the media?

§ 1180.15 Duration of grant.

Grants under the Act normally permit the grantee to use the funds for a period of up to 12 months from the start of the grant period. The grantee may use grant funds during the period specified in the grant document unless the grant is suspended or terminated. If the grantee needs additional time to complete the grant, the grantee may apply for an extension of the grant period without additional

funds. The Director may approve this extension at his or her discretion.

§ 1180.16 IMS share of the cost of a proposal.

(a) Section 206(c) of the Museum Services Act provides that grants under this section [Section 206] for any fiscal year may not exceed 50 per centum of the cost of the program for which the grant is made, except that no more than 20 per centum of the funds available under this section for any fiscal year may be available for grants in such fiscal year without regard to such limitation. In applying the exception in Section 206(c), priority will be given to Special Project grants.

(b) Subject to § 1180.9(a), IMS normally does not make grants for more than 10 percent (or $5,000 whichever is greater), of a museum's most recently completed fiscal year's actual operating budget. For future fiscal years a different figure may be specified by notice published in the FEDERAL REGISTER. An operating budget may be increased by an amount reflecting the reasonable and conservative value of volunteer services contributed in the most recently completed fiscal year.

(c) For a particular fiscal year, and for one or more programs, the Board may determine that an amount equal to the amount to be awarded (or a percentage thereof) to an applicant under the Act must consist of non-Federal funds contributed to the museum in excess of the non-Federal funds contributed to the museum for its immediately preceding fiscal year.

(d) A museum shall maintain a restricted account for funds received under the Act.

§ 1180.17 Reports.

In its final report a grantee shall briefly detail how the expenditure of the grant funds has satisfied the proposed use of the funds as stated in its General Operating Support application or has accomplished the proposal as set forth in its Special Project application and has served the purpose of the Act as reflected in the applicable evaluation criteria in § 1180.14.

Subpart B-General Application, Selection and Award Procedures Applications

§ 1180.30 Publication of an application notice; content of the notice.

Each fiscal year the Director publishes application notices in the FEDERAL REGISTER that explain what kind of assistance is available that fiscal year under the Act.

§ 1180.31 Information in the application notice.

(a) The application notice usually includes:

(1) How an applicant can get an application packet containing detailed information about the program including an application form;

(2) Where an applicant must send its application;

(3) The amount of funds available for grants;

(4) The approximate number of grants the Institute expects to make under the program;

(5) The expected cap on grant(s) that may be applied for;

(6) Any priorities established by the Institute for that year;

(7) A reference to the applicable regulations.

(b) [Reserved]

§ 1180.32 Deadline date for applications.

(a) The application notice sets deadline date for applications to be postmarked or hand delivered to the Institute. The applicant shall:

(1) Mail the application to the address specified in the application notice on or before the deadline date;

or

(2) Hand deliver the application to the address specified in the application notice by 4:30 p.m. (Washington, D.C. time) on deadline date.

(b) An applicant must be prepared to show one of the following as proof of timely mailing:

(1) A legibly dated U.S. Postal Service postmark.

(2) A legible mail receipt with the date of mailing stamped by the U.S. Postal Service.

(3) A dated shipping label, invoice, or receipt from a commercial carrier.

§ 1180.35 Special Project grant; group applications.

(a) Eligible museums may apply as a group for a Special Project grant.

(b) If a group of museums applies for a Special Project grant, the members of the group shall either:

(1) Designate one member of the group to apply for the grant; or

(2) Establish a separate, eligible legal entity, consisting solely of the museum group, to apply for the grant. (c) The members of the group, or entity, shall enter into an agreement that:

(1) Details the activities that each member of the group plans to perform; and

(2) Binds each member of the group to every statement and assurance made by the applicant in the application.

(d) The applicant shall submit the agreement together with its application.

(e) If the Director makes a grant to a group of eligible museums, the applicant for the group is the grantee and is legally responsible for:

(1) The use of all grant funds; and

(2) Ensuring that the project is carried out by the group in accordance with applicable Federal laws, regulations, and requirements.