CARES Act Awards in New Hampshire
In April 2020 Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), providing $75 million in supplemental funding, including general operating support, to assist cultural institutions affected by the coronavirus. $30 million of that was allocated to our state and jurisdictional humanities organizations to support grants to eligible nonprofits for humanities programming and general operating support.
In total, New Hampshire Humanities (NHH) received $420,200 in supplemental funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). After retaining $20,200 (5%) of the award for administrative overhead, NHH launched our CARES Act General Operating Support Grants Program to disseminate $400,000 to eligible New Hampshire-based cultural nonprofits and public libraries.
While we anticipated a high level of demand, the depth and breadth of financial need was immediately apparent. NHH launched the CARES Grant Program on May 1 and received applications from 89 organizations seeking support. Eighty percent of the applicant organizations indicated they were applying for financial support to sustain and maintain their operations during the pandemic. After careful review, NHH funded 64 applications, granting awards that ranged from $2,500 to $10,000, and provided general operating support to recipient organizations. Over thirteen business days, we committed all grants funds available and positively impacted 47 communities throughout the Granite State.