Recordings at Risk

Institution types

Applicants must be U.S. nonprofit academic, research, or cultural heritage organizations. Please note that:

• Both the applicant organization and its collections must be located in the United States or an associated entity, e.g. the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or American Samoa.
• Grants may be made to government units and their agencies or instrumentalities, provided that cultural heritage is the primary function of the unit and grant funds will be used for charitable purposes within the scope of the Recordings at Risk program. We recommend that government units wishing to apply for a Recordings at Risk grant contact the CLIR Grants Team to ascertain their eligibility.
• Indian tribes, Alaska native villages, regional corporations, and village corporations are eligible to apply for funding.
  • For purposes of funding under this program, “Indian tribe” means any tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community, including any Alaska native village, regional corporation, or village corporation (as defined in, or established pursuant to, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.)), which is recognized by the Secretary of the Interior as eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United States to Indians because of their status as Indians. A list of eligible entities is available from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, except for the recognized Alaska native villages, regional corporations, and village corporations, which should refer to applicable provisions in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, referenced above. Any tribal entities, including those not currently covered by the above description, are encouraged to contact the CLIR Grants Team to discuss questions of eligibility for this program.

IRS Classifications

Generally speaking, to be eligible for this program applicants must be recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as tax-exempt under one of the following:

• IRS Code Section 501(c)3
• IRS Code Section 115
• IRS Code Section 170(c)1

Grants may be made to government units and their agencies or instrumentalities not organized under IRS Section 501(c)3, provided that collecting and disseminating scholarly and cultural resources are among the primary functions of the unit and grant funds will be used for charitable purposes within the scope of the Recordings at Risk program. We recommend that government units wishing to apply to Recordings at Risk contact the CLIR Grants Team at to ascertain their eligibility.

Award Terms

• Applicants may request as little as $10,000 or as much as $50,000 per project.
• The grant may fund up to 100% of the direct costs of audio or audiovisual digital reformatting services to be provided by an external service provider.
  • In-house digitization projects are not eligible for this program.
• Applicant organizations may submit only one application per cycle.
• Applicants must agree to create appropriate descriptive and technical metadata for all content digitized through grant funds during the grant term, and to dedicate this metadata to the public domain.
  • CLIR will make exceptions for culturally sensitive metadata. Please contact the CLIR Grants Team with any questions regarding exceptions to this requirement.