The Illinois Association of Museums (IAM) has established the Museum Grant Program to assist member institutions to increase knowledge of professional skills in accepted museum practices; to better preserve, exhibit, and interpret their collections; and to better serve their communities. The application deadline for the 2008-2009 grant cycle is November 1. You may download the Grant Program Brochure below. Grant Program Brochure Eligibility Requirements: To benefit from the IAM Museum Grant Program, a museum must: 1. be an institutional member in good standing of the Illinois Association of Museums; 2. own or utilize tangible objects; 3. care for those objects and exhibit them to the public on a regular schedule (this standard is interpreted to mean open to the public for a minimum of forty days per year); 4. be a non-profit organization, and it must have applied for or received recognition as a tax-exempt organization (501(c)(3)) with the federal Internal Revenue Service (IRS); or, as a museum, must be a non-profit organization or an agency or instrumentality of a state or local jurisdiction such as a county or city, or an institution of higher learning at the time of application for a grant. Preference will be given to museums in the following order: 1. Museums that have not received an IAM grant in the past 2. Small museums with limited budgets and all volunteer staff 3. Small museums with limited budgets and a single paid staff person 4. Museums with limited budgets and fewer than ten staff members 5. Museums with ten to twenty-five staff members 6. Museums with more than twenty-five staff members Museums may apply for only one IAM Museum Grant per year. Museum consortia and partnerships may apply for an IAM museum grant if all of the member museums are IAM members.