The RPM Foundation is dedicated to ensuring that skills necessary to preserve and restore collectible vehicles are not lost.
To that end, the foundation awards grants to nonprofit organizations in support of programs that provide hands-on education and the teaching of the specialized skills and knowledge needed to maintain vintage cars, trucks, and boats. Grant amounts are determined on a project-by-project basis.
To be eligible, applicants must have tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Priority will be given to organizations serving high school and college students.
For complete program guidelines and application instructions, see the RPM Foundation website.
Newport News, VA – The Mariners’ Museum is one of 206 museums in the U.S. and three in Virginia to be awarded an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Museums for America collections grant. A highly competitive program, the USS Monitor Center’s proposal was chosen from a pool of 548 applications; the $27,823 grant will be matched with non-federal funds.
“Museums play a vital role in their communities supporting experiences and inquiry for people of all ages, fostering civic engagement, and serving as stewards of collections that represent the nation’s cultural, historical and scientific heritage,” said IMLS Director Dr. Kathryn K. Matthew. Matthew stated that this federal support will help museums all over the country, “enabling their highest level of public service.”
Conservation of the USS Monitor’s revolving gun turret will be monitored by a new electrolytic reduction (ER) computer monitoring system made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Photo courtesy of The Mariners’ Museum.
This grant will allow the Museum to purchase, install, and operate a new electrolytic reduction (ER) computer monitoring system to support the conservation of the iconic revolving gun turret from the USS Monitor, housed in the USS Monitor Center’s Batten Conservation Complex.
Will Hoffman, senior conservator/conservation project manager said, “The use of ER is a major part of the turret’s conservation treatment; which involves the use of electrochemistry to breakup corrosion and free trapped chlorides embedded within the object’s surface. To determine the effectiveness of the process and identify when adjustments need to be made, the artifact is constantly monitored through the use of a computer system. However, the hardware and software of the current system have become obsolete and technological support is no longer available. The new system, funded through the grant, will allow our conservators to get better real-time data and enable more accurate tracking of the treatment process over time. The resulting data can then be shared to expand the body of conservation knowledge that exists within the field, benefiting conservation and museum professionals around the world, as well as visitors to The Mariners’ Museum, and public audiences reached by lectures and web content.”
About IMLS: The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 35,000 museums. Our mission is to inspire libraries and museums to advance innovation, lifelong learning, and cultural and civic engagement. Our grant making, policy development, and research help libraries and museums deliver valuable services that make it possible for communities and individuals to thrive.
Submitted by Jenna Dill, The Mariners’ Museum, September 29, 2016
A total of $35,000 was awarded in the second year of the Lighthouse Preservation Grants Program, drawing on the interest from a still-growing investment fund that the U.S. Lighthouse Society has committed to increase through the years so that more and larger preservation grants can be made.
Morris Island Lighthouse
The Save the Light Foundation in Charleston, S.C., will use a $10,000 grant from the Society’s corporate partner, the SeaPak Division of Rich Products Corp., St. Simons Island, Georgia, to fund a detailed study of the very historic but erosion-threatened and decaying Morris Island Lighthouse.
The Morris Island project was a finalist in this year’s grants program, and was selected by the seafood company for its first program donation. The Charleston group will use the grant to gain a definitive assessment of the condition of the cofferdam-protected lighthouse and determine what steps can be taken, in what order and at what cost, to preserve the structure. International Chimney Corp., movers of the Cape Hatteras Light and other lighthouses, will do the work.
Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse
A $9,000 grant was awarded to the Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse Trust in Maine to replace the lantern vent ball on the breakwater lighthouse and repair damage in the lantern caused by water intrusion. The entire project will cost $20,700.
On the Great Lakes, the Michigan Lighthouse Conservancy will use a $9,000 grant to complete a $32,375 project to fabricate and install damaged or missing parts of the handrail system in the tower and on the lantern gallery at the Muskegon South Pierhead Lighthouse.
Muskegon South Pierhead LighthousePensacola Lighthouse
A $7,000 grant will be given to the Pensacola Lighthouse Foundation to restore a long-lost iron pedestal to the top of the lighthouse and use it to support a lens that now is suspended from the lantern roof. The pedestal was found a few years ago in the woods near the tower, and has been restored. The grant will go toward the $17,589 project to place it back in its proper location to support the lens and curtail the structural damage caused by the current system.
This year’s grants mark a slight increase from last year’s $31,000 in assistance to efforts to repair the lantern and replace a ventilator ball on the Sentinel Island Lighthouse near Juneau, Alaska; to help replace windows and shutters at the Toledo Harbor Lighthouse in Ohio; and to start work on a detailed plan to restore the masonry basement at Race Rocks Lighthouse in Long Island Sound near New London, Connecticut.
Boston Harbor Lighthouse
In addition, the Society’s program will administer a second grant from its first corporate preservation partner, the Lands’ End clothing company of Wisconsin. Last year, Lands’ End committed funding to launch the Society’s detailed study of preservation needs at the Alcatraz Island Lighthouse, a Society project in San Francisco Bay. This year, the Society and Lands’ End leaders traveled in late July to Little Brewster Island in Boston Harbor to present an initial $30,000 check to restore the foundation of the Boston Light’s iconic boathouse; the work will allow the boathouse to reopen to the public, and the gift celebrates the 300th anniversary of the country’s first lighthouse.
At this point the Society’s program is open only to not-for-profit groups, with a maximum grant amount of $10,000. As the dedicated preservation fund grows, more grant money will be made available for future projects. Information on donating to the fund or applying for future grants may be found on the Society’s website.
An update from Tim Runyan of the National Maritime Alliance:
Last night (June 29), the Senate passed the Maritime Administration Authorization bill (S. 2829), led by Sen Deb Fischer (R-NE), chair of the subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety and Security of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, and Ranking Member of the subcommittee, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ).
This is important because the House National Defense Authorization Act (H. R. 4904) includes the House approved MARAD Authorization. The MARAD Authorization has to be in the Senate NDAA, if the Senate is to accept the House language to restore the maritime heritage grant program, when they conference. Conferencing is beginning. Of course, we expect the MARAD Authorization to be included in the Senate NDAA.
Now we can focus on winning at the conference of the House and Senate.
Another hurdle cleared!
Thanks for your support, and now we need to press members of the Senate to accept the language in the House NDAA–H.R. 4909, Title 35, Section 3508, which restores the maritime heritage grant program by directing that one-fourth of the ship scrapping profits received by MARAD be transferred to the Secretary of the Interior for the NPS-administered maritime heritage grant program.
The NPS Maritime Heritage Grants Program has posted the following reminder:
The clock is ticking…….but there’s still plenty of time to submit your National Maritime Heritage Grant proposal before the deadline of August 5, 2016. $1.7 million is available for maritime education or preservation projects! More information can be found at our website at https://www.nps.gov/maritime/grants/apply.htm
But here’s what’s really important right now. Remember, applicants must submit their complete application packages through the grants.gov website. If you have not yet registered with grants.gov or the System for Awards Management (SAM – at sam.gov) do it now – because it will take up to two weeks for your account to be processed before you can submit your application. And if you do have accounts already – make sure that everything is up to date.
Let us know if you have any questions – and may you have fair winds in your application process!
Excerpted from NPS History Facebook Page by Candace Clifford, June 29, 2016
Approximately $1.7 million in National Maritime Heritage Grants for education or preservation projects are available for 2016. Proposals for grants will be accepted from May 23 until August 5, 2016. Education projects can request $15,000-50,000 and preservation projects can request $50,000-200,000. Funding for Maritime Heritage Grants is competitive and requires a 1-to-1 match with non-Federal assets from non-Federal sources. Project funds are disbursed from the Maritime Heritage Program directly to State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPOs), who make subgrants to applicants.
Applicants must submit their complete application packages through the grants.gov website. Organizations not yet registered or familiar with grants.gov must first go to the following website and follow the instructions to register: http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/applicants/apply-for-grants.html. It will take up to two weeks for your account to be processed before you can submit your application. Do not wait until the last minute to register with grants.gov and the system for award management (SAM); application extensions will not be granted for incomplete grants.gov or SAM registration.
Tim Runyan and others in the CAMM community are quoted in a new Maritime Executive article on MARAD’s ship disposal program. According to the article:
“From 1994 to 2010, MARAD was required to provide 25 percent of the excess revenue of ship disposal to a matching grant program for maritime heritage organizations – museums, training programs and related groups, the majority of them non-profits. A legislative amendment in 2010 lifted that requirement, permitting the agency to spend the funds on either the grant program or on its own maritime heritage efforts.”
“Dr. Timothy J. Runyan, a professor at East Carolina University and chair of the 1,000-member National Maritime Alliance, says that heritage organizations have not seen enough of that 25 percent over the years, either before 2010 or after. Only three rounds of grants have been awarded so far, in 1998, 2015 and 2016. The long gap between rounds overlapped with the recession and a sharp decline in private funding for the non-profit sector, including donations to heritage organizations. Runyan says that MARAD should have prioritized ‘getting funds out to America’s maritime heritage community . . . [which was] struggling with reduced contributions and visitation during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.'”
“. . . To address these concerns, Runyan is working with Denise Krepp, a representative for ship recyclers and a former chief counsel for MARAD, on a legislative solution. Their efforts – which they describe as a years-long, difficult process – are beginning to bear fruit, despite alleged opposition from MARAD. Elements of their proposal are winning the support of prominent elected officials from both parties, including Senators David Vitter, Bill Cassidy and Roger Wicker, and Representatives Randy Forbes, Garret Graves, Duncan Hunter, and Donald Norcross.”
“If successful, their language will be included in the final version of this year’s National Defense Authorization Act, expected in August. The amendment would restore the 25 percent allocation for heritage grants and compel MARAD to give an account of funds from ship disposals. . . .”
See full article by Paul Benecki, published in the Maritime Executive, May 10, 2016
Tim Runyan of the National Maritime Alliance has shared some good news:
A win!!
We scored a big win early this morning as the marathon session by the House Armed Services Committee marked up the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act. Language was included to restore the maritime heritage grant program. It was included in the Seapower subcommittee mark adopted by the full Committee.
Also included was an amendment to require the Maritime Administration to provide detailed reports on the ship recycling program, and report on funds for maritime heritage.
Earlier, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee included language in the maritime bill requiring an annual report by the Maritime Administration on the vessel disposal program. It includes several references to the National Maritime Heritage Act and asks for reporting on the uses of heritage funds.
Next steps: bills move to the floor for approval; then to the Conference of the House and Senate; then signed into law by the President. The House–Senate conference is key, as our bill for restoration of the maritime heritage grant program is in the House bill, and must be accepted by the Senate.
We must continue our advocacy efforts to clear these next hurdles. Major focus this past week was the Senate–three days of meetings. We need both House and Senate support going forward.
My thanks to all for your support, and contacting members of Congress. It makes a difference.
The National Park Service, in partnership with the Maritime Administration, today announced the award of $2.58 million in Maritime Heritage Program grants for projects in 19 states that preserve sites and objects related to our nation’s maritime history.
Congratulations to the following CAMM-member grant recipients:
Santa Barbara Maritime Museum for Spirit of Dana Tall Ship Overnight Education Program
Maritime Museum Association of San Diego for Distance Learning History Project: Linking to Cabrillo’s Ship San Salvador
San Francisco Maritime National Park Association for Steam Ferryboat Eureka Structural Survey
Mystic Seaport Museum for Scrimshaw, Marine Painting, and Ship Model Preservation and Access Project
Connecticut River Museum for Bulkhead Replacement Project
Kalmar Nyckel Foundation for “Wilmington Shipbuilding” Interpretive Educational Exhibit
Maine Maritime Museum for Construction of Building Addition for a Simulated Lighthouse Lantern Room
USS Constitution Museum for Renewing “Old Ironsides”
National Maritime Historical Society for Indexing, Digitizing, and Online Expansion of Sea History Magazine
Independence Seaport Museum for Submarine Becuna Multimedia App Development
Steamship Historical Society of America for Steaming into the Future
See NPS press release for full list of grant recipients.
The Maritime Heritage Program grants are available to state, tribal, and local governments, as well as private non-profit organizations for education and preservation projects. Education projects are funded in amounts between $15,000-$50,000; preservation projects are funded in amounts between $50,000-$200,000. Education grants can be used for programs such as school curriculum, interpretive programs and web pages, and preservation grant projects can include the rehabilitation or restoration of ships and other maritime resources.
National Maritime Heritage Program Grant awards are made possible through a partnership between the two federal agencies that share a commitment to maritime heritage preservation and education. In accordance with the National Maritime Heritage Act of 1994, funding is provided by the Maritime Administration through the recycling of vessels from the MARAD’s National Defense Reserve Fleet. The grant program supports a broad range of maritime education and preservation projects, without expending tax dollars, while ensuring that the vessels are dismantled in an environmentally sound manner.
NPS Maritime Historian Anna Holloway expects the next application period for grants to begin May 23rd. See the Maritime Heritage Program website for more information on the grants program.
Submitted by Anna Holloway, NPS Maritime Historian, April 22, 2016
