Challenge grants help institutions and organizations secure long-term support for, and improvements in, their humanities programs and resources. Challenge grant recipients are required to match NEH funds on a three-to-one or four-to-one basis. Challenge grants can be used to:

Assist institutions in preserving collections, improving access, and providing archival staff.

Hawaii’s Kona Historical Society received a challenge grant of $300,000, to be matched by $900,000 in nonfederal donations, to support purchase and renovation of Uchida Coffee Farm, a typical Japanese-American coffee farm of the 1930’s.

The Art Institute of Chicago received a $200,000 NEH challenge grant to raise $800,000 to build an endowment for acquisitions and preservation in its renowned Ryerson Library and Burnham Library of Architecture.

The Decorah Public Library in Iowa has raised over $960,000 in donations to match its $320,000 NEH challenge grant for construction and renovation of an historic building for expanded space and collections storage, furnishings, and equipment.

Kentucky’s Berea College received a challenge grant of $500,000 that, along with $1.5 million in private donations, will create an endowment to support a college archivist and a teaching professorship in Appalachian Studies.

At the Makah Cultural and Research Center in Neah Bay, Washington, a $275,850 challenge grant leveraged over $1 million in gifts to preserve 50,000 artifacts dating from 1000 to 1450, and to build a classroom for public use.

Brown University is using a $625,000 challenge grant to raise $2.5 million to support an endowment for the preservation of humanities collections of national significance.

Assist institutions in improving teaching, expanding educational resources, and promoting life-long learning.

Whitman College in Walla, Walla, is using a $325,000 challenge grant to raise $1.3 million to endow a professorship in classics and an annual classics lecture series.

The Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse is using a $100,000 challenge grant to raise $300,000 in donations to endow educational programming for grade- and highschoolers, for landowners, and the general public.

A $100,000 challenge grant to the South Dakota Humanities Council will help the Council raise $300,000 to endow its Speakers Bureau Programs and Teacher Institutes on Native American Cultures.

The Museum of the Cherokee Indian received a challenge grant of $300,000 that, coupled with $900,000 in private donations, will endow educational programming and support construction of a new education wing.

The New Hampshire Humanities Council received a $200,000 challenge grant to raise $600,000 in private funds to support professional development for humanities teachers in the state’s schools.

Berea College received a challenge grant of $500,000 that, along with $1.5 million in private donations, will create an endowment to support a college archivist and a teaching professorship in Appalachian Studies.

The California State University, Long Beach, received a challenge grant of $375,000, to be matched by $1.1 million in private donations, to endow a program to incorporate local languages and cultures and native speakers in its foreign language instruction.

Children in the D. C. area experience Shakespearean drama first-hand through educational programming by the Folger Shakespeare Library. A $625,000 NEH challenge grant, matched with $2.5 million in nonfederal donations, will provide permanent support for the Folger’s "Shakespeare in the Schools" programming.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation received a $625,000 NEH challenge grant to raise $1.9 million for endowment to support the position of Director of Interpretation and Education to improve the ability of staff to interpret for public audiences the historic significance of Trust properties.

The University of Idaho in Moscow used a challenge grant of $291,877 to raise an additional $889,196 in private support to create an Endowment for Excellence in Teaching in the Humanities.

A $600,000 challenge grant will help the Appalachian College Association raise $1.8 million in nonfederal donations to support fellowships for humanities research and teaching at private colleges in central Appalachia.

Help media centers, and the makers of films and radio programs, incorporate new technology and expand humanities programming.

KNPR, Nevada Public Radio, is using a challenge grant of $375,000 plus $1,125,000 in donations to create an endowment in support of humanities programming, technology upgrades, and maintenance.

Columbia University is using a $575,000 grant to leverage $2.3 million in private funds to support the construction, furnishing, and staffing of a Media Center for the History of Art.

WGBH Education Foundation is raising $2.3 million with to match its challenge grant of $575,000 to support a permanent endowment and a spend-down fund for new initiatives, innovative formats, and new technologies for future humanities projects for national distribution on public television.

Help museums and other institutions expand their facilities, acquire needed expertise, and develop public programs.

The Alaska Native Heritage Center in Fairbanks is using its $300,000 Challenge Grant to raise $900,000 in private donations to support construction of a Welcome House and outdoor village exhibition area and creation of an education endowment for humanities programs about Eskimo, Indian, and Aleut peoples.

The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, for instance, using a $500,000 challenge grant and over $1.6 million in nonfederal donations, created an endowment to support the position of Curator of Native American Art.

With $900,000 in private donations leveraged by its $300,000 challenge grant, the Lower East Side Tenement Museum is renovating a 19th-century tenement building for programs interpreting immigrant life and culture.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, is using a its $575,000 NEH challenge grant to raise $1.7 million in donations to endow a humanities advisory committee, humanities consultants, education programming staff, and new humanities programs.

The new Heritage Harbor Museum in Providence will use a $625,000 NEH challenge to leverage $1.9 million in private support for construction of a statewide history museum in the old Narragansett power plant. The museum will serve as a common home for a consortium of thirteen historical societies, cultural groups, and museums.

Help colleges, universities, and libraries expand their collections, create new reference materials, and encourage research.

The University of California, Riverside, is raising $1.3 million to match its challenge grant of $445,000 to create an endowment to support the English Short Title Catalogue, a bibliography and union catalogue available on-line and on CD-ROM of works printed in the British Isles and territories from the invention of printing through 1800.

A $25,000 NEH challenge grant to Connecticut's New Britain Public Library is helping to raise a $75,000 endowment to support educational programming, including collaboration with other cultural institutions.

In Florida, Broward County Public Library's exciting new African-American Research Library and Cultural Center is being supported by a $600,000 NEH challenge grant, which will generate $1,800,000 in additional donations.

The Athens Regional Library System in Georgia is using its $150,000 challenge grant, coupled with $300,000 in nonfederal donations, to endow an expanded roster of humanities programs and related collections development."

Oglethorpe University in Atlanta is raising $900,000 to match its $300,000 NEH challenge grant, which will endow faculty development and library acquisitions for the university's core curriculum.

With its $450,000 NEH challenge grant, matched by $1.8 million in private donations, the Chicago Historical Society is creating an endowment to support the research collections and the position of Deputy Director of Research.

The University of Notre Dame will use its $425,000 NEH challenge grant to leverage $1.8 million in nonfederal gifts to support a Faculty Fellows Fund for Medieval and Irish Studies, and an acquisitions fund for Northern Medieval Vernacular Literature.

Wichita Public Library is using its $500,000 challenge grant to raise $1.5 million in donations to create an endowment to support acquisitions of new humanities materials and educational programming in the humanities.

The Topeka/Shawnee County Public Library is using its $225,000 challenge grant to raise $675,000 in nonfederal donations to support endowment for acquisitions and programming reflecting the diverse heritage, traditions, and history of the area.

The Isis Fund received a $575,000 NEH challenge grant, to be matched by $1,725,000 in private donations, for construction and endowment of the Thoreau Institute, an educational and research center at Walden Woods.

Western Carolina University is using its $250,000 challenge grant and $750,000 in nonfederal gifts to endow a professorship and programming in Cherokee Studies.

The Williamsburg Public Libraries in Massachusetts are using a $80,000 challenge grant to raise $240,000 in private funds for renovation of the town's Meekins Library.

The International Quilt Study Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln is using a $450,000 NEH challenge grant to raise $1.8 million in private donations to endow public humanities programming and research.

Dickinson College, in Carlisle, will raise $1.2 million in private gifts with the help of a $300,000 challenge grant that will support a center for the humanities."