All grantmaking is currently paused. Late on the night of April 2, the Alaska Humanities Forum received a letter from DOGE officials informing us that our NEH operating grant approved by Congress had been illegally terminated effective immediately. NEH funding constitutes a significant portion of the Forum’s budget that our core programs, including grantmaking, depend on. Without action, Alaska will lose the Forum, and the community-strengthening projects it supports. Visit this link to add your signature to save the Alaska Humanities Forum and the NEH!
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By investing in the stories, ideas, and community-building efforts of Alaskans across the state, the Forum’s Strengthening Communities Grants Program seeks to spark connection and deepen our understanding of others, ourselves, and our communities.
Each year, the Forum awards project grants to nonprofit organizations and state, local, and federally recognized tribal governments across the state. We also provide stipends to individuals looking to host community conversations through our Kindling Conversation program.
Stories Grants (opens late summer, annually)
Grants of $10,000 to organizations for projects working to build a more inclusive narrative of Alaska’s past and present by amplifying stories that have been underrecognized or excluded from the public discourse. Closed for applications.
Dialogues Grants (opens spring, annually)
Grants of $5,000 to organizations to design and facilitate public programming that brings people together to learn from one another and inspire deeper understanding of topics that are important to Alaskans. Applications paused.
Kindling Conversation Stipends (rolling year-round)
Noncompetitive stipends of $250 for individuals or organizations interested in hosting short, thoughtful community conversations that connect people across difference and foster inclusive conversational spaces throughout the state. Applications paused.
2025 STORIES GRANT PROJECTS
School Stories, Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository (Kodiak)
Untold Story of Massacre Bay, Atux̂ Forever (Anchorage),
Coming Home: The Alaska Inspired Poetry of Mary TallMountain, Denakkanaaga (Fairbanks)
Labor of Love: Untold Stories of Alaska's Trailblazing Latinos, Enlaces (Anchorage)
Abilities in Abundance, Hope Community Resources Inc. (Anchorage)
Gunalchéesh, KCAW (Sitka)
Lessons from Newtok, Newtok Village Council (Newtok)
Panaglagip 2025, Filipino Community, Inc. (Juneau)
The Forum’s Grants team is available to answer questions and provide guidance on applicant eligibility, project ideas, budget questions, and technical difficulties submitting an application. All feedback or suggestions are based on our past experience working with grantees and our selection committee, and do not guarantee funding. Note, Forum staff do not make funding decisions; our Board of Directors has final approval.
Shoshi Bieler, Director of Stories and Grants Programs
sbieler(at)akhf(dot)org
907-770-8406
This work is ongoing and always in process. If there are comments or suggestions you would like to share about what is working and what could continue to be improved, we welcome you to fill out this anonymous survey.
The Alaska Humanities Forum is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that designs and facilitates experiences to bridge distance and difference – programming that shares and preserves the stories of people and places across our vast state, and explores what it means to be Alaskan.
April 21, 2025 • Polly Carr
April 16, 2025 • Kameron Perez-Verdia
March 5, 2025 • Polly Carr
