The New Jersey Cultural Trust was created in July 2000 as a public/private partnership to help ensure a stable and healthy nonprofit cultural industry in New Jersey that is sustainable even in the toughest of economic times.
The Cultural Trust provides grants to support capital projects, endowments and institutional and financial stabilization of arts, history and humanities organizations in New Jersey. Funding for the grants comes from interest earned on the Cultural Trust Fund, which is a permanent investment fund.
The New Jersey Historic Trust is authorized by the Cultural Trust Act to make capital facilities grant award recommendations for funding by the New Jersey Cultural Trust.
For FY24, arts, history, and humanities organizations in New Jersey may apply for grants to support capital projects. Capital projects can include stabilization, repair, restoration, adaptive reuse and improvements to cultural or historic properties, including adapting for increased accessibility.
In FY24, the New Jersey Historic Trust’s priority will be projects that can be completed for $100,000 or less. These projects will be carefully considered in relation to other criteria for funding. Organizations may apply for grant funds up to $40,000. Cultural Trust grants do not require a match, but if the project cost is greater than $40,000, the applicant must show sufficient funds or the ability to raise remaining funds to complete the project.
All history, arts and humanities organizations with stewardship responsibility for historic resources that are listed on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places are eligible to apply.
To be eligible to apply, organizations must also first be designated qualified by the Cultural Trust. Click here for details about this separate application process.
Please read the Grant Guidelines carefully for further details about this program.
Directions for Applying in SAGE
All applicants to the Capital Preservation Grants must register on the New Jersey System for Administering Grants Electronically (SAGE). The grant application (due April 4, 2023 at 4 pm) must be submitted on SAGE. If you already have an account in the SAGE system tied to your organization, you do not need to register again. If you do not have an account, please follow the instructions below in order to set up your account.
SAGE Registration
- Click the New User link to request access to the site.
- Complete the registration form.
- For “Granting Department/Agency,” select “Department of State – Cultural Trust”
- Double check your EIN number and organization name for accuracy. It is difficult to change this after registration and errors could impact the processing of your application.
- Please note: Registration is not automatic. You must wait for an email message confirming your account has been validated before you can log in to SAGE.
Initiating an Application
- Log in to SAGE.
- Go to “View Available Opportunities” section of home page.
- Click “View Opportunities.”
- Opportunities from across the State will be listed alphabetically.
- Scroll down to, “Historic Trust Capital 2024.”
- Click “Apply Now.”
Assistance with SAGE
Applicants are strongly urged to register on SAGE well in advance of the application deadline. There are resources available to orient a user on SAGE:
- SAGE: https://njsage.intelligrants.com
- IG16 Grantee Tutorial Video (on SAGE under “Training Materials”)
- On-line Grantee User manual on Department of State’s SAGE web site: http://www.nj.gov/state/dos_sage.html
For SAGE technical assistance, contact the Cultural Trust at:
- Isabel (Izzy) Kasdin
- Executive Director
- New Jersey Cultural Trust
- mailto:isabel.kasdin@sos.nj.gov
- 609-633-0522
On January 26 the New Jersey Historic Trust and the Cultural Trust held a free Applicant Workshop as a virtual webinar hosted via Zoom. We strongly encourage prospective applicants to review the workshop materials to learn about the 2023 (FY24) grant application.
Click here to view the presentation on Youtube.
Click here to view a PDF of the presentation.
Click here for useful resources to help with your application.
In order to be eligible to receive funding through this program, applicants must be nonprofit organizations with history, humanities or arts missions that are qualified by the Cultural Trust. Visit the NJ Cultural Trust web site or call (609) 633-0522 for more information on the qualification process.
All properties for which funds are requested must be listed on the New Jersey and/or National Register of Historic Places by April 4, 2023 in order to be considered for funding. Contact Andrea Tingey at the NJ Historic Preservation Office at (609) 984-0539 or andrea.tingey@dep.nj.gov with questions regarding listing.
Eligible activities include stabilization, repair, restoration, adaptive reuse and improvements to cultural or historic properties, including adapting for increased accessibility.
All work must be performed in compliance with the Secretary for Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties, 1995.
Read about Cultural Trust projects funded in previous grant rounds.
- Nature and degree of threat, if any, to the property
- Archaeological, architectural, cultural and/or historical significance of the property
- The ability of the project to improve long term preservation of the property
- The ability and commitment of the applicant to execute the project
- The extent to which the proposed project can be successfully accomplished with the grant and other resources available to the applicant
- The nature and impact of the organization’s program and service on the intended audience
- The benefit of the project to the community
- The ability of this grant to make a difference in the quality of the project.