Public Museum Capital Grants Program

Public Museum Capital Grants Program is sponsored by Illinois State Museum. Helps public museums in Illinois expand and upgrade facilities and create new exhibitions to enhance their ability to meet their mission.

The Illinois State Museum (ISM) and The Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Division of Grant Administration Effective September 15, 1999 TITLE 23: EDUCATION AND CULTURAL RESOURCES SUBTITLE B: CULTURAL RESOURCES CHAPTER II: DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES SUBPART A: CAPITAL GRANTS PROGRAM 3200. 20 Eligibility Criteria 3200. 30 Funding Determination (Repealed) 3200.

40 Application Procedure 3200. 50 Application Schedule 3200. 60 Review Criteria and Selection Procedure 3200.

70 Eligible Expenses 3200. 80 Process for Payment 3200. 90 Program Information/Contact AUTHORITY: Implementing and authorized by Section 1-25(22) of the Department of Natural Resources Act [20 ILCS 801/1-25(22)].

SOURCE: Emergency rule adopted at 3 Ill. Reg. 11, p.

18, effective March 1, 1979, for a maximum of 150 days; emergency expired July 28, 1979; adopted at 4 Ill. Reg. 18, p.

113, effective April 22, 1980; amended at 5 Ill. Reg. 5649, effective May 18, 1981, codified at 8 Ill.

Reg. 1448; amended at 10 Ill. Reg.

4536, effective February 28, 1986; recodified from the Department of Energy and Natural Resources to the Department of Natural Resources at 22 Ill. Reg. 11230; emergency amendment at 22 Ill Reg.

17381, effective September 17, 1998, for a maximum of 150 days; emergency expired February 15, 1999; emergency amendment at 22 Ill. Reg. 22097, effective December 3, 1998, for a maximum of 150 days; emergency expired May 1, 1999; amended at 23 Ill.

Reg. 11926, effective September 16, 1999. For the purpose of determining eligibility of Illinois public museums, as defined in Section 1-25(22) of the Department of Natural Resources Act [20 ILCS 801/1-25(22)], so that such museums may qualify for support under Public Act 80-218 ("Act"), this Part is promulgated.

(Source: Amended at 23 Ill. Reg. 11926, effective September 15, 1999) Section 3200.

10 Definitions "Capital Expenditure" means an outlay of capital that results in the acquisition of property or permanently improves its value or usefulness.

For purposes of this program, capital expenditures include, but are not limited to, one or more of the following: land and building acquisition; demolition (in preparation for additional work); site preparation and improvement; utility work; new construction, rehabilitation, major renovations, or expansion of buildings and structures; original furnishings and equipment; replacement of currently utilized assets, by a better asset including permanent exhibits; and any other work that significantly increases the service potential of a building, structure, or exhibit as well as necessary project management fees and associated architectural planning and engineering design services.

Acquisition of museum collections, objects, or specimens are not considered capital expenditures. "Care" means the keeping of adequate records pertaining to the provenance, identification and location of the museum's holdings, and the application of current professionally accepted methods to their security and to the minimization of damage and deterioration. "Community" means the population base normally served by the museum.

"Department" means the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. "Director" means the Director of the Department. "Fiscal Agent" means an affiliated entity that may expend and receive funds on behalf of the public museum.

A certification statement must be signed by the chief executive officer of the public museum if grant funds are to be distributed to a fiscal agent on behalf of the public museum. The certification shall reflect: that there is an ongoing relationship between the museum and the fiscal agent; that the fiscal agent may incur expenses for the museum's project; and that grant funds will be used specifically for the public museum project.

"Matching Funds" means local government and/or private funds equal to at least two-thirds of the incurred capital expenditures considered integral to the overall approved grant project scope. Matching funds cannot include federal or other "Nonprofit" means that the public museum has documentary evidence of its tax-exempt status under the regulations of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

"Organized" means that the public museum is a duly constituted body with expressed responsibilities. "Permanent" means that the public museum has existed for at least 2 years and is expected to continue in perpetuity.

"Professional Staff" means that the public museum has at least one paid employee, who commands an appropriate body of special knowledge and the ability to reach museological, zoological, aquarium, or botanical (whichever shall be applicable) decisions consonant with the experience of his or her peers, and who has access to and acquaintance with the literature of the field, and that such employee works sufficient hours to meet adequately the current demands of "Public Museum" means a facility that has been open to the public, for its instruction and enjoyment for at least two years and that is operating for the purposes of promoting cultural development through special activities or programs and acquiring, conserving, preserving, studying, interpreting, enhancing, and, in particular, organizing and continuously exhibiting (subject to temporary interruption due to construction or catastrophe) specimens, artifacts, articles, documents and other things of historical, anthropological, archaeological, industrial, scientific or artistic import.

"Schedule" means regular and predictable hours which constitute substantially more than a token opening, so that access is reasonably convenient to the public.

"Tangible Objects" means specimens, artifacts, articles, documents; non-domesticated plants or animals, including fish; and other things of historical, anthropological, archeological, industrial, scientific or artistic import that form the public museum collections and have intrinsic value to history, science, art or culture.

"Unit of Local Government" means counties, municipalities, townships, special districts and units, designated as units of local government by Illinois law, which exercise limited governmental power or powers in respect to limited governmental subjects, but does not include school districts. (Source: Amended at 23 Ill. Reg.

11926, effective September 15, 1999) The Public Museum Capital Grants Program is designed to help public museums in Illinois expand and upgrade facilities and create new exhibits and other physical facilities to enhance the public museums' ability to meet their educational mission.

The program provides up to 33 1/3% funding assistance on a reimbursement basis to eligible applicants for approved capital expenditures on public museum facilities. (Source: Added at 23 Ill. Reg.

11926, effective September 15, 1999) Section 3200. 20 Eligibility Criteria Any public museum located in Illinois shall be eligible for grants for capital purposes if it establishes to the reasonable satisfaction of the Director that: a) It is a public museum that has been in existence for two years and that is operated by or located upon land owned by a unit of local government.

b) It is an organized, permanent institution that is tax exempt under the regulations of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service; c) It meets generally accepted professional standards as in the accreditation programs of the American Association of Museums, American Zoo and Aquarium Association, American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboretums, and other appropriate organizations.

d) It has a professional staff; e) It cares for and owns or utilizes tangible objects; f) It is open to the public on a regular schedule; g) It devotes the majority of its floor space or grounds and professional staff effort to museological purposes; h) It can match a State grant with $2 of local or private support for each $1 of State money; and i) It has filed timely reports and complied with requirements for previous grant awards.

(Source: Amended at 23 Ill. Reg. 11926, effective September 15, 1999) Section 3200.

40 Application Procedure a) Any public museum seeking a grant for capital purposes in the current year shall send 5 copies of a completed application supplied by the Department, and one copy of each attachment, that includes: 2) Certification Statement executed by the chief executive officer of the public museum that states that the museum is in compliance with the eligibility criteria of this program. 3) Project Narrative Statement.

4) Development Data Form including costs, a conceptual plan, and construction schedule. 5) Land Acquisition Data, if applicable. 6) The annual report of the public museum for the year preceding its application.

7) Cultural Resources, Endangered Species and Wetlands Review Report (CERP). 8) If funds are to be distributed by the Department to a fiscal agent on behalf of the public museum, a certification statement must be signed by the chief executive officer of the public museum.

The certification will state: A) that there is an ongoing relationship between the museum and the fiscal agent; B) that the fiscal agent may incur expenses for the museum's project; and C) that grant funds will be used specifically for that project. b) Public museums may submit only one application during an application period. (Source: Amended at 23 Ill.

Reg. 11926, effective September 15, 1999 ) Section 3200. 50 Application Schedule Applications for funding assistance will be accepted each year on a schedule announced publicly by the Department when appropriations have been made available for distribution under this program.

Specific application guidelines will be available from the Department at that time. The Department shall announce the maximum grant award in conjunction with announcing the annual grant application schedule. (Source: Amended at 23 Ill.

Reg. 11926, effective September 15, 1999) Section 3200. 60 Review Criteria and Selection Procedure a) Technical and Program Review Department staff will review the project application for: 1) Completeness of application.

2) Evidence that the public museum meets all eligibility criteria, as defined in Section 3200. 20. 3) Project's feasibility with regard to operational capacities of the public museum.

4) Adequacy of cost estimates and construction schedule estimates. 5) Meeting community needs. 6) Effectively enhancing the museum's educational mission.

7) Expanding audiences, including reaching underserved groups. 8) Compliance with requirements of previous grant awards. 1) The Director will appoint a panel of 5 citizens with backgrounds and experience relevant to the activities of museums and their educational contributions who will review proposals and then make recommendations for funding.

Such citizens shall not be current employees of any museums in the State of Illinois that are eligible to apply for this grant program. The Director shall have the authority to call upon the expertise of non-residents of the State for additional advice on the program and its administration. 2) Names of candidates for the peer review panel will be solicited from museums throughout llinois.

Department staff will evaluate proposals based on criteria outlined above, consider recommendations from the peer review panel, and recommend to the Director priorities for funding. (Source: Added at 23 Ill. Reg.

11926, effective September 15, 1999 a) Award Limit. The Department shall establish on an annual basis the maximum grant award a public museum may receive; however, the maximum grant award shall be no more than 10% of the annual appropriation, excluding funds that may be reappropriated from a preceding year. The Department shall announce the maximum grant award in conjunction with announcing the annual grant application schedule.

b) Reappropriation of Funds. Reappropriation of funds will be sought for projects approved for funding that have not been completed and reimbursement sought in the fiscal year that the project was approved. (Source: Added at 23 Ill.

Reg. 11926 effective September 15, 1999 Section 3200. 70 Eligible Expenses Eligible Expenses are defined as: a) Expenses that meet the definition of Capital Expenditures as defined in Section 3200.

10. b) Expenses that are pursuant to the scope of work as agreed upon and approved by the Department. The State's one-third match can only be used for capital expenditure costs incurred after July 1 of the fiscal year in which the grant award is made.

Expenditures incurred back to July 1, 1998, may be eligible for reimbursement if the public museum received a capital grant in FY99 and if the proposed project is an integral component of the FY99 project and was not reimbursed in the FY99 grant award. c) Expenses incurred directly by the public museum, or expenses incurred specifically for the public museum's project by the museum's fiscal agent. (Source: Added at 23 Ill.

Reg. 11926, effective September 15, 1999) Section 3200. 80 Process for Payment a) The public museum or fiscal agent representing the public museum enters into a Project Agreement with the Department.

b) Public museums who have been awarded capital grants must submit project billing requests (expenditure statements), certified by the public museum's chief executive officer or chief financial officer, listing and verifying all funds expended on the project for which grant reimbursement is sought; as well as required billing documentation as follows: 1) Acquisition of Property: Proof of good faith negotiations or fair market value offer to land seller, copy of warranty deed (Judgment Order in case of condemnation and title insurance for any deed less than warranty) showing ownership transferred to the local project sponsor, and copies of documents showing proof of payment to seller.

2) Development of Permanent Improvements: Copy of receipts/invoices for project costs, and copy of documents showing proof of payment. (Source: Added at 23 Ill. Reg.

11926, effective September 15, 1999) Section 3200. 90 Program Information/Contact Illinois State Museum, Museum Grant's Office Spring and Edwards Streets Springfield, IL 62706-5000 email: museumgrants@museum. state.

il. us (Source: Added at 23 Ill. Reg.

11926, effective September 15, 1999) Return to MUSEUM GRANTS HOME. Return to ILLINOIS STATE MUSEUM HOME