§ 1180.13 - Criteria for evaluation of applications for General Operating Support.

The following criteria apply to the evaluation of all applications for General Operating Support. In applying these criteria, the total operation of the applicant museum is assessed, including the museum's operation as it would be if the General Operating Support is granted. This assessment is based primarily on the information supplied in the museum's application.

(a) Museum services. Are the applicant's museum services of high quality? IMLS considers factors such as:

(1) The quality of the museum's educational and interpretive services and their relevance to the collections and audience including the special constituencies which the museum serves;

(2) The quality of the museum's physical facilities and the manner in which space is allocated to various museum activities; and

(3) The qualifications of the professional staff (both full-time and part-time; paid and volunteer) and the quality of the opportunities for professional staff development and in-service training afforded by the museum.

(b) Collections and exhibits. Are the museum's collections and exhibits of high quality and significance? IMLS takes into account such factors as:

(1) The intrinsic value of the collections and exhibits;

(2) The significance of the museum's collections to the community; and

(3) The quality of the care and conservation of the collections; the quality of exhibit designs.

(c) Accessibility. How accessible to the general public are the museum's services, collections and exhibits? IMLS considers such factors as:

(1) The percentage of the museum's collections on view to the general public on a regular basis; the extent of the museum's regular program for outreach, loans, and other means of exhibiting its collections to the public;

(2) The annual schedule of open hours for the museum; and

(3) The appropriateness of this schedule to the museum's audience.

(d) Population served. To what extent does the museum serve a general public which otherwise would have limited access to the type of museum services which it provides or to museum services of any type? To what extent does the public seek access to the museum's services? IMLS considers such factors as:

(1) The characteristics of the audience and the community which the museum serves;

(2) The availability of other museums (or types of museums) which serve this audience and this community; and

(3) The museum's annual attendance by calendar quarters.

(e) Financial Management. What is the quality of the financial management of the museum? In how many of the last five years has the museum shown an excess of revenues over expenditures? IMLS considers such factors as:

(1) The financial condition of the museum as reflected in its financial statements;

(2) The quality of the museum's plans for remedying any financial weaknesses in the museum's operations; and

(3) The qualifications of the museum staff assigned to financial management activities.

(f) Long-range plans. What is the quality of the museum's long-range plans for financial and program development? What are the museum's plans for the expenditure of the grant funds? IMLS considers such factors as:

(1) The quality of the museum's long-range plans; how the museum proposes to implement them; how practical are the steps the museum plans to take to implement them?

(2) The probability that the General Operating Support grant, if awarded, will assist the museum in carrying out its long-range plans;

(3) In what manner will this grant, if awarded, contribute to maintaining, increasing or improving the museum's services?

(g) Community commitment. How committed to the museum are its users and supporters? Does the museum have a substantial base of non-Federal support? Does it have a strong volunteer program? IMLS considers such factors as:

(1) The quality and extent of the financial support that the museum receives from the private sector and other non-Federal sources and the extent to which this support is stable, broad-based and indicative of continuing community commitment;

(2) The quality of the museum's volunteer program and its program of in-kind contributions and their importance to the museum's annual operations; and

(3) The commitment of its users to the museum as evidenced by such factors as participation in membership and docent programs, fund raising and other supportive activities.

(h) Non-Federal support. To what extent, if any, will the General Operating Support requested enable the museum to increase its base of State, local and private funding in the year for which assistance is requested and beyond?

(i) Past use of IMLS funds (when applicable). Has the museum used its IMLS funds effectively? How and in what amounts and in what manner have they been used?