Application Types

Individual Grants

What are Individual grants?

Individual grants provide funding for one local government to address a specific records management issue.

Number of applications

You may submit or be a party to only one grant application per grant cycle. Exceptions to this are:

• Your second application is for a Disaster Management project
• You are a county where your second application is focused entirely on the records of your community college

Total amount you can request

• If you are submitting one application, no matter what category, you can request up to $75,000.
• If you are submitting a Disaster Management project as a second application, you can request up to $10,000 for the Disaster Management project.
• You cannot be a party to three or more competitive grant applications in the same year under any circumstances.

Shared Services Grants

What are Shared Services Grants?

Shared Services grants provide funding for two or more local governments to cooperate on a grant project that will develop a permanent cooperative arrangement to solve a shared records management problem. Shared Services applicants may request up to $150,000.

Ways to Achieve a Permanent Arrangement

Your Shared Services application must demonstrate how the grant project will establish a permanent cooperative relationship between participating governments. This relationship must result in sustainable programmatic change. You can demonstrate your commitment to this relationship in one or more of the following ways:

• An inter-municipal agreement, which is a legal agreement indicating that all participants have agreed to a permanent cooperative relationship
• Board resolutions, documented in the official minutes of each participant, that indicate support of an ongoing cooperative relationship
• Written policies and procedures that support shared operations or a well-documented description of how operations will be coordinated permanently
• A fee structure showing how the costs of maintaining the project will be assumed by the partners after the grant year has ended
• A dedicated staffing plan indicating which staff member or members, in each government, will have direct responsibility for maintaining this cooperative records program

How are Shared Services Projects Organized?

One local government must act as a lead applicant for the project and the grant must be submitted under the lead applicant’s name. The lead applicant will act as the fiscal agent for the grant, managing all funds and filing all reports and paperwork. Beyond this requirement participants may organize the cooperative arrangement anyway they choose:

• Hierarchical. A larger unit of local government provides services for smaller units. For example, a county may choose to set up a shared services arrangement with all the towns in the county or a town may wish to do the same for all the villages in the town.
• Equal. Participants enter an arrangement as equals. For example, a group of 7 towns or 10 school districts all equally sharing in the work and benefits of maintaining the shared services arrangement. Also, different local government types can enter into an arrangement. For example, a town, village, and school district can apply together for a Shared Services grant.

What Kinds of Shared Services Projects Can be Funded?

A Shared Services project is eligible for funding if it meets the basic LGRMIF application criteria, includes two or more local governments, and provides for the establishment of a permanent arrangement to carry out an archives or records management function. Projects can be submitted under any of the LGRMIF grant categories and applicants can receive funding over multiple years to implement the project fully.  See a list of Shared Services Examples for more ideas on potential projects.

Additional Information

For additional information contact your State Archives Records Advisory Officer, the State Archives Grants Administration Unit at archgrants@nysed.gov, or consult the current LGRMIF grant application guidelines.