Eligible institutions include aquariums, art museums, children/youth museums, general museums (having two or more significant disciplines), historic houses/sites, history museums, natural history/anthropology museums, nature centers, planetariums, public gardens, science/technology museums, specialized museums (museums with collections limited to one narrowly defined discipline—e.g., textiles, stamps, maritime, ethnic group), and zoos.

An applicant must be a museum that:

• is organized on a permanent basis for essentially educational or aesthetic purposes;
• cares for and owns or uses tangible objects, whether animate or inanimate, and exhibits these objects on a regular basis through facilities it owns or operates;
• is a unit of state or local government or a private nonprofit organization [501(c)3];
• has at least one professional staff member or the full-time equivalent, whether paid or unpaid, whose responsibilities relate solely to the museum’s services and operations;
• is open and providing museum services to the general public on a regular basis (a museum that exhibits objects to the general public for at least 90 days a year fulfills this requirement). If a museum is not scheduled to be open for at least 90 days a year, it is still eligible to participate in MAP if it can demonstrate that it was open at least 90 days in the preceding year through a combination of scheduled days open and days open by appointment; and
• is located in one of the fifty states of the U.S., the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, or the Republic of Palau.

A museum operated within a multipurpose public or private nonprofit organization such as a municipality, university, historical society, foundation, or cultural center may apply on its own behalf if:

• the museum is able to independently fulfill all the requirements for eligibility listed above;
• functions as a discrete unit within the parent organization;
• has its own fully segregated and itemized operating budget;
• and has the authority to apply on its own.

When any of these last three conditions cannot be met, a museum may apply through its parent organization, and the parent organization may submit an application(s) for one or more of its museums. 

Museums previously awarded an IMLS-funded MAP assessment may be eligibile to participate again for the same type of assessment if seven years have passed since the original assessment. Organizations that received their IMLS award on or before September 30, 2005 are eligibile to participate for 2012.

For the Flexible Participation option, eligibility requirements are more flexible.  Please contact MAP staff for more information about Flexible Participation eligibility or see the application.

Click here for Funding and Cost Information.