Last updated: May 4, 12:00 pm ET
If you’ve received a termination notice or notice of withdrawn funding recommendation from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), follow this unofficial step-by-step guide to understand what actions you need to take and how to remain in compliance.
Note: Stay tuned for a link to help collect data regarding terminations and withdrawn offers, which will be joined with the data collected from NEH/IMLS/NSF, and provide the ability to sort by congressional district. This will be a useful tool for demonstrating the broad impact of these terminations/withdrawn offers.
Note that this is not intended as legal advice and none of this information should overrule the advice of your own organization or from official sources.
TERMINATION NOTICE (OF ACTIVE AWARDS)
ACTION ITEMS
- Your award’s Period of Performance is now administratively changed to end on May 31, 2025. You cannot incur or charge costs beyond this date.
- 2. Appeals (if eligible):
If you believe your project does support one of the new NEA funding priorities, you can appeal the termination within 7 calendar days from the notice. Email grants@arts.gov with documentation showing your project meets the new priorities.
Deadline to submit the appeal: Friday, May 9, before 11:59 PM Eastern Time.
If your notice was received on Friday, May 2, seven (7) calendar days would be Friday, May 9. It is strongly recommended to submit before 11:59 PM EASTERN TIME (ET), since ET is typically the default time zone for other NEA-related deadlines.
● Provide documentation that your project supports one (or more) of the specific priorities outlined in your termination letter: The NEA is now prioritizing projects that elevate the Nation’s HBCUs and Hispanic Serving Institutions, celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence, foster AI competency, empower houses of worship to serve communities, assist with disaster recovery, foster skilled trade jobs, make America healthy again, support the military and veterans, support Tribal communities, make the District of Columbia safe and beautiful, and support the economic development of Asian American communities.
● SAMPLE APPEAL TEMPLATE FOUND HERE: Appeal Template Draft
● Note: The success of an appeal is unlikely, but it is worth following the appeals process for documentation if you think there are some connections between your project and any of the priorities.
3. Submit Payment Requests (If Applicable)
Deadline to submit final payment requests: June 30, 2025.
If you incurred any allowable project-related costs before May 31, 2025:
● Use the NEA’s eGMS system to submit your final payment request by June 30, 2025.
● As noted in your termination letter, failure to submit a final payment request by this date will result in the de-obligation of your award’s remaining funding.
● What are allowable project-related costs?
o Each payment request must reflect allowable project-related expenses already incurred (a reimbursement) and/or expenses you expect to incur by May 31, 2025 (an advance, since these would be for expenses expected to be incurred within thirty (30) calendar days from the request).
o Every awarded grantee has an approved budget on file (in the ‘Files’ tab of REACH).
o Any line item on your approved budget of record is an allowable cost. You may transfer among direct cost line items in your approved budget. This means if your approved budget included salaries/wages or artist fees in your budget, you can direct the remainder of your grant award money toward those costs. You must maintain documentation of all costs charged to the award.
o The dollar amount of an approved line item can differ (within reason, as long as you can prove the new amount is project-related and you maintain documentation). Only actual, allowable, and approved costs incurred within the revised period of performance may be claimed.
o It is currently unclear if cancellation costs incurred by the termination would be allowable. However, this option was offered for terminated NEH grants and should be considered.
o For additional guidance on payment requests, see the section ‘Tips for Preparing Your Payment Request’ in the NEA AWARD HANDBOOK.
o You should be able to both submit a final payment request and an appeal (which is unlikely to be successful, but worth following the appeals process).
Deadline: Must be submitted by July 31, 2025.
● All other final and/or interim performance reporting requirements are waived, including the Final Descriptive Report and the Geographic Location of Project Activity (GEO).
● Failure to submit an FFR by this date may result in your organization being ineligible for future National Endowment for the Arts funding opportunities. All other provisions of your award, including record retention requirements, remain in effect.
Funding Recommendation (Offer) Withdrawn
ACTION ITEMS
This notice would have been received if you had a tentative funding recommendation (in the ‘Offer’ stage) withdrawn by the NEA. If your project was recommended but did not receive an award notice, no legal agreement was established. The NEA is not obligated to fund the project, so the only option is to file an appeal.
● File an Appeal (if eligible) by Friday, May 9, before 11:59 PM Eastern Time.
○ See the information outlined above in the guidance for Terminated Awards
○ SAMPLE APPEAL TEMPLATE FOUND HERE: Appeal Template Draft
● Be sure not to use NEA branding or acknowledgment for the unfunded project.