Recordings at Risk Grant

Recordings at Risk Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR)
Amount: US $10,000 - US $50,000
Last Updated: January 12, 2026

Summary

The Recordings at Risk Grant, administered by CLIR, supports the preservation of rare audio and audiovisual media of scholarly value through digital reformatting. With funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the program aims to award $6.75 million across twelve competitions, offering grants between $10,000 and $50,000. It encourages U.S. nonprofit institutions to preserve vulnerable media, helping them to develop strategies for effective digital reformatting and promoting best preservation practices.

Overview

Recordings at Risk Recordings at Risk is a national regranting program administered by CLIR to support the preservation of rare and unique audio, audiovisual, and other time-based media of high scholarly value through digital reformatting. Generously funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation since January 2017, the program will run twelve competitions and will award a total of $6.75 million. Awards range from $10,000 to $50,000 and cover costs of preservation reformatting for fragile and/or obsolete time-based media content by qualified external service providers. Eligible media may include, but are not necessarily limited to, magnetic audio and video tape, grooved discs, wax cylinders, wire recordings, and film (with or without sound). Recordings at Risk encourages professionals who may be constrained by limited resources and/or technical expertise to take action against the threats of degradation and obsolescence. The program aims to help institutions identify priorities and develop practical strategies for digital reformatting, build relationships with partners, and raise awareness of best practices. Application Assessment Criteria An independent review panel, comprised of scholars in a variety of domains and technologists with expertise in digitization and digital preservation, will evaluate applications using four primary criteria: Impact- The potential scholarly and public impact of the projectUrgency- The urgency of undertaking reformatting to avoid risk of lossPotential for preservation- The viability of the work plan and deliverables for preserving the content over timeApproach to access- The approach to legal and ethical concerns affecting access

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. Applicants must be U.S. nonprofit academic, research, or cultural heritage institutions. Please note that both the applicant institution and its collections must be located in the United States or an associated entity, e.g. the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or American Samoa.Grants may be made to government units and their agencies or instrumentalities, provided that cultural heritage is the primary function of the unit and grant funds will be used for charitable purposes within the scope of the Recordings at Risk program.We recommend that government units wishing to apply for a Recordings at Risk grant contact the CLIR Grants Team to ascertain their eligibility. Indian tribes, Alaska native villages, regional corporations, and village corporations are eligible to apply for funding. For purposes of funding under this program, “Indian tribe” means any tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community, including any Alaska native village, regional corporation, or village corporation (as defined in, or established pursuant to, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.)), which is recognized by the Secretary of the Interior as eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United States to Indians because of their status as Indians.A list of eligible entities is available from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, except for the recognized Alaska native villages, regional corporations, and village corporations, which should refer to applicable provisions in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, referenced above. Any tribal entities, including those not currently covered by the above description, are encouraged to contact the CLIR Grants Team to discuss questions of eligibility for this program. IRS Classifications Generally speaking, to be eligible for this program applicants must be recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as tax-exempt under one of the following: IRS Code Section 501(c)3 IRS Code Section 115 IRS Code Section 170(c)1 Grants may be made to government units and their agencies or instrumentalities not organized under IRS Section 501(c)3, provided that collecting and disseminating scholarly and cultural resources are among the primary functions of the unit and grant funds will be used for charitable purposes within the scope of the Recordings at Risk program. We recommend that government units wishing to apply to Recordings at Risk contact the CLIR Grants Team at to ascertain their eligibility.Award Terms Applicants may request as little as $10,000 or as much as $50,000 per project. The grant may fund up to 100% of the direct costs of audio or audiovisual digital reformatting services to be provided by an external service provider. Applicants institutions may submit only one application per cycle. Applicants must agree to create appropriate descriptive and technical metadata for all content digitized through grant funds during the grant term, and to dedicate this metadata to the public domain. CLIR will make exceptions for culturally sensitive metadata. Please contact the CLIR Grants Team with any questions regarding exceptions to this requirement.

Ineligibility

In-house digitization projects are not eligible for this program. An individual may not be Principal Investigator (PI) on overlapping or concurrent Recordings at Risk projects.