ACLS Digital Justice Seed Grants

The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), with funding from the Mellon Foundation, invites applications for the ACLS Digital Justice Seed Grants program. This opportunity provides early-stage support to digital projects in the humanities and interpretive social sciences that ethically engage with the interests and histories of historically marginalized communities. Each Seed Grant offers between $10,000 and $25,000 to support the conceptualization and planning phases of digital initiatives, with grant terms starting between July 1, 2026, and December 31, 2026, and lasting for 12 to 18 months. Applications must be submitted through the ACLS online fellowship and grant system by 9:00 PM EST on November 20, 2025. Award notifications will be issued in spring 2026. The program is intended to address inequities in access to digital tools and resources for scholars and institutions that often lack robust support for digital work. It promotes inclusive and sustainable digital scholarship by empowering a more diverse range of researchers, institutions, and communities to engage with digital humanities. Projects must demonstrate an ethical use of digital tools to critically engage with marginalized communities, including but not limited to Black, Latinx, Indigenous, disabled, queer, trans, and gender nonconforming populations. ACLS emphasizes openness in knowledge dissemination, encouraging applicants to adopt the most liberal Creative Commons or open-source licenses appropriate to their content. Seed Grants are suitable for projects at the start-up or prototyping phase. Eligible activities include conducting planning workshops, testing digital tools, and developing research agendas or infrastructure in collaboration with community partners. ACLS supports projects that foster capacity building, such as training students in digital methods, establishing new partnerships across academic and cultural heritage institutions, and building infrastructure for public engagement. Grant recipients also receive financial planning coaching from the Nonprofit Finance Fund to support long-term sustainability planning for their projects. Applicants must include at least one principal investigator who is a scholar in the humanities or interpretive social sciences. The administering institution for the grant must be a U.S.-based institution of higher education. ACLS will not fund projects that primarily produce creative works, textbooks, straightforward translations, or purely pedagogical content. Institutional overhead costs are not covered, although direct administrative expenses are permitted. Applications are evaluated by peer reviewers based on several criteria: the project's engagement with marginalized communities, clarity and feasibility of its digital methods and deliverables, assessment of institutional support or gaps, and its potential to contribute to broader networks of digital scholarship. Projects must also demonstrate a commitment to data ethics, including issues of management, security, and stewardship. The application package must include several components, such as narrative responses to prompts on equity, methods, audience, and partnerships; a one-page bibliography; a project timeline and staffing plan; a budget and budget description; and, if applicable, statements of support from community partners and an appendix with visuals. An institutional verification form must be submitted separately by a senior administrator, and applicants must affirm their commitment to the program’s intellectual property terms. Questions about the program can be directed to digitaljustice@acls.org.

Applicants are encouraged to follow the sample materials and reach out with eligibility or project fit questions.