Grants & Funding
State MHAA Grants
The funding cycle for FY25 is now closed. If you have submitted a Letter of Intent, you now have access to the Full Application in the MHT Grant Portal due March 4, 2024. If you have questions, please contact your local Heritage Area director *and* MHAA staff ASAP.
Maryland Heritage Areas Authority awards grants to nonprofit organizations and government entities for capital and non-capital projects located within a Heritage Area. Grants can support projects involving historical, cultural or natural resources, sites, events or facilities. Eligible projects must have a heritage tourism component or contribute to research that will directly inform a heritage tourism product. Each MHAA grant needs be matched 1:1 by cash, in-kind and/or volunteer hours.
Non-Capital Grants
Grants of up to $50,000, with a required one-to-one match of non-state support, are available for non-capital projects, which can include Planning (research, field investigation, data recovery, feasibility and planning studies, design documents and other planning activities that support the heritage area); Interpretation (exhibits, signage, pedestrian wayfinding signage, interpretive brochures, educational programs and materials, other interpretive activities that support the heritage area); and Programming (seminars, conferences, performances, reenactments, commemorations, festivals).
Capital Grants
Grants of up to $100,000, with a required one-to-one match of non-state support, are available for capital projects, which can include Acquisition (fee title of real property, interest other than fee title (i.e. easement) of real property); Development (repair or alteration of an existing building, structure or site, new construction for heritage tourism purposes); Rehabilitation (returning a property to a state of utility); Restoration (accurately depicting a property as it appeared at a particular period of time, removal of features from another time period, reconstruction of missing features from the restoration period); and Pre-Development (plans and specifications, fees for architectural design and engineering).
Grants from Heritage Areas
Many, but not all Heritage Areas also have grant programs. Identify and contact the Heritage Area near you, to find out their grantmaking offerings, guidelines, and deadlines.
Additional Funding Sources
Being located in a Heritage Area may also make your project or program eligible for other funding from the Maryland Historical Trust including loans and tax credit programs.