Delaware Humanities Forum

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the role of the DHF?

The Delaware Humanities Forum promotes the humanities by providing an assortment of resources to the people of Delaware. Our programs, which include grants to nonprofit organizations, educational outreach and special projects, are designed to bring the public together with humanities specialists. Our network links cultural, educational and civic institutions statewide, and focuses on issues of public interest and concern. Ultimately, our goal is to help our residents to learn about life and work by connecting them with other people, cultures and ideas.

How is the DHF organized?

The DHF is incorporated in Delaware as a 501 (C) (3) nonprofit organization and has operated since 1973. The Delaware Humanities Council, a 27-member board of directors, governs the Forum. A small staff serves the state from a Wilmington office.

Where does the DHF get its money?

Since its founding in 1973, the Delaware Humanities Forum has relied on a mix of non-profit federal, state, corporate, foundation and individual donations. The Forum is supported principally by an annual grant from the federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities, which mandates that funds go toward public humanities programming. The State of Delaware's Grant-In-Aid contribution provides DHF with program support, used particularly towards the Visiting Scholars Program. Private contributions and investment income make up the rest of our funding. The DHF's 2003 budget was nearly $585,000. In recent years the funding mix has been approximately as follows:

National Endowment for the Humanities - 75%
State of Delaware's Grant-in-aid program - 11%
Contributions and investment income - 14%

How much of the DHF budget goes directly into programming?

The DHF divides its programs into two major categories: federal re-grants and in-house programs. See the following example of how DHF funds were spent in the year 2003:

14% administration
38% personnel
48% directly on programs.

What are federal re-grants?

One of our two major program categories consists of re-grants, funds we disperse to other nonprofit organizations in Delaware. Approximately $120,000 has been dispersed on an annual basis in recent years. As a major part of our overall mission, the DHF takes our re-granting responsibility very seriously. We are proud of making an assortment of program available to Delaware's citizens, including:

My Place Between the Bays: The Delmarva Experience
Land of Ice, Hearts of Fire: Inuit Art and Culture
Hard Times in Buenos Aires: Mapping the New Reality Through Poetry and Photography
With All Deliberate Speed: The Legacy of Brown v. Board
The Redding Symposium on the 50th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education
Artful Living: Ten Year Anniversary of the Biggs Museum of American Art
Brandywine Village 1900-2000, A Century of Change
One Book at a Time
Delaware Archaeology Month: May 2004
Werowocomoco: Indians and Archaeologists Look at Powhatan's Capitol at the Beginning of the Jamestown Settlement

What else does the DHF do?

The DHF will continue to perform this important re-granting distribution function as long as the National Endowment for the Humanities grants funds to each state, based on population. Twenty or thirty years ago, re-granting was our only function. However, for many years we have played other roles as well.

As part of our larger mission, we spend more each year on in-house projects sponsored and managed by DHF than we do on re-grants. In 2001, over $145,000 was invested in DHF sponsored programs. Examples of just a few of the wide variety of events sponsored by DHF follow.

$52,000 were spent on the popular Speakers Bureau program in 2003
the Visiting Scholars Program is available to all Delaware schools, grades 1-12
assorted Exhibits, like Barn Again! and A Tale of Two Cities: Buenos Aires, a bi-lingual exhibit of poetry and photography about crisis and change in Latin America
4 days of historical reenactments, held 'under the tent' in Lewes each summer, comprise our popular Chautauqua event
diverse lecture series