Championing the humanities across a state as diverse as Maryland requires many contributors and much collaboration. That’s where our Marilyn Hatza Memorial SHINE Grant Program comes in: Strengthening the Humanities Investment in Nonprofits for Equity
Maryland Humanities’ grants program funds general operating support to humanities nonprofits in Maryland. We have been actively adjusting our grant practices over the past few years with a focus on equity and accessibility. Since 2020, we’ve had the opportunity to award $1.425 million in COVID-relief funds–all as general operating support grants. With the Marilyn Hatza Memorial SHINE Grant Program, Maryland Humanities takes the next step in our grantmaking evolution and aims to lower barriers and provide funding in a more equitable way to organizations statewide. Thank you to the State of Maryland via the Maryland Historical Trust for providing the Hatza SHINE seed money and helping to invest in a healthier humanities landscape statewide.
Previously known as SHINE Grant Program, Maryland Humanities has renamed it the Marilyn Hatza SHINE Grant Program. It only felt right to pay tribute to Maryland Humanities’ late Director of Grants and Community Engagement, Marilyn Hatza, in this way. She was central to the creation of this program, and much of Maryland Humanities’ other racial equity work.
Congratulations 2024 Hatza Memorial SHINE Grant recipients!
The Hatza Memorial SHINE FY24 funding application closed on September 1, 2023. Thank you to every organization who applied! We awarded 95 General Operating Support grants worth $10,000. A list of awarded organizations by county is available below. Please check back here for updates about FY25 funding in Spring 2024.
Goals of the Marilyn Hatza Memorial SHINE Grant Program
- Continue and expand general operating support funding, awarding $950,000 in grants.
- Focus on small and mid‐size humanities, arts, cultural, and educational nonprofits that may not have staff capacity or resources to be competitive in fundraising.
- Ensure a broad geographic reach, similar to what we were able to realize from our COVID‐relief grants, which funded organizations in all 23 of Maryland’s counties, plus Baltimore City.
- Continue to refine lessons learned on how to evaluate applicants and distribute funds equitably, while ensuring accountability and responsible fiscal stewardship.
- Convene annual cohorts of grantees in new networks of engagement and common purpose to amplify the state’s investment, strengthening both the organizations and communities.
The application period closed on September 1, 2023.
- Guidelines
- Access Grants Portal (APPLY HERE)
- Preview Hatza SHINE Application
- Preview Hatza SHINE Evaluation 1
- Preview Hatza SHINE Evaluation 2
- Exemplary Sample Answers
FY24 Grant Recipients by County
- Allegany County
Allegany Museum
Emmanuel Episcopal Church
Evergreen Heritage Center Foundation
Historic Frostburg, a Maryland Main Street Community
- Anne Arundel County
Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation
Captain Avery Museum
Chesapeake Children’s Museum
Lost Towns Project
- Baltimore City
Baltimore Architecture Foundation
Baltimore Heritage
CHARM: Voices of Baltimore Youth (Fund for Educational Excellence)
CityLit Project
Eubie Blake National Jazz Institute and Cultural Center
Friends of 612-614 S. Wolfe Street
Friends of President Street Station
Greenmount Senior Center
Komite Ayiti
Makeup Museum
Maryland Museums Association
Maryland Women’s Heritage Center
Mount Clare Museum House
Moving History
Writers in Baltimore Schools
Muse 360 Arts
Raymond Banks ‘A Way With Words’ Foundation
Sankofa Children’s Museum of African Cultures
Yellow Arrow Publishing Co.
- Baltimore County
Baltimore Association of Nepalese in America
Baltimore County Historical Society, Inc. (dba Historical Society of Baltimore County)
Maryland Lynching Memorial Project
NeighborSpace of Baltimore County
Sisterhood Agenda
Todd’s Inheritance Historic Site
- Calvert County
Bayside History Museum
Launching Educational Assistance Program Forward (LEAP) Forward
- Carroll County
Downtown Sykesville Connection
Historical Society of Carroll County Maryland
The Union Mills Homestead
- Cecil County
Historical Society of Cecil County
- Charles County
Farm Heritage Conservancy
The Historical Society of Charles County
Life Journeys Writers Club
- Dorchester County
Dorchester County Historical Society
Groove City Black Heritage & Culture Group
Harrisville Malone Cemetery Maintenance Fund
Nanticoke Historic Preservation Alliance (NHPA)
- Frederick County
African-American Resources Cultural Heritage Society (AARCH)
Catoctin Furnace Historical Society
City Youth Matrix
Global Z Recording Project
Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area
Maryland Foreign Language Association
Women Solve
- Garrett County
Garrett County Historical Society
Mountain Lake Park Historical Association
- Harford County
Harmer’s Town Art Center
The Havre de Grace Colored School Museum and Cultural Center
The Havre Grace Maritime Museum
Hosanna Community House (dba Hosanna School Museum)
Lower Susquehanna Heritage Greenway
- Howard County
Chinese American Parent Association of Howard County
Cultura Plenera
Howard County Historical Society
Indian Cultural Association of Howard County
Korean Culture and Art of MD
League of Korean Americans
- Kent County
G.A.R. Post #25 (Sumner Hall)
- Montgomery County
Bethesda Historical Society
The Civic Circle
Docs in Progress
The Giving Square
Sugarland Ethno History Project
- Prince George's County
Bold Beautiful Brilliant Girls Youth Empowerment Group
Coalition for African Americans in the Performing Arts
EducArte
Fuel Incorporated
National Capital Radio and Television Museum
National Museum of Language
- Queen Anne's County
Grasonville Community Center
Kennard Alumni Association
Touchstones Discussion Project
- Somerset County
Somerset County Historical Society
- St. Mary's County
Friends of the St. Clement’s Island and Piney Point Museums
Unified Committee for Afro-American Contributions
- Talbot County
Chesapeake Film Festival
Mid-Shore Community Foundation – Bellevue Passage Museum
St. Michaels Museum
The Water’s Edge Museum
- Washington County
Camp Ritchie Museum
Urban Rural Action
- Wicomico County
Eleven 21
- Worcester County
Beach to Bay Heritage Area
Berlin Heritage Foundation
Delmarva Discovery Center & Museum
Furnace Town Foundation