Issue: IMLS Office of Museum Services Funding
IMLS is the primary federal agency responsible for helping museums connect people to information and ideas. Its Office of Museum Services (OMS) awards grants to museums to support educating students, preserving and digitizing collections, and engaging communities. Grants are awarded in every state, but current funding has allowed the agency to fund only a small fraction of the highly rated grant applications it receives. During the COVID-19 pandemic, OMS has provided critical leadership to the museum community through its CARES Act and American Rescue Plan grants, and the agency has been providing science-based information and recommended practices to reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19 to staff and visitors engaging in the delivery of museum services. Its Communities for Immunity partnership is working to boost COVID-19 vaccine confidence in communities across the country. Congress has regularly reauthorized IMLS with broad bipartisan support, most recently in 2018. OMS has set a strong record of congressional support during the appropriations submission process in each of the last several years, with 151 Representatives and 42 Senators signing the FY 2021 appropriations letters on its behalf. In FY 2021, Congress provided $257 million to IMLS, of which $40.5 million was directed to the Office of Museum Services. With this funding, OMS provided 275 grants totaling $40.5 million to museums and related organizations in 44 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
We urge Congress to:
- provide $54.5 million in fiscal year (FY) 2022 for the IMLS Office of Museum Services (the House-passed and Senate draft approved level), a much needed increase of $14 million, and provide a robust funding increase for FY 2023.
- include funding for the agency to explore establishing a roadmap to strengthen the structural support for a museum Grants to States program administered by OMS, as authorized by the Museum and Library Services Act, 20 U.S.C. Section 9173(a)(4), in addition to the agency’s current direct grants to museums.
Download the full Issue Brief (PDF)
Includes a list of Senators and Representatives who supported FY2022 OMS funding.
COVID-19 & IMLS Funding
- Senator Booker Sign-On Letter – Phase 4 Economic Relief for Museums
- Reps. Dingell and Upton House Leadership Museum Priorities Phase 4 Letter
- July Museum Community Emergency Economic Relief Request Letter
- Museum Community Phase 4 Economic Relief Request Letter
- Museum Community Phase 3 Economic Relief Request Letter
Supporting Letters and Testimony
- FY 2022 House Labor-HHS-ED Public Witness Appropriations Testimony (oral)
- FY 2022 House Labor-HHS-ED Public Witness Appropriations Testimony (written)
- FY 2022 House OMS Funding Letter
- FY 2021 Senate Labor-HHS-ED Appropriations Testimony
- FY 2021 House Labor-HHS-ED Appropriations Testimony
- FY 2020 Senate Labor-HHS-ED Appropriations Testimony
- FY 2020 House Labor-HHS-ED Public Witness Appropriations Testimony (oral)
- FY 2020 House Labor-HHS-ED Public Witness Appropriations Testimony (written)
- FY 2020 House OMS Funding Letter
- FY 2020 Senate OMS Funding Letter
- FY 2019 Senate Labor-HHS-ED Appropriations Testimony
- FY 2019 House Labor-HHS-ED Public Witness Appropriations Testimony (oral)
- FY 2019 House Labor-HHS-ED Public Witness Appropriations Testimony (written)
- FY 2019 House OMS Funding Letter
- FY 2019 Senate OMS Funding Letter
- FY 2018 Senate Labor-HHS-ED Appropriations Testimony
- FY 2018 House Labor-HHS-ED Appropriations Testimony
- FY 2018 House OMS Funding Letter
- FY 2018 Senate OMS Funding Letter
- Alliance Leads 63 Museum Organizations Supporting IMLS Reauthorization Legislation
- FY 2017 House Labor-HHS-ED Appropriations Testimony
- FY 2017 Senate Labor-HHS-ED Appropriations Testimony
- FY 2017 House OMS Funding Letter
- FY 2017 Senate OMS Funding Letter
- FY 2016 House Labor-HHS-ED Appropriations Testimony
- FY 2016 Senate Labor-HHS-ED Appropriations Testimony
- FY 2016 House OMS Funding Letter
- FY 2016 Senate OMS Funding Letter
- FY 2015 Senate Labor-HHS-ED Testimony
- FY 2015 Letter to House Budget Committee
- FY 2015 House OMS Funding Letter
- FY 2015 Senate OMS Funding Letter
- FY 2015 House Labor-HHS-ED Testimony, Submitted by Don Wildman
- FY 2014 House Labor-HHS-ED Testimony
- FY 2014 Senate Labor-HHS-ED Testimony
- FY 2014 House and Senate OMS Funding Letters
- FY 2013 Senate Labor-HHS Testimony
- FY 2013 House Labor-HHS Comments and Testimony
- FY 2013 House OMS Funding Letter
- FY 2013 Senate OMS Funding Letter
- FY 2012 House OMS Funding Letter
- Alliance Comments on IMLS Strategic Plan