On Monday, March 31, 2025 we learned that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is targeting the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) with the aim of substantially reducing its staff, cutting the agency’s grant programs, and rescinding grants that have already been awarded. DOGE is targeting a small federal agency that—with an annual appropriation that amounts to a rounding error in the U.S. budget—has a positive impact on every congressional district.
Established in 1965, the National Endowment for the Humanities is the only entity, federal or private, tasked with making the humanities accessible to all Americans. The NEH connects Americans in every state with our nation’s rich history and culture.
The NEH provides crucial support for cultural organizations. Through grants to libraries, museums, historic sites, educational institutions, and other cultural organizations—and its partnership with the state and jurisdictional humanities councils—the NEH:
- Enriches K-12 education
- Provides lifelong learning opportunities for a range of audiences
- Fosters community conversations
- Ensures rural access to high-quality humanities programs
- Supports Veterans
- Promotes civic education
- Supports cutting-edge research
- Celebrates local histories
- Preserves our cultural heritage
- Fosters local tourism economies
NEH funding and NEH staff are essential to this work. For 60 years, NEH staff members have helped grantees navigate government systems and develop strong proposals that bring high-quality humanities programs to American communities. NEH staff ensure that small and large organizations alike have access to federal funds. Moreover, they are tireless in their efforts to ensure that U.S. tax dollars are spent well.
Cutting NEH funding directly harms communities in every state and contributes to the destruction of our shared cultural heritage. Cutting NEH staff who bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to their positions guts the NEH itself. This puts unnecessary barriers in the way of the agency’s mission to distribute federal dollars to American communities.
We condemn these actions in the strongest possible terms. We support the mission of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the agency staff who make that mission possible, and we call upon Members of Congress to ensure that this crucial government agency fulfills the mandate set by Congress.
The following organizations have signed on to this statement:
American Academy of Religion
American Antiquarian Society
American Association for Italian Studies
American Association for State and Local History
American Historical Association
American Musicological Society (AMS)
American Oriental Society
American Philosophical Association
American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies
American Sociological Association
Association for Asian Studies
Association of Research Libraries
Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies
Association of University Presses
College Art Association of America
German Studies Association
Linguistic Society of America
Modern Language Association
National Council on Public History
National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
Organization of American Historians
The Phi Beta Kappa Society
Renaissance Society of America
University of Connecticut Humanities Institute (UCHI)
###
The National Humanities Alliance (NHA) is a nationwide coalition of organizations advocating for the humanities on campuses, in communities, and on Capitol Hill. Founded in 1981, NHA is supported by over 250 member organizations, including: colleges, universities, libraries, museums, cultural organizations, state humanities councils, and scholarly, professional, and higher education associations. It is the only organization that brings together the U.S. humanities community as a whole.