named programs · 6 · from sources
What they call their work
ACLS Community College Humanities Initiative
Fellowship and grant programs, research, and convenings designed to advance the humanities in the community college sector
ACLS Humanities E-Book (HEB)
Online collection of over 5,000 high-quality humanities books, including digitized and new titles, originally funded by the Mellon Foundation
Darwin Correspondence Project
Located and researched all known letters to and from Charles Darwin, resulting in a 30-volume scholarly edition
Dictionary of American Biography / American National Biography
Comprehensive biographical resource of prominent American figures, originally published in the 1930s and updated in collaboration with Oxford University Press
Intention Foundry
Convenes scholars and administrators to build solutions for equity, inclusion, and justice within the academy
Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program
Administers a program to increase diversity in faculty ranks by supporting undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds in the humanities and social sciences
activities · 6 groups
What they do
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Psychoanalytic and Therapeutic Training Support 2 activities
- Funding humanities and interpretive social sciences research through fellowships and grantsProvides funding to individual scholars and scholarly teams globally via fellowship and grant programs that support research in the humanities and interpretive social sciences. In recent years, awarded over $25 million across programs and supported more than 440 scholars from 256 academic institutions.
- Funding open access publishing in the humanitiesAdministers the ACLS Open Access Book Prize and Arcadia Open Access Publishing Award, awarding $50,000 prizes to outstanding open access books in the humanities and funding future publications. Honored winners at public events such as at The New York Public Library.
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Student Organization Funding and Support 1 activity
- Administering the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship (MMUF) ProgramRuns the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program to increase diversity in faculty ranks, administering annual reporting, renewal, and regranting processes for 44 member institutions and three consortia.
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Historic Site Designation Advocacy 1 activity
- Advocating for cultural preservation and federal humanities supportEngaged in advocacy efforts including the establishment of the Committee on the Protection of Cultural Treasures in War Areas (supporting the Monuments Men during WWII) and played a foundational role in creating the National Endowment for the Humanities through participation in the National Commission on the Humanities.
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Religious Education Support 1 activity
- Funding Buddhist Studies research and public engagementAwards grants to support projects that make Buddhist knowledge accessible to communities of practice and the public. Has awarded more than $1.5 million to advance research, teaching, and public engagement in Buddhist Studies across three continents.
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Annual Impact and Evaluation Reporting 1 activity
- Publishing organizational and programmatic outcomesProduces and publishes annual reports documenting organizational activities, outcomes, and impact, including centennial-related outputs such as the film *ACLS at 100* and the publication *The First Century*.
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Uncategorized 4 activities
- Conducting major research and publication projectsLeads large-scale research initiatives including the Dictionary of American Biography, the American National Biography (co-developed with Oxford University Press), and the 30-volume Darwin Correspondence Project, which published all known letters to and from Charles Darwin by 2022.
- Convening and expanding the Federation of Learned SocietiesOperates as a federation of learned societies—growing from 81 to 86 members—and organizes regular meetings to advance humanistic scholarship collectively.
- Operating digital platforms for grant administrationManages online portals for applicants, reference letter writers, and awardees to submit applications, letters, and reports; also operates a secure web portal for MMUF campus coordinators to manage reporting, renewals, and budgeting.
- Supporting national infrastructure for humanistic researchStrengthens the national infrastructure of humanistic scholarship through initiatives like the Research University Consortium and by convening scholars, learned societies, and academic administrators to develop solutions for equity and inclusion in higher education.
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financials · form 990 · fy2024
revenue
Total revenue$38.86M
Contributions & grants$28.61M74%
Program service revenue$00%
Investment income$10.17M26%
Other revenue$84K
expenses
Total expenses$35.63M
Program expenses85%
Admin / overhead13%
Fundraising1%
Salaries & benefits$6.68M
Grants paid out$23.44M
Largest expense lineCompensation
balance sheet
Total assets$216.96M
Cash$11.03M
Investments$193.45M
Liabilities$12.69M
Net assets$204.28M
Liquid reserves68.9 mo
6 years on record · 2019–2024 · YoY revenue -15.5%
leadership · form 990 part vii · fy2024
Who runs it
paid leadership · 8
| Name | Title | Hours/wk | Compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| JOY CONNOLLY | PRESIDENT | 40 | $692K |
| JAMES SHULMAN | VICE PRESIDENT & COO | 40 | $455K |
| MATTHEW SAPIENZA | CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER | 40 | $293K |
| MARY RICHTER | CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER | 40 | $274K |
| KELLY BUTTERMORE | CHIEF OF STAFF | 40 | $225K |
| JOHN CHRISTY | DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROGRAM | 40 | $222K |
| HEATHER MANGRUM | DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS | 40 | $191K |
| JOVONNE BICKERSTAFF | DIRE, INTENTIONAL DESIGN FOR EQUIT. ACADEMY | 40 | $182K |
board members · 15
- CARLOS ALBERTO CONTRERAS — DIRECTOR
- DANA WILLIAMS — SECRETARY
- DESIREE PEDESCLEAUX — DIRECTOR
- EDWARD COHEN — DIRECTOR
- FRANCES DALY FERGUSSON — DIRECTOR
- JAMES H AVERILL — DIRECTOR
- JAMES Q WHITMAN — DIRECTOR
- JIMENA CANALES — VICE CHAIR
- LISA FAGIN DAVIS — DIRECTOR
- MALINDA MAYNOR LOWERY — DIRECTOR THRU APRIL 2025
- MARWAN M KRAIDY — CHAIR
- MELANI MCALISTER — TREASURER
- MICHELE LAMONT — DIRECTOR
- RODERICK FERGUSON — DIRECTOR
- THEODORE S GONZALVES — DIRECTOR
relationships · 41
Who they work with
- 81 Member Societies Network — Federation of 81 learned societies represented through delegates and participating in ACLS governance.
- ACLS Government — Implied self-reference as an established organization with historical continuity since World War I
- AUPresses Partner — Collaborates through its Digital Publishing and Open Access Committees on the web series Adventures in Digital Publishing: Collaborations and Conversations.
- Affiliate Members Network — 11 prestigious academic organizations enhancing the effectiveness of humanistic research efforts.
- African Studies Association Partner — Member society represented on the Conference of Executive Officers
- American Anthropological Association Partner — Member society represented on the Executive Committee of the Delegates and the Conference of Executive Officers
- American Folklore Society Partner — Member society represented on the Conference of Executive Officers
- American Historical Association Partner — Cosigned legal action with ACLS and MLA to make DOGE videos public under First Amendment grounds.
- American Historical Association Partner — Member society represented on the Executive Committee of the Delegates
- American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies Partner — Member society represented on the Conference of Executive Officers
- American Society of Overseas Research Partner — Member society represented on the Executive Committee of the Delegates
- Arcadia Funder — Funds the Path to Open pilot with JSTOR and supports the Arcadia Open Access Publishing Award.
- Associate Members Network — Over 200 colleges, universities, and research libraries committed to advancing humanistic scholarship.
- Brown University Digital Publications Partner — Collaborates on the web series Adventures in Digital Publishing: Collaborations and Conversations.
- California State University Consortium Partner — Participating consortium in the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program administered by ACLS.
- Claremont Colleges Consortium Partner — Participating consortium in the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program administered by ACLS.
- Coalition for International Education Coalition — ACLS joined a CIE letter opposing the elimination of Title VI and Fulbright Hays funding, signaling formal collaboration on international education policy advocacy.
- Council of Graduate Schools in the United States Partner — Co-founded the National Commission on the Humanities in 1963.
- Dictionary Society of North America Partner — Member society represented on the Executive Committee of the Delegates
- Economic History Association Partner — Member society represented on the Executive Committee of the Delegates
- Emory University Partner — Collaborates through Digital Publishing in the Humanities on the web series Adventures in Digital Publishing: Collaborations and Conversations.
- JSTOR Partner — Pilot partner for Path to Open, a community-driven approach to publishing open access books.
- Latin American Studies Association Partner — Barbara Weinstein serves as representative from the Latin American Studies Association on the ACLS Board of Directors.
- Medieval Academy of America Partner — Lisa Fagin Davis serves as representative from the Medieval Academy of America on the ACLS Board of Directors.
- Medieval Academy of America Partner — Member society represented on the Conference of Executive Officers
- Mellon Foundation Funder — Mariët Westermann of the Mellon Foundation participated in the ACLS centennial celebration, indicating an ongoing funding and collaborative relationship.
- Modern Language Association Partner — Cosigned legal action with ACLS and AHA to make DOGE videos public under First Amendment grounds.
- National Endowment for the Humanities Government — ACLS references NEH's grant programs and legal restoration of funding, indicating alignment and advocacy on shared interests in federal humanities funding.
- Organization of American Historians Partner — Member society represented on the Conference of Executive Officers
- Oxford University Press Partner — Collaborated to produce the American National Biography.
+ 11 more
strategies · 5
How they approach the work
Named approaches extracted from this org’s sources. Where others share an approach, follow it to see the full set of orgs running it.
- Cross-Sector Collaboration to Transform Knowledge Systemsmethodology: cross_sector_collaborationBy coordinating collaboration among scholars, publishers, and libraries, we transform entrenched systems of knowledge production and distribution, because durable change in academic infrastructure requires alignment across institutional roles and sectors.
- Humanistic Scholarship as Crisis Responsemethodology: crisis_response_scholarshipBy supporting humanistic scholarship during times of crisis, we enable deeper understanding of societal challenges and the imagination of future solutions, because humanistic inquiry provides critical perspective and ethical framing when societies face disruption.
- Inclusive Excellence in Fellowship Lifecyclemethodology: inclusive_excellenceBy embedding inclusive excellence throughout the fellowship lifecycle—including peer review, proposal evaluation, and award administration—we improve the quality and diversity of humanistic scholarship, because equitable processes yield more rigorous and representative knowledge.
- Infrastructure-Building Across Academic Ecosystemmethodology: infrastructure_buildingBy building shared infrastructure across the academic ecosystem—from individual scholars to international networks—we strengthen the resilience and reach of humanistic scholarship, because sustainable knowledge production depends on interconnected, well-resourced systems.
- Open Access to Transform Knowledge Equitymethodology: open_access_scholarshipBy advancing open access scholarship, we remove economic, technical, and cognitive barriers to humanistic knowledge, thereby increasing innovation and equity in knowledge use and creation, because broad access enables broader participation and impact.