If your project meets the eligibility requirements, you will be invited to submit a letter of application. The registration deadline is February 6, 2009.

3. Complete a proposal with laboratory cost estimate
Write a proposal in the form of a letter (4 to 6 pages), with one laboratory estimate. Your letter should cover the following points and may include illustrations or tables as appropriate:

a. Research significance
Discuss why the film title or collection is of particular importance for cultural, artistic, or historical study. If the film or collection documents a single region, locale, community, or culture, explain how the material illuminates broader trends or national issues and contributes to our understanding of cultural history. Please cite publications that use or reference the material.

For footage collections or groups of films, discuss why the materials are important to preserve as a group. Does your institution hold complementary documents (personal papers, still photographs, sound recordings, ledger books, artifacts, etc.) that enhance the research value of the multimedia collection as a whole? If you are proposing to preserve selected reels or titles from a collection, describe your rationale for making the selection.

Briefly summarize your institution's overall collections and public programs and indicate how the proposed project furthers your institution's mission.

b. Physical film description

	What is the title, length, gauge, and subject matter of the proposed film or collection?
	From what type of source material will your archive be working? If you plan a restoration or reconstruction, indicate which authority (script, censorship record, cutting continuity, etc.) will guide your work.
	How did your organization acquire the material?

c. Uniqueness of your archive's film copy

	What organizations, databases, and other resources have you checked to make sure that your archive's copy represents the "best surviving material" for that film and that the proposed work does not duplicate efforts by others in the public/nonprofit sector?
	For independent documentaries and avant-garde works, indicate if you have contacted the filmmaker, the production company, or the filmmaker's heirs.
	Are rental or video copies of this film available through commercial distribution or video channels?

d. Description of preservation work and cost estimate

	What laboratory work is requested? For sound films, indicate how you propose to preserve the sound.
	Provide a written estimate for the preservation work. Estimates should be obtained from laboratories specializing in film and sound preservation.
	As applicable, outline any preservation work already existing for the film or collection (at your institution or elsewhere) and why it is no longer adequate. Please be specific; include the date of the original preservation work and condition of the original.
	If you are collaborating with or borrowing source material from another organization, include a letter from that institution briefly affirming its involvement with the project.

e. Storage
Describe your archival storage facilities (including temperature and humidity levels) and confirm that any new preservation masters created through the project will be stored under archivally acceptable conditions. If your organization does not have an archivally acceptable storage area for film, please include your plans for off-site storage.

f. Access plans

	Does your institution have permission to show this material for on-site researchers, Internet viewing, and/or on-site public screenings at which no admission is charged? Be sure to indicate if there are any other relevant donor restrictions regarding public access to the proposed material. (These are important considerations, given the public access mission of the NFPF.)
	Has your archive plans for sharing the completed access copies outside of your institution? Do you plan exhibition loans or dissemination on video, television, or the Internet?

g. Tax-exempt status
Nonprofits, list your institution's tax identification number; government/public sector archives, provide some record or a letter demonstrating that your institution is part of state, regional, or local government.

h. Matching funds
Your institution is required to pay for at least one-fifth of the total out-of-pocket costs (laboratory expenses, shipping, foreign-language translation fees, etc.) necessary to complete the project. Describe how your institution intends to satisfy this requirement. If your plan involves fundraising, list possible sources that your institution might approach to secure the match.

i. Contact information
Provide the name, title, address, phone number, fax, e-mail, and professional biography of the project coordinator (one paragraph).

4. Submit proposal
Applications must be received in hard copy by March 20, 2009:

National Film Preservation Foundation
870 Market Street, Suite 1113
San Francisco, CA 94102

The proposals will be read by NFPF staff and outside reviewers. Awards will be made by a grant panel serving on behalf of the NFPF Board of Directors.

NOTIFICATION
Applicants will be notified regarding grant decisions in June 2009.

TERMS
Successful applicants must sign an agreement affirming the responsibilities of the grant. Nonprofit grant winners may be asked to provide a copy of the IRS determination letter verifying their status as a publicly supported 501(c)(3) organization.