ACLS Grants: Eligibility, Funding, and Guide

The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) administers the United States’ leading competitive grant and fellowship portfolio for humanities and interpretive social science scholars. Founded in 1919 in New York City, ACLS represents 87 national member societies. Fellowships are awarded directly to individual scholars with a strict prohibition on university indirect cost deductions, portable across institutions, and evaluated through two-stage peer review. As described on the official page on 2026-11-10, ACLS competitions fund protected sabbatical leave, digital research, and targeted institutional advancement.

What it is and who runs it

ACLS grants and fellowships are administered centrally by the American Council of Learned Societies from 633 Third Avenue, New York, NY. The council operates as a non-profit federation supported by foundation endowments (including Mellon, Luce, and Ho Family foundations), university consortium dues, and individual gifts.

ACLS operates two main award mechanisms:

Individual Fellowships: Programs including the flagship ACLS Fellowship, Luce/ACLS China Studies, and the Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowship support individual scholars on research leave. Fellows are not classified as institutional Principal Investigators.
Institutional Research Grants: Initiatives such as ACLS Digital Justice Grants are awarded directly to universities and cultural institutions for collaborative digital infrastructure.

Eligibility (summary, with the official source)

Eligibility for the flagship ACLS Fellowship is governed by standards established on the official program page as described on the official page on 2026-11-10:

Degree Requirement: Applicants must hold a PhD in the humanities or interpretive social sciences conferred before the deadline. A PhD in Education is eligible; a Doctor of Education (EdD) is ineligible. Established scholars without a PhD may qualify through equivalent publication records.
Disciplinary Scope: Proposals must use humanistic or interpretive methods. ACLS does not fund creative writing, fiction, textbooks, translations without critical commentary, or purely quantitative policy analyses.
Citizenship and Residency: Eligible applicants include US citizens, permanent residents, Jay Treaty Indigenous individuals, DACA recipients, TPS holders, asylees, refugees, and foreign nationals residing continuously in the US or its territories for at least three consecutive years immediately before the deadline.
Career Stage: Open to all postdoctoral stages (tenured, tenure-track, adjunct, and independent scholars). Holding an active research fellowship from another funder is permitted if costs do not duplicate.

What it funds or requires

The flagship ACLS Fellowship provides up to $60,000 for six to 12 continuous or semi-continuous months of full-time research and writing. The award window spans July 1, 2027, through December 31, 2028, requiring at least six consecutive months. Core administrative rules include:

Service Release: Tenure-track fellows must be released from 100% of teaching, committee, and administrative duties. Non-tenure-track and independent scholars may teach up to one course per semester or perform equivalent administrative service.
Strict 0% Indirect Cost Policy: Institutions may not deduct indirect costs, facilities and administrative (F&A) rates, or overhead from fellowship stipends. Even when disbursed through university payroll, 100% of the stipend belongs to the fellow, as examined in foundation vs. federal indirect cost rates.
Sabbatical Salary Top-Up: For tenure-track faculty, combined support from all sources (fellowship, sabbatical pay, and university supplements) cannot exceed 100% of regular academic-year salary. If combined pay exceeds full salary, ACLS prorates the stipend downward. For non-tenure-track scholars, combined income may reach 150% of the award.
Supplements and Seed Grants: Independent scholars and teaching-intensive faculty receive $3,000–$6,000 supplements. In addition, 10 fellowships support scholars in contested fields. Finalists from teaching-intensive institutions who miss full fellowships are considered for $5,000 ACLS Project Development Grants.

Application or compliance steps

Applications are submitted electronically through the Online Fellowship and Grant Administration (OFA) portal (ofa.acls.org). The package requires seven elements:

OFA Registration: Create an applicant account in the OFA portal. Linking an ORCID profile is recommended.
Research Proposal: Maximum three pages, single-spaced, in 11-point Arial or Helvetica font with one-inch margins (footnotes in 10-point). Must address both disciplinary specialists and general humanists.
Work Plan: Maximum one page outlining the research timeline, archival visits, drafting milestones, and project feasibility.
Bibliography and Publications: Unannotated bibliography of sources (maximum two pages) and an up-to-date publication record (maximum two pages).
Personal Statement: Maximum one page detailing intellectual trajectory, institutional context, and any external constraints.
Non-Text Materials (Optional): Up to two pages of images, maps, or scores with brief captions only.
Exclusions and AI Policy: Do not submit writing samples or recommendation letters; neither is accepted. Generative AI tools (e.g., Claude, ChatGPT) are permitted with applicant accountability for accuracy.

Typical timeline phases (no calendar dates as facts)

The annual competition follows six sequential phases:

Phase 1: Competition Launch (Mid-Summer): OFA portal opens with updated guidelines, FAQs, and forms.
Phase 2: Submission Deadline (Early Autumn): Proposals are submitted via OFA; staff perform formatting and eligibility checks.
Phase 3: Stage 1 Disciplinary Review (Autumn): Three specialist scholars in the applicant’s discipline evaluate proposals within career-stage cohorts.
Phase 4: Stage 2 Multidisciplinary Panel (Winter): Finalist proposals advance to an interdisciplinary panel across the humanities, which selects awardees and Project Development Grant recipients.
Phase 5: Award Notification (Spring): Results are announced; fellows confirm institutional leave and payment routing.
Phase 6: Fellowship Tenure and Reporting (Summer Through Subsequent Year): Fellows carry out research and submit a final narrative report directly to ACLS upon completion.

Common mistakes

Common missteps resulting in disqualification or lower scores include:

Formatting Disqualifications: Exceeding the three-page proposal limit, reducing margins below one inch, or using sub-11-point fonts. Non-compliant files are rejected before review.
Overly Narrow Jargon: Pitching exclusively to subfield insiders without explaining broader humanistic stakes for the Stage 2 panel.
Uploading Excluded Materials: Submitting writing samples or soliciting letters of recommendation, which violate submission guidelines.
Attempting Overhead Charges: Sponsoring offices attempting to deduct indirect costs from fellowship stipends. When preparing proposals, staff responding to an institutional request for proposal or foundation agreement must enforce ACLS’s 0% overhead rule.
Sabbatical Over-Compensation: Miscalculating sabbatical offsets, causing combined income to breach the 100% academic salary ceiling.
Degree Ineligibility: Applying with an EdD degree or submitting before doctoral conferral.

Related programs (table)

The table below summarizes primary programs across the ACLS portfolio as described on the official page on 2026-11-10:

Program Name	Target Stage and Scope	Maximum Award	Duration	Overhead and Recipient Policy
ACLS Fellowships (Flagship)	Postdoctoral scholars in humanities and interpretive social sciences.	$60,000 (+ $3,000–$6,000 supplements)	6 to 12 months	Individual award; 0% institutional indirect costs.
ACLS Project Development Grants	Finalists from teaching-intensive colleges, HBCUs, and regional universities.	$5,000 seed grant	Flexible	Individual award; seed funding for research; 0% overhead.
ACLS Digital Justice Grants	Collaborative digital humanities teams and cultural archives.	Seed: $25,000; Dev: $100,000	12 to 18 months	Institutional grant; supports social justice digital projects.
ACLS HBCU Faculty Fellowships	Faculty teaching at Historically Black Colleges and Universities.	$60,000 stipend + $5,000 institutional grant	6 to 12 months	Individual fellowship with institutional grant; 0% indirects on stipend.
ACLS Leading Edge Fellowships	Recent humanities PhDs entering public policy and non-profit careers.	$70,000/yr salary + benefits	24 months	Individual placement at partner non-profit organizations.
Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation	Advanced PhD students in humanities and interpretive social sciences.	$50,000 ($40,000 stipend + $10,000 research/mentor)	12 months	Individual predoctoral award; see the Mellon/ACLS guide.
Luce/ACLS China Studies Program	Early-career scholars conducting research on China.	Early Career: up to $45,000; Travel: $5,000	Flexible	Individual fellowship; 0% indirect costs.

For related arts research, scholars may also consult opportunities from independent funders such as Getty Foundation grants.

FAQ

Does ACLS pay indirect costs or overhead to host institutions?

No. ACLS strictly prohibits institutions from deducting indirect costs, facilities and administrative (F&A) rates, or overhead fees from fellowship awards. When a university processes fellowship disbursements through payroll to maintain benefits, the full stipend must be paid without deduction.

Can tenured or tenure-track faculty combine an ACLS Fellowship with sabbatical pay?

Yes. Combining fellowship stipends with sabbatical pay is standard, but total combined income cannot exceed 100% of the scholar’s regular academic-year salary. If the total exceeds normal salary, ACLS reduces the fellowship award accordingly. Non-tenure-track scholars may combine income up to 150% of the fellowship amount.

Are letters of recommendation or writing samples required for the ACLS Fellowship?

No. The core ACLS Fellowship competition does not accept letters of recommendation or writing samples. Reviewers evaluate candidates exclusively on the proposal, work plan, bibliography, publication list, and personal statement submitted through the OFA portal.

Can applicants request reviewer comments if their proposal is not funded?

Yes. ACLS offers all applicants the option to request reviewer feedback comments. After award announcements in the spring, applicants receive a secure link within their OFA status notification to request redacted evaluation notes.

What are the teaching restrictions during the fellowship tenure?

Tenure-track fellows must be released from 100% of teaching, administrative, and committee responsibilities during their fellowship term. Independent scholars and non-tenure-track faculty may teach up to one course per semester or perform equivalent administrative service.

Is the use of generative artificial intelligence allowed in ACLS proposals?

Yes. ACLS permits the use of generative artificial intelligence tools (such as Claude or ChatGPT) for proposal development. However, the applicant remains strictly and individually responsible for all content, factual accuracy, attribution, and absence of plagiarism.

Sources

American Council of Learned Societies. ACLS Fellowships Official Competition Guidelines. Available at: https://www.acls.org/competitions/acls-fellowships/ (Accessed November 10, 2026).
American Council of Learned Societies. FAQ: ACLS Fellowships Program. Available at: https://www.acls.org/faqs/faq-acls-fellowships/ (Accessed November 10, 2026).
American Council of Learned Societies. Information for Institutional Administrators: Fellowship Structure and Overhead Policies. Available at: https://www.acls.org/information-for-institutional-administrators/ (Accessed November 10, 2026).
American Council of Learned Societies. Competitions and Deadlines Directory. Available at: https://www.acls.org/competitions-and-deadlines/ (Accessed November 10, 2026).