Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey and Planning Grant Program

Fiscal Year 2025

The Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey and Planning Grant Program is a federally funded, reimbursable, 50/50 matching grant program to support historic preservation planning activities in communities throughout the state.

For Fiscal Year 2025, eligible applicants for Survey and Planning Grants are anticipated to include all local historical commissions, local historic district commissions, planning offices, and other eligible public and non-profit historic preservation organizations.

The target planning figure for this FY 2025 matching grant round will be contingent on MHC’s FY 2025 federal budget allocation. This has not yet been determined. Under federal law, MHC is required to pass through grant awards representing 10% of the MHC’s total annual federal funding allocation to Certified Local Governments.

Eligible Activities

As the State Historic Preservation Office, the Massachusetts Historical Commission is responsible for administering the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended. The Act authorizes the Secretary of the Interior, through the National Park Service and State Historic Preservation Offices, to grant funds to communities and private non-profit organizations for a wide range of preservation-related activities. These include:

• Completion of cultural resource inventories;
• Nomination of significant properties to the National Register of Historic Places;
• Completion of community-wide preservation plans; and
• Other types of studies, reports, publications and projects that relate to the identification and protection of significant historic properties and sites

Please note that while all eligible projects will be considered, for FY 2025 MHC will prioritize planning and National Register Projects (Categories B.2 and B.3 in the Guidelines for Survey & Planning Applicants).

The Survey and Planning Grant program supports efforts to identify and plan for the protection of significant historic buildings, structures, archaeological sites, and landscapes in the Commonwealth.

How to Apply

Program Timeline

See the Guidelines for Survey and Planning Applicants for more information on eligible projects, selection criteria, and the application process. You can download the Guidelines and the pre-application form (letter of intent) below in either PDF or Word format.

• Guidelines for Applicants and Pre-Application form (PDF)
• Guidelines for Applicants and Pre-Application form (DOC)

If you have any questions, contact the MHC Preservation Planning team:
Massachusetts Historical Commission
Massachusetts Archives Building
220 Morrissey Boulevard
Boston, MA 02125-3314

Phone: 617-727-8470
Email: michael.steinitz@sec.state.ma.us