The Catalyst Fund is an award program that provides support for new ideas and innovative projects from the LYRASIS membership. It is administered by the LYRASIS Leaders Circle to expand opportunities to explore, test, refine and collaborate on innovations with potential for community-wide impact.
The Catalyst Fund supports creative concepts that:
- Advance important objectives of libraries, archives, museums, and complementary research communities;
- Test-and-try new approaches to shared problems; and
- Serve the broad interests of the LYRASIS membership.
The Leaders Circle is especially interested in projects that cross boundaries and engage diverse types of organizations in partnerships to expand the impact of innovative solutions to shared challenges.
Two types of submissions – proposals and ideas – can be made by any member of LYRASIS in good standing, including eligible members of DuraSpace. A member may submit no more than ONE proposal and ONE idea to the Catalyst Fund in a single cycle.
A. Proposals request funding to pilot your own project. If selected, funds will be sent to your organization to implement the project.
- Read the Instructions for
Proposals.
- Create your narrative and budget. You may use this optional
template (MS Word format) or create your own document following the same outline. Proposals should be converted to a single PDF, maximum two pages, for submission.
- Complete the
online submission form (deactivated), upload your proposal PDF, and submit by midnight EST on February 20, 2020.
B. Ideas recommend an issue, problem, service need or solution that LYRASIS could investigate, test, and address for the library, archive and/or museum fields. If selected, ideas will be included in LYRASIS’ Research and Development agenda for exploration, planning, program design, and pilot testing.
- Read the Instructions for
Ideas.
- Describe the idea. You may use this optional
template (MS Word format) or create your own document following the same outline. Ideas should be converted to a single PDF, maximum two pages, for submission.
- Complete the
online submission form (deactivated), upload your idea PDF, and submit by midnight EST on February 20, 2020.
See
More Information for details on review criteria and answers to frequently asked questions.
Funding decisions for the 2020 Catalyst Fund will be announced in June 2020. Recipients will have one year to implement their projects (July 2020 - June 2021).
Not planning to apply in 2020? Consider volunteering as a
reviewer!
