The Catalyst Fund is an award program to fund new ideas and innovative projects by LYRASIS members. It is a membership benefit administered by the LYRASIS Leaders Circle to expand opportunities to share expertise and collaborate on innovations with potential for community-wide impact.
The Catalyst Fund supports creative concepts that:
Advance important objectives of the library, archive, and museum communities;
Test-and-try new approaches to common problems; and
Serve the broad interests of LYRASIS' membership.
In 2019, the LYRASIS Leaders Circle is especially interested in projects that cross organizational boundaries and engage diverse types of libraries, archives and museums in partnerships to expand the impact of innovative solutions to shared challenges.
Two types of submissions will be accepted from any member of LYRASIS in good standing:
- Proposals, which provide funding to pilot your own project. If selected, funds will be sent to your organization to implement the project. Instructions for creating and submitting proposals will be provided at the opening of the application cycle in January 2019. In the meantime, you may use the 2018 Proposal Instructions as a guide.
- Ideas, which recommend a service, program or consortial solution which will benefit the field that you would like LYRASIS to provide. If selected, LYRASIS will develop a plan and pilot the program, service or solution. Instructions for submitting ideas will be provided at the opening of the application cycle in January 2019. In the meantime, you may use the 2018 Idea Instructions as a guide.
All submissions will be reviewed by LYRASIS staff and field experts. See More Information for details on review criteria and answers to frequently asked questions. Funding decisions will be announced by early June 2019. Recipients have one year to implement their projects (July 2019 - June 2020).
Not planning to submit an application? Consider volunteering as a reviewer!
More questions? Email us at catalystfund@lyrasis.org.
