With the goal of supporting a variety of needs for librarians, the Legacy Endowment Fund was established with a four-fold purpose: scholarship, research, professional development, and conference attendance.

Scholarship:

  • Library school students pursuing an accredited MLIS degree, this can apply to tuition, fees, and books.
  • Librarians with an MLIS degree seeking a professional certification that is applicable to library management.
  • Other training as needed; assessment, software, technology, etc.

Research:

  • Purchase of research data
  • Assistance in software purchases or upgrades, e.g. survey software or statistical software
  • Purchase of survey use

Professional Development:

  • Membership fees
  • Publishing costs
  • Presentation costs (not including travel)
  • Professional project costs

Conference Attendance:

  • Conference attendance costs (not including the ACL conference)

Application Guidelines

  1. The Legacy Endowment Fund is open to ACL members. Membership in ACL is required for endowment consideration.
  2. This is a competitive process because funds are limited. Be as thorough and detailed as possible in your application process.
  3. To guide you in the process of understanding which category to choose and to see what information to include, we have provided four sample applications (linked to the right), one in each category.
  4. Approval of funding for projects will be as follows:
    • Funding application received by Nov 1
    • Reviewed by a selection committee and recipients selected
    • Committee may request additional information from applicants as needed.
    • All applicants will be notified
  5. Approval timeline
    • Applications will be received through Nov 1
    •  The grant recipients will be announced annually, no later than March 1.
  6. Grant award winners are expected to give back to the association through a journal article in The Christian Librarian or conference presentation as a means of reporting back about the use of the legacy funds when appropriate.
APPLY FOR LEGACY ENDOWMENT GRANT

20270
Total Amount Disbursed to Date

2025 Award Update

In 2025, the Legacy Endowment Grant proudly awarded a record total of $9,020 to support the professional growth of five ACL members. These grants are being used for a variety of projects aligned with the Endowment’s purpose—including conference attendance, tuition toward further education and library licensure, and original research. We’re thrilled to invest in the continued development of our dedicated ACL librarian community and look forward to seeing the lasting impact of these projects!

Timeline

November 1 – Annual Deadline
December 31 – Applicants Notified
First Q Following Year – Funds Distributed & Winners Announced

Grant Application Examples

Scholarship/Education

Research

Professional Development

Conference Attendance