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Eisner Grants FAQ
FAQ Regarding the Eisner Growth & Innovation Grant Applications
Applications for the 2026 grant cycle are due by midnight on Sunday, January 11, 2026.
Yes, provided you are an ALA member in good standing. Librarians / libraries across North America are eligible.
Please check out this recorded webinar for some tips and guidance from Bill Jacobs, chair of this year's Eisner Grant Juries and 2019 Eisner Growth Grant recipients Laura Panter and Stacey Paynter from Sachem Public Library.
The Innovation Grant is intended to help libraries innovate within their own library and community. Innovation is slightly subjective because this grant could be VERY innovative for your library and community, but not for another community. If it is innovative for you, then you should apply knowing that you fit the criteria. Explain in your narrative how your project is innovative within your community.
The Innovation Grants are meant for libraries that currently are not doing anything around graphic novel programming or any large-scale collection development. For example if you have a small graphic novel collection and you aren't doing any programming about comics but would like to launch a program initiative like a regular series of creator visits, starting a new comics group, launching a new comics convention in your library, etc. you would be applying for the Innovation Grant because this is something brand new for your library and your community.
If you already are doing some programming with comics and graphic novels but want to expand that into something more - a bigger project, adding a new dimension to that project, additional days or activities, etc. that would be a Growth Grant application. If you are still unsure please feel free to email the GNCRT staff liaison, Tina Coleman with your questions: ccoleman@ala.org.
Be as detailed with your budget as you can. The jury is looking at the budget not only to see how you plan to use the grant funds but also to see the full scope of the project you are proposing - do you have other funding partners or donations, are there internal expenses, are there in-kind services and materials that you have negotiated. The budget and the timeline help to give the jury a sense of how thorough your proposal is planned.
Similar to the detailed budget, your timeline should provide as much detail possible. This is another piece that the jury uses to ascertain the depth of your planning. Are you being realistic about how much it will take to organize your project? What are the next steps after your program or event to make this project or outcomes sustainable?
Yes! Your uploaded files must be a PDF and the FILE NAME MUST FOLLOW THIS NAMING CONVENTION:
"[YOUR LIBRARY NAME]_2025GROWTH"
"[YOUR LIBRARY NAME]_2025INNOVATION"
The criteria for the Growth and Innovation grants are somewhat different. For the Growth Grant, the committee is primarily looking for impact. Tell us about the community that will benefit from your project and how this will affect a program already in place. The Innovation Grant Committee is looking for innovative ideas for your community, not necessarily innovative for everyone, and how this grant will impact your program and patrons. Both committees would like to see evidence in your plan and budget that you have a clear, detailed idea of the scope of your project and the capability to execute it.
Stick to one idea and be clear and focused on that. Look at the criteria and see what would fit best with your goals.
Possibly not. The books in the Will Eisner Collection and the nominated titles could include mature content or content that you might decide is not suited to your community. Previous grant recipients have used this as an opportunity to donate some of the titles to another local library or institution or to use the books that don't work for their collection as give-aways for other activities.
Grant recipients should expect to receive approximately 80 books as a part of the grant - around 40 titles from the WIll Eisner Collection and around 40 titles from the Eisner Award Winning collection.
It is possible that some of the titles in the donated collections will duplicate some of those in your existing collection. It is not possible to substitute or return the books for credit. If multiple copies are not useful to your library you might consider sharing any extra books with another local library.
Yes.
Pictures are appreciated, but not necessary. Please limit the number of pictures to five or less and make sure they are easily viewed and submitted in .JPEG or .PNG format.
Your project can exceed the grant funds. You should illustrate in your detailed budget where those extra funds are coming from (existing library budget, donations, etc.).
Not necessarily, but that person will be the primary contact for the grant and all of the communications - including being responsible for filing the follow-up report.
Your director or administrator will be asked to sign the award letter should your proposal be selected to receive one of the grants.
The deadline for submissions is in late January and the juries will need time to review the applications and deliberate. We aim to notify grant recipients by late March / early April at the very latest.
You have until August of the following year to complete your project and issue a follow-up report.
Yes, although starting with the 2024 grant cycle applications are no longer automatically included in the pool for the following year. If you submitted an application last year you will still need to re-apply this year.
