By Humanities Nebraska
At the Sept. 19 meeting in Red Cloud, the Humanities Nebraska (HN) board of directors approved a budget for FY26 (Nov. 1, 2025-Oct. 31, 2026) that includes careful cuts to programs and grants in the face of continuing uncertainty about future federal funding.
For more than 50 years, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) provided vital operational funding to all of the state humanities councils to ensure that all citizens throughout the nation had access to life-enriching humanities programs. The sudden termination of that funding by DOGE last spring left the councils uncertain as to the extent they can continue providing grants and programs. This uncertainty remains among the entire network as each council budgets for the year ahead.
“We have worked for decades to diversify revenue sources to ensure our continued statewide programming and grant making,” said Executive Director Chris Sommerich. “We have also steadily increased support from individual donors, private foundations, and businesses.”
Additionally, HN has worked alongside the Nebraska Cultural Endowment (NCE) and Nebraska Arts Council to build a public-private partnership that is unique in the nation in leveraging private donations with state funds, all in support of arts and humanities programs.
“So far, these other revenue sources have helped HN avoid the drastic cuts or staff terminations that many other humanities councils have experienced,” Sommerich said.
The HN budget for last year included $955,000 in operating support from NEH, out of a $2.4 million total budget, consistent with past federal funding that has had bipartisan support in Congress. When the DOGE termination happened halfway through the year, half of HN’s expected funding was lost. The non-profit immediately took action to enable programming and grants to continue for the remainder of the year.
“It is a true success story,” Sommerich noted, “but hard decisions had to be made for the coming year.”
The FY26 budget calls for HN to make up for the loss of NEH funding through increased support from private donors and the NCE, state support (which has remained level), and funding drawn from HN’s reserve and investment accounts held by the Nebraska Foundation for the Humanities. It also requires cuts to programs, grants, and operating expenses of approximately $300,000.
HN budget cuts for 2026 include:
-Reducing total grant award dollars available to local non-profits by $44,000
-Reducing expenses for the popular HN Speakers Bureau by increasing the booking fee from $50 to $75 and limiting organizations to only one application per year
-Reducing Prime Time Family Reading programs across the state from 50 to 40 sites
-Reducing Summer Reading Kit distribution around the state from 500 to 220
-Reducing budgets for the Chautauqua summer history festival, Nebraska Forum on Global Issues for high schools, Nebraska Warrior Writers workshops for veterans and active duty military, and National History Day-Nebraska for middle- and high-school age students
-Reducing one staff position from full time to half time
-Other reductions to administrative expenses
Humanities Nebraska remains committed to its core mission of helping people explore what connects us and makes us human, and to the belief that the humanities should be accessible to all Nebraskans. The restoration of federal funding would enable HN to reverse these cuts and even return to a growth trajectory that helps enrich the lives of people of all ages and walks of life throughout the state. If federal funding is not restored, the HN board will have to look at more drastic cuts in 2027.
Humanities Nebraska is a private nonprofit funded in part by an appropriation from the Nebraska Legislature, private donations, and the Nebraska Cultural Endowment, a public- private partnership with state dollars matching private dollars to benefit the arts and humanities in Nebraska. For more information, visit www.humanitiesnebraska.org.