ACLS Digital Justice Grants

Applications for the 2025-2026 Digital Justice Seed and Development Grants are now closed.

The ACLS Digital Justice Grant program is designed to promote and provide resources for projects at various stages of development that diversify the digital domain, advance justice and equity in digital scholarly practice, and/or contribute to public understanding of racial and social justice issues.  This program supports digital projects across the humanities and interpretative social sciences that critically engage with the interests and histories of people of color and other historically marginalized communities through the ethical use of digital tools and methods. In this way, the program seeks to address the inequities in the distribution of access to tools and support for digital work among scholars across various fields, those working with under-utilized or understudied source materials, and those in institutions with less support for digital projects.   

The program offers two kinds of grants: Digital Justice Seed Grants for projects at early stages of development; and Digital Justice Development Grants for projects that have advanced beyond the start-up or early phases of development. All grantees will have the opportunity to collaborate with the Nonprofit Finance Fund on developing a long-term financial plan for their projects. 

The program is made possible by a grant from The Mellon Foundation.

To support prospective applicants, ACLS is offering a webinar series throughout the application period, which includes both general information sessions with program staff and topic-specific webinars (e.g., data ethics and capacity building, data stewardship) with former reviewers and grantees.

ACLS Digital Justice Fall 2025 Webinar Schedule

Webinar	Description	Date	Registration Link
General Information Session	Join ACLS Program Staff as they outline the program parameters, eligibility requirements, and evaluation criteria for the Digital Justice Grants Program’s 2025 competition.	August 26, 2025, 3 – 4 PM ET	https://acls-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ajp5jnbkTNGhulgSxXWTkA
What is Digital Justice?: Reflections from ACLS Grantees	What makes a competitive ACLS Digital Justice project? How have previous cohorts of funded projects reflected ACLS’ articulation of “digital justice”? Join current and former ACLS Digital Justice Grantees as they share their projects’ practice of digital justice and give advice on crafting a compelling application.	September 18, 2025, 2:30 – 4 PM ET	https://acls-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/HxtPP_XXSlOwUFdcvn7h0w
Data Ethics: Stewardship, Privacy, and Ownership	Ethical practices within funded digital justice projects often go beyond the IRB, especially as burgeoning technologies, such as generative AI, raise concerns around data privacy and ownership. Join us as we discuss the features of a robust data ethics plan within funded Digital Justice Grant applications.	October 10, 2025, 1 – 2:30 PM ET	https://acls-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/_D9ufXMlQ3yv7vVwFNonng
ACLS Office Hour	Have questions about eligibility, program parameters, or how to navigate your Digital Justice application? Join ACLS Program Staff for this informal office hour. Feel free to pop in and out according to your availability.	October 22, 2025, 1 – 2 PM ET	https://acls-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/KKkOK1WqQqOSsCD1G6YCDw
Digital Capacity Building in the Age of Precarity	Funding cuts and attacks on academic freedom have come to define the current ecosystem of higher education in the United States. What can capacity building, particularly for digital justice projects, look like at this moment?	November 6, 2025, 3-4:30 PM ET	https://acls-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/LXryeLWuS8WpJ-3zMGT-UQ
ACLS Office Hour	Have questions about eligibility, program parameters, or how to navigate your Digital Justice application? Join ACLS Program Staff for this informal office hour. Feel free to pop in and out according to your availability.	November 14, 2025, 2-3 PM ET	https://acls-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/zTtgoMT2SqqXptBgydrImw