Grants and Donations
Running Reality would like to be an interpretation partner, including partnering on grant proposals. With digital interpretation, even a small grant or donation can go a long way. Expanding low-cost interpretation options means bringing more of history to life.
Overview
Every site would like a rich interpretation experience for your visitors, but that is resource intensive. Resources limit what artifacts, signage, and historical reenactors are practical, and this especially affects places away from the main center, with lower foot traffic, and where maybe nothing visible remains to be seen. The good news is that there are grants for expanding interpretation.
Digital interpretation is a both a practical response to resource limitations but also an opportunity to look forward-thinking and better connect with "digital native" visitors. Expanding interpretation aligns well with many grant goals and Running Reality's digital interpretation features align particularly well.
Previously, even digital interpretation could cost over a million dollars, require a custom app with a software-management savvy project manager, and incur high long-term fees. Most augmented reality systems have monthly fees in the hundreds or thousands of dollars, regardless of the numbers of visitors. Content creation can easily run into the six figure range. This meant it was more in the realm of fundraising from major donors, not small interpretation grants. What makes low costs possible? Running Reality isn't a custom app and therefore you share the fixed costs among everyone. Grant money can go more directly to historical research and digital content, not platform.
Send the Running Reality team an email:
Partnerships
We would like to be a public-history interpretation infrastructure partner that helps put new resources within reach. We are actively identifying grant opportunities that could help historic organizations expand interpretation, engagement, and accessibility.
| Historical Site | Running Reality |
|---|---|
| Key stories and interpretive goals (including photos, artifacts) | Technical platform |
| On-site interpretation integration | Content production support |
| Grant writing | Grant writing |
| Grant administration (depending on other partners) | Project execution |
We are also pursuing regional partnerships which would include local universities, multiple related historical sites, and history-aware local businesses. Especially for battle-related history, there is the main battle site which is often protected land with extensive interpretation, but there are also under-interpreted nearby locations such as the encampments in nearby towns, the homes and fields used as field hospitals, etc. These make for a regional approach to interpretation and sharing of costs and administration.
This is designed to be accurate and verifiable, complement your existing interpretation, focus your staff's time, and enhance what you can offer your visitors. not replace it.
Goal Alignment
A wide range of government and foundation grants may align with your site’s goals—often strengthened through a Running Reality partnership:
- Interpretation Grants: Does this project improve public understanding of the site through accurate, place-based interpretation?
- Innovation / Humanities Grants: Does this project deliver meaningful, accessible public engagement with history?
- Preservation Grants Does this project strengthen long-term stewardship by increasing public value, visibility, and support for preserving the site?
Key features of digital interpretation, especially the shared low-cost Running Reality platform, align well with the goals of grant opportunities:
| Feature | Alignment |
|---|---|
| Even empty spaces become meaningful | Activating underused or invisible history |
| No expensive infrastructure | Helps small and mid-sized sites compete |
| Distributed interpretation (not just visitor centers) | Making entire sites more engaging |
| Human storytelling (interactive people) | Emphasis on lived experience |
| Allows additional scenes, figures, or locations to be added incrementally | Experiences can be expanded over time |
| Reaches visitors (especially young) beyond traditional interpretation methods | Strengthens public support for preserving the site and its stories |
| Makes lesser-known sites more visible | Interprets preserved land more effectively |
| Shared platform, not a custom app | Costs are sustainable after the grant concludes |
Connect
Interested in participating in a grant-funded project like this? We’re currently forming partnerships with historic sites for upcoming proposals. Reach out to explore how your site’s story could be brought to life.
Send the Running Reality team an email: