Wyoming Humanities is getting a $200,000 boost from the Mellon Foundation, with another $50,000 available in challenge match funds. The Foundation is donating $15 million to the 56 state and territorial councils across the country, after the federal government abruptly terminated National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grants to the councils in April.
Wyoming Humanities lost $850,000 as a result of those terminations, which is approximately 80% of its operational budget.
Executive Director Shawn Reese said the Mellon donation has created a little breathing room for the nonprofit.
“ It gives us hope and we're very appreciative,” he said. “It doesn't, however, solve our full funding situation.”
According to Reese, the new funding means the nonprofit can maintain a “minimal staffing level,” but there’s still a lot of questions about what will be possible moving forward.
“ It may allow us to do some minimal amount of programming and continue to keep our lights on to support our grantees, but again, not at the same levels that we've enjoyed in the past,” he said.
The Trump administration’s new 2026 budget proposal, released on May 2, also outlines a plan to eliminate NEH and other federal agencies that support culture and the arts.
Reese likened the whole process to planning on quicksand, with some “glimmers of hope that get us through the day” undergirded with financial instability and uncertainty.
The Mellon funding will also help the nonprofit work with statewide partners to figure out how to move forward with reduced capacity.
“ How do we plan to do our important missions without federal funding? What is the collective approach? Is there a different business model?” said Reese.
When asked about other additional funding sources, Reese said that cuts to other organizations, including sectors like human services, early education and nutrition, has created what he called “a huge need” and put pressure on philanthropic foundations in Wyoming.
“I suspect that they are being inundated with requests of all different types, and then they're also looking at their endowments and what's happening on the markets,” he said. “It just kind of feels like a perfect storm.”
Phoebe Stein is the president for the Federation of State Humanities Councils, which received the gift from the Mellon Foundation. She said that while the donation will help keep doors open, they aren’t the answer to the federal funding gap.
“These grants that were terminated are federally appropriated by Congress to the humanities councils, as they have been for over 50 years,” she said. “ Mellon and the Federation truly believe in a public investment in the work that the councils are doing, serving all the citizens of the country.”
As conversations about funding for the humanities continue to play out on the political stage, Stein said the most important role of the field is helping people understand what it means to be human, in community.
“ Especially now, but I'll say always, there is a hunger for people to connect with one another, understand one another, and also to better understand the past, the present so we can move forward together,” she said.
Stein explained that there is also Mellon Foundation funding set aside to meet councils’ individual needs beyond the initial $250,000 award, and said the Federation is collaborating with its members to navigate the uncertainty.
“ It's a tapestry that makes us stronger,” she said. “We're trying to figure out what those strategies are, when and how we pursue them, and what is the most effective right now for everyone with very different needs in very different parts of the country.”
