Database for Editing and Translation Funding

Quality translation and editing play a significant role in making your foundation and museum’s research and educational content not only readable and coherent, but as impactful as possible.

But like all good things, quality editing and translation services come with a cost. This should not deter you, though, from writing, getting your work fine-tuned, and publishing it over various platforms. Different government agencies, grants, and nonprofits supporting scholarly and literary publishing can help you fund the translation and editing services you need as well as support Open Access (OA) publishing fees.

After years of surveying prominent funding bodies and gaining a deep understanding into what type of research and educational content these bodies typically fund, we have compiled a comprehensive database outlining top funding opportunities.

International Foundations

•   Central and East European Book Project Grants Program

The CEEBP grants program assists publishers in defraying the costs of translation and publication of high-quality literary and scholarly books into the languages of Central and Eastern Europe. The Special European history and literature translation program is aimed at making seminal books in the fields of European history and literature available to an educated reading public that is broader than specialized circles.

•   Frankfurt Book Fair

Searchable list of national and regional organizations that offer programs for the promotion of translations for publishing companies and translators.

•   Goethe Institute

The Goethe-Institut’s grant programme “Translations of German Books into Other Languages” supports non-German publishers in publishing German-language literature, to make accessible to non-German speaking readers current works of contemporary literature, literature for children and young people, important academic titles and non-fiction works. For academic works an expert evaluation must be obtained from the “Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft” (German research organization). 

•   The Harold Morton Landon Translation Award

Offers $1,000 to a U.S. citizen for a translation of a book of poetry from any language into English published in the United States during the current year.

•   Literature Across Frontiers

Bursaries, fellowships, travel grants and other opportunities. Searchable by region and country and by audience, for translators, writers and publishers.

•   National Endowment for the Humanities

Scholarly editions and translations grants support the preparation of editions and translations of pre-existing texts of value to the humanities that are currently inaccessible or available in inadequate editions. Typically, the texts and documents are significant literary, philosophical, and historical materials. Projects must be undertaken by at least one editor or translator and one other collaborating scholar. These grants support full-time or part-time activities for periods of one to three years.

•   PEN Translates

PEN Translates was launched to encourage UK publishers to acquire more books from other languages. The award helps UK publishers to meet the costs of translating new works into English. The award funds up to 100% of translation costs.

• Centre national du livre The National Book Center

Offers quality translations of French works with a strongly representative literary or scientific character to the global public, in printed or digital form, complementing the economic risk taken by an editor with a diversified, quality editorial product accessible in large numbers.

• The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Grants for Critical Editions and Scholarly Translations in Buddhist Studies

The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation advances efforts to translate original Buddhist texts, following the Buddhist mission to teach the dharma in multiple languages. As such, the Foundation offers a range of grants to support the creation of critical editions, translations of ancient texts, the translation of scholarly works from one modern language into another, and more. Priority is given to collaborative projects and scholars who working on translation projects in their native language. The award provides funding of up to $80,000 for a 12 month period.

Open Access Funding Agencies 

Many funding agencies provide general support and funding specifically for OA publication fees. These OA funding agencies include: 

• Funding Open Access Articles - Open Access Netherlands has compiled a thorough list of resources to obtain OA funding.
• OAPEN Open Access Books Toolkit - List of Funding Sources for OA Books - This comprehensive global list, compiled by OAPEN, shares a number of funding bodies with OA book policies and funding availabilities.   
• European Commission - Open Research Europe, of the European Commission, offers open peer review for a wide range of research.
• DARIAH-EU - Learn more about their OA Book Bursary and opportunities to support your monograph publication in the Humanities.

Institutional Open Access Funds 

University and institutional OA funding sources - A detailed list of OA funding opportunities from universities and institutions to research centers and governmental agencies.

National Open Access Funds 

These funds are typically administered by a consortium of institutions and provide support for your publication of OA publications by institutions.

Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL) - Substantial funding opportunities for scholars from developing countries, in collaboration with libraries from around the world. 

External Grants 

You can apply for grants from external organizations, such as foundations or charitable trusts, to support the publication of your work in open access form.

• Wellcome Trust - Supports researchers in pursuing research that ‘takes on important questions relating to life, health, and wellbeing, with creative approaches that push boundaries.’
• National Institutes of Health (NIH) - Offers a number of funding grants for biomedical research with the aim of improving health and quality of life.
• DeGruyter - Certain publishers also provide grants to support the dissemination of research in OA format. De Gruyter is one such publisher who supports this initiative.

Alternative Options to Publish Open Research

• Preprints
• arXiv - You can also consider self-archiving your work in open access repositories, such as institutional repositories or subject-specific repositories like arXiv. This allows the research to be freely available to anyone, although you may still need to pay a fee to the publisher for the initial publication in a journal.
• rePEc - Research Papers in Economics (rePEc) seeks to disseminate innovative research in the field of Economics and related areas.
• DePauw University - Open Access for Scholarly Publishing - DePauw University compiled a list of pre-print servers in the Social Sciences and Humanities that promote OA accessibility.

Crowdfunding

Platforms like Kickstarter.com, Patreon, Indiegogo and GoFundMe help you raise money from friends, family, and strangers to meet the costs of getting your organization’s work translated and edited. Clearly articulate the purpose and relevance of your research to convince people that your project is worth their money.

Before beginning your campaign on a crowdfunding site, it’s worth doing your homework:

Is the platform considered a legitimate funding source in your country?

Does it cater to your subject area?

What percentage does the site charge for commission, and other related rules?

How many projects have been successfully funded in the past?

Grants and Fellowships

European Research Council

Headquartered in Brussels, the ERC is a widely acclaimed public body that funds research in the humanities, exact sciences, and social sciences. Supporting only the best of the best in research, the ERC gives precedence to the quality of an idea, rather than a particular area of research.

Funds are generally given to researchers in EU member states and “associated countries” like Turkey, Israel, and Armenia, but scholars from anywhere in the world can apply so long as the research is carried out in an eligible country.

Even if you fail to make the cut as an ERC scholar, there are also opportunities to join an ERC-funded project, including through international agreements with funding agencies and science ministries in other countries, and for visiting research fellowships.

Scholarly Editions and Translations Grant by the National Endowment for the Humanities

Established in 1965, NEH is a US government agency that offers grants for research in the humanities. The Scholarly Editions and Translations Grant funds the editions and translations of texts that are currently inaccessible or available only in inadequate editions or transcriptions. Subjects covered under this grant include modern and classical languages, literature, history, philosophy, and jurisprudence. The maximum amount offered is $300,000 and the grant is open to both individual scholars and organizations.

PEN/HEIM Translation Fund Grants

Started in 2003 by Michael Henry Heim and Pricilla Heim, the PEN/Heim Translation Fund promotes the publication and reception of translated international literature in English. PEN actively supports young translators, helps them find publishers for major international works, and helps make underrepresented writers better known to English-speaking readers.

With additional support from Amazon since 2009, PEN/HEIM has backed almost 200 translations from more than 35 languages, including French, Spanish, German, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Armenian, Basque, Estonian, Persian, Finland-Swedish, Lithuanian, and Mongolian. Many of these books were accepted for publication because the translators were awarded this prestigious grant.

Goethe-Institut Grant Program

A globally-renowned body for German culture, the Goethe-Institut in the USA has three grant programs to underwrite translation projects from German. While these programs are primarily aimed at publishers, and do not provide 100% of publishing and translation costs, contact the Goethe-Institut for more information if you think your work falls under their grant scheme.

Tripwire Micro-grants for Translation

An initiative of Tripwire, a journal of poetics founded in 1998, this grant is aimed at translators of contemporary experimental writing. A grant of $200 is allocated for translations of contemporary prose, poems, essays, or interviews. Translators should send proposals along with samples of their work for consideration.

Putting your best effort into obtaining funds for editing and translation will be sure to pay off: attracting wider audiences for your work, easing publication, and making your research stand out in the global marketplace. This is something any discerning research scholar cannot afford to miss.

Do you know of funding sources that don’t appear on this list? If so, please let us know and we will add them.