RICHARD L. BLINDER AWARD

Applications for the Blinder Award are accepted every other year. The next grant cycle will open in fall 2025. 

The Richard L. Blinder Award will be presented biennially to an architect or other professional in a related historic preservation field for a proposal exploring architecture and preservation. The proposal may focus on a real project or it may be a polemical exercise; in either case, originality is highly valued. The proposal must advance architectural preservation in the United States. The product can be graphic, text-based or a combination of both and must be able to be shared with the architecture and preservation community. The award is for a sum not to exceed $15,000.

Criteria for Evaluation
Applications are reviewed by the Fitch Trustees. Projects will be evaluated on the following criteria and conditions of eligibility:

• A demonstrated need for the proposed study and evidence of its value to advance the practice of historic preservation in the United States.
• The applicant has a realistic plan for the dissemination of research and/or the final work product within twenty-four (24) months of receipt of the Award. Modes of dissemination include papers; lectures; conferences; presentations; or exhibitions.
• The project has a clear and realistic goals, timeframe, work plan, and budget
• The project demonstrates innovative thinking, original research and creative problem solving and/or design

Eligibility

• Grants are awarded only to individuals, not organizations or university-sponsored research projects. Grants are not awarded for professional fees.
• The applicant must be an architect or in a related field, such as historic preservation, landscape architecture, architectural conservation, urban design, environmental planning, archaeology, architectural history, the decorative arts, advocacy, and preservation law.
• Applicants must be legal residents or citizens of the United States.

Please email us with any questions concerning criteria for evaluation or project eligibility.

How to Apply

Applicants are required to submit the following materials:

1. Cover page, including Project Title; Name of Applicant(s), including primary contact person; Applicant Address; Phone; Email. Also, please specify for which award you are applying; and specify the amount of grant money requested.
2. Brief description of project, including how the final work product will be disseminated. Applicants are encouraged to be succinct and the description is not to exceed three (3) pages.
3. Detailed work schedule and project budget, showing the grant amount requested from the Fitch Foundation and how this money will be spent.
4. Curriculum Vita, including professional and academic background, and past and present grants received.
5. Two (2) letters of support for the project to be included with the application. These may be emailed directly to Foundation staff ([email protected]) or submitted as part of a complete package.

Selection Process & Completion of Grant
Grants are awarded at the discretion of the Foundation. Recipients will be notified by mail in the Spring of 2026. Projects must be completed within twenty-four (24) months of the grant award. All grantees will be assigned a Trustee advisor who will provide feedback and guidance throughout the project.

Typically, grant awards are divided into equal payments, the first being presented upon the award of the grant. Substantial written progress reports are required for all subsequent payments. The final payment is awarded only upon completion of the project.

The Foundation shall be acknowledged in all publications. The Trustees reserve the right to publish the results if the recipient does not. The grant recipient must sign a release to the Foundation permitting such publication. Proper credit will be given to the grant recipient.