PCOM Call for Projects 2027

Guidelines for Applicants

Programme Commission Mission

The Programme Commission (PCOM) is responsible for the professional and technical programme of the ICA; coordinating the activities of Regional Branches, Professional Sections and Expert Groups; and the professional content of ICA international congresses and conferences.

PCOM funds archives and records management projects that support the ICA’s professional programme and strategic plan. It also creates and oversees Expert Groups in the main areas of professional activity, provides their terms of reference and monitors their progress.

The Vice President Programme has ultimate responsibility for PCOM and for aligning the professional programme and its initiatives with the ICA’s strategic objectives.

ICA Project Funding 

ICA offers funding through PCOM or the International Fund for Archival Development (FIDA) – please follow this link to find out about projects more suitable for FIDA funding.

PCOM will consider funding applications for projects up to a total of 5,000€. Funded projects can be onsite or online events, projects resulting in the development and publication of a resource, and/or advocacy activities. The project duration cannot exceed one calendar year, from January to December.

• Maximum funding: 5,000€
• Maximum length of the project: one calendar year from January to December

The Programme Commission aligns its project funding opportunity with the ICA strategic Plan 2026-2029. Up to 10,000€ is set aside for ICA groups to propose projects that further the strategic goal “Standards and Good Practices” to enable Archivists and other interested users to have easy access to relevant and useable standards and good practices, as well as guidelines, policies, models and procedures that support their professional activities, including innovative use of new technologies.

The maximum funding of 5,000€ applies to project applications addressing this directed funding as well. Projects to develop good practice guides are particularly invited.

We are especially interested in short, practical guides on topics that many archives encounter. Funding can be used to assist with working meetings, translation, or other costs associated with development of the resource, but the final product at the end of the project year must be a near-final draft of a new good practice guide ready for circulation to other ICA groups for comment.

The ultimate goal is a finished product, formatted in the ICA style and translated into English, French, and Spanish, but if that cannot be completed within the project year, the project must at least be ready for final comment and revision.

Please identify your project proposal as “PCOM Directed Funding” if you are interested in applying under this part of the call for projects.

Applicants are also expected to secure additional funding or resources from other sources.

Please note that PCOM Project Funding is drawn from a finite annual allocation determined by the ICA. As a result, the volume of submissions received in any given year may mean that, even where all eligibility and assessment criteria are met, an application cannot be supported. The Committee’s decision regarding the allocation of funds is final.

Eligibility  

Who can apply? 

The applicant must be either 

1. An active ICA group (Regional Branch, Professional Section, Forum, Expert Group or Working Group) with an approved project from its members, or a project in alignment of its work plan for 2027.

• The project leader should be a member of the ICA group Steering Committee or be endorsed by such committee.
• Applicants are highly encouraged to develop projects in collaboration with other ICA groups. These projects will be prioritized if the selection process requires it.

Or

2.  A member of ICA, or a staff member of an institutional member of ICA registered as a right-holder of the institution’s membership. Applicants must provide their ICA membership number and be in good standing with ICA dues paid.

The project leader will be asked to be an ICA member in good standing for the year of the project.

• Applicants from the membership at large are highly encouraged to partner with an ICA group. The support of an ICA group is a significant factor in the project’s assessment. If you need help identifying a relevant ICA Branch, Section or Expert Group or Working Group, please contact the PCOM team at programme@ica.org.

Not sure about your ICA membership number?

Sign into the ICA only-members area here and check the section ICA Membership to confirm your category and membership number.

If you cannot register, please contact us at members@ica.org or request a new password using your username or registered email address at the following link.

Not an ICA member yet?

Join us to apply for funding and become part of our international community!

What type of projects are encouraged to apply?

PCOM encourages applications which:

• produce products, tools and other activities that will be widely used by other ICA Regional Branches, Professional Sections, Expert Groups, Working Groups and members, or the global archive community and its users, and/or promote archives and archives and records management professionals;
• are multi-disciplinary, involving collaboration with other professions; and/or
• adapt existing products or tools for different audiences or promote ICA and its goals in areas where the network is not strong.

PCOM does not support applications which:

• do not meet the application criteria; or
• include the normal activities and operations of an organization (e.g. digitisation projects).
• have for main purpose to fund an individual or another organization for travel, per diem, study, or other similar purposes.

PCOM Funding Rules

• Travel expenses are to be limited and reasonable. Flights should be in Economy class or Economy with extra leg room for flights longer than 6 hours. Accommodation not to exceed 160 €/per night VAT and city/local taxes included.
• PCOM funding cannot be used for buying renewable licenses or tools that will need funding after the end of the project. If necessary to the project, the plan needs to explain how these renewable consumables will be funded after the project.
• PCOM funding cannot be used for the organization of social events, or the payment of tuition fees, or administration fees, or any expense outside of the professional programme jurisdiction.
• The way the PCOM funding will be received and administered needs to be specified in the application (grant administered by the project leader through a dedicated bank account, reimbursement after completion of the project and submission of financial report, invoicing of expenses to ICA/PCOM).
• The applicant (institutional or individual) receiving the funds should be able to sign a project charter (see model in Appendix C).
• If applicable, funds cannot be transferred to bank accounts other than those of the signatories.

Application Procedure 

The deadline for submitting your Application Form is 18 September 2026 at 23:59 CET (Paris time). Late or incomplete applications will not be considered.

Results of the selection will be published in the ICA website by January 2027.

Before you send your application, it is important that you:

• find out about the ICA and its strategic objectives and programmes;
• read the assessment criteria so that you know what is needed for a successful application;
• contact us before completing the Application Form in case you need more information about:
• how to join the ICA or renew your membership,
• how to best link your project with the ICA’s strategic objectives and work,
• or in case you need our support to put you in touch with related projects or subject area specialists who can help.
• Complete the Application Form online (you can save your application as a draft and finalize it later within the set deadline).

Before preparing your application, please make sure to consult Appendix B and the Decision Tree. These resources will help you determine whether your proposed initiative is eligible for the PCOM Call for Projects and guide you through the application process at the bottom of this page.

Assessment Criteria 

PCOM evaluates applications in three areas:

1. Strategic Direction: whether the project or meeting will contribute to ICA’s strategic objectives;
2. Project Impact: the extent to which the project or meeting supports the ICA programme, with preference being given to projects or meetings that support one or more programme priorities or interest areas, or which benefit a wider audience.
3. Likely Success: whether the goals and planning are realistic, whether risks have been identified and addressed, and the project or meeting is likely to be successful.

For a detailed explanation of the criteria and how PCOM evaluates applications see Appendix A – Assessment Criteria.  

Assessment Process 

In general, the application assessment process is as follows:

1. The PCOM team confirms receipt of the completed Application Form.

2. The PCOM team completes an initial review of the application.

Following this initial review, the applicant may be contacted and referred to the FIDA project call for applications if the proposal appears to meet the criteria of that call rather than those of the PCOM project call. In this case, the applicant will be asked to submit the proposal through the relevant channel.

The PCOM team then forwards complete and eligible applications to Programme Commission members for evaluation against the assessment criteria.

• We may ask for more information and/or may commission a subject area expert to assist in evaluating the proposal. On the basis of these evaluations the Programme Commission makes its funding decisions.

3. The PCOM team notifies applicants of PCOM’s decision by the set deadline of the application submission.

Successful Projects

Successful projects are notified by January 2027. The timeline for PCOM projects is as follows:

1. ICA and the funding recipient establish and sign a project charter detailing the shared responsibilities of ICA and the project leader, the deliverables and timeline of the project, the financial arrangements (1), reporting schedule, intellectual rights and any other conditions depending on the nature of the funded project; see Appendix C – Project Charter template.

2. The PCOM team adds the project details to the Project Register and publishes summary details on the ICA website.

3. The Project Leader submits interim (if required) and final project reports to the PCOM team for review by the Programme Commission. Highlights of your report will be included in the ICA Annual Report.
The ICA is committed to accountability, transparency and to providing members with clear information on how its money is used. The PCOM team will support you with the reporting and funding processes.

4. Final project deliverables are sent to the PCOM team for review and clearance by the Programme Commission.

5. Project deliverables are published and shared with ICA members.

Conditions 

Successful projects are subject to various conditions relating to reporting, project deliverables and the publication and/or sharing of end-products. For PCOM-funded projects receipt of funding is subject to meeting the following conditions:

• submission of a report from the Project Leader upon completion of the project. Interim reports may also be required at dates specified by PCOM.
• making project deliverables, or part of it, available to PCOM for publication and/or use by Branches, Sections, Expert Groups, Working Groups, the Training Programme, and ICA members (2), once cleared by PCOM members in any language suitable with the ICA objectives. All intellectual ownership being recognized by the users in concordance with the ICA copyright policy (3). By default, resources in which the ICA owns the copyright are subject to Creative Commons License Attribution-Noncommercial (CC BY-NC) unless an exception applies.
• translation of project deliverables into either French or English as part of the project, where neither is the language of the original. Other language versions are also welcome.

(1) Please be advised that the ICA does not cover bank fees for any transfer.

(2) This means that the products of PCOM-funded projects may only be available to ICA members as part of the ICA membership benefits package.  

(3) By default, resources in which the ICA owns the copyright are subject to Creative Commons License Attribution-Noncommercial (CC BY-NC). This means that users can copy or distribute, and modify, the resource, as long as the use is non-commercial, and the required attribution is present. It means that translations can be undertaken without seeking permission, and that partial re-use (such as one article in a journal) is also possible. 

Some ICA resources are subject to different licenses because of factors including contractual commitments. When an exception applies to a resource for which ICA retains the Copyright, the conditions are described on pages linking to the resource and, where possible, embedded in the document.