The Elevate 1776 Sponsorship Program, administered under New Mexico Spirit / the New Mexico 250 Commission, is accepting applications for New Mexico-based public-facing projects that explore, educate, and reflect on the commemoration’s themes. The program explicitly supports Education Resources and Activities, as well as Events and Convenings and Cultural and Historical Exhibits. Projects may continue through the 2026/2027 academic year but must conclude by June 30, 2027.
Funding and eligibility
Competitive sponsorship awards range from $1,000 to $10,000, with up to $250,000 available across the program. Eligible applicants include New Mexico nonprofit organizations, municipalities, counties, Tribal governments, school districts, and other state entities. Applicants must be based in New Mexico, manage the funded project in New Mexico, have at least six months of continuous public programming before the deadline, and submit a W-9 with a New Mexico address signed within nine months of application. For-profit applicants are ineligible unless a government entity serves as fiscal agent.
No match is required, although co-funding and partnerships are valued. Funds may support qualifying education resources/activities, public events and convenings, and cultural or historical exhibits. They may not support capital improvements, construction/renovation/conservation, parties or fundraising events, direct aid to individuals, deficit reduction, permanent land/building acquisitions, grant writing/lobbying, or operating costs/organizational overhead.
Application requirements
Applications must be submitted through the controlling online application. Required materials and fields include proof of good standing with the New Mexico Secretary of State, proof of good standing with the New Mexico Department of Justice, a DFA Substitute W-9, project description and total budget, requested sponsorship amount and use of funds, sponsorship category, three scored narrative sections, one PDF containing professional bios of key project personnel, an itemized budget and budget narrative, a detailed project timeline through June 30, 2027, certification, and digital signature. Letters of support are encouraged but not required.
Deadline and scoring
The controlling program page states that applications are due September 18, 2026. It does not publish an exact final-day submission time or time zone, so Atlas does not infer one. Applications are scored out of 100 points: 40 for relevance to commemoration themes, 35 for community engagement and benefit, and 25 for organizational capacity and feasibility; at least 65 points are required for funding consideration.
Atlas Opportunity Score: 71/100. N9+ Fit Score: 0/100. This is a legitimate New Mexico education/community-programming opportunity, especially for school districts and public educational/cultural organizations, but it does not create a clinical technology or remote-exam purchasing pathway. Dr. Miltie/QC Healthcare is not a direct eligible for-profit applicant absent a qualifying government fiscal-agent structure.