 Thank you for your interest in CAP. This brief video will introduce you to the new Collections Assessment for Preservation Program. We'll also discuss the difference between this new program and the similar program previously administered by Heritage Preservation, known as the Conservation Assessment Program. The CAP program is administered by the Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation through a cooperative agreement with the Institute of Museum and Library Services. CAP helps small and midsize museums improve their collections care by providing eligible institutions with support for a general conservation assessment, which is a study of all of the institution's collections, buildings, and building systems, as well as its policies and procedures related to collections care. The study is completed by collections and building care professionals selected by the institution. Institutions that complete the program receive a written report that contains a prioritized set of recommendations specific to their site and collections. All types of museums are eligible for CAP, including zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens, and planetariums. For more eligibility information, visit the Eligibility section of the website at conservation-us.org-cap. CAP is not a grant. Funds are not given directly to institutions. Instead, participating institutions receive a set allocation amount, and FAIC sends the allocated amount directly to assessors who work on the assessment. CAP will not fund any type of conservation treatment or item level survey of your collections. There are several potential benefits of participating in CAP. If your collections to-do list is long and you don't know where to start, CAP can help you prioritize the work ahead. Even if you already have ideas about your collections care needs, having a formal report from outside consultants may help you leverage additional support for collections care from your board or managing authority. The report may also be useful as a fundraising tool for collections care initiatives. The CAP process takes about a year and is comprised of eight steps. The first step is the completion of the application, which will be available online during the announced application period at conservation-us.org-cap. Funding for the program is limited, so we encourage interested applicants to apply early. Institutions selected to participate will receive a list of approved assessors that they can research and interview. The list is comprised of assessors who have been approved for the CAP program because of their professional training, work history, and experience conducting conservation assessments. After selecting a collections assessor and a building assessor from among those interviewed, the institution will negotiate a contract directly with its chosen assessors. CAP staff then approves the contract and sends the institution a link to an online site questionnaire to gather additional information about the organization's sites, collections, and collections care policies. The site questionnaire is shared with the assessors to help them prepare for the assessment. The institution and both assessors will then participate in a pre-visit phone call to give assessors the opportunity to ask additional questions about the site and to discuss the details of the site visit. The site visit is the heart of the assessment. Both assessors visit the institution for two full days, touring the facility and interviewing staff. After the visit, the assessors will work together to prepare a CAP report that details their specific recommendations for the museum. The institution should then begin planning to implement those suggestions. One year after the visit, the institution will have the opportunity to follow up with the assessors and ask additional questions that may have arisen. If you were familiar with the conservation assessment program administered by Heritage Preservation from 1990 to 2014, you should be aware of some differences in the new program. To begin with, we've made it easier for more institutions to take advantage of CAP by expanding the eligibility requirements. You can view these eligibility requirements on our website. We've also simplified the application process to make it easier to apply. The new program allows all institutions to work with both a collections assessor and a building assessor. This is because regardless of the age of the building, the systems and infrastructure that surround museum collections play an integral role in their preservation. The two assessors will work together throughout the process and develop a single report that reflects their collaborative recommendations. Finally, as previously mentioned, this program includes the addition of a follow-up consultation between assessors and institutions one year after the report has been received. This will provide the program participants with additional support during the initial stages of implementation. The CAP team at FAIC is always willing to talk to individual institutions and assessors about the program and answer any specific questions you might have. We encourage you to learn more about program eligibility, CLOS, and application details by visiting the CAP website at conservation-us.org-cap or by calling us at 202-750-3346.