Deadline: 15-Jan-2025
The Fleishhacker Foundation is excited to announce its Small Arts Grants to fund a broad range of arts groups that produce and present innovative new work by Bay Area artists.
It strives to make grants that support a diverse array of artistic disciplines, aesthetic sensibilities, and forms of cultural expression. They prioritize grant requests that best support working artists. They also place particular emphasis on funding groups that represent and engage marginalized artists and communities.
Funding Information
- Grants in this program range from $5,000 to $10,000 and will usually be closer to $5,000.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicants must be:
- An arts and culture organization incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit (including fiscal sponsors applying on behalf of a sponsored arts group or filmmaker).
- Located and primarily offering programming in San Francisco, Alameda, or Contra Costa counties.
- Able to demonstrate an artistic presence in the Bay Area for at least three years.
- Planning to produce and present new work by Bay Area artists in the disciplines of dance, music, theater, visual arts, interdisciplinary arts, or film between May 15, 2025 and April 15, 2026.
- An organization that financially compensates artists for their work.
- An organization that evidences strong support from the community and its Board of Directors.
Ineligibility Criteria
- Organizations that applied to the Fleishhacker Foundation for funding consideration during its fall 2024 review cycle, whether or not they received support, except for fiscal sponsors applying on behalf of multiple groups.
- Organizations that are primarily performance venues, exhibition spaces, presenters, or film festivals that do not produce their own work.
- Organizations and groups with more than 50% of their annual expense budgets directed toward educational programs, youth training in the arts, youth ensembles and performances, exhibitions of youth artwork, and/or productions designed for youth.
- Organizations and groups whose primary purpose is to present historical works by artists that are no longer living.
- Organizations and groups whose fundamental purpose or benefit is primarily social services, health, youth, or community development fields.
- Organizations that are registered and primarily operate as for-profit corporations, even if they have a fiscal sponsor.
- Individual artists.
Review Criteria
- For Financially Sponsored Organizations
- The Foundation accepts proposals from fiscal sponsors on behalf of fiscally sponsored organizations and groups through its Small Arts Grants program to allow important creative voices working outside of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit structure to be eligible for consideration.
- When using a fiscal sponsor, the fiscally sponsored organization must have entered into a written agreement with a sponsoring 501(c)(3) nonprofit that clearly delineates responsibilities for accounting, fiscal oversight, and grant reporting. A signed letter of sponsorship summarizing the specific nature of this agreement must accompany the application.
- To be eligible for a grant, the sponsoring nonprofit’s mission and ongoing programming must be consistent with those of the sponsored group. In addition, the sponsoring nonprofit’s annual operating budget must be greater than $100,000, but there is no upper limit on its size.
- Applicants using a fiscal sponsor should follow the instructions detailed in the “Apply” section below and provide the requested information and attachments for their own organization rather for their fiscal sponsor.
- Fiscally sponsored applicants will also need to provide contact information for their fiscal sponsor as well as the total amount of the fiscal sponsor’s annual operating budget for its current fiscal year. If the sponsored group has an advisory board, a listing of its members should also be provided.
- All grant communication will be sent to the fiscal sponsor, and it is responsible for informing the sponsored organization of the status of the grant proposal, promptly forwarding any funds awarded, and ensuring that final grant reports are filed by the deadline provided. In the event of a positive decision, the fiscal sponsor will be the Foundation’s grantee.
- For Filmmakers
- Applications are only accepted for the post-production phase of the project, when a full rough cut is complete and available. Filmmakers should have raised and spent at least 50% of their project budget before applying.
- Film projects proposed for the spring 2025 review cycle must be scheduled to be in post-production between May 15, 2025 and April 15, 2026. The Foundation does not provide support for completed films.
- Filmmakers are funded at any point in their careers, but grants are not awarded to film students. Only films directed by residents of San Francisco, Alameda, and Contra Costa counties are considered.
- Filmmakers may only apply once for any given film project, and only if they have already secured a fiscal sponsor or are applying with a nonprofit production company.
Application Requirements
- To complete an application, the following will be needed. (Please note that character-count limits include spaces.)
- Organizational Information
- The organization’s mission statement. (Up to 2,250 characters.)
- A brief organization history. (Up to 3,500 characters.)
- A list or summary of current artistic programs, activities, and key recent accomplishments. (Up to 3,500 characters.)
- A brief description of the communities your organization engages and/or serves. (Up to 3,500 characters.)
- The estimated annual total attendance at public events and performances over the past year, separating in-person and online participation, if any.
- A description of any significant recent or upcoming changes or challenges (organizational leadership, operations, finances, or major shifts in programming), if any. (Up to 3,500 characters.)
- General Support Proposal Information
- A description of the organization’s artistic projects between May 15, 2025 and April 15, 2026. Please note that the strength of the artistic projects planned during the period will be a key consideration in the evaluation of your proposal. (Up to 3,500 characters.)
- A brief description of the organization’s community outreach and other programming plans during the same period, if any. (Up to 3,500 characters.)
- Organizational priorities not listed above during the same period, if any. (Up to 3,500 characters.)
- Where possible, please include specific information about artists, venues, timelines, and goals.
- Financial Information and Attachments.
- Please note that all documents must be uploaded as PDFs.
- An organizational budget for the fiscal year for which funding is being sought, with itemized income and expenses, including the amount(s) for compensation for artists clearly separated out (projected).
- An organizational budget for the last completed fiscal year, with itemized income and expenses (actual).
- A list of confirmed and pending foundation, corporate, and government grants for the current year with amounts.
- A Board of Directors list and the percentage of Board members who made a financial contribution to the organization within the last year. Fiscally sponsored organizations may provide a listing of advisory board members, if applicable.
- Up to three supporting documents such as press reviews and program material.
- Up to three video or audio work samples totaling ten minutes of material to review and an image.
Required for fiscally sponsored organizations: the additional information described in the “For Fiscally Sponsored Organizations”.
For more information, visit Fleishhacker Foundation.
