Deadline: 17-Feb-21
The California Arts Council (CAC) is seeking applications for its Arts & Cultural Organizations General Operating Relief grant program to provide relief funding to arts and cultural organizations that have experienced economic hardships due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This grant supports the well-being of California’s cultural vitality by helping sustain a robust and diverse arts workforce and infrastructure. Funds may be used to support any eligible expenses associated with the general operations of an arts or cultural organization, including but not limited to rent, utilities, and staff salaries.
Funding Information
- Applicant organizations can request up to $30,000.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicant Organization Eligibility:
- An arts and cultural organization is defined as an entity with a primary purpose of providing arts, creative, or cultural programming/services. Assessed by CAC staff, this purpose is determined by the organization’s mission, purpose statement, and/or by its summary of core organizational programs and services (as reflected in the Organization Details section of the application).
- The following organizational types are ineligible for this grant:
- Organizations applying for the CAC’s Statewide and Regional Networks grant
- Public and private colleges and universities
- K-12 school districts
- County Offices of Education
- Social service or non-arts/cultural nonprofits
- Applicants must comply with the requirements below. All applications must include the listed items at the time of submission in order to be reviewed, ranked, and considered for funding.
- California-based – Documentation as being a California-based nonprofit arts/cultural organization; an arts-based unit of municipal or county government; or a tribal government, and a principal place of business in California.
- Arts programming – Applicants must have a minimum two-year history of consistent engagement in arts programming and/or services prior to the application deadline.
- 501(c)(3) organization as applicant or fiscal sponsor – Non-governmental applicant organizations must demonstrate proof of nonprofit status under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or section 23701d of the California Revenue and Taxation Code.
- Fiscal sponsors – An applicant organization without nonprofit status must use a California-based fiscal sponsor with a federal 501(c)(3) designation to apply for funding.
- Racial equity statement – In January 2020, the CAC approved its Strategic Framework which articulated commitment to racial equity Certificate of good standing – Nonprofit organizations and fiscal sponsors (if applicable) must have “active status” with the California Secretary of State (SOS) showing evidence of “good standing” at the time of application.
Funding Restrictions
- For organizations with total operating revenue above $250,000, the sum of requests for CAC grants during the same year of funding cannot exceed 50% of the total operating revenue from the most recently completed fiscal year, as it appears in the Budget Snapshot.
- Applicants to this program are restricted from applying for the CAC Statewide and Regional Networks grant.
For more information, visit https://arts.ca.gov/grant_program/arts-cultural-organizations-general-operating-relief/