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Arts Service Organization: Operating Grant Program (Canada)

Deadline: 09-Mar-23

The Ontario Arts Council (OAC) has announced the Operating Grant Program for the Arts Service Organization to support the ongoing operations of not-for-profit, professional arts service organizations in Ontario.

Ontario Arts Council (OAC) operating grant programs support Ontario-based, not-for-profit organizations and for-profit book and magazine publishers that meet the criteria for ongoing support.

Purpose

Arts service organizations may have provincial, national, regional or local mandates. There are five categories:

  • National Arts Service Organizations
  • Provincial Arts Service Organizations
  • Regional Arts Service Organizations
  • Local Arts Service Organizations
  • Community Arts Councils
Priorities

The program’s priorities are to support organizations that demonstrate a consistent commitment to:

  • providing high-quality services to professional artists, arts professionals or arts organizations in Ontario
  • providing services for members who are or who are mandated to support OAC priority groups: artists of colour, Deaf Artists and artists with disabilities, Francophone artists, Indigenous artists, new generation artists (18-30 year old), and artists living in regions outside Toronto
Funding Information

The type of financial statement we require depends on the amount of your grant, as follows:

  • Grants over $50,000: audited financial statements required
  • Grants over $25,000: review engagement (or, if available, audited financial statements)
  • Grants of $25,000 and under: unaudited financial statements (or, if available, audited financial statements or review engagement)
Eligibility Criteria
  • To apply for operating support your organization must:
    • be an Ontario not-for-profit corporation or a federal not-for-profit corporation with the head office in Ontario
    • be led by professional personnel
    • have completed at least two years of sustained, regular, ongoing programming in its community as of the application date.
    • have a range of revenue sources such as private and government
    • be governed by a board of directors or an advisory body solely responsible for the organization
    • have community support and involvement demonstrated through one or more of the following: membership, fundraising and volunteer involvement
    • have proof of sound financial management
    • be registered through the Canadian Arts Database / Données sur les arts au Canada (CADAC)
    • submit verification of financial results of the last completed fiscal year.
  • If you do not provide the type of financial statement required, OAC will reduce your grant request or awarded grant amount to an eligible level.
  • Eligibility criteria that differ from the above are used for for-profit book and magazine publishers.
  • Applicants must meet all eligibility criteria at the time they submit the application.
  • Annual and multi-year funding
    • OAC operating grant programs provide annual and multi-year funding. Applicants to both funding types streams are assessed by an advisory panel in year one of a three-year funding cycle. In years 2 and 3, applications for multi-year funding are reviewed by the program officer. Applications for annual operating grants are assessed each year by an advisory panel.
    • Organizations in any of the following situations will be invited to apply for annual funding:
      • they are new applicants
      • they have not received OAC operating funding for the past two consecutive years
      • they were assessed in group D during their last peer assessment
      • they have received serious assessment concerns within the last three years
      • they are in a period of substantial flux
    • Organizations that do not fall into any of the above situations will be invited to apply for multi-year funding, provided they also:
      • have a long-term plan
      • have a balanced budget
  • Program Transfers
    • OAC may decide that an organization should be transferred to a different operating program.
    • OAC will consider any developments or changes to an organization’s mandate and programming to determine if a transfer is appropriate.
    • Organizations may request a transfer to a different operating program. Such transfer requests should be made more than two months before the deadline of both your current and proposed programs.
    • Generally, OAC will transfer an organization to a different program when that program is in year 1 of the funding cycle of the new program.
  • New applicants
    • Organizations are considered “new applicants” if they are:
      • first-time applicants to an OAC operating program
      • returning arts organizations that did not receive an operating grant in the previous year
    • Normally, new applicants may only apply in the first year of a program’s multi-year cycle. This year is an exception: all operating programs will be open to new applicants in 2022 (apart from the Major Organizations: Operating program). The next year in which new applicants can apply is also indicated on the program web page. New applicants are eligible to apply for an annual grant only.
    • New applicants must:
      • have at least $75,000 in total revenues for the last completed year, and in projected revenues for the current and request years
      • consult with the program officer at least one month before the deadline to be considered for an invitation to the program
Restrictions
  • The OAC does not accept operating grant applications from the following organizations:
    • municipalities
    • universities and colleges
    • school boards
    • First Nations
    • schools administered by a First Nation and Indigenous administered schools
  • Arts organizations are eligible to receive only one OAC operating grant. An organization cannot apply to another OAC operating grant program unless they have been notified that their application was not successful.
  • Operating grant recipients may receive a maximum of two project grants in a year. The two-grant limit is based on the date of the application deadline, not on the date the grant payment is received.
  • OAC operating funds cannot be spent on major capital expenditures, including buying, leasing or renovating buildings and purchase of major equipment.

For more information, visit OAC.