Deadline: 15-Nov-2024
The Calgary Foundation’s Future Focus Grants Program provides funding to arts organizations to explore a key question or challenge facing their organization and develop directions for their operations that diverge from previous or current practice in response.
The program supports organizations through the process of investigating, identifying, planning and executing significant and strategic adaptations in their operations.
This program is aimed at providing funding for organizations to deeply explore questions about their ongoing viability and sustainability, and to access the expertise required to address these questions. This funding is not intended to support program delivery. The Future Focus Program is intended to support arts organizations to investigate, plan, and implement strategic adaptions related to:
- organizational strategy development and planning
- business model evaluation and shifts
- sustained inter-organizational collaborations
- succession planning to transition from founding & longstanding leaders
- life-cycle change including mergers and closures
Funding Information
- Grant amounts available are based on the nature of the work to be undertaken.
- Exploration Phase (identification of needs, initial development, project planning): Funding request generally up to $15,000
- Implementation Phase (building upon exploration phase or previous related work): Funding request generally up to $25,000
Eligible Projects
- Organizations can access funds to engage external expertise and develop strategies to guide them in navigating the questions, challenges and opportunities they face. This work may include projects such as:
- Making shifts to business models and organizational structures:
- Investigating and implementing new revenue generating models that do not rely on fundraising activities.
- Changing the way your organization is registered/incorporated.
- Forming strategic partnerships with other organizations, including resource sharing.
- Developing strategies for new directions:
- Major shift in organizational mission or activity to support mission.
- Venue and space investigations.
- Assessment of organizational capacity and ‘right sizing’.
- Planning for leadership succession from founding and longstanding leaders.
- Addressing organizational life cycle questions, including potential mergers and closures.
- Making shifts to business models and organizational structures:
Who can apply?
- Calgary-based arts organizations who are registered charities or not-for-profits, or arts-based organizations who have comparable organizational structures.
- Indigenous-led and Indigenous-centered arts organizations operating in the Treaty 7 region.
- Organizations cannot be receiving project support from any of the three partner funders individually for the same work.
- Priority will be given to organizations led by and serving equity-deserving artists and communities
For more information, visit Calgary Foundation.