City of West Hollywood’s WeHo Arts Organizational Development Grant

Deadline: 16-Sep-20

The City of West Hollywood’s WeHo Arts Organizational Development Grant supports non-profit arts organizations with an interest in strengthening their organization’s infrastructure.

This grant is intended for newer, smaller and/or less-experienced non-profits, or established nonprofits undergoing organizational transitions, with budgets generally under $100,000 and primarily volunteer run.

This grant category provides two benefits for nonprofit arts organizations:

supporting the organization’s mission to provide arts programming;
supporting the organization by specifically funding technical assistance to improve its ability to fundraise, develop audiences, and build its creative capacity.

Objective

The City has identified the following objectives for the WeHo Arts Organizational Development Grant:

To enhance an organization’s knowledge, skills, business and professional development needs.
To engage an organization in specific professional and business development activities that will aid in building its capacity, strengthening its infrastructure, and/or extend the reach of its programming activities.
To assist an organization with strategic planning that will help meet its mission, goals and objectives.
To encourage an organization to explore innovative programming to extend its audience reach and enhance the reputation of West Hollywood as an “Arts City.”

Funding Information

With its first successful application, the organization would be awarded a three-year contract (maximum grant of $9,000 and technical assistance of $9,000 payable over 3 years).
$24,000 Total amount of available funding in this category
$ 3,000 Must go to outside consultant from City of West Hollywood Prequalified list of consultants
$ 3,000 Must go to arts program presented in the City of West Hollywood
$ 6,000 Total Maximum Award per organization each calendar year.

Outcome

The City anticipates the following results from this grant program:

Organizations acquire knowledge and skills that will aid them in becoming a more sustainable arts organization.
Organizations are more versed at developing realistic goals and objectives that will build and strengthen the organization’s capacity to provide quality arts program.
Organizations extend the reach of their partnerships and collaborations that provide positive public relations for the organizations and for West Hollywood as an Arts City.
Organizations gain/maintain a competitive edge for a variety of arts grant opportunities.

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible for consideration, organizations must satisfy all the following requirements:

The primary mission of the organization must be the production and/or public presentation of one or more disciplines of the arts. This includes, but is not limited to, performing arts, literary arts, multi-media, and/or visual arts.
Organizations must be able to demonstrate commitment to and involvement with the West Hollywood community, including a presentation (art exhibit, performance or screening) somewhere within the City of West Hollywood or immediately adjacent (within 5 blocks of the border of West Hollywood) within the calendar year 2021.
Organizations must be able to demonstrate the ability to manage a contract with an outside consultant, provide a scope of work, a timeline for deliverables, and a method for evaluation.
Organizations must provide a financial statement detailing the organization’s income and expenses for the previous year (for example, a calendar year statement would be for January 2019 – December 2019.
Must submit an on-line application by the application deadline.

Evaluation Criteria

All applicants will be screened initially by staff to ensure compliance with the eligibility requirements. Applicants who do not meet these requirements will not be forwarded onto the grants panel for review. A peer review panel will evaluate and score grant applications using the following criteria:

Artistic quality of the organization and artistic merit of the proposed project (0-25 points)
Demonstrate a commitment to the West Hollywood Community (0-30 points)
Managerial and fiscal competence based on organizational paperwork, finances and completeness of the application (0-20 points)
Readiness and ability to utilize technical assistance (0-25 points)

NOTE: Organizations whose business location is within the City of West Hollywood will receive a bonus of 4% points to their total score, per City policy.

Requirements

Items you will need to upload: