Unrestricted Operating Grants

The organization must be a California non-profit corporation with a 501c3 tax-exempt certification.

• Applicants with annual budgets under $750,000 may use a fiscal sponsor with 501c3 tax-exempt status.
• Applicants with budgets over $750,000 must be 501c3 nonprofits.
  

• For-profit organizations are not eligible.
• Institutions of primary and secondary education are not eligible.
• Local governments are not eligible.
• Universities and colleges are limited to providing fiscal sponsorship for one arts program only. Grants may not support operating costs for the university or college, but must be applied to program and overhead costs of the applying entity.
• Grants may not be applied toward support for political or religious purposes, fundraisers for other organizations or causes, capital improvements, lobbying, or projects already completed.

This criterion reflects an organization’s ability to meaningfully engage and inspire its community through arts and culture in order to achieve its mission.

Panelists will ask themselves the following questions:

• Does the organization show a commitment to craft in their artistic artform? (work sample)
• Does the organization have a clear relationship between their programming and their mission?
• Can the organization define the geographic area and the communities they serve? 
• Does the organization demonstrate that they understand, work with, and are responsive to their community through their programming?
• Is the organization accessible and inviting to its community and open to the public?

This criterion reflects the ability of an organization’s board and staff to manage resources, plan, evaluate, and - when necessary - creatively pivot their organization and their programming now and for years to come.

To determine if an organization displays strong Organizational Resilience and Ingenuity, panelists will ask themselves the following questions during application review:

1. • Does the organization have a diverse board and staff that is demographically reflective of the community being served? 
   • Does the organization clearly articulate how they function and contextualize their financial information? 
   • Does the organization demonstrate an understanding of their challenges and engage in short and long-term planning using processes commensurate with their size and capacity?
   • Does the organization provide evidence of community support through volunteer participation, in-kind support, individual donors, or other means?

• Does the organization exhibit practices that are inclusive and welcoming of all people in their defined community, including those who have been historically and/or continuously marginalized and underrepresented, e.g., immigrant groups, BIPOC/ALAANA communities, rural populations, aging populations, people living in poverty, people who are homeless, people with disabilities, and communities recovering from trauma or disaster?
• Does the organization provide evidence  that staff at a variety of levels, as well as board, artists, and key collaborators, include those in the community who have been historically and/or continuously marginalized and underrepresented, in both their public-facing programming and administrative work?