Why grants?
Grants are a crucial part of the performing arts economy, and grant writing will be relevant to many performing artists and arts teachers. Grants give you an opportunity to realize new project ideas or keep your organization running.
Finding grant opportunities and writing grant applications requires skills in research, writing, and budget management, in addition to great ideas for projects and organizations. This guide gives you some starting points for understanding grants, finding and evaluating opportunities, locating data and research to back up your requests, and writing a proposal.
On average about 40% of nonprofit arts funding comes from contributions from individuals, foundations, corporations, and government agencies. A large amount of that funding will go through the form of grants, or monetary awards given for a specific purpose. Types of grants, eligibility, priorities, allowed expenses, and application procedures can vary widely, but there are some strategies for finding, supporting, and applying for grants that can be helpful across the board. This guide will give you some basic tools and resources for:
From Americans for Arts, 2017. See full page below.
Where do grants come from?
While individual donations are a big part of nonprofit fundraising, many contributions come from institutions or organizations. Grant funders generally belong to one of a few categories:
Each type will have somewhat different procedures and policies, but all are important potential funding sources. The links and resources on this page give you some places to begin searching for grant opportunities, but you may also want to consider some other approaches:
Platform for researchers and administrators to identify new funding opportunities and potential collaborators, while offering insights and short-cuts to help research organizations obtain funding.