Colorado: Bonfils-Stanton Foundation’s Grant Program

The Bonfils-Stanton Foundation makes grants to visual and performing arts organizations and projects that help enrich Denver’s cultural life and landscape.

Donor Name: Bonfils-Stanton Foundation

State: Colorado

City: Denver

Type of Grant: Grant

Deadline (mm/dd/yyyy): 02/10/2022

Details:

The Foundation resources are invested to enrich Denver’s cultural life and landscape. Grant requests are evaluated based on alignment with their objectives:

  • The Foundation supports cultural organizations that consistently demonstrate artistic excellence, visionary leadership and adaptive capacity.
  • They will identify and nurture grass roots innovative organizations and initiatives that enhance the values, spirit and diversity of Denver’s cultural community.
  • The Foundation support will help connect the arts and community in new and surprising ways.
  • The Foundation will invest in those organizations that help nurture current and next generation of artists and arts participants. support organizations that embrace and advance DEI practices, and work towards equitable access and engagement in the arts.
  • The Foundation will invest in organizations, projects, and efforts that elevate the profile of Denver’s art scene locally and nationally.

Grant Types

The Foundation resources are invested in organizations contributing to Denver’s arts and cultural community through four grant-making strategies:

  • General Operating Support: A priority of the Foundation is to provide unrestricted operating grants to arts organizations committed to DEI practices, high artistic merit, innovation, and sustainability. Typically the Foundation awards general operating grants to organizations with which we have an established relationship. General operating support is capped at $60,000 for the largest, most impactful of our grantees.
  • Project Support: The Foundation makes grants to support new or ongoing projects that are exceptional for their artistic merit, innovation, collaborative design and/or targeted approach to cultural participation. Project support may also be awarded to strengthen organizational capacity.
  • Capital Projects: Grants for capital projects are generally reserved for organizations with which the Foundation has an established relationship. To allow for more community-focused and opportunistic grantmaking capacity the Foundation is unlikely to fund significant capital gifts for the largest cultural organizations with operating budgets typically over $5 million. Priority consideration will be given to those projects that are intentional about serving multiple organizations, that serve diverse communities, allow for more equitable access and help fill a critical gap in the arts & culture ecosystem.
  • Arts in Society: This collaborative grantmaking initiative is funded by Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, Colorado Creative Industries, Colorado Health Foundation, Hemera Foundation, and SCFD, and is administered by RedLine Contemporary Art Center. Arts in Society recognizes and fosters cross-sector work through the arts for the well-being of Coloradans. Artists, arts organizations and other nonprofit organizations using socially-engaged art projects are eligible to apply. If you are a current grantee of the Foundation, you are welcome to apply to Arts in Society in addition to your Foundation request.

The following are generally not eligible for funding:

  • Loans, grants or scholarships to individuals
  • Events, media productions, seminars, conferences, or travel
  • Activities or initiatives that have a religious purpose
  • Endowment funding
  • Funding to retire operating debt
  • Requests from organizations outside of Colorado or that are not for the benefit of Colorado citizens.

For more information, visit Bonfils-Stanton Foundation.