The Southwest Minnesota Arts Council is seeking applications for its Equipment and Facilities Improvement grant to provide funding for the purchase of equipment items and facilities improvements that will strengthen arts organizations’ capacity to serve the arts needs of the region.
Donor Name: Southwest Minnesota Arts Council
State: Minnesota
County: Selected Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 02/08/2023
Size of the Grant: $10,000
Details:
Common requests include items like sound and lighting equipment, structural and accessibility improvements, office equipment, and storage. Non-arts organizations may also apply if the main purpose of the equipment or improvements is to support community arts projects.
Funding Information
Equipment and Facilities Improvement grants are available for up to $10,000.
Eligibility Criteria
Geographic Area
Applicant organizations must be located within the eighteen counties of the SW MN Arts Council service region (Big Stone, Chippewa, Cottonwood, Jackson, Kandiyohi, Lac qui Parle, Lincoln, Lyon, McLeod, Meeker, Murray, Nobles, Pipestone, Redwood, Renville, Rock, Swift, and Yellow Medicine counties) or on tribal lands within their service area. They acknowledge that this region occupies the traditional, ancestral, and contemporary lands of the Dakota people, who have stewarded these lands throughout the generations.
Types of Organizations
The Equipment and Facilities Improvement grant program is open to nonprofit organizations as described in Section 501 (c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code with Articles of Incorporation on file with the State of Minnesota or official units of city, county, or state government of the State of Minnesota. The main focus of this program is organizations whose mission is focused primarily on the arts, but non-arts organizations may also apply if their project directly serves community arts needs.
Fiscal Sponsors
If your organization is not yet a registered nonprofit, you may apply using a fiscal sponsor. Some examples of organizations in this situation include one that has just recently been formed, with only a few board members and a couple of activities completed so far. Or, an organization may have been in existence for years, but the scale of its activities and capacity of its volunteers haven’t warranted filing for nonprofit status.
The fiscal sponsor organization must meet the requirements listed above under the types of eligible organizations. A signed agreement outlining the relationship between the applicant and the fiscal sponsor must be submitted with the application. A fiscal sponsor, if used, must sign the application and, if funded, sign the grant contract. The fiscal sponsor is legally responsible for the proper management of grant funds and for the completion of the project.
Scoring Criteria
The grant review panel will score your application based on:
- the impact of the project on the organization (53%)
- the merit of the organization and the artistic quality of its programs (32%)
- the feasibility of the project (15%)
After panel scoring, applicants will be awarded one additional percentage point for each of the following conditions they meet, to address SMAC’s funding priorities:
- First time SMAC applicant
- Applicant organization led by or primarily serving BIPOC or LGBTQIA2+ communities or people with disabilities
- Applicant from a county that has received three or fewer SMAC grants in the last fiscal year
For more information, visit Equipment & Facilities Improvement Grants.