General Support Program

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The General Support Program (GSP) aims to strengthen the community's access to arts and culture programming. The General Support program provides core operating support to arts and cultural organizations of all sizes that have a primary mission to create, produce, or provide arts and cultural programming to enhance the quality of lives for Phoenix residents. The deadline to apply has been extended to March 23, 2025, at 11:59 pm.

State-level funding, including the elimination of residential rental sales tax and implementation of a flat income tax, will negatively impact the City's budget and result in reduced ongoing revenues. The City of Phoenix is exploring options to deal with a potential budget shortfall, including raising sales tax or reducing services to residents. The City is required to adopt a balanced budget each fiscal year. With that, the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture may have a reduced budget of 5% in the next fiscal year. The budget process is on the same timeline as the Community Arts Grants program, so budgetary decisions will not be made until the City Council adopts the final budget in June. The City Manager’s proposed budget will be introduced to the Mayor and City Council in February and will be open to resident feedback in April.

Submit your application

GSP Review Rubric

Download Application Questions (Word Doc)

Información en español
GSP rubrica de evaluación

Staff Contact

Sarah León,
Grants and Community Engagement Director,
602-262-6164
sarah.leon@phoenix.gov

Schedule a virtual meeting here:

calendly.com/sarah-leon-moreno/grants

Guidelines and Details

Overview

The General Support program provides core operating support to arts and cultural organizations of all sizes that have a primary mission to create, produce, or provide arts and cultural programming to enhance the quality of life for Phoenix residents.

Goals

Support arts and cultural opportunities among residents of all ages through education, outreach programs, and opportunities for personal artistic expression and participation.

Encourage broad-based, community-wide participation in arts and cultural activities resulting diverse programming that is accessible to all residents.

Sustain a community of organizations that are responsibly governed and managed, financially sound, and assist organizations that have reached a critical stage in artistic or institutional development by encouraging the identification of internal needs important to the sustainability or growth of the organization.

Timeline

Date	Event
Feb. 4	Guidelines published \| Application opens
Jan. 30 - Mar. 13	One-on-one application consultations with staff
Feb. 8 from 9:30 am - 1:00 pm	Grant Writing Workshop at Burton Barr Library
Feb 20 at 12:00 pm	Virtual Info Session (English) Meeting number/Access code: 2634 641 6211 Password: Arts Join by phone: +1-415-655-0001
Feb 20, a las 6:00 pm	Sesión Informativa Virtual (español) Número de reunión/código de acceso: 286 651 66007 Contraseña: Arte Entrar mediante el teléfono: +1-415-655-0001
Feb 26, a las 6:00 pm	Taller de redacción para subvenciones (español) Inscribase aquí
Mar. 16 Extended to Mar. 23 at 11:59 pm	Application deadline. Staff will not be available on Saturday or Sunday (March 22 – 23, 2025) for questions.

Virtual one-on-one appointments and application consultations can be made with grants staff between January 30 and March 21, 2025.

Who can apply

To be eligible for the General Support program, applicants must meet all the following criteria:

Have a primary mission of producing or creating arts and culture programming and education for Phoenix residents
Have a minimum prior-year income of $5,000 (i.e., a total of earned income from Phoenix sources only and contributed income from all sources)
Be in good standing concerning all contract agreements with the City of Phoenix, including filing previous grant final reports
Must complete and submit a DataArts Cultural Data Profile with three years of financial data (applicants with a prior annual income of $5,000 to $249,999 have the option of submitting completing the provided summary form.)
Not be an organization that is applying to the Project Support program
Have existed as an arts and culture organization for the past three years while producing year-round arts and cultural programming within the city of Phoenix.
Have a business address and administrative offices in the city of Phoenix (no PO BOX) and conducts a majority (i.e. 51% or more) of its programs and services in the city of Phoenix. Applicants that are not a 501(c)3 nonprofit but meet all the other eligibility criteria are eligible if their average annual income from the past three fiscal years is not over $250,000, and they also meet the evaluation criteria below.

Fiscal Sponsor

Applicants who do not have 501(c)3 status are eligible to apply for a tax-exempt organization grant using a fiscal sponsor. Two options for applicants having trouble finding a fiscal sponsor are TAPAZ and Fractured Atlas. Any applicant with a fiscal sponsor must submit an MOU (memorandum of understanding) at the time of application, and both parties must sign the MOU. Fiscal sponsors typically charge an administrative fee between 5% and 12% of the total grant award. The estimated fee should be included as a line item in the project budget. Applicants cannot change their fiscal sponsor after applying and must utilize the same fiscal sponsor through the grant period. The Phoenix Department of Arts and Culture does not accept applications submitted by fiscal agents. Please contact us with any questions you have about fiscal sponsorship.

*Subject to grant being taxed as income if not applying with a fiscal sponsor who has 501(c)3 tax-exempt status

**Applicants cannot change their fiscal sponsor after the application deadline.

What we fund

Applicants do NOT make specific funding requests:

Like-sized budgeted organizations are reviewed by a review panel. Organizations receive award allocations determined by the ranking they receive in the panel. Award allocations are also dependent on the number of recommended applications and the total grants budget, as approved by Phoenix City Council annually in May.

The General Support program does not fund:

Individual or single-member LLCs (exceptions can be made if there is a formal advisory board in place)
Any division of local, state, or federal government
Organizations outside of the city of Phoenix boundaries
Schools, including public, private, and charter
Colleges and universities, other City of Phoenix departments, auxiliary/affiliate organizations
Organizations that produce a single annual event
Religious institutions or religious group-sponsored organizations not open to participation by non-congregants
Religious institutions or religious group-sponsored organizations whose primary purpose is the religious socialization of individuals or whose arts programming exists as parts of religious sermons or services
Debt reduction
Re-granting, unless permission is received
Grant administration, overhead, or processing fees taken by an umbrella/parent organization as a percentage of the total award, except for fiscal sponsors
Lobbying expenses
Expenses related to the construction of facilities
Food and beverage for receptions and hospitality functions
Fundraising projects
Scholarships and awards

Review Process

Applications are first reviewed for eligibility by staff. Eligible applications are then reviewed by panels comprised of conflict-free arts and cultural workers. Panelists will review and score all completed applications based on the evaluation criteria. Applications are scored on a 100-point scale.

An application is considered complete if it has responded to all narrative questions and has included all the required attachments.

Evaluation Criteria

COMMUNITY SIGNIFICANCE: The applicant clearly and specifically identifies the community the organization engages; reveals an understanding about how they currently effectively engage their community; demonstrates an awareness of how they and others fit into the arts and culture ecosystem to increase the benefit to the Phoenix community.

ARTISTIC/CULTURAL VALUE: The applicant is thoughtful in delivering programs and services that advance the organization’s artistic/cultural mission; demonstrates intentionality behind upcoming programming; and shows commitment to the success and development of Phoenix artists.

FINANCIAL CAPACITY: The applicant shows fiscal accountability, including fiscal health, staff, and board development, and a focus on the future.

LEADERSHIP CAPACITY: Reveals leadership's intentionality and thoughtfulness regarding building equity into the organization.

Recommended Organizations

After applications have been approved for funding by City of Phoenix Council, applicants will need to complete the following:

Register as a City of Phoenix vendor or confirm previous registration.
Attend the “You’ve Been Funded! What’s Next” webinar facilitated by Arts and Culture Department grants staff
Sign a grants conditions form that agrees to the following:

Use Arts and Culture Department logo when promoting public presentation of grant-funded work
Complete a final report 90 days after June 30, the end of the City of Phoenix fiscal year.

Payments are made upon completion of any pending final reports, verification of vendor registration and address, and signed grant conditions.

Final Report

A final report is due 90 days after the end of the fiscal year. Grant funds will not be released until all final reports from previous years have been received.

‭(Hidden)‬ Eligibility

To be eligible for the General Support program, organizations must meet all the following criteria:

Have a primary mission of producing or creating arts and culture programming for Phoenix residents
Must have a minimum prior year income of *$5,000 (i.e., total of earned income from Phoenix sources only and contributed income from all sources)
Exist as a 501(c)3 organization for at least three years that has a business address and administrative offices in the city of Phoenix (no PO BOX) and conducts a majority of its programs and services in the city of Phoenix
Be in good standing concerning all contract agreements with the City of Phoenix, including filing previous grant final reports
Must complete and submit a DataArts Cultural Data Profile with three years of financial data (organizations with prior year operating budget of $5,000 to $99,999 have the option of instead uploading a statement of activity/profit and loss with three years of data)
Not be an organization that is applying to the Project Support program

*Guidelines updated to reflect a minimum prior year income of $5,000 (from $25,000) (3/19/2021)

‭(Hidden)‬ Funding

Applicants do NOT make specific funding requests:

Like-sized budgeted organizations are reviewed by a review panel. An organizations receives an award allocation determined by the ranking it receives in the panel.
The Rental Support Program was previously housed under the General Support program (formerly CIEG). Rental support is currently on hiatus for FY2021-2022. To be eligible for General Support, an organization must meet the full program eligibility.

The General Support program does not fund:

Any division of local, state or federal government.
Organizations outside of the City of Phoenix
Applications submitted by for-profit entities
Schools, including public, private and charter
Colleges and universities, other City of Phoenix departments, auxiliary/affiliate organizations, and organizations without a 501(c)3
Organizations that produce a single annual event
Religious institutions or religious group-sponsored organizations not open to participation by non-congregants
Religious institutions or religious group-sponsored organizations whose primary purpose is the religious socialization of individuals or whose arts programming exists as parts of religious sermons or services
Debt reduction
Re-granting, unless permission is received
Grant administration, overhead or processing fees taken by an umbrella/parent organization as a percentage of the total award, except for fiscal sponsors
Lobbying expenses
Expenses related to the construction of facilities
Food and beverage for receptions and hospitality functions
Fundraising projects
Scholarships and awards

‭(Hidden)‬ Evaluation Criteria

Applications are reviewed for eligibility by staff and evaluated and ranked by review panelists using the criteria listed below.

Community Significance

The applicant has the clarity of the organization’s mission, vision, and goals and how they relate to the community being served, especially given the current health pandemic.

What community does your organization serve? Include demographic information, if available, or describe the community as specifically as possible. (400 words)
Describe continued, evolved, and new engagement strategies that keep you connected to your community during this pandemic. (400 words)
From the surprises and lessons learned in the past year, how are you reimagining community engagement post-pandemic? (400 words)

Artistic/Cultural Value

The applicant has identified ways to be thoughtful in providing the community with programs and services that advance the organization’s art/cultural mission during COVID-19.

Given COVID-19, list any new or evolved modes of delivering programming (e.g. virtual classes, etc.). What are advantages and disadvantages of these delivery modes to the organization's primary art/cultural form? (400 words)
List and describe upcoming programming that is exciting to the organization and why. (400 words)
Primary Programs/Events Upload programs/events produced by your organization during the past two fiscal years and the current year.
Video Upload/Link and Description
Image Upload and Description

Financial and Leadership Capacity

The applicant has fiscal accountability and is flexible to keep up with the challenges the organization faces during the Coronavirus crisis, including fiscal health, staff and board development, and a focus on the future.

Cultural Data Profile Report (Statement upload option for organizations with prior year operating budget between $5,000 and $100,000)
Reference and explain specific Cultural Data Profile/budget expense and/or revenue line item trends/variances, or debt/loan circumstances that are impacting the financial position. (400 words)
Describe successes, challenges, or special circumstances related to your financial position in the past, current, and next fiscal year. Reference the CDP report/budget when applicable. (400 words)

‭(Hidden)‬ Equity Assessment

Since 2017, the Phoenix Arts and Culture Department researched, reviewed case studies, and identified values, concepts, and practices concerning equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) as it relates to the Department of Arts and Culture's programs. For the Department 2021-2022 grants cycle, General Support applicants are invited to participate in an optional equity assessment of their organization. The Assessment can help the applicant's commitment to building inclusive and equitable strategies, policies, and programs that provide opportunities for diverse community participation. Assessments are due in the beginning of May and will not be reviewed by panelists.

More Information