2025-2026 MCA Cultural Grant Application

Please respond to each of these items. If an item does not apply to the organization’s application, respond “Not Applicable”. The responses are designed to give the panelists background information on the organization, its mission, and eligibility.

1) Give a brief history of your organization, including founding dates, date of incorporation, and date designated by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501 (c) (3), if applicable.

2) Describe the administrative and artistic structure of the organization. Indicate which positions are full time paid staff, part time paid staff, independent contractors , and volunteers.

3) Provide organizational statistics for the last fiscal year, including budget total, the number of individuals served, number of artists participating, number on the Board of Directors, number of volunteers, number of volunteer hours, number of seasonal ticket holders or memberships, etc. 4) Describe the fiscal condition of your organization. Be sure to address any operating or fund balance deficit that currently exists, as well as any special fiscal circumstances which may exist for your organization at this time. Describe how these circumstances are being addressed.

Proposed Program/Project, including goals/objectives; the audience you intend to serve, including demographics and any special constituencies; provide a timeline for accomplishing the program/project and evaluation activities.

Describe the operating expenses for the program/project (salaries, marketing costs)

The requested grant amount may not exceed 50% of the anticipated total expenses, describe other funding sources, in addition to this grant that you anticipate will support the expenses.

What other funding sources, besides this grant, do you anticipate to support the expenses of this program/project? Describe the donations (both cash and non-cash) that your organization receives from the community. Describe admission charges, if applicable

Be sure to complete the budget form in detail.

What methods (i.e., attendance figures, surveys, press reviews, etc.) of evaluation will be used to evaluate the success of your proposed program/project? Evaluation of your proposed project should be anchored by the questions you hope to answer via your evaluation procedures and whom you hope to provide with evaluative feedback about your program. Common questions might be: Who attended this program/project (demographic characteristics)? How did they learn about the activity? How many attended: Did the activity meet the attendees’ expectations (like/dislike, suggestions given for improving the activity in the future)? Who responds to theses evaluations?

Describe the final report that you will provide Marion Cultural Alliance at the completion of your proposed program/project that documents program excellence and success (e.g. positive review, recent achievements, awards, feedback from attendees). As a minimum, this report must include attendance figures, and number of activities of each type supported by the grant. Three to five electronic images depicting the grant program must be submitted with the report to MCA no later than 30 days after the completion of the program/project.

Address the organization’s efforts to ensure equal access and opportunity. (attach policies in the support section.) The applicant organization must have established policies and procedures which address diversity, as well as nondiscrimination against persons with disabilities. Marion Cultural Alliance requires that all funded programs are open to the public and grantees make programs/events/projects accessible to persons with disabilities. Describe your organization’s efforts to make this program/event/project accessible to the public. Specifically, buildings and facilities (including historic facilities) are physically accessible for the general public and employees. Programmatic accessibility including, but not limited to: public contact information, accessible electronic materials, accommodation for various disabilities.

The organization must provide equal access and opportunity in employment and services and may not discriminate on the based-on race, color, ethnicity, religion, gender, ancestry, national origin, geography, age, varying disabilities, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, familial status, citizenship status, or socioeconomic status.

*Note: MCA Cultural Arts Grant can be used for up to 50% of the program/project cost.

• – All costs included in this budget, whether paid for with MCA Cultural Arts Grant funds or your cost share, must be directly allocable to the project activity, allowable, and adequately documented. Actual, allowable expenditures must be reported on all payment requests and financial reports.
• – Only included costs expected to be incurred within the period of performance, which can begin no earlier than the earliest allowable start date noted in the guidelines for this MCA Cultural Arts Grant funding opportunity. Costs such as salaries, wages, fringe benefits, and administrative overhead may need to be pro-rated to reflect this period.
• – Provide a detailed breakdown of any large line items.
• – For equipment, clearly note items to be rented or leased versus those to be purchased.
• – Do not included unallowable costs such as receptions/parties, alcoholic beverages, cash prizes, construction or miscellaneous. (See detailed list in the guidelines)
• – This budget cannot include overlapping project costs with any other MCA Grant award.

Please upload work samples, photographs, links, or other support materials that documents the artistic quality of your programs or services. If possible, include images that show your programs and services in actions, your constituents, and your organizations’ activities. Include samples, if possible, that are closely related to your proposal.

Please include your Board of Directors and Bylaws, event programs/marketing, reviews of previous programs/projects, resumes of key artistic personnel involved, letters attesting to the organization’s work, sample programs, surveys, policies related to accessibility and non discrimination.