NEA Announces Guidelines for American Rescue Plan Grants

The NEA Rescue Plan’s Grants to Organizations program will offer one-time grants to support their own operations, such as day-to-day business expenses/operating costs rather than specific programmatic activities. Eligible use of funds include:

• Salary support, full or partial, for one or more staff positions. Staff positions funded may not conduct work independent of the organization receiving funds. Supported jobs may be existing, new, or restored from furlough or elimination due to the pandemic.
• Fees/stipends for artists and/or contractual personnel to support the services they provide for specific activities as part of organizational operations.
• Artist fees/stipends should be related to work with a tangible outcome, such as performances, presentations, workshops, and/or the creation of artwork. This is considered a stipend to the artist for the work undertaken during the period of performance. Such work must not be performed independently of the organization receiving funds.
• Facilities costs such as mortgage principal, rent, and utilities.
• Costs associated with health and safety supplies for staff and/or visitors/audiences (e.g., personal protective equipment, cleaning supplies, hand sanitizer, etc.).
• Marketing and promotion costs.

A grantee may receive more than one federal grant during overlapping periods of performance, HOWEVER, those grants must cover different costs and/or activities. If multiple grants are awarded, grantees will be required to keep documentation to show which employees are being paid from each funding source so that the federal government isn’t paying more than 100 percent of a salary. Eligible organizations that received CARES Act funding from the Arts Endowment may apply to the Rescue Plan’s Grants to Organizations program as long as there are no overlapping costs. Applicants may apply to other Arts Endowment funding opportunities for which they are eligible, including Grants for Arts Projects. In each case, the applications cannot have any overlap in costs during the same period of performance. For example, an orchestra could request support for an arts education coordinator through the Rescue Plan’s Grants to Organizations program. That same arts education coordinator could work on programs related to another Arts Endowment grant, as long as the same time and costs are not charged to both awards.

Eligible organizational applicants need to have completed a three-year history of arts programming prior to the application deadline. For the purpose of defining eligibility, “three-year history” refers to when an organization began its programming and not when it incorporated or received nonprofit, tax-exempt status. Programming is not required to have taken place during consecutive years. Organizational applicants must meet the Arts Endowment’s Legal Requirements, including nonprofit, tax-exempt status at the time of application. (All organizations must apply directly on their own behalf. Applications through a fiscal sponsor/agent are not permitted.)

Applicants may request a fixed grant amount for: $50,000, $100,000 or $150,000. The NEA encourages applicants to select a grant amount that is reflective of their overall organization size and internal capacity. See Award Information for more details. A grant period of up to two years is allowed.

While the Arts Endowment has not pre-determined how many awards it will issue, it anticipates making approximately 800 awards and acknowledges the financial needs of the field will outweigh available funds. In recognition of the field’s need, it underscores that applicants choose the amount that makes the most sense for its organization’s capacity and budget.

Prospective applicants should thoroughly review all posted material, including the Application Review information. Grants will NOT be awarded on a “first come, first served” basis but on artistic excellence and artistic merit, which includes, “as appropriate, the potential to serve and/or reach individuals whose opportunities to experience the arts are limited by ethnicity, economics, geography, or disability.” It is anticipated that all applicants will be notified of recommendation or rejection in December 2021.

Applications will be submitted in two separate groups: one for organizations with legal names beginning with A-L versus one for organizations with legal names beginning with M-Z. The different submission windows will not affect the timing of grant review, or an organization’s ability to receive a grant. See the Application Calendar page for answers to specific questions about organization names.

To determine to which group one belongs, an organization’s legal name (not popular name or one by which it may be publicly known) should be used. The legal name is as it appears in the current IRS 501(c)(3) status letter or in the official document that identifies the organization as a unit of state or local government, or as a federally recognized tribal community.

Before submitting to Grants.gov, your organization must register or renew/verify its registration with both Grants.gov and the System for Award Management (SAM). These registrations can take several weeks.