The Tribal Cultural Council (TCC) Program, an expansion of the Local Cultural Council Program, supports Native American and Indigenous communities by providing funds for Tribal governments to grant to projects that provide community benefit.
Donor Name: Mass Cultural Council
State: Massachusetts
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 10/16/2025
Size of the Grant: Less than $1000
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
In Massachusetts, public funding for the arts, humanities, and sciences is provided through a central state agency, Mass Cultural Council, and pursuant to specific statute through a network of Local Cultural Councils (LCCs) that serve every city and town in the state.
Funding Information
Mass Cultural Council strongly encourages granting no less than a minimum of $250 to each approved application.
Criteria
These four rules must be followed in the review of all funding decisions and are equally important. TCCs have the option of developing local review criteria and may decide how to weigh their importance:
Eligibility Criteria
Applicants must reside in, be located in, or have ties to the land that is currently known as “Massachusetts”. If applicants currently reside or are located outside the geographic boundaries of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, ideally their project or program would take place within Massachusetts. TCCs may accept applications from anyone included in the following list. TCCs are authorized to prioritize eligible applicant types or limit which types of applicants they fund; if they do so, they must publish the eligibility in their council guidelines:
- Individuals. Individual applicants, including sole proprietors, must show that a community benefit results from the project for which they are applying.
- Individual members of TCCs may apply for funding from their own Tribal Cultural
- Council but must observe all conflict of interest procedures and policies in the granting process.
- Nonprofit organizations. Organizations organized or registered as nonprofits with a Tribal Government or the Secretary of the Commonwealth or organizations with federal tax-exempt status.
- Unincorporated associations. A group of individuals coming together with a common purpose (e.g., local community band, theater group) that do not have nonprofit status.
- Incorporated for-profit organizations. For-profit organizations organized or registered with the Secretary of the Commonwealth. This includes corporations, partnerships, and Limited Liability Companies (LLC). Applicants must show that a community benefit results from the project for which they are applying.
- Tribal, federal, state, and municipal government organizations. This includes any governmental entity such as public schools, libraries, other municipal agencies, and the Tribal Cultural Council itself.
- Religious organizations. TCCs cannot fund activities that are “inherently religious” such as religious worship, instruction, and proselytization. Religious organizations or groups with a religious affiliation are eligible to apply for funding for a project or program that:
- is available to the general public.
- has purpose of benefiting the public, not the religious organization.
- The limitation on the use of funds by religious organizations operates subject to the American Indian Religious Freedom Act.
For more information, visit Mass Cultural Council.
