Operating Grants are specifically available for arts focused institutions as these organizations are crucial partners with Mississippi Arts Commission in providing increased access to the arts in Mississippi.
Donor Name: Mississippi Arts Commission
State: Mississippi
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline (mm/dd/yyyy): 03/01/2022
Size of the Grant: $7,500
Details:
Operating grants serve as a way to assist these core organizations maintain their financial stability, build their organizational capacity, improve their artist programs, and broaden their programs throughout the community. Eligible organizations should have the arts as their primary focus and mission.
Operating Grants can be used by these arts focused organizations to support any of their general operating expenses, including salaries, marketing, rent, insurance, or artistic fees. Because of the wide range of expenses the grant can support, Operating Grant applicants are also required to submit more detailed information than other applicants in order to provide MAC grant review panels with a more detailed picture of the applicant organization’s overall structure and activities.
Mississippi Arts Commission awards Operating Grants in each of the following programs areas:
- Arts Based Community Development
- Folk & Traditional Arts
- Arts Industry
Funding Information
The amount an organization is eligible to apply for is based on its previous year’s total income:
- If you are a volunteer-run organization, you may apply for 25% of your last completed fiscal year’s income, not to exceed $7,500.
- If you are a staffed organization with an annual budget of at least $30,000, you may apply for 25% of the last completed fiscal year’s income, not to exceed $20,000.
- If you are a staffed organization with an annual budget of more than $250,000, you may apply for up to 10% of the actual cash revenue for operating expenses of the last completed fiscal year, not to exceed $30,000 (Revenues do not include loans, endowment funds, capital improvement funds, or any other restricted-use funds that are not part of general operating revenues.)
Eligibility Criteria
A Mississippi-based arts organization may apply for an Operating Grant if it has been incorporated in the state of Mississippi as a nonprofit organization with tax-exempt status under section 501(c)3 of the IRS code for at least two years and:
- Has a mission and ongoing activities that are focused on arts development and presents performances, exhibitions, arts education programs, or other arts services to the public as its primary function;
- Has a governing board empowered to form policies and execute programs;
- Demonstrates a close working relationship with local government agencies, artists, schools, and community organizations;
- Has a board-adopted, basic long-range plan that shows how the organization intends to grow artistically, manage for the future, and serve the community;
- Reflects the demographics of its community in the planning, implementation and evaluation of its programs;
- Demonstrates ongoing fiscal responsibility by maintaining financial records that meet generally accepted accounting principles;
- Is not receiving operating funds from another line of the Mississippi state government’s budget; and
- Is not primarily educational and does not award academic credit.
Local arts agencies applying for an Operating Grant in the Arts Based Community Development program area must provide at least two of the following services:
- Arts-based community development programs for local residents;
- Re-granting and services to local artists or arts organizations;
- Serves as a source of information on local cultural events, activities, and programs;
- Facility management (such as a gallery or performance center) services;
- Arts education;
- Advocacy for the arts;
- Arts presenting or
- Arts instruction.
A note to Community Development organizations: MAC traditionally awards Operating Grants to one local arts agency from any given municipality. When two local arts agencies serving the same geographic area apply for Operating Grants in the same year, both of the organizations’ applications should directly address how the work of the two groups complement (and does not replicate) each other. As with any other application in this program, each applicant must demonstrate that they involve the entire community in their planning, governance, programming, and evaluation.
For more information, visit Operating Grants.
