The Philadelphia Cultural Fund (PCF), supports Philadelphia-based arts and culture organizations to strengthen the city’s cultural life and community vitality.
Donor Name: The Philadelphia Cultural Fund
State: Pennsylvania
City: Philadelphia
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 9/01/2026
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: 1 Year
Details:
For FY26, PCF is implementing an interim grantmaking process to refine its funding model with community input, ensuring a fair, equitable, and sustainable approach for FY27 and beyond. This transitional year reflects PCF’s commitment to its mission, values, and strategic pillars, and supports a trust-based, community-informed process.
PCF categorizes practices of Art & Culture
- Creation – Developing work.
- In practice, Creation can look like sculpting; filming a documentary; or designing costumes.
- Education – Teaching.
- In practice, Education can look like teaching dance classes; facilitating pottery workshops; giving guided tours.
- Exhibition & Performance – Displaying, embodying, showing.
- In practice, Exhibition can look like showcasing photographs in a gallery; installing a sculpture at a historic site; painting a mural on the side of a building.
- In practice, Performance can look like acting in a play on stage; presenting poetry at an open mic; playing in an orchestra.
- Presentation – Curating, producing, or publishing.
- In practice, Presentation can look like publishing a literary magazine; producing a performing arts festival; curating and hosting artist talks.
- Preservation – Maintaining and protecting culture.
- In practice, Preservation can look like repairing folk instruments; keeping heirloom seeds for a community garden; organizing an annual cultural festival.
- Service – Providing access for specific communities to art & culture practices and/or providing a specific assistance for those within the art and culture community.
- In practice, Service can look like providing accessibility training to art museum staff and leadership; space rentals to visual artists; art supplies to elders.
Funding Information
Grant Award: $12,500.
Grant Period
One-year grant period.
Uses of Funds
PCF funds art and culture organizations across artistic disciplines and cultural practices. We strive to define art & culture broadly. Art & culture connect us through the pasts, presents, and futures. While interrelated, they can also exist separately.
- Art is the expression of creativity.
- Culture is the shared experience of ancestries, environments, histories, traditions, and values.
- This grant cycle includes important updates to eligibility, funding structure, and review processes. Both new and returning applicants are encouraged to apply.
Eligibility Criteria
PCF funds organizations who:
- Are incorporated as a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit in good standing and be in compliance with applicable laws, rules, and regulations, including, without limitation, those of the IRS and the Commonwealth of PA OR have a contract with a Fiscal Sponsor/parent organization.
- Have a mission that is dedicated to art and/or culture through one or more of the following practices: Creation, Education, Exhibition, Performance, Presentation, Preservation, Service.
- Have an average budget, represented on the SMU DataArts Funder Report, of $3 million or less.
- Are committed to providing art and/or culture programming to the residents of the City of Philadelphia. All or the majority of programming must be Philadelphia-based in location and, particularly if the program is virtual, in audience focus. Use the City of Philadelphia’s District Finder to find which district your organization serves!
- Have conducted programming (in person and/or virtually) for at least one (1) year.
- Have at least two (2) people who are considered staff, personnel, or stewards of the organization. They can be full-time, part-time, paid, or unpaid (volunteers). This does not include a Fiscal Sponsor representative
- Have a Governing Body or Advisory Group (If a 501(c)(3) organization, have a Board of Directors; if contracted with a Fiscal Sponsor/parent organization, have an Advisory Group, such as an Advisory Council, Board or Committee that oversees the operations of the organization).
For more information, visit PCF.
