The Equipment and Facilities Improvement grant program provides funding for the purchase of equipment items and facilities improvements that will strengthen arts organizations’ capacity to serve the arts needs of the region.
Donor Name: Southwest Minnesota Arts Council
State: Minnesota
County: Selected Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 01/28/2026
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: 1 Year
Details:
Common requests include items like sound and lighting equipment, structural and accessibility improvements, office equipment, and storage. Non-arts organizations may also apply if the main purpose of the equipment or improvements is to support community arts projects.
Funding Information
- Equipment and Facilities Improvement grants are available for up to $10,000.
- Funds received through this grant program are capped at $50,000 per organization within a 10-year timeframe.
- Applicants can only receive up to $50,000 for equipment & facilities improvement within a decade.
- Organizations may be awarded a maximum of $20,000 in SW MN Arts Council grants per fiscal year, excluding operating support.
Grant Period
July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026.
Eligibility Criteria
- Geographic Area
- Applicant organizations must be located within the SW MN Arts Council service region, consisting of eighteen counties (Big Stone, Chippewa, Cottonwood, Jackson, Kandiyohi, Lac qui Parle, Lincoln, Lyon, McLeod, Meeker, Murray, Nobles, Pipestone, Redwood, Renville, Rock, Swift, and Yellow Medicine counties) and two tribal nations (Pezihutazizi/Upper Sioux Community, Cansayapi/Lower Sioux Community). They acknowledge that the Southwest Minnesota region occupies the traditional, ancestral, and contemporary lands of the Dakota people.
- Types of Organizations
- The Equipment and Facilities Improvement grant program is open to nonprofit organizations as described in Section 501 (c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code with Articles of Incorporation on file with the State of Minnesota or official units of city, county, or state government of the State of Minnesota. The main focus of this program is organizations whose mission is focused primarily on the arts, but non-arts organizations may also apply if their project directly serves community arts needs.
- Fiscal Sponsors
- If your organization is not yet a registered nonprofit, you may apply using a fiscal sponsor. Some examples of organizations in this situation include one that has just recently been formed, with only a few board members and a couple of activities completed so far. Or, an organization may have been in existence for years, but the scale of its activities and capacity of its volunteers haven’t warranted filing for nonprofit status.
- The fiscal sponsor organization must meet the requirements listed above under the types of eligible organizations. A signed agreement outlining the relationship between the applicant and the fiscal sponsor must be submitted with the application. A fiscal sponsor, if used, must sign the application and, if funded, sign the grant contract. The fiscal sponsor is legally responsible for the proper management of grant funds and for the completion of the project.
For more information, visit SMAC.
