Final Application Due Date: January 25, 2008

Maximum award: 7% to 12% of total income from last adjusted operating income based on budget size for basic GOS

5% of the average of the last three completed years’ total incomes up to $75,000 for MAP GOS

Request Match: 2:1 cash match with artistic expenditures

Contact: Grant Programs Manager


The General Operating Support (GOS) program helps fund administrative operating expenses of established not-for-profit local arts agencies or single discipline organizations with a budget equal to or greater than $50,000. The Guide to Grants for General Operating Support Fiscal Year 2009 includes information and application materials for this program.

For purposes of the GOS program,

  • a local arts agency is a community organization that has a permanent administrative facility, a representative board, at least a part-time executive or artistic director, and that provides financial support, services, or other programs for a variety of arts organizations and/or individual artists and the community as a whole.
  • a single-discipline arts organization is primarily a producing/presenting agency in one art form with a permanent administrative facility, a representative board, and at least a part-time executive or artistic director.

Grant awards for FY09 will be made for projects, programs and activities occurring between July 1, 2008, and June 30, 2009.

Grant awards are based on anticipated Arkansas Arts Council revenues and can be reduced at any time during the grant period.

Grant funds are viewed as supplementary to the budget of any grantee. Applicants are encouraged to secure and demonstrate broadly based financial commitments for the proposal submitted.

General Operating Support Eligibility

An organization is eligible to apply for General Operating Support if it
  • Received a GOS award for FY08 as a 501(c)(3) arts organization with a total operating budget equal to or greater than $50,000

OR

Has been approved as a newly eligible GOS applicant after filing a Letter of Intent by November 2, 2007

  • Employs a full-time executive director if its annual budget total is $150,000 to $1 million

OR

Employs at least a part-time paid executive director if its annual budget is $50,000 to $149,999

  • Has an independent audit of its most recently completed fiscal year on file with the Arkansas Arts Council if its annual budget is more than $300,000

OR

Has an IRS tax form 990 on file with the Arkansas Arts Council if the annual budget is less than $300,000.


Intent to Apply for General Operating Support

Potential new or returning GOS applicants must send a Letter of Intent to apply by November 2, 2007.

An organization seeking to apply for a General Operating Support grant must first consult with the Arts Council’s Grant Programs Manager, and then submit
  • A one-page letter describing the organization’s history, stating that its annual budget exceeds $50,000, and that it employs at least a part-time Executive Director
  • A copy of the first page of the organization’s IRS Letter of Determination
  • A completed copy of Sections 1-6 of the application form for General Operating Support (GOS) Fiscal Year 2009
  • A copy of the GOS Excel Budget form used for General Operating Support (GOS) Fiscal Year 2009 with only Column A of Section 7 completed.

Intent to Apply for MAP General Operating Support

Potential MAP GOS applicants must send a Letter of Intent to apply by November 2, 2007.

An organization that seeks eligibility to apply for a General Operating Support grant must first consult with the Art Council’s Grant Programs Manager and then submit:

  • A one-page letter describing the organization’s history and stating that its three-year average total income from FY05, FY06, and FY07 is equal to or greater than $1 million
  • A copy of the first page of the organization’s IRS Letter of Determination
  • A completed copy of the basic GOS application form Sections 1-6 of Application Form for General Operating Support (GOS) Fiscal Year 2009
  • A copy of the GOS Excel Budget form used for General Operating Support (GOS) Fiscal Year 2009 with only Column A of Section 7 completed

Criteria Scoring

The Council has established a weighted scoring scale that the panels are instructed to use in evaluating the different grant categories:

GENERAL OPERATING SUPPORT
(ROTATION CYCLE YEAR 1)

To acknowledge the importance of broadly based community involvement with organizations requesting General Operating Support, the review criteria are scored on the following scale:
  • Organizational history and program description-25 points
  • Community interaction and accessibility-30 points
  • Educational outreach-20 points
  • Long-range planning and evaluation-25 points


GENERAL OPERATING SUPPORT (ROTATION CYCLE YEAR 2 AND YEAR 3 APPLICATIONS)

The agency staff reviews applications in the second and third year of the established General Operating Support rotation cycle. The grant recommendation for those years is determined from the eligible request percentage of the last completed fiscal year’s total income adjusted by the panel score determined in Year 1 of the organization’s funding cycle. An increased grant recommendation in Years 2 and 3 will generally be based on a larger eligible percentage determined by operating growth as reflected in the organization’s larger actual total income at the end of its last completed fiscal year.

Application Limits

Eligible GOS applicants may submit a maximum of three proposals. This can include an application in the General Operating Support category, along with an application in two of the three Arts in Education categories.

General Operating Support Application Cycle

Organizations will be panel reviewed for General Operating Support in the first year of a three-year cycle. Years 2 and 3 will be staff reviewed. The FY09 requests for Year 2 and Year 3 applicants will be determined from a percentage of each organization’s Total Income from FY07 factored by the ranking the organization received during its Year 1 panel review.

New GOS applicants are panel reviewed in the first year of their eligibility regardless of the discipline or budget category the organization fits into. The organization will be panel reviewed again in the next Year 1 of its particular rotation cycle.

An established GOS applicant that misses a scheduled review year must file a Letter of Intent to be panel reviewed.

After it is re-admitted to the rotation cycle, the organization will be panel reviewed again in the next Year 1 of its particular group.

General Operating Support Limitations

Arts Council funds may be spent only for non-programmatic, administrative expenses. These can include, but are not limited to, administrative staff salaries, general marketing and fundraising costs, facility rental, utilities, maintenance of the facility, staff travel, or other expenses associated with the general operation of the organization.

These funds may not be used for artistic or technical staff, or for contracted administrative or artistic costs. Any question on the appropriateness of a proposed budget line item should be referred to the list of Standard Definitions.

General Operating Support Request Amounts

General Operating Support applicants may request a percentage of the adjusted operating Total Income of their last completed fiscal year. The amount of percentage is based on budget size:

$50,000 - $149,999 - 12 %
$150,000 - $499,999 - 10 %
$500,000 - $999,999 - 7 %

For example, if the calculated total income at the end of an organization’s FY07 were $235,000, it would be eligible to request an FY09 GOS grant of 10 percent of that amount, or $23,500.

MAP General Operating Support Request Amounts

MAP applicants may request a maximum of 5% of the average of its last three years adjusted operating income actuals (2004-2005, 2005-2006, and 2006-2007) up to $75,000.

MAP General Operating Support Application Cycle

The original MAP organizations were last panel reviewed for General Operating Support in FY03 as the first year of a three-year review cycle. FY09 is the first year of a new general MAP review cycle. Request amounts are determined from 5% of the average of the last three completed years’ total incomes up to $75,000. Grant awards will be subject to staff review and adjusted by panel scores from Year 1.

For example, the request for FY09 would be based on 5% of the average actual income totals from FY05, FY06 and FY07.

Matching Funds

GOS requests for administrative support must be matched 2:1 by the applicant’s expenditures on artistic programming. The cash must be from sources other than the Arkansas Arts Council, the Mid-America Arts Alliance, or the National Endowment for the Arts. Other portions of the proposal not involved in the specific Arts Council request and its match may be funded by government sources. Matching funds that are anticipated at the time of application must be received and obligated no later than June 30, 2009.

In-kind contributions may not be used as matching funds on applications or counted as matching funds on final reports. They may, however, be included in applications as evidence of the commitment of other resources to the applicant.

Application Steps

Rotation Cycle

APPLICATION

Checklist and Authorization for Year 1 (Panel Reviewed)

Checklist and Authorization for Year 2 and 3 (Staff Reviewed)

Application Form

Excel Budget Page and Ratios

Narrative Outline