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Program Description
The Organizational Development program offers grants of up to $10,000
for projects designed to strengthen the management or administration
of nonprofit arts groups. Such projects must 1) advance the mission
of your group and 2) have the potential for significant or long-term
impact.
Organizational Development grants may be used to conduct an assessment
or create and/or implement a plan in areas such as those listed
below. This list is not a complete list of eligible projects.
- Board governance
- Strategic issues
- Resource development (fundraising)
- Information systems
- Financial planning or management
- Volunteer management
- Communications/public relations
- Audience development/marketing
- Access for people with disabilities
- Community needs assessment
Your request may include costs for personnel, postage, supplies,
equipment, printing, travel and other activities necessary to carry
out the project.
Program Requirements
Requirements listed here are intended to give a sense of the program.
For full description of requirements and eligibility rules, see
guidelines.
Project Budget
For every four MRAC dollars requested, you must match or raise
one dollar from a source other than MRAC. Other sources may include
general operating funds, past surpluses, earned income or funds
you plan to raise specifically for this project. Donated and in-kind
goods and services may not be
included as part of the match.
Oversight
Your group must have a board of directors or an advisory committee
that provides input on your project.
Nonprofit status
Your group must be incorporated as a nonprofit in the state of Minnesota. If you are incorporated
but do not have IRS tax-exempt status, you must apply using a nonprofit,
tax-exempt organization as a fiscal sponsor (see guidelines for
definition, page 6).
You must be able to furnish proof of your organization's IRS
tax-exempt status -or- furnish a letter of agreement with your
fiscal sponsor and proof of your fiscal sponsor's IRS tax-exempt status.
Personnel
Before submitting an Organizational Development grant application,
your group must select the personnel who will participate in the
project. You may request funds for employees and/or consultants
whose skills and experience will help you carry out your project.
If your project personnel includes a new employee position, you
are not required to select or hire the new employee before submitting
your application. Instead you should designate the personnel who
will recruit, hire, supervise and train your proposed new employee.
Eligibility
To ensure eligibility, all applicants are strongly encouraged to
discuss proposal ideas with MRAC staff before beginning an MRAC
application. All eligibility requirements are fully outlined in
the guidelines. For general eligibility, see the Eligibility
page.
Whom does the Organizational Development grant fund?
- Incorporated nonprofit arts groups located in the seven-county
metropolitan area with annualized operating expenses less than
$300,000 and at least a two-year history of programs/services.
About nonprofit and tax-exempt status:
Groups must be incorporated as a nonprofit in the State of Minnesota
to be eligible for this program. If you are incorporated as
a nonprofit but do not have IRS tax-exempt status, you must
apply using a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization as a fiscal
sponsor (see definition, page 6). For-profit organizations may
not apply for an MRAC grant using a nonprofit fiscal sponsor.
- Nonprofit non-arts organizations with annualized arts programming
expenses less than $300,000 may be eligible if:
For a description of what the Organizational Development grant
does not fund, see the guidelines and the Eligibility
page .
Deadlines
Organizational Development grants have one deadline per MRAC fiscal year, July
1 - June 30. See "Important Dates" at the top of this page.
Workshops
Free workshops are held about a month prior to the Organizational
Development deadline. Those workshops will be posted on this page
as they are determined. For further information, see the Workshops
page.
Help
- New Applicants: You are encouraged
to attend an MRAC application workshop and visit the MRAC offices
to review previous years’ successful grant applications.
Applicants who do so have been shown to improve the quality of
their applications.
- Past Applicants: Whether or not
your previous project was funded, we urge you to attend an MRAC
application workshop and review the panel discussion of your previous
application. This will help you address concerns raised by earlier
review panels and improve your chances of getting a grant.
MRAC staff is available to answer your questions. Contact us at 651-645-0402 or by email at mrac@mrac.org.
Application Materials
Click the links above to download the grant guidelines and form(s) in PDF format.
You must have the free Adobe Acrobat Reader or the commercial Adobe Acrobat
installed on your computer to view these files. Click
here to download Acrobat Reader. If you have trouble downloading or reading
these forms, call the MRAC office at 651-645-0402 and ask them to send you the
application materials by U.S. mail.
Read the instructions carefully before filling out the grant application.
You may fill out the grant application electronically by filling in the
fields and printing.
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