Grant Guidelines

1) Select the appropriate funding opportunity for your request

For annual grants, an applicant may submit one application per category per fiscal year.

Annual grants: applicants may submit one application per program per fiscal year.
Quarterly grants: an applicant may submit one application per deadline but may receive funds for only one quarterly grant each fiscal year.
Professional Development and Consulting grants: an applicant may submit one application per deadline but may receive funds for only one Professional Development and Consulting grant each fiscal year.

2) Apply online at grants.arts.idaho.gov

If you’re a first-time applicant you will need to create a user account and be approved before you can apply. Once approved, login and select the appropriate funding opportunity to begin a new application.

Work can be saved in progress. Application materials can be changed before final submission. Call us if you need help.

3) Submit your application

Applications must be submitted by 11:59 p.m., Mountain Time, on the deadline date. Late or incomplete applications will not be considered.

4) Be patient!

Panel recommendations must be approved by the board of Commissioners.

Annual grants are approved in the May Commission meeting. Applicants are notified in June. Funds become available in July.

Quarterly Grant applicants are notified approximately three weeks after the submission deadline. Funds become available shortly thereafter.

5) Follow up

All applicants are encouraged to request feedback. Panel comments may suggest areas for improvement, even for successful applications.

Applicants will be notified about funding after Commission approval. All approved grants will be distributed in full following Commission approval and notification to the applicant.

Need help? Request a courtesy review three weeks prior to submission. Staff will review your application and offer suggestions for improvement. This process does not guarantee funding, but may strengthen the proposal. To request a courtesy review, email the relevant program director or call the office.

• Establishment of or contributions to an endowment;
• Fundraising projects that do not raise funds for the arts;
• Prizes, scholarships, or free tickets;
• Projects or programs to generate or attract audiences;
• Offsetting of debt, payment of fines, penalties, or legal fees;
• Activities that are primarily promotional or created for mass distribution, such as duplication of CDs, creation of portfolios, private gallery announcements, brochures, or websites;
• Self-published books
• Student exhibitions, anthologies, publications, or performances, unless those activities document an arts education grant;
• Costs associated with any degree or professional certification, such as tuition, fees, and teaching materials;
• Projects or activities already completed or beginning before the eligible start date or documentation of previously completed projects;
• Documentation of projects except for arts education activities;
• Projects primarily recreational, vocational, or religious;
• Activities restricted to an organization’s membership;
• Costs for consecutive attendance at annual activities that are routinely within an arts organization’s budget including, but not limited to, conferences of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, Americans for the Arts, American Folklore Society, or the Western Arts Alliance;
• Pageants, festivals, or celebrations unrelated to arts, ethnic, or cultural activities;
• Journalism;
• Historical or academic documentary film and electronic media arts that do NOT demonstrate significant artistic emphasis, consideration, and distinction;
• Scholarly or academic works in history, languages, archeology, and political science;
• Lobbying expenses or political activities;
• Hospitality expenses such as food and drink, alcohol, flowers, etc. Any such expenses included in a project approved for funding must be paid with applicant funds;
• Capital expenses for an individual; or
• Writing intended for youth.

Commission staff will not add or substitute material from one application to another, or from a prior application.

Images

Work samples may include up to ten images.

Audio or video

Work samples may include up to five pieces of work not to exceed ten minutes in total duration.

Literature

Work samples may include up to 20 pages. If excerpted from a larger work or works, applicants may also include a one-paragraph synopsis.

Playwrights and Screenwriters

Work samples may include up to 20 pages. If excerpted from a larger work or works, applicants may also include a one-paragraph synopsis.

The Idaho Commission on the Arts and its grants are supported, in part, by federal funding. All organizations must obtain a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) to comply with federal regulations.

The UEI is a 12-character alphanumeric code. If you do not have a valid UEI, your application will not be considered.

1. Create a user account at https://sam.gov/ to request a UEI. You do NOT need to create a full entity registration once a user account has been established.
2. If your organization does business directly with the federal government and you currently have a full entity registration, you have automatically been assigned a UEI. You will need to login to your SAM.gov user account to retrieve your UEI.

The Commission is an advocate for and defender of the right of free speech for all citizens under the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. The Commission intends, though, that funded projects exhibit a sensitivity and responsiveness to community standards.

Making the arts accessible to all Idahoans is a priority of the Commission. Recipients must agree to make every attempt to ensure that people with disabilities, ethnic groups, occupational groups, older adults, or young audiences have access.

State law and Commission policy provide for conflict of interest statements to guide the agency’s decision-making. Commission members and agency staff may not, at any time, use their positions to influence decisions or actions that will financially benefit:

• themselves;
• an organizational applicant with which they have a monetary or policy-making interest; or
• an individual applicant with whom they have a personal or financial relationship.

Commission members, agency staff, and review panelists must disclose any actual or potential conflicts of interest, and refrain from participating in discussion and voting on affected applications.

Applicants who experience significant changes in staffing, programming, or finances after the application deadline should notify the Commission.

Organizations that have not received tax-exempt status through the Internal Revenue Service may apply through an eligible tax-exempt organization. This Fiscal Agent becomes the legal applicant, redistributes the funds to the applicant organization, and is responsible for the grant requirements. Acting as a Fiscal Agent for another group will not exclude an organization from applying for grants. Though the Fiscal Agent receives the award (fiscal fees are not allowed), the sub-grantee will bear the primary responsibility for the project. The Commission will not act as arbitrator for any dispute between the two groups. A fiscal agent cannot be used when applying for PPA grants.

Colleges and universities may apply for support if they present and market arts activities to the public and if the activity is supplementary to regular course offerings. University-based arts programs that receive Entry Track grants or Public Programs in the Arts grants are not eligible to apply for quarterly grants.

Quarterly Grants for Organizations
One quarterly grant application per university may be funded each fiscal year.

Entry Track and Public Programs in the Arts Grants
If a university-based arts organization providing arts programs for the general public operates under the nonprofit umbrella of the university, then it is eligible to receive Entry Track or Public Programs in the Arts funding. Only one Entry Track or Public Programs in the Arts grant may be awarded per university each year.

Indirect Costs
Indirect costs, when required, are allowable, but must be calculated and included in the expense section of the original application budget. Indirect costs not appearing in the original application budget will not be paid in addition to an awarded grant amount. Indirect costs may be based on a current and appropriate indirect cost rate negotiated with your Federal Cognizant Agency or, a de minimis rate.

The Commission will only fund visual arts projects for acquisition or commission of new works when the applying organization maintains a facility open to the public, demonstrates strong management and security practices, and maintains an ongoing exhibition program or permanent collection.

A submitted application certifies that all facts, figures, representations, and attachments are true and correct to the best of the applicant’s knowledge. Recipients assure the Idaho Commission on the Arts that they will:

• Submit all final reports for approval by their respective published deadlines;
• Expend funds solely for the activities described in the approved application;
• Obtain approval from the Commission prior to implementing changes;
• Return to the Commission by the end of the fiscal year any grant funds not committed on an approved project;
• If a final report is not submitted and approved by the published deadline, or if an extension is not requested and granted prior to the published deadline, the grantee will be ineligible

The applicant will also comply with:

• Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972
• Section 504 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973
• Age Discrimination Act of 1975
• Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
• National Environmental Policy Act of 1969
• National Historic Preservation Act of 1966
• Davis-Bacon and Related Acts (DBRA)
• Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990
• U.S. Constitution Education Program
• Prohibition on use of funds to ACORN or its subsidiaries
• Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988
• Federal restrictions on lobbying

The Commission’s fiscal year begins July 1 and ends June 30. All grantees are required to submit a final report by July 31, which must then be approved for the grantee to remain eligible for future funding. Extensions granted by Commission staff may not exceed one year beyond the fiscal year in which the grant was awarded.

To appeal a decision made by the Commission an applicant must write the Executive Director within 30 days of notification. The amount or conditions of the grant may not be appealed unless the applicant can demonstrate a misinterpretation or misunderstanding by the review panel of the information submitted. Incomplete applications are not subject to appeal.