Community Investment Grant (CIG)

Community Investment Grants (CIG) provide funding support for arts organizations that demonstrate exceptional alignment with the criteria of the CIG program. CIG awards are available to nonprofit arts organizations of all sizes, local arts agencies and tribal cultural organizations whose primary mission is to produce, present, teach or serve the arts.

Organizations may use CIG funds for general operating expenses (frequently the most difficult type of grant to obtain) as well as leverage for other public and private funding. CIG eligibility levels are based on organizational adjusted annual income. CIG awards must be matched with cash (at least 1:1) by the organization.

Alternate Year Applications

Organizations that received a Community Investment Grant (CIG) in the last funding cycle will apply as follows for Fiscal Year 2019:

• CIG Levels I, II and III will submit an alternate year application.
• CIG Levels IV, V and VI will submit a full application and undergo panel review.

On their alternate year, CIG grantees will submit an abbreviated application and updated Cultural Data Project (CDP) Funder Report, will not undergo panel review and will maintain the same funding priority determined during the previous year’s panel review. Though funding priority will remain the same, actual grant awards may fluctuate from one year to the next depending on the availability of Arts Commission funds. A list of organizations that have been determined to be in their alternate year can be found here.

Arts Commission staff has the authority to request that an organization submit a full or alternate year application, regardless of alternate year status, in a year where an organization is undergoing dramatic financial, programmatic or management changes.

If your organization will submit an alternate year application, please review the Community Investment Grants Alternate Year Application Guidelines for detailed instructions and information.

An applicant must be incorporated as an Arizona nonprofit organization with tax-exempt status or be a unit of government. Eligible organizations include Arizona arts organizations, local arts agencies and tribal cultural organizations.

Multidisciplinary or multipurpose organizations are eligible for Community Investment Grants if they are able to demonstrate that the arts comprise at least 50% of the organization’s public programming. These organizations are required to contact the Arts Commission to discuss eligibility and the manner in which they can best demonstrate their percentage of arts programming relative to their comprehensive public offerings.

Unincorporated organizations that are otherwise eligible for the Community Investment Grants Level I program may apply through a registered nonprofit fiscal sponsor.

DEADLINE: 11:59pm, Thursday, March 15, 2018, for the funding period of July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019.

If your organization has not received Arts Commission funding for the past two fiscal years (FY2017 & FY2018), you are required to submit a Notification of Intent to Apply by 11:59pm, Thursday, March 1, 2018. See Community Investment Grant Application Guidelines for more information.

Data Arts Funder Report Changes:

Format changes were made in January 2018 to the ACA’s DataArts Funder Report. ALL FY19 CIG applicants (full and alternate year applicants) must submit the Funder Report in the updated format for their application to be considered complete and eligible.

To do this, log into your Data Arts profile, select the Funder Reports tab and follow the prompts to resubmit your data for FY2016 and run the ACA’s Funder Report, then save a copy and upload it into your FY19 application in Submittable.

Alternate Year Application Cycle Schedule:

Organizations that received CIG funding for Fiscal Year 2018 will apply as follows:

Levels I, II & III will submit an Alternate Year Application.
Levels IV, V & VI will submit a full application and undergo panel review.
Level of programmatic eligibility based on Adjusted Annual Income* for Fiscal Year 2016.

*Adjusted Annual Income is Total Unrestricted Income Less In-Kind.

Fiscal Year 2019 Online Information Sessions

To help potential applicants prepare successful applications, we are presenting online information sessions for Community Investment Grants. These online information sessions will walk potential applicants through the grant application guidelines, including eligibility requirements, funding restrictions, and application process.
Watch a recorded version below or register for our next live online presentation.

 

Eligible applications are evaluated through a panel review process. These panels include community leaders, local business-people, artists, arts administrators and educators from diverse geographic, artistic and cultural/ethnic communities of Arizona. Arts Commission staff members do not participate as review panelists. Panelists evaluate applications based solely on the published criteria and provide recommendations for funding to the Arts Commission. Individual Governor-appointed Commissioners chair the panel meetings and as a body, carefully consider the recommendations of the panelists in order to authorize the final grant awards.

Panel meetings are open to the public and applicants are encouraged to attend. In addition, a live audio stream of each meeting will be available for remote listening online.