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Support for Arts Facilities Nationwide
Application Deadline: March 1, 2012

The Kresge Foundation’s Arts and Culture Program helps nonprofit arts and cultural organizations in the U.S. properly maintain their buildings through Facility Investments and Building Reserves Grants. This initiative is part of the program’s Institutional Capitalization focus area, which is designed to strengthen the long-term financial health of arts and cultural organizations.

Organizations may apply for two types of grants: Facility Investments Grants support an organization’s renovation and repair projects. (On occasion, new construction projects that include exemplary environmental sustainability practices will be supported.) Building Reserves Grants are designed to seed or enhance a fund to support the ongoing maintenance and replacement needs of an organization’s facilities over time. Start-up organizations and those organizations that are government-owned are not eligible to apply. Preliminary applications are due March 1, 2012. Visit the Kresge Foundation’s website to learn more about the program.

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Creative Capital Grants
Application Deadline: March 1, 2012

Creative Capital will begin accepting online Letters of Inquiry for grants in Emerging Fields, Literature, and Performing Arts. The Inquiry Form will be open until March 1. Visit the organization's website to read the grant guidelines and learn more about the application process, or attend an in-person or online information session.

Creative Capital provides integrated financial and advisory support to artists pursuing innovative and adventurous projects. Acting as a catalyst for the development of exceptional and imaginative ideas, we support artists whose work is provocative, timely, and relevant; who are deeply engaged with their art forms and demonstrate a rigorous commitment to their craft, yet are also boldly original and push the boundaries of their genre; who create work that carries the potential to reshape the cultural landscape.

Selected grantees receive up to $50,000 in direct support and a suite of services valued at more than $40,000.

To be eligible to apply, an artist must be:

• A U.S. citizen or permanent legal resident;
• At least 25 years old;
• A working artist with at least five years of professional experience; and
  
• Not a full-time student.

Questions? Click on the link above or email grants@creative-capital.org.

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Our Town Program
Application Deadline: March 1, 2012

The Our Town Program (a program of the National Endowment for the Arts) provides support for planning, design, and arts engagement activities seeking to improve communities’ quality of life, encourage creative activity, create community identity and a sense of place, and revitalize local economies.

Proposed projects will demonstrate the livability of American communities that are strengthened by the arts, and represent a community's vibrancy; support local artists, design professionals, and arts organizations by integrating design and the arts into the fabric of civic life; reflect or strengthen a unique community identity and sense of place; and capitalize on existing local assets.

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Summer Seminars and Institutes Program
Application Deadline: March 1, 2012

The Summer Seminars and Institutes Program provides support for summer faculty development seminars and institutes in the humanities for school teachers and for college and university teachers. Summer seminars and institutes in the following areas are encouraged: projects for school teachers or college and university faculty designed to strengthen foreign language instruction at the advanced level through the use of humanistic sources; projects intended primarily for community-college faculty; and projects that respond to the National Endowment for the Humanities' Bridging Cultures initiative.

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National Dance Project
Application Deadline: March 1, 2012

The National Dance Project (NDP), administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts, enhances the living, growing discipline of contemporary dance by supporting the production and presentation of dance throughout the United States. NDP’s Production Grants fund the creation of new dance work that will tour nationally by supporting costs incurred through the artistic development of the work. Grants generally range from $25,000 to $40,000 and are awarded to approximately 20 dance projects each year. Eligible projects should involve a creative and dynamic partnership with one or more U.S. presenter partners in the development of the work.

The application deadline is March 1, 2012. Visit the New England Foundation for the Arts website to review the funding criteria and download the application forms.

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Social Change Projects Supported
Application Deadline: March 15, 2012

RSF Social Finance (RSF) is a pioneering nonprofit financial services organization dedicated to transforming the way the world works with money by supporting breakthrough ideas at the intersection of social change and finance.

The RSF Seed Fund provides small grants of $500 to $5,000 to nonprofit organizations as well as individuals doing charitable work. Funded projects must address one of the following focus areas: The Food and Agriculture category encourages new economic models that support sustainable food and agriculture, while raising public awareness of the value of organic and Biodynamic farming. The Education and the Arts category supports education and arts projects that are holistic and therapeutic. The Ecological Stewardship category promotes projects devoted to preserving the earth’s ecosystems, especially integrated, systems-based, and culturally-relevant approaches. Grant proposals are due March 15, 2012. Visit the RSF website to review the funding categories and submit an online application.

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Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives
Application Deadline: March 16, 2012

The purpose of Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives, an initiative of the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR), is to overcome the pervasive lack of knowledge about special collections and archives and to make information about these materials accessible to scholars and students.

Through this initiative, grants are provided to institutions, including colleges and universities, research centers, museums, libraries, and historical societies, holding collections of high scholarly value that are difficult or impossible to locate through finding aids. Award recipients will create descriptive information for their hidden collections that will be linked to all other projects funded by this grant in order to form a federated environment that can be built upon over time. In this funding round, CLIR expects to award about $4 million in grants ranging from $75,000 to $500,000. Online proposals must be submitted by March 16, 2012. Visit the CLIR website to review the program guidelines and application process.

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New Music USA
Application Deadline: March 19, 2012

The mission of New Music USA is to increase opportunities for composers by fostering the creation, performance, dissemination, and appreciation of their music.

New Music USA’s Commissioning Music/USA provides grants of between $10,000 and $20,000 to commissioning organizations for the composer’s fee and copying expenses. The 2012 grant round will consider applications for collaborative works that involve music with other visual, media, or performing art forms in integrated and inseparable ways. Once a project is completed, New Music USA will make information on the commissioned work and the composer available to presenters and performers. Applications may be submitted by a single commissioner or consortium of commissioning organizations.

The application deadline is March 19, 2012. Visit the New Music USA website for program guidelines and application information.

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Laura Jane Musser Fund: Arts Program
Application Deadline: March 21, 2012

The Laura Jane Musser Fund hopes to encourage and excite a wider population to appreciate, learn, and participate in the arts. The Fund’s Arts Program offers the following two funding opportunities: The Arts Collaborations initiative assists coalitions of arts organizations in Colorado, Hawaii, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wyoming to promote exceptional artistic opportunities for adults and children in the areas of literary, visual, music, and performing arts. The Rural Arts initiative supports arts organizations in rural communities with a population of 20,000 or less throughout Colorado, Hawaii, and Wyoming, as well as rural communities in selected counties in Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio. Applications for both initiatives must be postmarked by March 21, 2012.

Visit the Fund’s website to review the application guidelines.

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The National Native Artist Exchange
The National Native Artist Exchange, administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts, is designed to support the exchange of artistic skills and knowledge among Native artists.

American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian artists throughout the United States may apply to teach, learn, and collaborate in traditional and/or contemporary Native art forms through travel from one region to another across the nation. The applicant must identify a collaborating artist and specific project as part of the exchange, which must be beneficial to both artists. Grants of up to $1,500 will be awarded based on budgets appropriate to the scope of travel.

Requests must be received at least two calendar months prior to the departure date of the proposed trip. Visit the New England Foundation for the Arts website to review the program guidelines.

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The Coca-Cola Foundation
The Coca-Cola Foundation partners with nonprofit organizations worldwide that address community needs and priorities in a meaningful way. The Foundation supports programs that focus on one of the following four categories:

• Water Stewardship promotes access to clean water and sanitation, watershed protection in water-stressed regions, utilization of water, and water conservation.
• Healthy and Active Lifestyles supports physical activity and nutritional education programs, programs that motivate behavior modification, and programs that encourage lifestyle/behavioral changes.
• Community Recycling addresses litter abatement efforts, recovery and reuse, community recycling awareness, and research and innovation.
• Education focuses on scholarships, school drop-out prevention, access to education programs, and other education initiatives.

Online applications may be submitted throughout the year. Visit the Foundation’s website to review the community request guidelines and application procedures.

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The Sunderland Foundation
The Sunderland Foundation primarily supports nonprofit organizations in Arkansas, western Iowa, Kansas, western Missouri, and Nebraska. Currently, the Foundation's main areas of interest include higher education, youth services, arts and culture, and healthcare and hospitals. The focus is on funding bricks and mortar projects such as building construction, renovation, repairs, and restoration. Grant requests are accepted throughout the year and reviewed quarterly. Application guidelines are available on the Foundation’s website.

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The Costco Wholesale Corporate Contributions Program
The Costco Wholesale Corporate Contributions Program supports nonprofit organizations in company operating communities throughout the U.S. and Canada as well as international locations. Grants and product donations are provided to nonprofit organizations and educational institutions that address the areas of children's issues, education, and health and human services. Local organizations should submit requests to the Warehouse Manager at the nearest Costco. Grant or donation requests which impact a broader region should go through the appropriate regional office. Requests may be submitted throughout the year.

Visit the company’s website to review the donation and grant eligibility guidelines.

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Funds for Arts Programs for Teens
The Surdna Foundation seeks to foster just and sustainable communities in the United States—communities guided by principles of social justice and distinguished by healthy environments, strong local economies, and thriving cultures.

Through the Thriving Cultures priority area, the Foundation is currently accepting letters of inquiry for the Teens Artistic Advancement initiative. This initiative aims to stimulate fresh thinking and new approaches to address the isolation and lack of opportunities for artistic advancement for young people from disadvantaged communities. Support will be provided to nonprofit organizations that offer programs where young people have long-term opportunities to create art with accomplished artists, often resulting in strong mentoring relationships, as well as organizations that create professional artistic development opportunities for staff.

Letters of inquiry may be submitted at any time. Visit the Foundation’s website for more information on the Teens Artistic Advancement initiative.

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The Bank of America Charitable Foundation
The Bank of America Charitable Foundation focuses resources on creating neighborhood excellence in the communities throughout the United States where the bank does business.

While the priorities of specific company communities drive how funding is used, giving at the local level typically falls into the following four generic categories:

•    Community Development/Neighborhood Preservation
•    Education and Youth Development
•    Health and Human Services
•    Arts and Culture

Requests may be submitted throughout the year. Visit the Bank’s website (linked above) to access the online application information.

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Educational and Cultural Programs
The M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust's mission is to enrich the quality of life in the Pacific Northwest (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington) by supporting nonprofit organizations that seek to strengthen the region's educational and cultural base in creative and sustainable ways.

The priorities of the Trust's General Grants program include educational programs offered in both formal and informal settings; performing and visual arts projects that enrich the cultural environment of the region; and preventive health and human services programs, with a focus on youth. Letters of inquiry may be submitted at any time.

Visit the Trust's website for details on each of the grant programs.

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Communities Grant
The mission of The Wachovia Wells Fargo Foundation is to build strong and vibrant communities, improve the quality of life, and make a positive difference in locations served by the bank throughout the United States.

Grants are provided to nonprofit organizations in bank communities as well as selected national organizations. The Foundation’s areas of interest include education, community development, health and human services, arts and culture, the environment, and civic affairs.

Requests may be submitted throughout the year. Visit the web link above to take the required eligibility quiz and submit an online application.

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Grants Enhance Communities in Illinois and Pennsylvania
The Exelon Corporate Contribution Program strives to improve the quality of life for the people who live and work in the company's service territory in northern Illinois and southeastern Pennsylvania. The company provides grants to nonprofit organizations that demonstrate a proven track record in addressing key community needs. Funding priorities include education, the environment, arts and culture, and neighborhood development. Program, event, and sponsorship support are provided.

Online applications may be submitted throughout the year. Visit the link above for more information on each of the grant categories and the grant application process.

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Health Programs in Mississippi
The mission of the Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi Foundation is to improve the health and wellness of all Mississippians through strategic and focused grantmaking. The Foundation's priority areas of interest include: children's health and wellness, community health initiatives, and the promotion of healthy lifestyles and choices at every age. Nonprofit organizations and government agencies located in the state that address the Foundation’s commitment to a healthier Mississippi are eligible to apply. Online letters of inquiry may be submitted throughout the year. Visit the Foundation’s website to review the eligibility requirements.

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Travel Support for Native Artists
The National Native Artist Exchange, administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts, is designed to support the exchange of artistic skills and knowledge among Native artists. American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian artists throughout the United States may apply to teach, learn, and collaborate in traditional and/or contemporary Native art forms through travel from one region to another across the nation.

Grants of up to $1,500 will be awarded based on budgets appropriate to the scope of travel.

Requests must be received at least two calendar months prior to the departure date of the proposed trip.

Visit the New England Foundation for the Arts website to review the program guidelines.

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Youth Programs in the Pacific Northwest
The Charlotte Martin Foundation supports nonprofit organizations that provide services in urban, rural, and tribal communities throughout Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington state. The Foundation is dedicated to funding projects that enrich the lives of youth in the areas of athletics, culture, and education. Grants are also provided for the preservation and protection of wildlife and habitat. Applications, which must be submitted online, are reviewed throughout the year. Visit the Foundation’s website to review the goals and priorities for each of the Foundation’s program areas.

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Support for Arts Projects in California, Hawaii, and New Mexico
The LEF Foundation supports contemporary work in the fields of film, architecture, design, and the visual and performing arts.

LEF California funds projects which include an artistic and cultural overlay, with a primary focus on work taking place in three geographic areas: California, Hawaii, and New Mexico. Specific funding categories include: Architecture and Restoration; Film, Performing Arts, and Visual Art; and Environment and Community Needs.

Grants average between $2,000 and $5,000. Letters of inquiry may be submitted at any time. Visit the Foundation’s website to review past awards and learn more about the application process.

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* postings updated as of February 22, 2012.