The Philadelphia Cultural Fund

Applicant Eligibility

PLEASE NOTE: The current funding cycle is CLOSED. The following elibility guidelines are for reference purposes only. Please check back regarding upcoming funding cycles.

Organizations located in Philadelphia County may apply for funding if they meet the following eligibility requirements:

1. Arts and culture is the primary focus of their mission. Arts and culture is defined as dedicated to creating, preserving and/or exhibiting visual, literary and performing arts, architecture, science and history. Sixty percent (60%) of the organization's activities or budget must be arts-related.
2. Official office, place of business operations and programs must be located in the City of Philadelphia as demonstrated by the address on the organization's official 990 document, information on the website, letterhead and printed public materials. Organizations that use P.O. Boxes as their official address will have to demonstrate that they qualify as a Philadelphia based organization. Please do not use the address of a board member or volunteer.
3. A demonstrated commitment to provide arts and culture to the residents of the City of Philadelphia.
4. Incorporated as a not for profit in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and recognition of 501(c)(3) tax exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), except that new and/or emerging organizations can be funded for at least three years without either status. (See below for eligibility of new and emerging organizations).
5. Must have a Governing/Advisory Group (such as a board of directors, advisory committee, or programming committee). Ideally the composition of this group represents the diversity of the broader community.
6. Must have programs available to the public (OK to charge for them) and attended by a broad range of participants. Examples of unacceptable programs: a library collection of valuable documents not open to the public for study or research; a performing arts program available only to professionals.
7. Non discriminatory employment and personnel practices.

 

New and/or Emerging Organizations

New and/or emerging organizations are eligible for funding if they meet each of the following guidelines:

1. The organization has a demonstrated track record of service.
2. The organization has the capacity to carry out its stated programming goals through the support of staff, board and/or volunteers.
3. The organization is not incorporated as a nonprofit corporation in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania during the first 3 years of funding.
4. The organization may use a local fiscal sponsor for 3 years in lieu of having its own 501(c)3 status.

The organization must have a letter of authority acknowledging its application from its sponsoring fiscal conduit organization. The fiscal conduit must be a Philadelphia cultural organization with 501(c)(3) tax exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

 

Organizations with Budgets under $50,000

Organizations with budgets of less than $50,000 may use a local fiscal sponsor indefinitely. The organization must have a letter of authority acknowledging its application from its sponsoring fiscal conduit organization The fiscal conduit must be a Philadelphia cultural organization with 501(c) (3) tax exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The following are not eligible for Cultural Fund grants: 

• Individual artists. (However, grantee organizations may be encouraged to include artists in their programs.)
• Organizations whose primary purpose is not arts and culture.
• Agencies and departments of city, state and federal governments.
• Public or private elementary or secondary schools, colleges and universities.
• Institutions that receive support from the City through the recreation department, Councilmanic offices, Mayor's office or any other City department.
• Organizations whose offices and/or place of business are located outside the City of Philadelphia.
• Organizations whose programs are held primarily outside the City of Philadelphia.

No applicant organization will be eligible to receive a grant amount greater than 30 percent of its operating budget.

 

Categories of Application

Grant applications are reviewed by peer panel process. This means that an organization that applies in the dance category will have their application reviewed by their peers - dancers, choreographers and other professionals working in the Philadelphia dance field. A panel is convened for each category.

Each applicant self-selects the category in which they wish to apply. If you have questions about which category your organization belongs, please call the PCF office for assistance.

Categories include:

• Art Center/Community Center - presents exhibitions, performances, readings, workshops, lectures, demonstrations, classes or other related arts activities.
• Arts Service Organization/Arts in Education Organization - provides services to artists or arts organizations in the areas of their program, artifacts, general management, resource networks and advocacy.
• Dance - includes the creation and/or presentation of ballet, modern and experimental, jazz, ethnic dance and/or dance instruction.
• Historic Sites - site devoted to preservation, conservation, documentation and educational interpretation.
• Museums - institution devoted to acquisition, conservation, study, exhibition and educational interpretation of objects having scientific, historical or artistic value.
• Music - includes the creation and/or presentation of a wide variety of musical styles through productions, concerts and performances, and/or music instruction.
• Presenting/Multi-disciplinary/Literary Arts - Presenting: presents artists in performance and/or residency settings, including single presentations, tours, productions, concerts and performances.
• Multi-disciplinary - integrates more than one artistic discipline or is involved in interdisciplinary collaboration of artforms/works. Literary Arts: promotes literature through readings and workshops as well as the development of small presses which publish and distribute works of local, national and international writers.
• Theater - professional, community, experimental and children's theater productions and organizations; also includes script production development projects.
• Visual Arts/Media Arts - Visual Arts: includes the creation, exhibition and documentation of the visual arts, both historical and contemporary. Media Arts: encourages production, artistic development and technical training in film, video and radio.
• New and Emerging - Arts and cultural organizations of all types that have been operating for 3 years or less.

Please call the office and speak with a staff member if you need assistance determining in which category you should apply.

Several Application Workshops will be held in various areas of the city to assist you with completing your application. A list of workshops can be found here. If you cannot attend a workshop, but need assistance, please contact the PCF office, (215)-683-2048. First time applicants are required to attend a workshop.

 

How your Application is Reviewed

DEADLINE: Applications must be received in the office, 1515 Arch Street - 12th floor by 5:00 PM on deadline. Late applications will not be accepted. If you are hand delivering your application on the date of the deadline, please leave yourself plenty of time to allow for poor traffic and other mishaps. The security guard in the lobby will not allow you to enter after 5:00 PM.

Applications will first be reviewed by the staff, to check that the application is complete. Applications that are missing more than 25% of the required materials will not be reviewed. Applications that do not include the organization's PACDP report will not be reviewed. You will receive an email indicating if your application is complete or deficient. This correspondence is not confirmation of grant eligibility. It only assures the application was received and initially reviewed for completeness.

Your application will be assigned to a peer panelist, who will contact your organization to schedule a site visit to your organization. A site visit should involve an interview with senior management and/or a board member. It may also include the panelist's attendance at a performance or program. While one person is assigned to make the site visit, all panelists will review and read your application.

Meeting with your peer panelist is mandatory. Your peer panelist is the advocate for your organization during the panel meeting. As your advocate, it is important that the panelist feels welcome and knows that an organization is prepared for his/her site visit. A meeting with the peer panelist is an opportunity to present and discuss the organization's programs and accomplishments over the past year in the most positive and constructive way possible. Panelists who experience difficulties may not leave the visit with an overall favorable response to the organization. Please make sure to respond promptly to the peer panelist when they are trying to set up an appointment. Please try not to forget your appointment, keep your peer panelist waiting (remember their time is valuable also), or use the visit to complain about city funding or previous grant amounts.

When the panel convenes, the visiting panelist will describe for the others the experience he/she had with your organization during the site visit. Each panelist will then share their impressions of your application, and any direct experience they may have had with your organization over the past year. Panelists who have a conflict of interest with the organization will be asked to leave the room prior to the discussion and scoring. Examples of conflicts of interest are: being an employee or paid consultant; being a board or committee member or a volunteer.

At the end of the panel discussion, each panelist will be asked to give the organization a score from 1 to 100. A score of 90 - 100 is superior; 80 - 89 excellent; 70-79 good; 60-69 fair. All the scores are added together, then divided by the number of panelists, in order to get an average. This is the final score. The final score is used by a statistician to calculate the grant. Applicants who score below 60 will not receive a grant.

Because the review criteria are based on "best management practices" of non-profit organizations, we understand that smaller organizations and New and Emerging organizations may not have the infrastructure to compete with larger organizations that have more resources. Organizations with budgets of $50,000 or less and New and Emerging organizations, will be reviewed in the context of management practices commensurate with their size, level of development, and number of years in existence. Mature organizations, though small, will be required to have sufficient management practices in place.

 

How your Grant Amount is Calculated

Each eligible organization that applies is reviewed by a panel and given a score. Panelists do not determine the grant amount. The two main factors that go into computing the grant amount are: your budget size; and your panel score. Organizations will not receive a grant larger than 30% of their budget.

1. When grants are calculated, each organization begins with a grant amount of $3,000.
2. The $3,000 is adjusted, up or down, depending on the size of the organization's budget.
3. A mathematical process "normalizes" the scores between panels. By "normalize" we mean – make the scores similar between the panels so that an average score on one panel has the same weight as an average score on another panel.
4. Panel scores are applied to the calculation.
5. The final grant is calculated. (If necessary, a 30% cap is applied)

 

PENNSYLVANIA CULTURAL DATA PROJECT

For the third year, the Philadelphia Cultural Fund is engaging in a partnership with the Pennsylvania Cultural Data Project (Pennsylvania CDP).

PCF, along with other funders in Pennsylvania, now requires applicants to complete a Data Profile annually through the Pennsylvania CDP website. You will use the information you enter into the Data Profile in your application to the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, as well as other participating funders throughout the state.

The Pennsylvania CDP will provide the cultural community with consistent, reliable, comprehensive data on arts and culture in Pennsylvania, and enable organizations to view trends in their data, benchmark themselves against peer organizations, and enhance their financial management capacity.

For more information about the Pennsylvania Cultural Data Project, please see www.pacdp.org.

Instructions for New Users of the Pennsylvania CDP:

1. Go to www.pacdp.org and click on "New User Registration"
2. Create new Data Profile. Complete a Data Profile for each of the FOUR most recently completed fiscal years; start with the earliest year.
3. Enter data using your board-approved financial audit/review or year-end financial statements.
   1. If your organization is not audited/reviewed, enter data based on board-approved year-end financial statements.
   2. If your organization is an arts program/department within larger institution, enter data based on internal financial statements of the arts program/department and indicate that you have a parent organization in Section 1.
   3. DO NOT enter project budgets, budgets for future years, or data from incomplete or not-yet-approved audits/reviews/financial statements.
4. When finished entering data, click on Submit/Error Check; address any errors and call the Help Desk if you have questions.

Instructions for those who have used Pennsylvania CDP in the past:

1. Enter data for the most recently completed fiscal year using your board-approved financial audit/review or year-end financial statements. You must have FOUR YEARS of consecutive data, unless your organization was formed three years ago or less. If you do not have four years of data, your application will not be reviewed.
   1. If your organization is not audited/reviewed, enter data based on board-approved year-end financial statements.
   2. If your organization is an arts program/department within larger institution, enter data based on internal financial statements of the arts program/department and indicate that you have a parent organization in Section 1.
   3. DO NOT enter project budgets, budgets for future years, or data from incomplete or not-yet-approved audits/reviews/financial statements.

Instructions on how to generate the Philadelphia Cultural Fund Funder Report:

1. On My CDP, go to the Funders Reports section, select the fiscal year for the report and click on "GO". Click on the link for the Philadelphia Cultural Fund to generate the report and print [or save and upload to the online application].
2. Review your Funder Report; if you need to make changes, call the Help Desk. Please note that the cover page requires a signature from an officer of your organization.
3. Include the 11 page Funder Report along with your Philadelphia Cultural Fund application materials.
4. You must have FOUR YEARS of financial data on your Funder Report (unless your organization was formed three years ago or less). If your report does not contain four years of date, your application will not be reviewed.

Please Note: As part of the effort to ensure the accuracy of your data, throughout the year the Pennsylvania CDP Help Desk will review each of your submitted Data Profile(s) and contact you with suggested revisions. It is your responsibility to respond to the Help Desk and to make any necessary changes to the submitted Cultural Data Profile(s). This process will not interfere with your ability to run Funder Reports and apply for grants.

 

PACDP Resources

• Complete instructions for getting started with the Pennsylvania CDP are available here.
• Online training is also available here
  

Please direct questions concerning the Cultural Data Profile to:

Pennsylvania CDP Help Desk
P: 1-866-21-PACDP
E: help@pacdp.org
The Pennsylvania CDP Help Desk is available Monday-Friday from 9:00am-5:00pm EST.


**Applicants not currently enrolled in PACDP are encouraged to attend a training session specifically for new users. Dates and locations are available on the workshops page.