Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

We are an organization that conducts 100% of our programs in Philadelphia but our physical address is not in Philadelphia, are we eligible to apply?

No. The Philadelphia Cultural Fund’s annual allocation from the City of Philadelphia is generated from city taxes, eligible organizations must have their official place of business located in the City of Philadelphia as demonstrated by the address on the organization’s latest 990 filing, SMU|DataArts Philadelphia Cultural Fund Funder Report, website, letterhead, and printed public materials. The address of a staff member, board member, or volunteer, or that of a fiscal sponsor/parent organization, unless the official address of the organization, will not be accepted.


We are a small arts collective that operates on a project by project basis. Should we apply for a program grant?

If your collective, group, or organization’s core purpose relates to arts and culture, even if you operate on a project by project basis, you could be eligible to apply for a general operating grant. Program grants are designated for discrete art programs within non-profit organizations whose missions are not specifically focused on arts and culture. To better determine your specific eligibility for a general operating grant, contact the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, 267-419-7641.


How do we apply with a Fiscal Sponsor/Parent Organization?
We are not a 501 (c) (3) organization.

All fiscal sponsors/parent organizations must be pre-approved by the Philadelphia Cultural Fund through an application process. If your organization currently has a fiscal sponsor/parent organization, please review the list on our website or contact the Cultural Fund to determine if your current fiscal sponsor/parent organization is pre-approved so you can move ahead with your application. 501(c)(3) nonprofits that wish to be approved as a fiscal sponsor/parent organization for the next Art & Culture Grant grant cycle must submit an application. Any questions, call 267-419-7641. The application and details about Fiscal Sponsorship are available here.


What are the Budget Size categories?

The budget size categories (or ranges) apply only to Established applicant organizations seeking multi-year funding, not to New & Emerging organizations, or Program applicants. The budget size categories are utilized to organize the peer review panels into groups of applicants with similar sized operating budgets. For Philadelphia Cultural Fund applicants, an Established organization’s budget size is determined by averaging the most recent years of annual expenses as reported on the SMU|DataArts Philadelphia Cultural Fund Funder Report (PCF Funder Report). The amount will automatically be calculated and appear in the PCF Funder Report. To determine which budget size category your organization belongs in, you must complete an SMU|DataArts Cultural Data Profile. See About the Required SMU|DataArts Philadelphia Cultural Fund Funder Report also provided in the Application Tools section of the Eligibility and Guidelines to learn how to create a Cultural Data Profile and how to run the PCF Funder Report.

When you generate the PCF Funder Report, as an Established organization seeking multi-year funding, you must have four columns of completed data representing the four most recently completed fiscal years. You will find your Average Budget on the first page of the PCF Funder Report. The Philadelphia Cultural Fund applications for Established applicants are grouped by the following budget categories:

  • Budgets under $50,000
  • Budgets $50,000 to $150,000
  • Budgets $150,000 to $400,000
  • Budgets $400,000 to $1,500,000 ($1.5 Million)
  • Budgets Over $1.5 Million
If yours is an organization with a non-arts mission applying for a Program Grant, please complete the Cultural Data Profile to reflect your arts programming budget and activities only. If organizational information has already been entered into previous Data Profiles for another funder please contact Philadelphia Cultural Fund staff before applying, 267-419-7642.


What is SMU|DataArts?

SMU|DataArts provides the cultural community, including funders, with consistent, reliable, comprehensive data on arts and culture nationally, and enables organizations to view trends in their data, benchmark themselves against peer organizations, and enhance their financial management capacity.

The Philadelphia Cultural Fund (PCF), along with other funders across the nation, partners with SMU|DataArts, the provider of the Cultural Data Profile (CDP). PCF requires applicants to complete a Cultural Data Profile annually through the SMU|DataArts website. See About the Required SMU|DataArts Philadelphia Cultural Fund Funder Report also provided in the Application Tools section of the Eligibility and Guidelines to learn more.


How long does it take to complete the PCF Funder Report?

The length of time it takes to complete the Funder Report depends on each organization. Established organizations (groups
operating programming for over 5 years), must provide four consecutive years of fiscal and programmatic data. New & Emerging organizations (groups operating programming less than 5 years), enter data for the year(s) they have been in operation.

Users completing the Funder Report for the first time that have operated for more than 4 years, may need as little as a week or as many as two or three weeks to complete all four data profiles. Organizations that complete the Funder Report annually and only have one year of data to enter may be able to complete the report in a few days.


How do we complete the required Philadelphia Cultural Fund (PCF) Funder Report?

How to Run a Funder Report (the content of this link is managed by SMU|DataArts) .

See About the Required SMU|DataArts Philadelphia Cultural Fund Funder Report also provided in the Application Tools section of the Eligibility and Guidelines for more information.

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Art & Culture Grants

Frequently Asked Questions

Find out more about Philadelphia Cultural Fund and find answers to the most frequently asked questions.

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Office
Gabriela Sanchez Executive Director
Camille Halsey Program Director
@PhilaCulturFund

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