In order to help nonprofit organizations in Los Angeles County save time when applying to multiple grant programs, a partnership of the Arts Council for Long Beach, City of Culver City Cultural Affairs Division, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Santa Clarita, City of West Hollywood, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, Pasadena Cultural Affairs, and Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Division has developed the following common application questions. Within DCA’s application, common questions are indicated with the ☼ symbol.
Part I: Organizational Background
☼ A. Mission/Purpose of Applicant Organization: Provide the full mission statement of the applicant organization. If applicable, summarize any additional characteristics, bylaws, governing statements or guiding principles that define the organization.
☼ B. History/Programming: Concisely timeline the history of the organization and its current core programs and services. In total or per program, list significant administrative, board governance or artistic changes, accomplishments or initiatives that have taken place during the past two years.
☼ C. Planning & Leadership: Describe the organization’s administrative, artistic and financial vision and list short-term goals for the next two years. Describe how the board and staff shape overall planning. As examples, list any specific steps already taken to reach current short-term goals.
☼ D. Community/Core Audience: Profile the applicant’s community/core audience in terms of geography, age, cultural and economic characteristics, as applicable. Describe how the applicant identifies community/ core audience needs (including any advisory councils) and how the applicant develops programs to meet these needs.
☼ E. Artistic Policy: Briefly describe the process for making artistic decisions. Describe the applicant’s practice of payment to artists.
Part II: Proposal Narrative
Answer the questions below specific to the proposed DCA support request. Respond to these questions regarding proposed project only. Do not describe or enumerate for any elements outside of the proposed project.
When answering the narrative questions, please keep a reasonable Project Cost Per Head Ratio in mind.
Project Cost Per Head Ratio
DCA requires grant proposals that equate public support with commensurate artist expenses and participant enrollment/audience outreach, and which culminate in no less than one artistic product/presentation. In addition, proposals with integrated audience/participant evaluation show a commitment to responding and adapting to community needs. All artistic project grant-supported activities must take place within the City of Los Angeles and support a quantifiable public service. The cost per person is determined by dividing the total project budget by the total number of participants and audience served.
Example #1 – Visual Art Exhibition – A small budget organization receives a grant of $5000 in support of a new art exhibition. The total budget of the project totals $10,000 and consists of an exhibition installed by two part-time gallery workers and one volunteer, and is attended by 640 people.
Cost per head ratio = ($10,000 / (3 participants + 640 audience members) = $10,000 / 643 people = $15.55 / person.
Example #2 – Festival – A mid-size budget organization receives a grant of $5,300 in support of a multi-disciplinary cultural festival organized by one (1) full time staff person, 9 seasonal contractors, and 100 volunteers. The festival features 200 artists and performers, is attended by an estimated 12,000 people and has a total budget of $151,300.
Cost per head ratio = $151,300 / 1 full time staff person + 9 contractors + 100 volunteers + 6,000 attendees
Cost per head ratio = $151,300 / 6,110 participants and attendees = $24.76 / person.
Example #3 – Theatrical Production – A large budget organization receives a grant of $20,400 in support of teacher training and student participation in a theater-education curriculum. A total of 52 full-time, part-time and seasonal people are employed on this project in creative and administrative capacities. Forty-two teachers are trained and 3550 students attend classes and a mainstage production, for a total of 3,592 people served on a project budget of $138,960.
Cost per head ratio = $138,960 / 3,592 participants = $38.68 / person.
DCA funding is best used to support nonprofit services with cost-per-head ratios of less than $30. Across our entire portfolio, the average cost-per-head ratio is approximately $15, with many projects less than $10 per head and a few intensive programs with $50 per head expenses. When your calculated cost per head ratio is greater than $30, you will need to impress a peer panel with great interactivity between creative workers and program participants, and/or with a program of substantial depth in duration or experience.
Narrative Questions:
F. Project Description
Describe the artistic project or Outdoor Festival/Parade for which you seek DCA grant funding support. Detail what the project is, where the project will take place, when it will take place, how the project advances your organization’s mission, and why this project would support DCA’s mission and grant objectives.
Field Advocacy & Sector Learning (FASL)-this project is not artistic in nature, but is in support of artists and/or arts organizations; examples are seminars or educational services.
Sequential Arts In-school Learning Culminating in Afterschool Public Events (SAIL-CAPE) – this project features a multi-week series of in-school Pre-K to 12 arts education workshops and must culminate in one or more public events taking place afterschool in the evening or weekends; proposal must include by a detailed, CA Arts Standards-aligned curriculum.
Small Outdoor Festival/Parade – DCA defines this as an outdoor event that will take place at a single public site (e.g. public street, or set of adjacent streets, set of sidewalks, public park, public plaza, ….) over one day or over one weekend; proposed event served fewer than 2,000 attendees in the prior year.
Large Outdoor Festival/Parade – DCA defines this as an outdoor event that will take place at a single public site (e.g. public street, or set of adjacent streets, set of sidewalks, public park, public plaza, ….) over one day or over one weekend; proposed event must have served 2,000 or more attendees in the prior year.
G. Based on prior outcomes and outputs of prior/related projects, please forecast feasible impact(s):
- Provide participant/audience metrics from at least one prior experience as numerical data with a brief written summary.
- Note how you may adjust your services based on the metrics enumerated above.
- For each of the target groups selected in Question K of the of the Proposal Summary page, provide a statement of “social change” intentions. If the proposed project also advances social-equity leadership by transmitting organization-values expressed through employment-decisions that result in program-experiences which uplift social minorities, then please describe the specific values, paid workers, and program-engagers that represent a commitment to “lifting while you climb.”
- Justify the cost-per-head ratio of the proposed project in respect to the DCA funding requested as well as the depth or breadth of social change indicated above.