How can I make my grant application stronger?
- Be specific! Paint a clear picture in the panelists’ minds by giving solid details about what you do and how you do it, especially if you provide services to vulnerable communities (children, youth, elders, veterans, trauma survivors, etc.)
- Review the evaluation criteria to strengthen your responses to narrative questions.
- For work samples, photos or videos of your work-in-practice help tell your story better than posters or PDFs.
- Balance your budget! Make sure your income total and your expense total match when you are filling out the budget table in the application.
Can organizations apply for multiple ArtsWA grants?
Allowable: Applicants for Grants to Organizations programs can apply for and receive grants from other ArtsWA programs if they support different expenses and services. Other ArtsWA program grants include:
Not allowable: Applying to different grants within the Grants to Organizations Program. Emerging Grant applicants will be ineligible for the Grants to Organizations FY25 application for the Project Grant (opening March 2024.) If you are eligible for both, we recommend applying to the Emerging Grant rather than the Project Grant.
What happens after you apply?
Screening for Eligibility: Staff will screen your application to make sure your application meets eligibility requirements.
Panel: All applications are reviewed and scored by a panel. Panelists ensure that people from across Washington State are an integral part of distributing public money. After the application window closes, panelists representing a variety of creative fields and backgrounds will review applications and make recommendations for funding to ArtsWA’s Board of Commissioners.
Board Approval: Recommendations will go to the ArtsWA Board for approval on May 7, 2024.
Notification: Notification of award or decline will go out by May 10, 2024. Awarded applicants can expect their contract and instructions on how to receive funds in the next weeks after notification. Learn more about managing a grant here.
What are my chances of receiving a grant?
This changes from year to year depending on number of applications received. ArtsWA sets aside approximately $40,000 per year for emerging organizations. We average 10 groups funded in this category annually with an average of 20 applications from new groups per year. We are predicting an increase in applications from new groups in this current funding cycle (FY25).
The best thing you can do to increase your chances of receiving a grant is to submit a strong application. Although we can never guarantee you will get a grant, we encourage you to reach out to us to discuss your application, especially if this is your first time applying. We love hearing from you, learning about your goals, and providing helpful tips based on your goals. Hopefully, we will make you feel more confident pressing the submit button for this highly competitive program.