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Florida American Rescue Plan (ARP) Cultural Grant Program Frequently Asked Questions

Florida CARES grant program Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the Florida American Rescue Plan (ARP) Cultural Grant program?

The Florida Department of State Division of Arts & Culture is the recipient of funding through the National Endowment for the Arts as a result of the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act. This funding will be used for grants to support arts and culture in Florida through the Florida ARP Cultural Grants program.

The Florida ARP Cultural Grants program will be carried out through one-time grants with no match requirement. 

All applicants must be exclusively organizations or individual artists recommended for Fiscal Year 2021-2022 General Program Support or Specific Cultural Project grants from the Florida Division of Arts & Culture that are NOT public entities or multipurpose public or private nonprofit organizations, including support organizations for these entities. Additionally, applicants must have reported a prior year operating budget of $900,000 or less in their 2021-2022 General Program Support/Specific Cultural Project applications. Please see “Applicant Eligibility” in the program guidelines for more information.

Grant Period: July 1, 2021 - November 30, 2021

2. Who is eligible for Florida ARP Cultural Grants?

Eligible organizations:

  • All applicants must be exclusively organizations or individual artists recommended for Fiscal Year 2021-2022 General Program Support or Specific Cultural Project grants from the Florida Division of Arts & Culture
  • Applicants must have reported a prior year operating budget of $900,000 or less in their 2021-2022 General Program Support/Specific Cultural Project applications.
  • Must be an individual artist or active Florida nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) whose mission directly support arts and cultural programming.
  • Must be in good standing with the Division.

Organizations NOT eligible to apply to this program include:

  • For-profit organizations
  • K-12 schools
  • Religious organizations
  • Individuals
  • Colleges/Community Colleges/Universities
  • Auxiliary support organizations (e.g. “Friends of…” organizations)
  • Cities, Counties and Municipalities
  • Any other public entities
  • Multipurpose organizations
  • Organizations reporting a prior year operating budget of $900,001 in their 2021-2022 General Program Support/Specific Cultural Grant application.
3. Why are only organizations recommended for 2021-2022 General Program Support/Specific Cultural Project nonprofit organizations eligible?

There is an urgent need. With four grant programs and over 600 grantees, a streamlined approach is best to provide ARP funding to organizations as quickly as possible.

FY 21/22 GPS/SCP nonprofit award recommended organizations:

  • Provide a rational and manageable pool of potential applicants, which is important for a program to be implemented rapidly.
  • Have been vetted through the Division’s rigorous review system by panels of experts in the field, the Florida Council on Arts and Culture and have received funding from the legislature.
  • Due to that process, represent a diverse pool of applicants capable of carrying out projects that meet the state’s guidelines, criteria, excellence and merit.
  • Represent all disciplines and fields, organizational sizes, and wide geographic reach.
  • Including only organizations with prior year operating budgets of $900,000 and under ensures that funds are distributed to those with the greatest need.
4. How do eligible organizations apply for Florida ARP Cultural Grants?

In order to make clean fiscal processes for tracking ARP Act funds in state government and for the National Endowment for the Arts, FY 21-22 GPS nonprofit grantees will submit a separate application electronically through the online grants system at https://dosgrants.com.

5. When can organizations apply for Florida CARES grants?

The application is available from July 20, 2021 through 5:00 pm on July 30, 2021 at https://dosgrants.com. Only those organizations whose applications are received during this application window will be considered for funding.

6. What award amounts are available?

The Division of Arts & Culture will be unable to determine final award amounts until all eligible applications are received and processed. Funding allocation will be based on prior panel adjudication. The total available funds is $1,075,100.

Awards are expected to range from $2,000 to up to $4,000, depending on the number of eligible applicants. With limited funds, we simply can’t fund everyone and we can’t make any organization whole. But we hope we can help.

Funds will be allocated using the following formula:

(Applicant Score at Panel/Sum of ALL Applicant Scores) x $1,075,100

7. What can Florida ARP Cultural Grant funds be used for?

Florida ARP Cultural Grants funds may be used for:

  • Salary support, full or partial, for one or more staff positions.
  • Fees/stipends for contractual personnel to support the services they provide for specific activities. Jobs or positions supported through Florida ARP grants may be existing or new. 
  • Facilities costs such as rent and utilities, e.g., electric, phone, gas bills. Not to include upgrades to HVAC/ventilation systems. Note: Costs related to home offices are unallowable.
  • Costs associated with health and safety supplies for staff and/or visitors/audiences (e.g., personal protective equipment, cleaning supplies, hand sanitizer, etc.).
  • Costs associated with marketing or promotion.
8. Can Florida ARP Cultural Grant funds be used to pay contracted artists or staff?

Yes. Funds for contractual personnel and compensation for artists who are paid on a fee basis are eligible.

9. Are matching funds required?

Matching funds are not required.

10. When is the grant period?

The five-month grant period will be July 1, 2021 – November 30, 2021.

11. How will payments be made to awardees?

The total award amount will be released to grantees in one payment upon execution of the contract agreement.

A completed Substitute Form W-9 is required from any entity that receives a payment from the State of Florida that may be subject to 1099 reporting. The Department of Financial Services (DFS) must have the correct Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) and other related information in order to report accurate tax information to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). To register or access a Florida Substitute Form W-9 visit https://flvendor.myfloridacfo.com/. A revised copy of the Grantee’s Florida Substitute Form W-9 must be submitted, if any changes have been made since last submission, before or with the executed agreement.

12. What are the reporting requirements?

Grantees may be required to maintain personnel activity (“timesheet”) reports for any employee whose salary is charged, in whole or in part, to the award as well as separate accounting documentation on how the funds were used. There can be no commingling of funds and grantees are required to maintain records that easily account for these separate costs. Reporting requirements will include a final report. Grant recipients should save all applicable documentation of expenses for the final report.

13. What records will grantees be required to keep?

Financial records, supporting documents, statistical records, and all other records including electronic storage media pertinent to the Project shall be retained for a period of five (5) years after the close out of the grant. If any litigation or audit is initiated, or claim made, before the expiration of the five-year period, the records shall be retained until the litigation, audit, or claim has been resolved.

14. My organization has applied for an ARP grant directly from the National Endowment for the Arts or a different agency. Can I apply for Florida ARP Cultural Grant funding as well?

Yes. The Florida ARP Cultural Grants program is a separate program from the National Endowment for the Arts' ARP program. Eligible organizations may apply for Florida ARP Cultural Grants even if they have applied or received funding from any other source.

15. My organization is ineligible for this program; what are my other options for assistance?

An organization that does not receive funds directly from the Division of Cultural Affairs has the potential to receive a subgrant of funds from a regional arts organization, a designated local arts agency or many other sources.  Please refer to the resource webpages from the National Endowment for the Arts, South Arts, and Americans for the Arts and the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs.

16. I have more questions. What should I do?
17. When completing the application, what should I put for "Estimated loss to date?"

Please submit your estimated loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic since it began.

18. When completing the application, how should I complete the budget?

In the budget, you only have to show how the grant funds will be used. You do not need to show match.

Example:

Artistic Director Salary: $2,500

Florida American Rescue Plan Cultural Grants Program

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