Grants make up about 50 percent of the annual budget at Elders Share the Arts, a Brooklyn nonprofit that provides seniors with opportunities to engage with the arts. About half of those grants come from foundations.
Personal relationships have been key to the organization’s grant-seeking strategy, says Jennie Smith-Peers, the nonprofit’s executive director.
“More than half of what we have now on our foundation list was because I wrote a letter introducing ourselves and then asking our network if anyone knew anybody there,” she says.
Several years ago, the nonprofit provided technical assistance to a new arts program for older adults run by the New York City-based Joan Mitchell Foundation.
Out of that relationship, Elders Share the Arts found a new partner.
“A big part of the foundation’s mission overall and our organizational granting is to support broad, diverse audiences and artists, and provide access to art opportunities,” says Allison Hawkins, the foundation’s grants program director.
And the nonprofit’s program at SAGE Senior Centers -- which serve gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender men and women -- fit that bill. The program integrates personal reminiscence, oral history, and art through myriad art forms and is part of Elders Share the Arts’ arts residency program, which makes up the core of the charity’s mission.
The foundation invited Elders Share the Arts to submit a full application in early 2014 to support its program at the Brooklyn SAGE Center and expand it to its main location in Manhattan.
The application, which can be downloaded below, starts with an overview of the nonprofit and its programming and then explains its request for support, goals, and outcomes. It also includes a timeline for the program.
The foundation reviews letters of inquiry throughout the year; submissions of full applications are by invitation. Each year the fund invites 15 to 30 organizations to apply.
Elders Share the Arts received a $10,000 grant for its program, which receives 5 percent of its funding from the New York State Council for the Arts.
Although the Joan Mitchell Foundation has supported organizations it didn’t have a long relationship with, Ms. Hawkins says communication and long-term relationship building give many nonprofits a leg up.
“One-on-one correspondence is really helpful in developing that relationship,” she says.
Nonprofits should stay in touch with foundations and keep them abreast of their activities, even if they haven’t applied for or received a grant, recommends Ms. Hawkins. That might be as simple as adding the foundation to their newsletter or mailing lists. Although other foundations may have different preferences, she says that at the Joan Mitchell Foundation, those updates and communication can only improve the chances of winning a grant in the future.
All grantees of the Joan Mitchell Foundation are required to submit a mid-year and final report. At the end of the first year, the foundation asked Elders Share the Arts to apply for a grant for a second year.
By the numbers
Size of grant awarded: $10,000
Percentage of the nonprofit’s budget that comes from grants: about 50 percent
