ARTSWA has partnered with the Washington State Department of Commerce to distribute Federal (ARPA) funding. The Application portal will be open for 24 days, starting August 17 and ending September 9. Washington Commerce will notify grantees and disburse funding starting in late September!
ABOUT THE APPLICATION:
The application is mostly box checking with few text narrative sections, only requiring 1-2 hours to complete and has been mindfully created an application process that is intended to be accessible. The application will require you to upload:
Valid Identification
Financial documents, including but not limited to:
Tax returns (based on calendar year, including: 2019, 2020, and 2021)
Profit and loss statement (Please note: You can use the comments & notes sections to explain how the pandemic resulted in the decrease of business activity, as numbers alone do not tell the story.)
990 Form(S)
1099 Form(s)
The application will be available in up to 12 languages, and there will be lots of tech support provided by the Dept of Commerce via chat, email, or phone if needed.
Eligible applicants are not required to report where the funds are allocated within their business once they receive funding.
You can check your eligibility based on the guidelines here.
An important factor to note is that this is a “Qualifying Grant” not “Competitive” – if you qualify and you apply, you will get money. It is not about convincing reviewers about the value of what you do, but rather showing that you are eligible.
IMPORTANT NOTES:
As you fill out the application, be sure to check the Arts and Heritage Boxes!
For-Profit and Non-Profit orgs can apply. You do not need to be 501c3 to be eligible.
Fiscal Sponsors that support cultural businesses and organizations can also apply.
You MUST have a UEI (Unique Entity Identifier) Number to receive funds!
If you don’t have one yet, apply for one immediately! You may apply for grants without one, but cannot receive funds until you have an UEI. Click here to apply for a UEI. There is also the option to get the EIN and UEI (formerly DUNS #) in the next couple weeks in order to apply.
An informative video of how to set up a UEI can be found here: https://www.arts.wa.gov/wwr5/
This is not a project focused grant, but rather a grant that makes awards based on a decrease in business activity due to Covid-19, meaning: donations, sponsor dollars, vendor booth fees, vendor commissions, and sales to ticketed aspects of your organization activities that all in a typical year of operations are part of your revenue stream.
You can visit: https://commercegrants.com/ and read through the application information directly, or take a look at their FAQ here: Working Washington Grants Frequently Asked Questions
For any direct technical questions, please reach out directly to Jessi Wasson, jessi@inspirewashington.org