Background & Purpose

The California Arts Council’s Strategic Framework prioritizes racial equity and broad geographic reach into communities of all sizes and needs. Recent data and community input demonstrate the need for greater access to general operations funding in support of maintaining California arts and cultural organizations during times of uncertain economic growth. 

The General Operating Support grant program provides direct funding to arts and cultural organizations in support of ongoing operations. 

Arts organizations defined: An arts and cultural organization is defined as an entity with a primary purpose of providing arts, creative, or cultural programming/services. Assessed by CAC staff, this purpose is determined by the organization’s mission, purpose statement, and/or by its summary of core organizational programs and services. 

Eligibility

Organizations eligible to apply include: 

1. Nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3), California organizations 
2. Units of municipal, county or Tribal governments 
3. Fiscally sponsored organizations 
4. Arts service/network organizations with total revenue of $5 million or below
5. Arts producing or presenting organizations with total revenue (TR) of $1.5 million or below 

Eligible Request Amounts

Applicant organizations can request up to $30,000 for a one-year funding cycle.

Matching Funds

A one-to-one match is required for organizations with total revenue above $250,000 for this grant program.

Funding Restrictions  

• Organizations who have applied for the 2025 cycle of State-Local Partners are not eligible for General Operating Support. 
• For applicant organizations with total revenue above $250,000, the sum of requests during the same year of funding cannot exceed 50% of the total revenue from the most recently completed fiscal year. 
• The CAC’s definition of Total Revenue is the total cash inflow from your organization’s most recently completed fiscal year. Cash inflow/income includes all earned income (ex: ticket sales) and contributed income (ex: grants, donations/contributions, one-time organizational funding, operational grants). Re-granting and pass-through funding are excluded from the organization’s total revenue calculation.

2025 Office Hours

Virtual office sessions are available to provide technical assistance for the Arts & Cultural Organizations General Operating Support grant. Join Arts Program Specialist Leslie Giovanini as she answers general questions regarding this program.

Office hours are structured to be a ” drop – in” format. Audience members are welcome to join and exit as needed; advanced registration is required to participate. The schedule for office hours is listed below:

Monday, April 7 – 12 p.m.: Register here

Monday, April 28 – 12 p.m.: Register here

Tuesday, May 27 – 12 p.m.: Register here

Program Timeline