News & Views
What's Up with Minigrants
Since the announcement earlier this year that Michigan Arts & Culture Council (MACC) has revamped its annual grant application process, there have been no shortage of questions from past grant recipients. One of the most common is "what is up with minigrants?"
Over the past several years, the minigrant process for northwest lower Michigan has been managed by NW Michigan Arts & Culture Network. Those familiar with these grants know the annual timeline, request amounts, processes, and expectations.
That's all changing!
The minigrant program has not exactly "gone away." It has now been rolled into a simplified, single grant application.
So, if you have received minigrants in the past and wondering "can I still apply for minigrants?" read on.
There are now two categories for all grants.
You can find all the information—comprehensive guidelines and eligibility requirements—on the official MACC Grants website. In short, all applications will fall into one of two categories:
- Mission Support (MS) for arts & culture nonprofits, or
- Experience Support (ES) for other (non-arts-and-culture) nonprofits, PreK-12 Schools, Colleges/Universities, Municipalities, and Tribal Entities.
The application itself will be different than you remember, but one exciting note: you are no longer limited to the $4,000 project budget! Please keep in mind, all applicants are required to make a minimum 25% cash match to the total amount awarded.
There is a new timeline.
If you are planning to submit your application in August this year, just like in the past—you will miss the deadline!
- All grant applications are due July 24, 2024 (before 5:00 PM EST)
- Final reports will be due within 30 days of completion of grant funded projects or no later than October 30, 2025.
ALL APPLICATIONS DUE JULY 24
You will not be able to apply without the documentation required.
Plan ahead and review the guidelines carefully to make sure you have the required documentation ready. (It can take up to two weeks or more to receive your Michigan CSR.) All required documentation is clearly marked in the Mission Support Guidelines and the Experience Support Guidelines
Note: If you are a small organization—solicit less than $25,000 per year—you may be exempt from the CSR requirement. However, you must file a CS-3 - Request for Exemption Form, and it must be processed and approved with an exemption letter from the Attorney General's office.
The MACC staff is incredibly helpful.
For questions during the application process, please contact any of MACC’s Program Managers:
- Alex Flannery · 517.331.5925 · flannerya1@michigan.org
- Jeff Garrett · 517.242.3678 · garrettj7@michigan.org
- Jackie Lillis-Warwick · 517.881.4114 · lillis-warwickj@michigan.org
- Chad Swan-Badgero · 517.881.9472 · badgeroc@michigan.org
Learn and bring questions to the virtual workshop.
All are encouraged to attend a very helpful virtual workshop presented by MACC on July 9 at 6:00 PM