FY26 GOS Application Resources

All applications must be submitted online by 10 PM ET on Tuesday, April 22, 2025

CONTACT INFORMATION

More information regarding CAH’s grant programs, and clarification about related accessibility requirements, work sample submissions and grant making processes can be found in CAH’s Guide to Grants. Specific questions about the General Operating Support Grant can be referred to one of the following CAH staff members:

Terrell Johnson, Senior Grants Officer | terrell.johnson@dc.gov
Kerry Kaleba, Grant Manager | kerry.kaleba@dc.gov

FY 2026 GENERAL OPERATING SUPPORT GRANT
PROGRAM REVIEW CRITERIA

District Impact and Engagement (30%)

• The organization demonstrates that DC residents are its core audience for its programming and services. (10%)
• The organization demonstrates a commitment to hiring DC-resident arts and humanities professionals to deliver its programming and services. (10%)
• The organization includes evaluation strategies to determine organizational impact and details changes implemented to ensure continued and future growth. (10%)

Equity (30%)

• Inclusion: The organization provides a detailed plan with measurable goals for the creation and sustainability of a welcoming and inclusive environment for its audiences, participants, staff, and board, with intentional focus placed on racial inclusion. (10%)
• Diversity: The organization provides a detailed plan with measurable goals for the creation and sustainability of a diverse environment that is rich and meaningful for its audiences, participants, staff, and board, with intentional focus placed on racial diversity. (10%)
• Access: The organization provides a detailed plan with measurable goals to ensure physical, geographic, cultural, racial, and financial access for audiences, participants, staff, and board. (10%)

Organizational Management (25%)

• The organization demonstrates the appropriate oversight, financial controls, and governance to deliver its services and programming. (12.5%)
• The organization has the necessary expertise and personnel in place to deliver its services and programming. (12.5%)

Arts, Humanities, and Arts Education Content (15%)

• The organization’s mission in the arts and humanities is supported by the work samples and support materials provided. (5%)
• The organization’s work samples, and support materials demonstrate their knowledge of, and skills in, their content area. (5%)
• The applicant uses personnel with demonstrated arts, humanities and/or arts education expertise to plan and implement their programming. (5%)
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In order to submit an application:

• Ensure your organization meets all eligibility requirements listed in this request for applications.
• Complete all required questions in the online application.
• Attach the following mandatory documents to the online application: (files available at dcarts.dc.gov/page/resources-grant-applicants)
  • Balance Sheet (from most recently completed fiscal year)
  • Certificate of Clean Hands (dated no more than 30 days prior to the deadline)
  • Certificate of Liability Insurance (general coverage)
  • Current Organizational Budget (approved by the organization’s Board of Directors)
  • IRS 501(c)(3) Letter of Determination
  • IRS Form 990 (most-recently submitted)
  • IRS Form W-9
    Note: Post office boxes are prohibited. The organization’s address MUST match the address in the grants portal, the address on file in the DC Government’s DIFS system. Only the March 2024 version of the W9 form may be used and the form must be dated at the time of application submission.
  • List of current Board of Directors
    Provide board roles (e.g. president, treasurer, etc.), responsibilities and home addresses/wards.
  • Organizational Demographics Overview Form
    The inclusion of this form is not required at the time of application but will be required of each applicant prior to award notification.
  • Profit and Loss Statement (from most recently completed fiscal quarter)
  • Résumés of Key Personnel
    Examples include: artistic/managing/executive directors; arts educators; etc. Provide roles, areas of responsibility, and home addresses.
  • Statement of Certification (signed at the time of application)
  • Support Materials
    Up to three (3) internally-produced items (e.g. curricula, strategic plans, marketing materials, etc.) and up to three (3) externally-produced items (e.g. reviews, commendations, testimonials, letters of support, etc.).
  • Work Samples
    CAH recommends reviewing the Work Sample Addendum to determine materials that might best support the application.

The Arrest and Conviction Statement and Data Arts Report are no longer required for CAH applications.

Documents must be uploaded as PDFs through CAH’s online grant portal prior to the application deadline. Incomplete or late applications or applications that do not follow the instructions and guidelines may be deemed ineligible for review and funding.

An automated confirmation of an applicant’s submission does not guarantee an applicant’s eligibility or funding. Technical issues or failure to receive a confirmation email must be brought to the attention of CAH staff prior to the application deadline.

ADDENDUM A: WORK SAMPLES AND SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS

The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (CAH) values and emphasizes excellence in all grant programs within all disciplines. Organizations are encouraged to define excellence as it relates to the goals and desired outcomes of their programmatic activities. Support materials and work samples should be selected for inclusion in the application with this in mind. This section contains detailed information on the CAH’s requirements and suggestions regarding content.

Arts and humanities content and/or merit are one of several criteria on which an application is reviewed. Arts and humanities content and/or merit is demonstrated to the advisory review panelists through the applicant’s:

Section 1 - Work Samples
Section 2 - Support Materials
Section 3 - Résumés of Key Personnel

Of these, the work sample carries the most weight because it must contain the clearest depiction of the applicant’s best work(s) of art and/or humanities. All applicants must submit arts and/or humanities work samples.

Section 1 - Work Samples

Work samples are critical to each application and are carefully considered during application review. CAH strongly recommends that applicants pay close attention to the content of work sample submissions.

The guidelines on work sample submissions depend on the grant program. Applicants are encouraged to adhere to the suggested work samples or risk ineligibility for consideration of a grant award.

Work samples must be no more than three (3) years old from the date of submission. Submitting older work samples may render the application ineligible for funding consideration.

Section 2 - Support Materials

Support materials are documents that strengthen the application and provide additional information that directly relates to the grant request. Support materials do not take the place of a work sample. They do, however, reinforce the quality of the applicant’s arts and humanities disciplines(s).

Some examples of supporting materials include:

• Theater/exhibition reviews.
• Letters of recommendation
• Certificates of achievement or recognition.
• Sample lesson plans.
• Assessments and evaluations.
• Awards.

Assessment and Evaluation

Purpose:

• To determine the efficacy of a program, as articulated in the program goals and as required for grant reporting; and
• To provide evidence to support changes to improve the program and its delivery.

Types:

• Qualitative assessment is often subjective in approach and narrative in nature; and
• Quantitative assessment provides empirical data that demonstrates growth in the knowledge, skills, and understandings of the participants.

Assessment and Evaluation Design

There are many ways to assess and evaluate programming including: needs assessments; pre- and post- testing; and formative, observational, and summative assessments that utilize mixed-method approaches such as portfolio/process-folio assessments.

Section 3 - Résumés of Key Personnel
Another way panelists determine the artistic content of each application is to review the résumés of the key artists, administrators and facilitators involved in the grant activities. Those professionals involved in the organization determine the capacity of the organization and ability for the applicant to effectively create an excellent arts and humanities product and/or experience. Their backgrounds as artists and administrators should be relevant to the organization and clearly demonstrated through their professional résumés.

Additional Suggestions from CAH Staff

When creating and preparing work samples, supporting materials and résumés, CAH recommends considering the following:

• Applicants should be able to view and/or play all work samples in the application before submitting. If a sample cannot be played, then panelists will experience the same.
• Select recent, high-quality samples that relate as directly to the application as possible.
• Photograph uploads should be in JPEG (or JPG) format with a 72-dpi minimum resolution and should not exceed 8MB in size (each).
• Adding more than the recommended number of work samples to an application will often weaken it.
• Carefully chosen work samples (pictures, videos, excerpts, etc.) tend to make the biggest impact and create the strongest artistic impression.
• Advisory review panelists are required to review each applicant’s work samples; however, they are not guaranteed to review multiple work samples within the same application.
• Each work sample and document must give the specific name and title, so that panelists can identify what they are reviewing.
• For project-based grants, include samples of similar projects completed to illustrate an ability to execute the proposed project; and/or
• Panelists must be able to assess the skill level of the artist(s) involved in the project work to be created, exhibited, or taught.