The Internal Revenue Service determines who meets the criteria of being a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

Churches that meet the Internal Revenue Service requirements of IRC section 501(c)(3) are considered tax exempt if they meet the five requirements listed in the “IRS Tax Guide for Churches and Other Religious Organizations.” Click here for the Tax Guide.

This includes tribal government, municipal, county, state and federal government, higher education, and school districts.

• Tribal Government – Each Tribe may receive either one Community Support Grant per year, or up to two Professional Development/Career Advancement or Rural Arts Access Grants per year, per entity.
• City and County Government – Each entity may receive either one Community Support Grant per year or up to two Professional Development/Career Advancement or Rural Arts Access Grants per year.
• State Government – Each entity within each department may receive either one Community Support Grant per year, or up to two Professional Development/Career Advancement or Rural Arts Access Grants per year.
• School Districts – Each District may receive either one Community Support Grant per year. or up to two Professional Development/Career Advancement or Rural Arts Access Grants per year.
• University of Wyoming and Wyoming Community Colleges – Each department at these educational institutions may apply for a grant. Proposed projects must serve a broad audience, be artistically excellent, incorporate outreach, and are not designed to primarily serve only the student population. Each department may receive either one Community Support Grant or up to two Professional Development/Career Advancement or Rural Arts Access Grants per year.

• Applicants must be a Wyoming based organization or an organization in a bordering state that primarily serves the citizens of Wyoming.
• Applicants must be in compliance with all applicable Wyoming state laws.

If your organization does not meet the eligibility requirements, you can still apply for a grant if you can find an organization that does meet these requirements and is willing to serve as your Fiscal Sponsor.

Organizations who use a Fiscal Sponsor need to do the following:

• Determine who your Fiscal Sponsor will be before you begin the grant application process.
• Contact the Arts Council to obtain an Invitation Code before you start an application, so you can login.

The Fiscal Sponsor should provide you with:

• A signed, dated letter on their letterhead that states they are willing to serve as your Fiscal Sponsor, as well as a copy of their 501(c)(3) letter from the Internal Revenue Service and/or evidence of government agency status. You will upload both documents to the Fiscal Sponsor page in the application.
• Basic information about them, i.e. legal name, address, phone, email, contact information, etc. so you can complete the Fiscal Sponsor page in the application.

If grant funds are awarded, the Fiscal Sponsor should do the following: 

• As soon as the grant payment is received, the Fiscal Sponsor should immediately reissue a new check in the grant award amount to the Organization who applied for the grant.
• Provide one of the two required signatures on the Subgrantee Award Agreement (contract).
• At the conclusion of the project, review the Final Report before the applicant organization submits it.

Arts Council support to individual artists includes the Professional Development/Career Advancement Grant, merit-based fellowships in performing, visual and literary arts, and mentoring grants for Folk and Traditional artists.

Individual applicants must:

• Be 18 years of age or older, and not be a student enrolled in a secondary school or in an undergraduate or graduate art-related degree program.
• Must be a U.S. citizen or have legal resident status. 
• Must have been domiciled within the state borders for a total of 20 months in the previous two years. 
• Must remain a Wyoming resident for at least one year after award, living in the state for at least 10 months of the year. 
• Acknowledge that the Wyoming Arts Council is not liable for lost or damaged material submitted with their grant application.
• Agree to allow the Wyoming Arts Council to duplicate my material submitted with the grant application for purposes of the selection process.
• Review and comply with the requirements in the General Provisions by the Attorney General of the State of Wyoming, which are provided in the Subgrantee Award Agreement.
• Pay all taxes and other such amounts required by federal, state and local law, including but not limited to federal personal income taxes, social security taxes and sales taxes. 

Grant applications are completed and submitted online through an online grant system. The Arts Council does not accept hard copy applications. To get started, visit the Grants tab on the Arts Council website and select the type of grant you are applying for.  Information on that page will direct you to the login screen of the granting system. 

New user?

• If this is the first time your organization, or you as an individual artist, have applied for an Arts Council grant, you will need to go to the login screen and click on “First Time User?” to get registered as a Grant Seeker.
• If an organization’s Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN) is entered and that organization already exists in the granting system, that organization’s name will appear and you should select it, instead of creating a new organization record. You should only create a new organization record if the grant system cannot pull up an existing record for the FEIN that you entered.
• Do not login or use another Grant Seeker’s credentials.  View the video about signing up as a new user here.
• The online grant system treats all applicants like an organization.  Individual artists should list themselves as the applicant organization and executive director, and put N/A in required fields that do not apply to them. 

Returning user?

• Simply enter your email address and password, and your Welcome Page will appear.
• If you’ve forgotten your password or need to reset it, click the “Forgot your password?” link and an email with instructions will be sent. Be sure to check your spam folder. 

Already registered as a user but you want to apply on behalf of a different organization?

• If you wish to apply on behalf of a second, different organization, login and go to your Welcome Page, where there is an option to associate yourself with a different organization. Contact the Arts Council if you encounter any problems getting registered for the second organization.
• Never change the information already in the grant system for your original organization to make it reflect the information for the second organization you want to work with. 

What if you’re a Grant Seeker for an Organization, but now you want to apply as an Individual Artist?

• You will need to register as a new Grant Seeker with a different email address. 

What if the Grant Seeker who applied for the grant is no longer with the organization?

• Contact the Arts Council so we can update the Grant Seeker information in the application and final report.
• If the organization does not have another registered Grant Seeker, a new Grant Seeker will need to click “First Time User?” on the login page and get registered. Do not login or use a Grant Seeker’s credentials if they are no longer with your organization. 

All 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations must be registered to do business in Wyoming with the Wyoming Secretary of State’s (SOS) office, and be in good standing and in compliance with the laws of the State.  This requirement does not apply to government organizations or individual artists.

• The Applicant Organization (or if they are using a 501(c)(3) non-profit for their Fiscal Sponsor), must confirm their status is current with the Secretary of State’s office by going to the Filing Search page.
• Type the legal name of organization into the Search field.
• Click on the organization name to pull up the Detail page.
• Download and save a PDF of the Detail page by clicking on the PDF icon in the top right corner.  You will need to upload the PDF to your application. 
• If their status is not current, they should contact the SOS immediately to bring their status into compliance, and then notify the Arts Council. 

All organizations are required by the National Endowment for the Arts to provide us with a unique entity identifier, which is a Duns & Bradstreet number, or DUNS #. This number is used for applying for, and obtaining, federal funds. This requirement does not apply to Individual Artists.

• Grants can only be awarded to organizations that have a valid DUNS #.
• If you are using a Fiscal Sponsor to apply, then the Fiscal Sponsor must have a DUNS #.

• This meets the requirements of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA).
• Grant applications can be submitted without a DUNS #, but they cannot be awarded until a DUNS # is received.

How to apply for a DUNS #:

• It is free to obtain, and should reflect the organization’s legal name and current, physical address.
• It can take 30 days to receive your free DUNS #.
• Click on this link to apply for your new DUNS #:  Dun & Bradstreet website.