We are excited to share this year's Borough Cultural Grants portal in collaboration with the five Borough Presidents' Offices. Please let us know if you have any issues or questions by emailing us at FoundationGrants@nyctourism.com. Some general information is listed below:

Grant Purpose:

The Borough Cultural Grant Program is funded by the New York City Tourism Foundation (the “Foundation,”) the charitable arm of New York City’s travel and tourism destination marketing organization. This grant program supports New York City as a culturally vibrant destination by funding the marketing and promotion of not-for-profit arts & cultural programs and events in all five boroughs.

Grant Administration and Distribution:

Grant recipients are selected by the Offices of the Borough Presidents, in accordance with the guidelines defined by the Foundation’s Board of Directors. 

All grants from/by the Foundation must be spent in the calendar year in which they are awarded.

Eligibility:

1. All grant recipients must be registered as a 501(c)3 with the State of New York.

2. Applicants’ projects must fall primarily within calendar year 2024.

3. All recipients must be in compliance with prior funding requirements. 

4. Projects eligible for funding under the program should be tourist facing and shall include, but are not limited to, promotional materials for cultural institutions, programs, and events (i.e., paid media, print or digital content, and/or videos).

Funding Overview:

Grant awards are typically between $1,000 & $5,000 per organization.

Recipient Restrictions:

Certain types of entities are not eligible to receive or benefit from Foundation Borough Culture Grant funds. These include, but are not limited to:

1. Individuals or scholarship-granting organizations; or 

2. Fiscal conduits or sponsors.

Non-eligible Costs

These grants are meant to be for the marketing and promotion of cultural programs and organizations. As such, costs not eligible for funding from the Foundation include, but are not limited to:

1. Salary and/or benefits for staff, or consultants. Certain contractors, i.e., hiring of street teams, may be permissible depending on scope of the project;

2. Capital projects, rent and/or structural rehabilitation; 

3. Travel and entertainment; 

4. Membership dues or fees;

5. Office supplies or overhead;

6. Business-to-business projects; 

7. Promotion of for-profit entities or individuals;

8. Promotion of organizations outside New York City; and,

9. Any activities associated with political lobbying or campaigning.

Each applicant must complete and submit a unique project proposal. To be eligible for selection, project proposals must include:

1. Detailed description of the project;

2. Detailed itemized budget for the entire project; including specification of which line items grant funding will be applied to;

3. The target audience(s) of the project with a focus on how Foundation funds will help you reach the desired audience; 

4. A detailed project implementation timeline, including major production and promotional elements, with deliverable dates.

5.  How the success of the project will be measured; 

6. A copy of the applicant arts organization’s 501C(3) tax-exempt status determination letter and/or CHAR 500 (Proposals will not be considered without tax-exempt certification); 

Thank you,

New York City Tourism Foundation