State-Local Partners (SLP) Grant Program

The State-Local Partners (SLP) Grant Program offers essential operating support and technical assistance to county-designated local arts agencies in California. Through a collaborative effort between the State and counties, this program aims to promote cultural development at the local level. It encourages partnerships that enrich the arts across diverse communities, fostering creative expression and enhancing the quality of life for Californians. Eligible organizations include 501(c)(3) nonprofits and local government units.

The State-Local Partners (SLP) program provides general operating support and technical assistance for county-designated local arts agencies. The purpose of the program is to foster cultural development on the local level through a partnership between the State and the counties of California. The nature of this partnership includes funding, information exchange, cooperative activities, and leadership. The partnership enables individuals, organizations, and communities to create, present, and preserve the arts of all cultures to enrich the quality of life for all Californians.
A local arts agency is defined as the official county-designated organization that supports arts and cultural activity in service to individuals and communities throughout an entire county. Local arts agencies provide financial support, services, and/or other programming to a variety of arts organizations, individual artists, and the community. A local arts agency can be a unit of local government or a nonprofit organization.
This program requires a 1:1 match of award funds for organizations with Total Revenues (TRs) of $1,000,000 or more in their most recently completed fiscal year

Eligibility

Organization must have a principal place of business in CA and a CA address.Minimum two-year history of consistent arts programming and/or services prior to application deadline.501(c)(3) organization. Organizations must demonstrate proof of nonprofit status under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code or section 23701d of the California Revenue and Taxation Code. Applying with a 501(c)(3) Fiscal sponsor. An applicant organization without nonprofit status must use a California-based fiscal sponsor with a federal 501(c)(3) designation to apply for funding See additional information on the use of CAC fiscal sponsors in the Fiscal Sponsorship section of the Grants Manual.Units of municipal, county, or tribal governments are eligible to applyOrganizations and fiscal sponsors must have “active status” with the California Secretary of State (SOS) showing evidence of “good standing” at the time of application. You can verify your organization’s status by conducting a search using the SOS online Business Search tool.Applicant organization must be designated by their County Board of Supervisors to serve as the State-Local Partner in the county. Multi-county Partnerships must be designated as the State-Local Partner by the county Board of Supervisors in all counties represented. Funding is prorated based on the number of counties in the partnership. Multi-county Partnership applicants must give evidence of service and program equity to all participating counties.