Bloomberg Philanthropies: Digital Accelerator for Arts & Culture

Overview

Organizations in the US or UK that meet the following criteria may apply for the grant:

• Nonprofit cultural organization
• In existence for at least 3 years
• Budget of at least $500,000 (in the US) or £500,000 (in the UK) in FY2023

Supported projects fall into the following categories:

• Content creation and distribution
• CRM/Ticketing (including donor management/fundraising systems)
• Digital Archives/Digital Asset Management
• Websites

Eligibility

Non-profit cultural organisations in existence for at least 3 years based in the US or UK are eligible to apply.

UK organisations must be constituted as one of the below to apply: 

• Community interest companies (CICs) registered with the CIC regulator
• Charitable incorporated organisations (CIOs) registered with the Charity Commission
• Charitable companies or charitable trusts registered with the Charity Commission.  
• Organisations must have a turnover of at least £500,000 in FY23

Grant

Grant Period: The grant will cover a two-year period which they anticipate beginning late-spring 2024. Most of the formal program activity will happen in the first six months – and the grant is front-loaded accordingly.

Grant Amount: There are two types of grants offered through this program.

1. Most organisations will receive grants of up to £150K to implement proven technology that advances strategic objectives.

They will also consider applications for a higher amount for bold, innovative projects that could be replicable or otherwise have impact across the cultural field. Organisations wishing to apply for this funding should be able to demonstrate a track record of digital competence and innovation. Please complete the addendum to the application if you are interested in applying for this track. Please note: only a small portion of projects will receive this support.

Payments:

• In Year 1, you’ll receive £125K approximately 6 months into the program after approval of your project plan.
• In Year 2, you’ll receive £25K following submission and review of your interim report.
• If you have made a good faith effort during the project planning phase of the program and your plan isn’t accepted, you’ll receive £50K in recognition of the time and effort of your BTF during the planning phase.

Costs: Costs can include hardware, software, vendors/suppliers, staff time, and training. They do not cover additional overhead as they view all the costs of this project as supporting your organisational infrastructure. They also do not cover marketing costs unless they are directly related to building your digital infrastructure. For example, a consultant to help with SEO is acceptable; agency fees to run a digital marketing campaign are not. Your advisor will work with your BTF to help you build the project budget during the planning phase.

Matching Funds: No matching funds are required for this program, but if your project budget is larger than our funding, you’ll be asked to provide details on other sources of funding when you complete the project planning materials.

Core Components

Expert Technical and Project Management Assistance: An advisor from Arts Council England (UK) or the Lapine Group (US) will provide guidance and tools throughout the grant period to aid in developing a plan to address your organisation’s specific digital infrastructure need, procuring the necessary hardware and software, and managing organisational change throughout implementation.

Bloomberg Tech Fellow (BTF): Each grantee will designate a staff member to serve as digital project lead, coordinating the project on behalf of their organisation. BTFs work one-on-one with the assigned advisor in putting together a project plan and budget. They also attend sessions on best practices in digital technology. BTFs should be prepared to dedicate 1-2 days per week (or longer for large/complex projects) to the project during the 3-month planning phase and then around 1 day per week (depending on the complexity of the project) over the following year. Selecting your BTF requires careful consideration, including whether parts of the individual’s current work responsibilities role may need to be reassigned during the most intense period of this grant. See the “Program Details” section below for more information on the BTF.

Organisational Oversight: A designated individual on the board will advise on the project in a manner appropriate and consistent with grantee governance structure. And for the duration of the grant period, the Bloomberg Tech Fellow will directly report to the organisation’s chief executive about the project – regardless of whether that reporting structure is normally in place.

Metrics/Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Organisations identify success metrics/KPIs as part of the planning phase that are then tracked throughout implementation. These include “early wins” as well as longer-term benchmarks to understand the impact of each project and contribute to field-wide learning about effective use of technology.

Network: Grantees join a group of over 140 organisations already in the program. We encourage and support knowledge-sharing, and continuously facilitate it among Bloomberg Tech Fellows. The grant period includes online workshops, roundtables, and an in-person convening to encourage professional skills-building benefiting organisations into the future.