Home / Nonprofits / Grants / Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation Arts & Culture Initiative – Year 2 Capacity-Building and General Operating Funds Application

Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation Arts & Culture Initiative – Year 2 Capacity-Building and General Operating Funds Application

This grant opportunity is available only to 2024 Capacity-Building and General Operating Funds grantees. Please confirm that your organization is listed in the “Eligibility and 2024 Capacity-Building and General Operating Grantees” section below. 

The Arts & Culture Initiative recognizes that capacity-building is not only crucial and necessary for any non-profit organization, but it is an ongoing process that takes much more time than one single grant cycle. To that end, we invite 2024 Capacity-Building and General Operating grantees to submit a simplified application for a second year of funds to continue building upon the work you began in 2025.  

For Monroe County arts organizations: To simplify the process and communication, the Rochester Area Community Foundation will distribute funding for Monroe County. Our expectation, where possible, is the funding will continue to align with the parameters set by the fund annually. 

How to Apply

How to Apply 

For arts organizations based in the eight counties (excludes Monroe County): 

Applications are submitted electronically through the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo’s grant portal. No paper, emailed or PDF applications are accepted. 

For Monroe County arts organizations: 

Applications are submitted electronically through the Rochester Area Community Foundation’s grant portal. No paper, emailed or PDF applications are accepted. 

 

Eligibility and 2024 Capacity-Building and General Operating Grantees

Applicants must have received a Capacity-Building and General Operating grant through the 2024 application process. Please confirm that your organization is listed in the 2024 Grantees section. 

  • Alfred Box of Books Library 
  • BFM Arts, Inc. 
  • BOA Editions, Ltd. 
  • Borinquen Dance Theatre 
  • Buffalo Center for Arts and Technology 
  • Buffalo Institute for Contemporary Art 
  • Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus, Inc. 
  • Carousel Society of the Niagara Frontier 
  • Center for Exploratory and Perceptual Arts, Inc. 
  • Community Canvases 
  • Cordelia A. Greene Library 
  • Danceability, Inc. 
  • El Museo Francisco Oller Y Diego Rivera 
  • Fenton Historical Society of Jamestown, New York 
  • Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council 
  • Gowanda’s Historic Hollywood Theater, Ltd. 
  • Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center 
  • IndicatorArt Corporation 
  • KORP Foundation Inc. 
  • Lewiston Council on the Arts Inc. 
  • Liberating Individuals Through Literary Texts 
  • Locust Street Neighborhood Art Classes, Inc. 
  • North Park Theatre of Buffalo, Inc. 
  • Pappy Martin Legacy Jazz Collective 
  • PUSH Physical Theatre, Inc. 
  • Shake on the Lake 
  • Sukanya Burman Dance Inc. 
  • Teaching Artists ROC 
  • The Avenue Blackbox Theatre 
  • The Cobblestone Society 
  • The Fountain Arts Center, Inc. 
  • The Local Sound Collaborative 
  • The Theatre of Youth Company, Inc. 
  • West Falls Center for the Arts 
  • Western New York Minority Media Professionals Inc. 

Grant Opportunity

Year 2 Capacity-Building & General Operations Grant (for 2024 Capacity Building grantees ONLY) 

This application is intended for 2024 grantees to build upon the capacity-building work begun in 2025. The strongest applications will be those that demonstrate learnings and strategic next steps as a result of the original capacity-building project.  

The Arts & Culture Initiative understands that your original project may have naturally moved in a new direction as you began to work on it. The application provides you with the opportunity to explain this evolution and detail your revised plans moving forward. 

The maximum award is $10,000. 

Year 2 funding is not guaranteed for all 2024 Capacity-Building and General Operations grantees. 

Timeline

Contact Information

For arts organizations based in the eight counties (excludes Monroe County):

Please direct all questions to Yuki Numata Resnick, Director of Arts and Culture, at yukinr@cfgb.org.

For Monroe County arts organizations:

For general questions about the Arts & Culture Initiative, please reach out to Yuki Numata Resnick, Director of Arts and Culture, at yukinr@cfgb.org.

For specific inquiries about the application and application logistics, please reach out to Annette Jiménez Gleason at ajimenezgleason@racf.org.

Additional Information and Training Session

Click here for more about Capacity-Building.

Click here for the Evaluation Rubric.

Click here for the Year 2 Capacity-Building and General Operating grant application. 

For Monroe County applicants, the order of the questions may be different, however, the questions themselves are all the same. 

Applications will be reviewed by experienced external evaluators who are artists, arts practitioners and arts administrators representing all nine Western New York counties. 

A virtual grant training session will be held on June 5 at 10am via Zoom. Please sign up here for the training session.