Prince William County Arts Grants

The Prince William County Department of Parks and Recreation will consider grant applications for any organization which:

• is recognized as a non-profit and exempt from federal income tax under Section 501(a), which includes the 501(c)3 designation, of the Internal Revenue code for at least one year and has completed a season of programs. (Exception is for organizations applying for New & Emerging Grants);

• produces, presents, supports or provides educational opportunities for dance, literary arts, media arts, music, theater, visual, and or related arts;

• comply with Title VI, Section 601, of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which states that no person, on the grounds of race, color, or national origin, shall be excluded from participation in, be denied benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance;

• comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 which state that no otherwise qualified person shall, solely by reason of his or her handicap, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance;

• are based in Prince William County, Manassas and/or Manassas Park by meeting, rehearsing, exhibiting and operating within this community;

• have 80% members or participants from the Greater Prince William community or 70% of services or programs offered within the Greater Prince William County Community. 

• submitted all required final reports for previous grant(s) received from Prince William County;

• Applicants for New & Emerging Grants must have applied for 501(c) 3 status, have founding documents, a Board of Directors, and organizational bylaws.

Types of Grants

The following grants are funded by the Prince William County Government:

General Operating Grants – To assist organizations of artistic merit in fulfilling their mission by providing funds to encourage their advancement.

New & Emerging Grants – To provide seed money to new and emerging arts organizations that are less than three (3) years old.

Applicants may apply to only one of the two categories.

Amount of Assistance – All grants are subject to funds available from Prince William County. Grant funds are not guaranteed to any organization. Activities funded by awarded grants must be completed July 1 through June 30.

Previous support for an organization does NOT imply future support. To be considered for award, applications must be submitted each year and if found complete and eligible for Panel review, are evaluated in relation to all applications within the same grant type. No single organization can receive more than 25% of the total available County funds. GRANT AWARDS ARE SUBJECT TO AVAILABLE FUNDING FROM PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY GOVERNMENT AND AVAILABILITY OF FUNDING DOES NOT NECESSITATE ALL APPLICANTS BE FUNDED.

GENERAL OPERATING GRANTS – For organizations with 501(c) 3 status and registered under Guidestar.org. Grant amounts for larger income-based organizations are calculated through a mathematical formula based on total grant funds available and total number of eligible applicants to avoid any bias in determining a cap amount.

Application Types and Process

Standard (Long- Form) application is generally required for General Operating grants. Once an applicant has been approved for (3) consecutive General Operating grants submitted in standard form, they may then complete a Short-Form application for (2) consecutive grant cycle periods. Upon consecutive approval of the two previous Short-Form cycles, an applicant is required to return to the Standard General Operating form to provide evidence of solid organization for at least (1) approved cycle, after which they may return to Short-Form for another (2) consecutive grant cycles. This 3 year - 2 year - 1 year - 2 year - cycle rotates in this pattern. 

Calculating Amount Requests for General Operating Grants

• Annual budgets less than $100,000 income, grant eligibility is limited to a maximum of 20% of the most recently completed fiscal year’s income as defined in the calculation of the application format.

• Annual budgets $100,000 or greater, grants are limited to a maximum of 15% of the previous year’s eligible income as defined in the calculation of the application format.

The percentage calculation is a maximum eligibility amount and should not be understood as a guarantee of funding. All awards are subject to available grant funds.

Evaluation of Application
High priority is given to organizations that show strong efforts to seek multiple funding resources.

NEW & EMERGING GRANTS – For organizations with 501(c) 3 status or pending application and registered under Guidestar.com, 501(c) 3 status must be final in order to receive grant funding.

Calculating Amount Requests for New & Emerging Grants
Grant eligibility is limited to the lesser amount of $1,000 or 50% of an organization’s most recently completed fiscal year budget – or – current fiscal year for first time applicants. Grant eligibility may increase $500 following each approved grant cycle, up to a maximum $2500 award.

The percentage calculation is a maximum eligibility amount and should not be understood as a guarantee of funding. All awards are subject to available grant funds.

Grant Workshop
Attendance at the annual grant workshop is mandatory for grant writers of the applying organizations submitting their first grant application. Due to annual grant application dates and policy changes, attendance by grant writers of repeat applicants is strongly encouraged to ensure they understand the grant process and deadlines. If an organization is unable to send a participant, an organization may coordinate an appointment with the County Arts Grant Administrator. The Administrator will notify organizations about workshop details. The Department of Parks and Recreation will post notifications on the website, social media, and will announce the workshop via email. 

Application Submission

Applications can be accessed on the grant application portal during the open application period. 

Applicants MUST submit the following:

• one (1) copy of current IRS letter verifying 501 (c) 3 status or screenshot of verified status from GuideStar

Grant applications must be submitted by 4:00 p.m. April 30, 2026

Grant Panel
The Grant Panel, which is appointed by the Prince William County Department of Parks and Recreation, is comprised of 6 individuals with expertise, interest and experience in the arts, non-profit management, finance, grant administration, etc. Employees or board members of grant applicants are not eligible to serve on the Grant Panel. Names of panelists and date/location of the Grant Review are published online.

Panelists serve a staggered 2-year term and attend a Panel Workshop for understanding responsibilities, scoring criteria, and review process. The County Arts Grant Administer reviews each grant application for completeness and eligibility and serves as an observer when the Grants Panel meets to holds its Review. Ineligible applications will not be reviewed by the Grant Panel but will be returned to the applicant with a brief explanation of denial. Ineligible applications include incomplete applications so be sure to include all required attachments and fully fill out all application sections.

The County Arts Grant Administrator provides copies of the grant applications to the Grant Panel. Grant Panelists independently review each application and have an opportunity to ask additional questions about the application prior to determining the final grant recommendations. The panelists keep applications confidential until approval/denial is given and awards are made public. Panelists also refrain from discussions of an application other than with Grants Panel members. Grant applicants may not contact Grant Panel members directly. All communication will be through the County Arts Grant Administrator.

Conflict of Interest:
A Grant Panelist, who, in reviewing an application, finds him/herself in a conflict of interest, shall leave the room during discussion of the application and abstain from any voting, discussion or lobbying of such an application. The review of the concerning application under review in this matter may be postponed until someone is selected to score in place of the panelist, in most cases the County Arts Grant Administrator is selected. A conflict of interest shall be determined if a panelist is a participant in an applicant’s activities or is a member of the applicant organization.

Grant Review
The Grant Panel will meet as needed to complete the review process. All panelists have a three week period to conduct their initial review to evaluate all eligible applications, prepare notes, and complete a preliminary score sheet. During this time, any individual panel member may pose a given question about each application. The County Arts Grant Administrator will direct questions to the applicant organization, providing a deadline for response. An applicant’s failure to respond to the Panel’s questions may disqualify the grant application from further consideration. The Grant Panel will gather to hold a Grant Review for application scoring. While the Grant Review is open to the public, comments, questions, or any similar distractions may not be made. Photography/recording is not allowed. The County Arts Grant Administrator will maintain extensive notes of the Grant Review proceedings. The Grant Panel will utilize the score sheets and scoring criteria established for the grant review process. Funding recommendations will be made based on average scoring of the application, available funding, the number of qualified applications submitted, and operational budgets. Applications receiving an average score under 50% may not be funded. Availability of funding does not mean all applicants will be funded.

Notification & Payment
The County Arts Grant Administrator will notify grant applicants of Grant Panel funding recommendations, only after the scoring and full deliberation of all grant recommendations from the Panel are completed. Notification will be made via email to the contact listed on the grant application. Information about the appeal process will also be provided within this email notification. Notice to the applicant about Grant Panel recommendations is not to be understood as an official award amount. Any applicant may ask for comments on their application upon receiving the recommendation notice.

Grant Panel recommendations are next forwarded to the Department of Parks and Recreation  Parks Commission for review and approval, and then are presented to the Prince William Board of County Supervisors for final award approval.

Grantees receive an official grant award letter with a summary of Grant Panel remarks and total funding amounts to be awarded.

Awards for approved PWC Arts Grant Applications are distributed in partial payments with processing during the County’s 2027 fiscal year and only after the final approval of the Prince William County Board of County Supervisors and the official paperwork has been signed. First partial payment is 70% of the award; final payment is the remaining 30% of award disbursement beginning January of the County’s fiscal year. The County reserves the right to withhold funding if it determines performance on grant commitments are not being met in good faith or is unnecessarily delayed. Note: Failure to meet the reporting deadlines will result in automatic disqualification to receive remaining grant funds, and can harm future chances of being awarded funding in coming grant cycles.

Acknowledgement
The phrase “partial funding has been provided by Prince William County” must be stated on the organization’s website. In all published materials (printed programs, news releases, advertisements, flyers, etc.) use of the Prince William County Department of Parks & Recreation logo must be included. For announcements regarding the particular activity supported, it is requested that organizations acknowledge that the activity is partially supported by a grant from the Prince William County and must be displayed when other sponsors logos are displayed.

If contributions are acknowledged by categories of donations in program books, it is required to acknowledge the grant amount in the appropriate category. The purpose of crediting Prince William County is to provide citizens with an accurate understanding of the broad range of activities supported by their tax dollars.

Grant Contract
Each grant application must be signed by an individual with the authority to act on behalf of the applicant organization. A signed application is the applicant’s agreement that information provided is complete and accurate. The signed application also indicates the applicant’s intention to comply with the grant policies and reporting requirements. The Certification of Assurances included in the application acts as the official contract between the applying organization and Prince William County. 

Final Reporting Requirements
Each grantee must report major changes in planned activities, personnel, or budget in writing to the County Arts Grant Administrator within 30 days of the changes for approval by the Grant Panel. Failure to do so may harm future chances of being awarded funding in the coming grant cycles. 

A Final Report form is sent with the official grant award letter. It is the responsibility of the grantee to retain this form for completion. For each Fiscal Year, each grantee will submit to the County Arts Grant Administrator final reports that include a program narrative and financial report covering the activities funded within the grant period (July 1 – June 30). Final reports must be received by 5pm on the deadline. This deadline for completed final reports, including financials, applies to all grantees regardless of the organization’s fiscal year, and type of Grant awarded.

General Operating grantees with annual budgets over $250,000 are required to submit an opinioned, audited financial statement. Submission of the final report and financial information is required in order to receive future grant funds.

Lobbying
No part of the Prince William County Arts Grant shall be used for any activity intended to influence an elected official to favor or oppose any legislation.

Ineligible Activities
The Prince William County grants do not fund:
• activities restricted to an organization’s membership;
• cost of parties, receptions, fund-raising benefits, etc.
• activities that benefit primarily other jurisdictions outside of the Greater Prince William community;
• organizations that restrict or limit their membership or participation in their programs in any manner, direct or
indirect, with the exclusion of artistic ability as it merits maintaining the artistic integrity of the organization;
• activities and organizations that are wholly sponsored by commercial institutions, religious institutions,
government agencies, public or private educational institutions;
• college or university-based projects that are part of a required course or curriculum, or that do not involve and
serve a significant non-student population;
• arts programs which are essentially recreational, rehabilitative or therapeutic;
• general operating support for historic celebrations or community promotional activities;
• work of individual artists;
• elimination of existing debts.

Appeal

Dissatisfaction with the denial of an award or the amount of a grant award is not grounds for an appeal. Incomplete applications are specifically denied any appeals process.

Applicants who believe their applications for funding were rejected by the Grant Panel for any of the following three reasons may appeal to Prince William County for reconsideration:

1. The application was declined on the basis of review criteria other than those appearing in the guidelines;

2. The application was declined due to influence and/or involvement of Prince William County Grant Panel member who willfully failed to disclose conflicts of interest; or

3. The application was denied because the County Arts Grant Administrator or any Grant Panel members provided erroneous information at the time of review, despite the fact that the applicant provided accurate and complete information on regulation forms as part of the standard application process.Request for appeals must be in writing and received by the County Arts Grant Administrator within 14 days after your organization is notified of the Grant Panel’s funding recommendation.The request should be sent to the County Arts Grant Administrator, George Hellwig Administrative Building 14420 Bristow Road, Manassas VA 20112. The request should identify one or more of the three reasons for an appeal and outline the applicant’s rebuttal of the Grant Panel’s recommendation.
The written request represents the applicant’s sole means of presenting its position.

Prince William County will review and act upon the appeal prior to final action on grant funds by the Prince William Board of County Supervisors.

The New & Emerging Grants aim to provide operating support to new arts organizations that offer valuable services to the community. Priority is given to those with high artistic quality, effective management, fundraising efforts, and community engagement.

Eligibile Applicants

Organizations must:

• Meet basic eligibility as per the PWC Arts Grants General Policies.
• Have been established for 3 years or less.
• Have applied for 501(c)3 status and comply with non-discrimination laws.

Eligible Activities
Projects occurring between July 1, 2026, and June 30, 2027.

Grant Amount

• Up to $1,000 or 50% of the organization’s last completed full fiscal year budget (whichever is less), or currenty FY if in operation less than a year.
• Grants can increase by $500 after each approved grant cycle, up to a maximum of $2,500.

Funding Availability
Grants depend on the availability of funds from Prince William County, and funding is not guaranteed.

General Operating Grants are intended to provide a base of operating support to arts organizations based in the Greater PWC community in recognition of the valuable programs and services they provide to the residents of Greater Prince William County. General Operating Grants also contribute to the permanence of these organizations in the community and help ensure diverse artistic offerings and experiences for residents.

Eligible Applicants
Organizations must meet all the basic eligibility requirements as stated in the PWC Arts Grants General Policies. All applicant organizations not previously approved for the required number of General Operating Standard/Long Form grant cycles must complete the Standard/Long form. The applicants are not eligible to submit the short form application until 3 consecutive Long Forms have been submitted and approved and funded.

Form type requirements are as follows:

3 consecutive years of approved standard form –> 2 consecutive years of approved short form –>1 consecutive years of approved standard –>2 consecutive years of approved short form. Repeat. Contact us if you need a reminder of this years application type is needed for your organization.

Eligible Activities
General operating expenses. Activities for the FY27 grant period must be completed between July 1, 2026, and June 30, 2027.

Funding Availability
Grants depend on the availability of funds from Prince William County, and funding is not guaranteed.

General Operating Grants are intended to provide a base of operating support to arts organizations in the community in recognition of the valuable programs and services they provide. General Operating Grants also contribute to the permanence of these organizations in the community and help ensure diverse artistic offerings and experiences for residents.

Eligible Applicants
Organizations that meet all the basic eligibility requirements as stated in the PWC Arts Grants General Policies. All applicant organizations not previously approved for the required number of General Operating Standard Form grant cycles must complete this application form, the applicant is not eligible to submit the short form application.

Funding Availability
Grants depend on the availability of funds from Prince William County, and funding is not guaranteed.

Please provide answers to all the questions for your organization’s grant category, following the numbered sequence. Identify your answers with both the heading and number of the section. Use a typeface of 10 points or larger. Use only 8 1/2” x 11” pages. Be sure to label the top of each page of the report with the Page Number AND Organization

1. Type Grantee Information: Organization Name, Address, and Organization Contact– Name & Title, Email address and Telephone number.
2. Type “FY26”, Type of Grant received, and total amount of grant awarded. Information should only concern PWC Arts Grants.
3. List of all grant supported activities completed since the start of the grant period (July 1, 2025-June 30, 2026) including performances, classes, workshops, public exhibits, etc. Identify each of the following:

• Name and Date of event
• Brief description/type of each event activity (one-liner is enough)
• Total Number of Attendees at each activity
• Total Number of Artists/Members who participated
• Geographic location(s) and Venue(s) of event

4. List of all scheduled grant funded activities for the remainder of the grant year by the following:

• Name and Date of event

5. Type the statement, “I hereby certify that, to the best of my knowledge, all information in this Final Report is complete and accurate.” Below this statement, please type the Name, Title, Daytime Phone, and Original Signature of the person submitting the report with a signed date.

Submit your completed report PART I by 5PM via mail, in-person, or email no later than February 1, 2026:

Arts Grants Specialist

PWC Dept. of Parks and Recreation
14420 Bristow Rd.
Manassas, VA 20112
703-792-6189

Please provide answers to all the questions for your organization’s grant category, following the numbered sequence. Identify your answers with both the heading and number of the section. Use a typeface of 10 points or larger. Use only 8 1/2” x 11” pages. Be sure to label the top of each page of the report with the Page Number AND Organization

1. Type Grantee Information: Organization Name, Address, and Organization Contact– Name & Title, Email address and Telephone number.
2. List of all final grant funded activities completed since the submission of report Part I, during the grant year (July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026) including performances, classes, workshops, public exhibits, etc. Identify each activity by the following:

• Name and Date of event
• Brief description/type of each event activity (one-liner is enough)
• Total Number of Attendees at each activity
• Total Number of Artists/Members who participated
• Geographic location(s) and Venue(s) of event

3. Attach 1-3 samples of reviews, testimonies, or program evaluation/surveys regarding grant funded activities for grant year July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026.
4. Describe the effect this FY26 grant had on your organization.
5. Submit financial report/ profit and loss report for the grant period July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026 (*additional audited statement applies for large-based organizations- grantees with annual budgets over $250,000 are required to submit unaudited financials due by July 12, as well as an audited statement due by Dec. 1).

6. Type the statement, “I hereby certify that, to the best of my knowledge, all information in this Final Report is complete and accurate.” Below this statement, please type the Name, Title, Daytime Phone, and Original Signature of the person submitting the report with a signed date.

Submit your completed report PART II by 4PM no later than July 12, 2026

Arts Grants Specialist

PWC Dept. of Parks and Recreation
14420 Bristow Rd.
Manassas, VA 20112
703-792-6189