Illinois Arts Council HeARTland eNewsletter

The deadline for Fiscal Year 2009 Program Grants was March 17th, and it looks like another bumper crop! Can you find Grants Office staff member George Tarasuk above?

Application is received at the Illinois Arts Council's Chicago office. Grants Office screens application for completeness and eligibility, assigns an application number, and notifies applicant of receipt. Acknowledgment of receipt of the application will be sent within eight weeks of the application deadline. Acknowledgment will include an application number to be used in future inquiries regarding that application. Applications which have been ruled ineligible or incomplete will not be reviewed.
Application is reviewed by Program Office according to program guidelines and Council priorities. Questions may be clarified by contacting applicant.
Application is either presented to peer advisory panels for review and recommendations or reviewed internally by staff and panel chairs with peer advisory panelist expertise when necessary, depending on criteria below:
1. Applicants whose last completed fiscal year's cash operating expenses for public arts programming were greater than $50,000 are reviewed by an advisory panel. Copies of application provided by the applicant are sent to advisory panelists.
2. Applicants whose last completed fiscal year's cash operating expenses for public arts programming were $50,000 or less will be reviewed internally by staff and panel chairs with advisory panelist expertise when necessary.
Written comments are maintained for all reviewed applications.
A number of applications are randomly selected for a site visit. The purpose of the site visit is to enable the panel to review the organization, its community, and its audience; to assess the quality of the organization's activities; and to allow the organization to communicate additional pertinent information. This review is presented along with the application at the grants review meeting.
Advisory panels, whose members are professionals from the field, meet in the spring to review and evaluate applications. Meetings are open to the public and applicants may attend. Applicants may not address the panel. Each application is reviewed based on the relevant criteria as described in the guidelines and application. Following discussion, the panel scores each application.
Dollar recommendations are determined based on the directions developed by the Council and dependent upon the final budget approved for the agency.
The Illinois Arts Council convenes in August to review funding recommendations. Applications with all panel recommendations for funding and rejection are presented to the full Council. Final reviews and final decisions are made by the Council. Awards become official.
Grants Office prepares notification letter, grant agreement, and other forms as necessary which are sent to potential grantee to fill out, sign, and submit for payment. Signatures constitute acceptance of the grant and its conditions.
Grantee submits completed paperwork to Grants Office. Grants Office reviews submitted paperwork and status of files. Questions may be clarified by contacting grantee.
Payment is authorized and a voucher is prepared by Fiscal Office for the Illinois Comptroller's office to issue a check (also referred to as a "warrant").
Illinois Comptroller's office in Springfield forwards payment to grantee.
Grantee completes project and submits final narrative and financial reports to Fiscal Office.
Fiscal Office reviews and approves final reports and closes grant file.
Randomly selected final reports are audited by Fiscal Office.

It's that easy! If you have further questions, please feel free to contact the Illinois Arts Council and you will be assisted by a staff member.