Grant Opportunities
Thank you for your interest in the grant opportunities provided by the Cumberland County Cultural & Heritage Commission. The charter of the Commission is clearly defined in its name: it is the organization charged by the county to recommend and administer programs to increase the visibility and impact of local and county history, of the arts, and of the cultural values, goals and traditions of the community. It serves as an advisory agency to the Board of County Commissioners and aids them in seeking available State, Federal and foundational funds to develop and support historical, arts and cultural programs.
A significant part of the Commission’s work each year is the development and administration of the various grant opportunities secured for in-county non-profit organizations. Provided below are details of the various grant opportunities available.
Arts and History Re-Grant Program
Each year the County of Cumberland receives Block Grants provided by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts (NJSCA) and the New Jersey Historical Commission (NJHC). A Block Grant is a single proposal submitted to a single source to fund the projects and/or expenses of several organizations. The NJSCA and NJHC review the blocks, and based on the perceived quality of the proposed programming and the anticipated value to the community, they allocate funds from their annual budgets to the County. Cumberland County is the fifth highest county recipient of the these funds in New Jersey. Using the same criteria, the Commission then re-grants some or all of the funding requested to the individual groups for implementation of their programs.
The application and guidelines for the program are available here for download. The expenses, fundraising and income components of the application are provided as separate Excel files which contain fields which will auto-complete when basic budget information is provided.
Applications for the 2024 re-granting round are due in the office of the Cumberland County Department of Planning by Friday, October 13, 2023. Any questions, please contact the department at (856) 453-2175.
Special Request Grant
The Cultural & Heritage Commission maintains a limited portion of its budget for special requests. Special requests are for those situations in which a Cumberland County non-profit organization has never applied to another grant program from the Cultural & Heritage Commission before and/or due to extenuating circumstances was unable to meet the deadline or requirements of its other grant programs. A Special Request application is available below and it describes the organization and the program or event for which funds are being sought. An organization can only receive a Special Request grant once, and future funding from the Commission must be sought through one of its other granting programs. The maximum amount which may be requested through a Special Request is $2,000 and the applicant will be asked to attend a Cultural & Heritage Commission meeting to present his or her request.
Special Request letters should be addressed to Omarey Williams, Department of Planning, 291 Morton Ave, Millville, NJ 08332. They may also be faxed to (856) 451-4206 or emailed to omareywi@CumberlandCountyNJ.gov.