For this grant, a panel will evaluate your application based on the following five criteria:

• Quality: your thought and reasoning behind your proposed equipment purchase, how carefully it has been planned, how it relates to your organization’s mission, and how central it is to the services your organization provides to King County residents and visitors.
• Feasibility: your ability to acquire and take care of the equipment, as demonstrated by a balanced project budget, access to a secure storage space, and the expertise of those who will select and maintain the equipment. Your project budget and plan are realistic and achievable, and the funding amount is appropriate for the project.
• Project Impact and Public Benefit: the impact this specific equipment will have on your organization’s operations or the programs you offer to the community. This may include, but is not limited to, increased programming abilities, additional audience capacity, or increased accessibility for people with disabilities. Frequency of use is a factor, including shared use by multiple groups, but only if it makes sense for all groups. What public benefits this equipment will help provide visitors and residents of King County. See the Public Benefit section for more information.
• Advancing Equity: 4Culture’s mission focuses on racial equity and envisions a county where culture is essential and accessible to all. Your organization’s focus is on marginalized communities, especially communities that are disproportionately impacted by structural racism (e.g. serving Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) communities, engaging BIPOC leaders within a community, etc.). This is not a requirement to apply for Equipment for Organizations funding, but sharing about your organization’s equity work, however it manifests, will give the panel a fuller picture of how you support your community.
• Economic Impact: your project enhances your organization’s ability to make a meaningful contribution to the local economy by providing fixed assets to be utilized by staff, contractors, volunteers, and/or members of your community. Economic impact may also include purchases from local vendors and/or use of local contract labor for installation. Indirect impacts like increasing commercial activity, activating physical spaces, and enhancing the vibrancy of communities will also be considered.

• Use of the equipment to create free or low-cost performances, exhibitions, workshops, screenings, or readings, or to take care of collections that reflect all of King County’s residents.
• Use of the equipment by groups serving marginalized communities including, but not limited to, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in King County, people with disabilities, people with low-incomes, youth and senior groups, residents in rural or suburban King County, and/or other historically marginalized groups.
• Use of the equipment to broaden your ability to reach individuals with disabilities or to make your programs or facility more accessible to them.
• Use of the equipment that prioritizes public health benefits (i.e., air filtration units, or equipment related to remote online programming)
• Sharing the equipment with other cultural or science groups at no cost or low cost.

• Organizations that the adjudicating panel of peer reviewers agrees are excelling in advancing equity in King County.
• Organizations based outside of Seattle City limits.
• Organizations whose primary location is in a King County-designated Community of Opportunity. The Communities of Opportunity (COO) index includes a set of health and socioeconomic indicators to gauge community health and well-being and identify the areas of King County in greatest need of support.

Please note: Organizations with an annual budget over $5 million do not qualify for this additional Geographic and Equity Investment funding.

• Equipment for Organizations grants are available for federally recognized nonprofit arts, heritage, historic preservation, and science organizations incorporated in the state of Washington and based in King County (with a physical address excluding PO Boxes or other equivalents); public corporations, Tribal governments, and public agencies; or arts, heritage, historic preservation, or science organizations that are fiscally sponsored by a 501c3 partner organization. Please note: check with your discipline’s Program Manager if you are using a fiscal sponsor to see if they are eligible for this grant.
• Your organization is based in and conducts a majority (51% or more) of your mission-based, public-facing activities in King County with a primary focus on arts, heritage, historic preservation, or science.
• Your organization has a board of directors, a proven two-year record of providing arts, heritage, historic preservation, or science experiences or services to the residents and visitors of King County and has no ongoing and continual deficits in your operating budget.

• K-12 schools and school districts.
• Individual practitioners.
• Equipment purchased with this grant may not be used for religious worship or instruction.

• Arts: includes organizations focused on creative place-making, cultural festivals, dance, design, film, folk and traditional arts, literary arts, multidisciplinary arts, music, theater, and visual arts.
• Heritage: includes organizations focused on the preservation and transmission of local history; ethnic history; Native cultures; folklore and intangible cultural heritage; and historic and archaeological resources.
• Historic Preservation: includes organizations focused on advocacy or assistance to preserve, promote, and sustain historic places; education about our historic built environment; or stewarding historic properties that serve as a venue for cultural activities.
• Science and Technology: includes organizations focused on natural and social sciences, characterized by a formalized framework that entails the reproducible testing and revision of falsifiable ideas based on observable facts, as well as formal and applied sciences, such as mathematics and engineering. Applicants that are zoos or aquariums must also be accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

• Purchase of equipment that can be considered as fixed assets intended to be held for 10 years or more, such as machinery, equipment, or computer hardware.
• Installation fees if they are under 10% of your total request.
• Smaller items that are less than $200 per unit, if you demonstrate that the item is essential to the functionality of the larger equipment requested.

• Facility design, engineering, purchase, or remodeling of a facility.
• General equipment maintenance or repairs.
• Installation fees that are over 10% of your total request.
• Purchase of materials and supplies that are less than $200 per unit and have expected useful life of less than 12 months.
• Purchase of warranties, subscriptions, or computer software.
• Items purchased before September 25, 2025.
• Fees directed to staff unless their work on the project is outside their regular job duties and payment is above and beyond their regular compensation structure.
• Applicants with open and unclaimed contracts for past 4Culture Cultural Equipment grants are not eligible. Please reach out to your discipline’s Program Managers with any questions.

• ADA accessible equipment: closed caption devices, furniture, wheelchair lift
• Archival equipment
• Camera (not film)
• Chain motors
• Commercial sink
• Computer or iPads (not subscriptions)
• Computer equipment: hard drive, printer (not paper)
• Field equipment: environmental quality meters, refractometers
• Floor: outdoor stage, training mats, vinyl Marley floors
• Furniture
• Gallery/exhibit equipment: box truss, displays, frames, pedestals, shelves, vitrines
• Heating/Air equipment: air purifiers, dehumidifiers, infrared panels
• Instruments/concert production equipment
• Lab equipment: microscopes, centrifuge
• Laminating machine
• Lighting: lightboard, control console, lighting grid system
• Microphones: headset, wireless, tap shoe microphones (not batteries)
• Festival and pop-up event equipment
• Pottery: pottery wheels, ceramic or front-loading kilns, slab roller (not clay)
• Printing press
• Projectors
• Recording equipment: archiving, podcasting, streaming
• Refrigerator, if integral to programming
• Equipment for digital preservation
• Science materials: anatomy & physiology models, fossils, robotics kits, Van de Graaff generator
• Security camera
• Sound: portable sound system, amplifying speaker, audio workstations
• Vehicles, if integral to programming (not tires or insurance)
• Welding equipment

Narrative Questions in the Equipment for Organizations Application Form

Project Description (Equipment Purchase Description): clearly describe your organization’s intentions to acquire equipment and explain why this is a priority for your organization this year. It’s great to be concise. This is the who, what, and why of your project. For example:

• What is the equipment you need to purchase and what criteria did your organization use to select this equipment?
• Who is selecting the equipment and their relevant experience and how did they identify the appropriate equipment for this project (reached out to comparable institutions, consulted an expert, internal expertise)? Note: we do not need resumes.
• Why are you submitting this equipment request now?

Implementation and Maintenance: provide a work plan/timeline for the purchase and use of this equipment, including planning, fundraising, purchase, first use, and regular maintenance. Remember, equipment funded through this program must be purchased between September 25, 2025 – September 25, 2027. For example:

• How did your organization determine an appropriate vendor and cost for the equipment?
• If this equipment purchase has already received other funding, what additional funds have you raised?
• When do you plan to purchase this equipment?
• Let panelists know your priorities if you are requesting multiple items. If you receive less than your requested amount, how would you scale down the equipment purchase?
• Who will care for and maintain this equipment?
• Who will have access to use this equipment and how often will it be used?
• Where will this equipment be stored?
• Will you insure this equipment?

Project Impact and Public Benefit: clearly describe your organization’s intentions for the impact and public benefit of this equipment acquisition. It’s great to be concise. These are the details and the how of your project. For example:

• What impact do you hope this equipment purchase will have on your organization’s operations or the programs you offer to your audience or community?
• How does this equipment purchase allow you to execute your mission and serve King County residents and visitors? Remember that we need you to provide some kind of public benefit in exchange for this funding. In other words, in what ways will the equipment purchase help you increase your public benefit activities to your organization, audience, or community?
• How will the acquisition of this equipment allow you to launch a new project or better support your programming?
• How will the acquisition of this equipment allow you to connect with new audiences or better support your audiences?
• How will the acquisition of this equipment allow you to better support ADA accessibility?

Advancing Equity: is your organization, or its programs, focused on marginalized communities, especially communities that are disproportionately impacted by structural racism (e.g. serving Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) communities, engaging BIPOC leaders within a community, etc.)? How will this equipment allow you to better reach or serve historically marginalized communities? If these questions do not apply to your organization or this equipment acquisition, you may simply state so.

Economic Impact: how will this project enhance your organization’s ability to make a meaningful contribution in King County? Economic impacts can include purchases from local vendors and/or use of local contract labor for installation. Indirect impacts like increasing commercial activity, activating physical spaces, and enhancing the vibrancy of communities will also be considered.

Project Budget in the Equipment for Organizations Application Form

Use our Budget Form in the online application to indicate expenses that are estimates (as opposed to actual); you only need to fill out the line items that pertain to your project. Use the Budget Notes section to include an itemized list of equipment you intend to purchase, and to detail your expenses and income for the panel. You will not be expected to purchase the exact number and models of equipment on the list, but it does serve as the basis for the panel’s evaluation. Indicate whether you have purchased a similar piece of equipment with 4Culture funding, and if so, when you purchased it. Please refer to “What Equipment for Organizations Funds” section above for eligibility of 4Culture funding.

Required Additional Materials in the Equipment for Organizations Application form

Programs/Events/Primary Activities list: you must submit a list of your organization’s events, programs, and/or primary activities from the last 12 months. Please include date or date range, location, and attendance. For this grant, you do not need to include all of your programs/events/activities, though the panel will review what you submit. Please feel free to choose a range of up to ten programs/events/activities that best represent the narrative sections in your application.

Organizational board list: you must submit a list of your organization’s board members, their terms, and their employment or community affiliation in this section of the application.

Additional components to complete your Account Organization Profile:

Demographic Information: your organization profile in our application portal must provide demographic information for your board and staff for the current year. We use this information to help us understand how well we are doing in our efforts to reach all communities in King County. Read our privacy policy for information about how we protect your information. Your application is not complete if your demographic information is not updated for the current year.

Not sure how to complete your demographics information? Watch a tutorial video on how to complete your organization’s demographic survey.
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Financial Information: your organization profile in our application portal must provide your organization’s most recent IRS 990 form. Make certain it is up to date and confirm the accuracy of your address. If you have never provided us with this information, please include your two most recent years (2023 and 2024). If you do not file IRS 990, please use the financial information you have to complete the form in the portal.

Not sure how to find your organization’s 990? Watch this tutorial video. Substitulos en Español | 中文字幕（繁體)