Fiscal sponsorship

The Conseil is aware of the limited resources available, whether material, human or financial. In addition, the Conseil would like to emphasize that peer evaluators examine the extent to which the organization’s planned activities are in line with its capabilities and resources. This approach aims to promote sustainable, equitable and safe working conditions for all staff, artists, volunteers and affected communities. This evaluation takes into account the relevance and impact of actions, which take precedence over the number of activities conducted. Finally, the Conseil also recognizes the positive effects of initiatives to pool and share tools, practices or resources implemented by the artistic community.

Who is eligible to apply?

Incorporated non-profit organizations or artist cooperatives that do not pay dividends.

What are the program objectives?

To allow supported organizations to act as agents of the Conseil des arts de Montréal in order to carry out fundraising activities approved by the Conseil within the framework of an agreement. This agreement provides a framework for managing the program to meet Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) standards. Fiscal sponsorship enables the organizations we support to experiment with fund-raising strategies without having to worry about the administrative and fiscal management of donations.

IMPORTANT: No fundraising activities eligible for the Fiscal Sponsorship Program may begin unless the organization has already received funding from the Conseil des arts de Montréal, the management agreement has been signed and received by both parties, and the activity-related promotional materials have been reviewed and approved in advance by the Conseil.

What type of assistance is provided?

The Conseil pays a grant to organizations supported by fiscal sponsorship, based on the funds generated through fundraising efforts carried out as agents of the Conseil.

What is the duration of the support?

Support is one-time, for a period of one year, during which fundraising can take place. The exact duration is defined by the Conseil and is set out in the grant contract and management agreement between the sponsoring organization and the Conseil.

Fiscal sponsorship is a temporary and transitional program with a maximum of five years of support (consecutive or not).

The Conseil reserves the right to withdraw its support if, after five years of fiscal sponsorship support, the organization has not made at least one application to the CRA to qualify as a charitable organization.

How does the fiscal sponsorship program work?

Fiscal sponsorship is a component of the Conseil des arts de Montréal’s General Grants Program for Arts Organizations.

Supported organizations act as mandataries of the Conseil des arts de Montréal, enabling them to carry out fundraising activities approved by the Conseil through an agreement. In return, the Conseil undertakes to pay a larger subsidy, provided that the fundraising efforts have generated new revenue and met the obligations of the management agreement.

Fiscal sponsorship enables the Conseil to fulfill the charitable objectives enshrined in its mission and charitable purposes, which are to promote education in the arts, to foster public appreciation of the arts, and to promote professional arts practices by providing grants to arts organizations that create, produce and disseminate professional works of art. Donation revenues generated through Fiscal Sponsorship increase the Conseil’s charitable capacity and encourage the development of a culture of philanthropy among organizations eligible for the Conseil’s programs.

As a CRA-registered charity (888076643 RR 0001) since 1988, the Conseil des arts de Montréal is the only legal entity that accepts and processes donations and issues tax receipts for donations of $25 or more.

What does an arm’s length relationship between a donor and the arts organization that solicited the donation imply?

For each donation received, the Conseil must ensure that there is an arm’s length relationship between the person making the donation and the arts organization that solicited it, and that no one not at arm’s length with these persons will derive any personal benefit from the donation.

If there is any doubt about the relationship between the donor (or anyone not at arm’s length with the donor) and the arts organization, the donor must notify the Conseil before the donation is made. For a definition of “at arm’s length”, consult the Conseil’s Glossary.

Can the Conseil withdraw its support?

The Conseil reserves the right to withdraw its support if:  

• the Conseil is of the opinion that the person making the donation, or anyone not dealing at arm’s length with that person, may derive a direct or indirect benefit from the donation, or that the arm’s length relationship is not clear to the Board

• after five years of fiscal sponsorship support, the organization has not made at least one application for charitable status with the Canada Revenue Agency

•  the organization has a related foundation to support it by soliciting donations for its ongoing activities

• the delegated organization does not adequately carry out fundraising activities in accordance with the criteria set out in the grant contract and management agreement with the Conseil (which comply with CRA rules)

• the delegated organization does not have solicitation documents approved before sending them to its donors

• the delegated organization no longer meets the Conseil’s criteria for receiving a grant
  
• the Conseil deems that the delegated organization’s financial statements or other reports demonstrate misuse of the grant

• the delegated organization does not comply with the relevant practices set out in the Conseil des arts de Montréal’s Donation Acceptance Policy

• the delegated organization does not meet any other condition of the grant contract and management agreement

Does the Conseil provide any support to funded organizations?

The Conseil has developed various programs and partnerships to help arts organizations expand their resources and knowledge of philanthropy. To learn more, please see our webpage on philanthropy programs for the arts community.

What types of projects are eligible?

What types of projects are eligible? 

• Research and/or creation/production
• Specialized or multidisciplinary dissemination
• Publication of cultural magazines
• Production of an event or festival
• A museum
• Service organization, association or alliance

For organizations with a double mandate: 

• creation/production and dissemination
• creation/production and festivals/events 
• dissemination and festivals/events 
• dissemination and production support (visual arts, digital arts, film/video) 

 An organization whose double mandate is not included in the above list is invited to contact the advisor in charge of their sector. 

What are the general eligibility conditions?

Status and conditions

• Be a non-profit organization or an artists’ cooperative that pays no dividends
• Be headquartered on the Island of Montréal
• Have a board of directors whose members are mainly Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada
• Have the principal mandate to create, produce or distribute creative work in the arts, or to bring together or represent artists or cultural workers in a specific artistic discipline or multidisciplinary arts.

Professionalism

• Possess a level of recognized and demonstrable competence
• Be managed by qualified individuals
• Have stable artistic leadership
• Have presented activities of a recognized artistic quality
• Bring together, represent or employ professional artists and/or cultural workers

Are there any special eligibility conditions?

• Agree that the Conseil has full discretion and control over whether a donation can be accepted and how it will be used, in accordance with its Donation Acceptance Policy
• Recognize that the Conseil charges administration fees on the sums collected by organizations, equal to 4% for the first three years under the program and progressively increasing to 6% during the fourth year and then to 8% for the fifth year. This progressive increase on the administration fee will only be applied to first time applicants for the March 8th 2023 deadline and for future deadlines. (This percentage may change at the sole discretion of the Conseil.).

What projects are eligible?

Projects related to the organization’s mandate.

Creation and production of a show, experimentation and research on the components of a production, implementation of season programming, production of a festival, presentation of an exhibition, implementation of activities to support disciplinary development, dissemination in the public space, research-creation in the visual and digital arts, collaboration between curators and artists, etc.

Projects enabling arts organizations – or the artists, cultural workers and artistic milieus they serve – to structure, adapt, perfect or stabilize themselves.

All of the organization’s activities in line with its mandate.

What fundraising projects are eligible?

The following fundraising activities are eligible:  

•  fundraising campaign: solicitation of individuals, foundations and corporations;  
• fundraising event: this type of fundraising activity cannot be supported on a temporary basis. The Conseil will announce this as soon as it is possible again. 

When must the fundraising project be carried out?

The fundraising project must be completed within the time frame established in the fiscal sponsorship application.

A new application must be submitted for each new fiscal sponsorship project.

When submitting an application for renewal or extension, arts organizations are responsible for allowing the Conseil sufficient time to study the application and issue a new decision. Organizations are also responsible for planning their applications for renewal under the program in accordance with the deadlines set by the Conseil des arts de Montréal and the information found in the fiscal sponsorship management agreement.

How many applications will be approved?

The number of applications the Conseil accepts varies depending on the number it receives, and its evaluation of the interest and relevance of the projects.

Who is ineligible to apply?

Applicants

• Organizations that do not meet the general eligibility requirements
• Organizations incorporated as general or limited partnerships
• Individual artists
• Artists’ collectives
• Organization failing to produce the final report(s) due for projects funded by the Conseil under the General Funding Program
• Cultural magazines with less than one year of publication activity to their credit, or that produce fewer than two issues a year, or that distribute free of charge (in the case of a periodical published exclusively on the Web, the periodical must publish a number of texts equivalent to two issues per year and its distribution may be free of charge)
• Public or para-public organizations representing governments or municipal corporations
• Organizations dedicated to teaching, education, and professional training
• in specific cases, a broadcasting organization that receives support or a mandate from the City of Montreal for its broadcasting activities

Projects 

• Projects completed before receiving the Conseil’s decision (approximately ten to twelve weeks following the application deadline)
• sound recording projects (albums, CDs, demos, etc.) of a promotional nature
• Projects whose main focus is cultural mediation
• Projects specifically related to film or web film production
• Projects that are essentially promotional, including video clips
• Projects intended primarily for training, internships or masterclasses
• National or international showcase or prospection projects
• Capital projects or projects to acquire specialized equipment
• Projects related to activities of a trade union character 

Activity sectors

• Organizations or cooperative working exclusively in variety arts or comedy
• Organizations or cooperative working exclusively in cultural mediation

Applications

• Incomplete applications
• Applications received after the deadline

Ineligibility specific to fiscal sponsorship

The following fundraising activities do not align with the fiscal sponsorship program:

• auctions
• draws
• crowdfunding campaigns
• donations of goods or works of art

Sponsorship is not considered philanthropy and therefore not eligible for fiscal sponsorship.

Ineligible applications will not be considered by the evaluation committee.

Can specific populations receive additional financial support to submit their application or complete their project (accessibility costs)?

Yes. Accessibility costs refer to costs that certain individuals, particularly those who are D/deaf and/or living with a disability, must pay to take advantage, in the same way as others do, of the services and programs offered by an institution for research, to create, produce or disseminate their art. Reimbursement of part of these costs by the Conseil des arts de Montréal may offset the financial disadvantage.

The Support Fund for Accessibility Costs is a financial assistance measure that complements the Conseil’s other programs. The deadline to apply for support for accessibility costs is the same as that for the program being applied to.

Artists, collectives or organizations that have obtained financial assistance from the Conseil to carry out a project can also file an application for accessibility cost support up to three months after the decisions related to the successful project have been sent out, provided the project is not completed before the deadline to send out decisions for accessibility cost support applications.

Support is divided into three components:

• component 1 – Financial support to submit a grant application or to apply for one of the Conseil’s initiatives
• component 2 – Financial support for accessibility costs for a project funded by the Conseil
• component 3 – Financial support for presenter organizations for accessibility costs to welcome audiences for a project funded by the Conseil

For more details, please see this additional information on the Support Fund.

Can I submit more than one application in the same year?

Organizations can only submit one application per year. Three calls for applications are planned each year for this program. The first submission is usually scheduled for the end of November, the second for March and the third for the end of August.

Who should submit the application?

The organization’s designated representative (administration, management).

What information and documents must I include in my application?

• Project summary and financial objectives
• Mandate and brief history
• Description of the proposed fundraising project and artistic project
• List of staff and board members
• Potential and confirmed donors
• Self-identification form (voluntary, for statistical purposes)
• Financials

Important: Please note that if you do not complete your application, the initial draft will be deleted four weeks after the application deadline. You will not be able to reuse it for future applications. You may therefore wish to create a PDF version of your application and download it for your files.

How are applications evaluated?

Applications are reviewed by an evaluation committee composed of peer evaluators from the same discipline as the organization applying for support.

What are the evaluation criteria?

Applications are assessed according to the evaluation criteria of the General Funding Program.

What is the response time?

It will take ten to twelve weeks from the date of the application for the Conseil to process it and reach a decision.

How will I be informed of the decision?

The representative for the organization will receive an email invitation to view the results on the ORORA platform. No decisions will be communicated by phone.

Can I appeal the decision?

The Conseil’s decisions are final and not subject to appeal. However, Conseil staff are available to answer any questions regarding decisions. Equity, ethics and proximity are an integral part of our values, and listening and empathy will always be a priority in our customer relations. With the aim of improving the way we work, we are now providing you with a feedback form, which you can find here.

In addition, organizations, collectives, artists and their representatives agree at all times not to communicate with members of the evaluation committees or members of the Conseil’s Board of Directors in any matter relating to the management, evaluation or decisions related to their application. 

The Conseil des arts de Montréal staff are available to answer questions about the application evaluation process and decisions. 

How will the grant be paid?

The grant is paid six to eight weeks after receipt and verification of collected donation cheques and three to four weeks after online donations.

Payment of the grant is conditional on the receipt of donations solicited by the organization receiving fiscal sponsorship.

The first payment will be made via cheque. Subsequent payments will be made via direct deposit.

Receipt of the grant constitutes a commitment by the organization to carry out the activities covered by the fiscal sponsorship and to comply with the related conditions, which will be communicated upon acceptance of the application.

The organization supported by the fiscal sponsorship undertakes to:

• carry out its project as planned
• notify the Conseil as soon as possible of its inability to carry out the fundraising project within the planned fiscal year
• use the paper and online donation forms provided by the Conseil des arts de Montréal
• if required, submit activity and financial reports at the required intervals
• if applicable, include in the report photos, videos or any other relevant visual elements free of copyright that may be used for promotional or archival purposes by the Conseil

More specifically, when the project is accepted, the organization must:

• review and sign the management agreement sent via the ORORA platform
• submit all solicitation documents for approval, allowing ten business days before sending them out to your network
• be sure to mention the Conseil des arts de Montréal’s fiscal sponsorship support in all solicitation documents
• direct the donor to the online donation form or send the paper version of the fiscal sponsorship donation form provided by the Conseil des arts de Montréal
• inform solicited individuals, foundations and companies that the organization is supported by the Conseil des arts de Montréal’s fiscal sponsorship program
• respect the provisions of the Canadian Anti-Spam Act (Bill C-28) and the Personal Information Governance Act (Bill 25) when soliciting donations for the Conseil des arts de Montréal
• include in its financial statements and budget documents, under the line item Conseil des arts de Montréal – Parrainage fiscal, the amount received as a grant under the fiscal sponsorship program
• provide the Conseil with an activity report and financial statements within four months of the end of the fiscal sponsorship agreement, this report will be available in ORORA
• comply with any other conditions set out in the grant contract and management agreement entered into with the Conseil

In the event that the organization breaches the terms of the grant contract and management the Conseil may terminate the organization’s participation in fiscal sponsorship, and if any funds that have not yet been disbursed to the offending organization, they will be withdrawn from the program discretion, as these funds belong to the Conseil.

The Conseil undertakes to:

• approve, within a reasonable period of time, all solicitation documents to be used by the delegated organization in its efforts to raise funds approved for fiscal sponsorship
• upon receipt of the signed agreement and approval of the solicitation documents, forward the donation form link for online donations to the Mandated Organization
• administer donations according to the rules established by the Income Tax Act and the CRA
• forward a copy of the Conseil des arts de Montréal’s Donation Acceptance Policy to the delegated organization for review and application in fundraising activities