Building Organizational Capacity

Rural Arts Program
Professional Consultant Fee Subsidies for Rural Partners

Since 1993, the Alliance Rural Arts Program has provided limited financial support to Rural Partners that seek to strengthen their organizations through use of an outside professional consultant.

Guidelines and Criteria
Subsidies for outside professional consultant fees are available to all Aliance Rural Partners with current Alliance membership. This support is available year round for consultants working directly with boards and staff to strengthen the organization's infrastructure or professionalism, the organization¹s position within its community, or to prepare the organization for planned growth.

Examples of consultant work that can be supported include but are not limited to:
- strategic and long range planning
- board development
- community cultural needs & resources assessment
- effective community fundraising or marketing
- board staff relations
- facilitation of planning retreats that review/revisit the mission, vision and goals of the organization

Examples of consultant work that are not eligible for support:
- grantwriter fees
- fundraiser fees

Subsidies will only support the consultant fee for service. However, a match is required by the applicant. A first-time request will require a 1:1 match. Subsequent requests can be supported at up to 1:3. No more than 3 requests will be awarded to one organization within a 5-year period. The Alliance can provide suggestions for other resources to match consultant fees. Note that consultant subsidies will rarely exceed $1,000.

Process
An Alliance Rural Partner interested in applying for support of a consultant¹s fee should contact the Rural Arts Director, who can help with the selection of a consultant if necessary, or provide pre-consultant preparation work with the board and staff. Once it is agreed that an application is to be submitted, then:
- The Rural Partner submits a letter of request on letterhead, stating purpose of consultancy, selected consultant, length of consultancy and scope of work schedule. A biography and list of recent clients of the selected consultant should be included in this letter of request.
- A letter of agreement or contract must be drawn up between the organization and the consultant, to ensure that expectations are understood and met. A sample contract is available through the Rural Arts Director.
- Once notified of subsidy support by the Rural Arts Director, the organization will receive appropriate paperwork to include a confirmation letter, client evaluation form and fee payment form. A simple consultant evaluation form will also be included, to be completed and returned by the consultant. All forms are due within 30 days of the completion of the consultancy. After a period of six months to a year, the Rural Arts Director does a follow-up call to the organization to see how things have progressed as a result of the consultancy and determine with staff if there are next steps to consider.

Rural Regional Coalitions

In the early days of the Rural Arts Program, a number of the Rural Partners in central and western New York expressed an interest in holding regional meetings to share information and network, discuss common issues and build advocacy skills. The Alliance Rural Arts Program responded to these requests; from 1995 through 1998, the Central & Western NY Rural Arts Coalition met three times each year. At that time, many of the participants were new to the field and their jobs, and found the meetings comfortable forums to express concerns, network and explore issues. Some of the topics covered during these meetings were: membership development, newsletters, rural strengths and challenges, marketing and cultural tourism. As the new directors became more proficient and their job demands increased, the need for these meetings disappeared.

ARTSNorth is a second rural regional coalition that developed through a common interest in marketing the arts in the Adirondack/North Country region. One Rural Partner initiated the effort; as the lead agency, Arts Council for the Northern Adirondacks secured funding for regional promotion of the arts through the New York State Council on the Arts and developed a working collaboration with the Adirondack North Country Association, a regional economic development agency and the "I Love NY" program to centralize cultural resource and calendar information. The Alliance Rurals Program assists with organizing the ARTSNorth meetings, which also function as networking sessions for the Rural Partners in the region.

Regional networks are informed and designed from the ground up to meet the networking needs of Rural Partners in specific geographic areas of the state. It is the Alliance Rural Arts Program's role to assist with their networking needs, rather than to drive regional meetings.

The Alliance of New York State Arts Organizations has a long history as New York's primary service association for community based arts and cultural organizations. The Alliance provides leadership and vision, and delivers services, resources and tools that strengthen community cultural organizations. The Alliance monitors, informs and mobilizes the field on statewide and national issues affecting the arts and assists local arts agencies in building community support and developing effective grassroots public policy.ing community support and developing effective grassroots public policy.

245 Love Lane, P.O. Box 96
Mattituck, NY 11952-0096
Phone (631) 298-1234 / Fax (631) 298-1101