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2026 Grant Cycle (January 1 – December 31, 2026)
Community Cultural Participation Grant Requirements
For nonprofit organizations
Cultural Coalition of Washington County Mission Statement:
Trust in Washington County. The CCWC also promotes the cultural identity, quality of life and economic vitality of Washington County and its arts, heritage, and humanities organizations.
Application period opens September 2, 2025 and closes at 11:59 PM PT on October 10, 2025.
Award Notifications will be announced by January 31, 2026.
Funds will be issued by late-February 2026. Note: Organizations with January 2026 projects may need to be prepared to cover costs until grant funds are distributed.
If you received a CCWC grant in 2025, please submit your final report through your organization’s account in CCWC’s grant portal. Final reports for 2025 grants may be submitted anytime but will be due no later than 11:59 pm on Thursday, January 15, 2026. This is a hard deadline. Failure to submit a final report by the deadline will make your organization ineligible for a 2026 grant and may make you ineligible to apply again in future cycles.
Grant Requirements:
The Community Cultural Participation (CCP) Grant Program provides financial support for Washington County nonprofit arts, heritage, and humanities organizations and activities.
Applicants can apply for activities or opportunities that address one or more of these five goals:
- Public Awareness and Participation– Build community through communication, audience development, and engagement.
- Support Cultural Organizations– Increase capacity, encourage professional development, and support adaptability.
- Increase Public Art and Performance Opportunities- Foster more impactful art, events, and cultural connections with increased accessibility for all.
- Support Diverse Cultural and Heritage Activities- Include cultural learning and cultural equity at the heart of our creative community.
- Increasing Access to Arts Education- Serve school-based arts and cultural opportunities and build arts awareness for youth, while encouraging life-long learning.
A strong grant application will explain how the grant addresses priorities of:
- promoting cultural diversity
- developing community and/or cross-cultural partnerships
- providing matching-fund or cost-sharing opportunities
- promoting cultural tourism
- presenting events that are open to the public
To view information about the Washington County Cultural Plan, click here. Proposals in the CCP Grant Program should be geared toward a specific event, activity, or communication of the organization.
Examples of successful CCP Grant Proposals include:
- Expenses for events and activities accessible to the public: festivals, performances, workshops, lectures, conferences, exhibits, open studio tours and other activities which will clearly help enrich cultural participation within the county.
- General promotional material that focuses on one or more of the previously mentioned five priorities.
- Applicants must demonstrate a clear distribution and/or marketing plan in proposals for promotional materials. (Promotional materials include the development of websites.)
- Create and implement a cultural learning program.
- Performances, demonstrations, or exhibitions in schools.
- Cross-cultural partnerships and collaborations, including work with the Washington County Visitors Association, or support for cultural tourism events or activities.
Funding for CCP grants comes from the Oregon Cultural Trust (OCT): the number of CCP grants awarded will depend on the funds available in the CCP Grant budget for that year.
To find out more about the Oregon Cultural Trust, go to: www.culturaltrust.org.
CCWC Statement of Non-Discrimination:
The CCWC is committed to providing services and making our resources available to every member of Washington County without regard to race, color, creed, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, military status, marital status, political opinion, national origin, familial status, mental and physical disability, gender identity, and source of income or disability status.
Grant Assistance:
For questions about the grant requirements, organization or grant eligibility, and/or technical assistance with the grant application process, software issues, and status of grant fund distribution please contact: info@ccwashco.org.
Visit these websites for tips on submitting a well-written grant (more grant resources are listed at the end of this document):
How to Write a Winning Grant for Your Nonprofit
How to Write a Successful Humanities Grant
Budget tips: revenue and expenses must balance. Be as detailed as possible, especially with revenue projections (be specific about sources of income). Incomplete or incorrectly completed budgets are the main reason grant proposals are rejected. Visit our website for an example of a well-written budget.
Requirements for 2026 Grant Applications
CCWC’s grant requirements have been revised for 2026. Please read the following to be sure your project fits with the new requirements.
If an organization received a Community Cultural Participation Grant in 2025, a final report for that grant must have been submitted on time prior to applying for a 2026 grant. If the activity has not yet been completed, please explain why in the application.
2026 Approved Grant Waiver Applicants: Applicants with approved 2026 Cultural Coalition grant amendment waivers are eligible to apply for the 2026 grant cycle.
2026 Translation of Guidelines and Application Form:
- The Cultural Coalition offers the Grant Guidelines and Application in English and Spanish.
- The Board is accepting feedback on additional language translation needs for the 2025 grant cycle, please email requests to chair@ccwashco.org.
How to apply for a Community Cultural Participation (CCP) Grant:
Timelines:
- Grant applications open September 2, 2025.
- The deadline to submit an application is 11:59 PM PT on October 10, 2025.
- Applications must be completed and electronically submitted on-line to CCWC’s application portal. Late or paper applications will not be accepted. Please do not wait until the last minute to submit your grant applications.
- To access the CCP on-line application and guidelines go to www.ccwashco.org/grant-program/
Grant Cycle:
All funded activities must take place between January 1 – December 31, 2026. Funds are usually issued in mid to late February, therefore, if your organization is applying for a grant to be used for a January 2026 program or project, please be prepared to cover costs until grant funds are distributed.
If you received a CCWC grant in 2025, please submit your final report through your organization’s account in CCWC’s grant portal. Final reports for 2025 grants may be submitted anytime but are due no later than January 15, 2026. This is a hard deadline. Failure to submit a final report by the deadline will make your organization ineligible for a 2026 grant and may make you ineligible to apply again in future cycles.
Eligibility:
New! In 2026, grant awards will be capped at $3,000 per EIN number.
Please submit your grant request amount based on your actual need. This will enable the CCWC to fund more organizations across the county. The CCWC reserves the right to award partial funding to applicants to fund all grants the review panel deems worthy.
An organization may apply for and receive only one CCP grant per year. Grants will be awarded for projects and programs that are new and reach a diverse and wide audience.
ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS
- Nonprofit, IRS-designated 501(c)(3) arts, culture, humanities, or heritage organization, or a school and/or teacher with an arts, heritage, or humanities project.
- Schools: Priority will be given to applications submitted by or on behalf of individual teachers. Applications do not have to be submitted by the district; however, please be aware that an EIN can only be used once per grant cycle. Therefore, if multiple applications with the same EIN are awarded, they will have to divide the award equally.
- Should apply for an opportunity that enhances Public Awareness and Participation, supports Existing Cultural Organizations, increases Public Art Opportunities, supports Cultural and Heritage Learning, or increases Youth Access to the Arts (as described above).
- Be headquartered within Washington County and serve Washington County residents, or apply for a grant to support your event located in Washington County.
- Applications will be accepted that support capital expenditure, such as the acquisition of public art, museum exhibits, or equipment; however, CCP grants may not be used for capital campaigns.
- Applicants are advised to make their 2026 project different from the funded 2025 project.
- Applicants must provide an itemized budget showing revenue and expenditures for the proposed activity or event in the application. Revenue and expenses must balance. Be as detailed as possible, especially with revenue projections (be specific about granting organizations and sources of income). If your organization presents projects in multiple counties, please include only budget information pertinent to your activities in Washington County.
INELIGIBLE APPLICANTS
- CCWC will not fund events that occur outside of Washington County.
- Organizations must be as specific as possible at the time of their application about the locations of their projects. Funds may be withheld until the location of the project is known.
- CCWC may grant an exception for an organization based in Washington County to provide a unique cultural experience outside Washington County.
- CCWC is prioritizing funding for new projects and programs.
- If your organization has received CCWC grant funding in the past, it will not be considered for funding if the grant project or program is the same. Your grant application must be for a new grant project or program in order to be considered.
- Organizations that have a fiscal sponsorship relationship with another organization are not eligible.
- Grants will not be awarded to support an endowment.
- Grants will not be awarded for the purchase of food or refreshments.
- Applications from social service agencies or religious organizations are not eligible.
- Grants will not fund purchases of equipment or clothing not critical to the organization’s mission or the project/event.
Review and Notification Process:
- A panel of CCWC board members will review proposals by established eligibility criteria.
- Awards will be based on the recommendations of the CCWC review panel.
- Grant applicants can expect to receive notification of their grant award status in December 2025. If you have not received official notification by January 31, 2026, please contact CCWC at grants@ccwashco.org.
2026 CCP Grant Compliance:
- Use of Funds Deadline – Applicants awarded a CCP grant must complete the grant within the period from January 1 to December 31, 2026.
- Grant communication will be conducted electronically using the Main and Alternate email addresses submitted with the application. Please use the names and email addresses of the people who will have primary responsibility for the grant. If this responsibility changes during the year, please notify CCWC and update your account in our grant portal accordingly.
- Award notification emails will be sent via the online grant portal to organizations in December 2025. Please read and share the information with all people involved in your grant project.
- If you receive a 2026 grant, a Grant Contract must be completed and returned by Friday, December 19, 2025. Please be sure your decision makers are aware of this deadline to ensure no delay in returning this form. Failure to return this form by the deadline could result in your grant being rescinded.
- Acknowledgment (Credit to CCWC & OCT) – Recipients of CCP grant support must acknowledge the Cultural Coalition of Washington County and the Oregon Cultural Trust in all publicity related to the CCP grant. An electronic version of the logos can be found on each website or can be requested from grants@ccwashco.org. Recipients are requested to email and/or mail copies of printed materials, press releases/coverage related to the project or activity to CCWC for its file.
Please mail copies of materials to:
Cultural Coalition of Washington County
2850 SW Cedar Hills Blvd #2127
Beaverton, OR 97005
Email digital copies to:
- Required Notification/Approval for Change – It is the responsibility of the grant applicant to notify CCWC in advance in writing of any changes in the grant status or use of funds. Grant recipients must receive permission from CCWC prior to making major changes in use of grant funds.
- CCWC Grant “Buddy” – A Grant Buddy will be assigned to the grant awardees as a liaison to enhance communication. Please respond in a timely fashion to emails from your grant buddy.
- Final Report – 2026 awardees must submit a Final Report of completed activities by Friday, January 15, 2027. New this year: The final report must contain photos of your project and photos or PDFs of your program information showing the location of your event and your acknowledgement of CCWC and the Oregon Cultural Trust. The final report form can be accessed by going to your organization’s account in our grant portal. Final reports can be completed at any point during the year, but must be received by January 15, 2027. This is a hard deadline. We strongly encourage organizations to submit their final reports as soon as their project is completed. Compliance with the final reporting requirements in previous grant cycles will be considered when the applicant’s future grant applications are in review. Please do not expect CCWC to remind you to submit your final report.
More resources on funding for nonprofits:
The Grantsmanship Center – this website has webinars and trainings as well as a Program Planning & Proposal Writing Guide
Nonprofit Association of Oregon
Tualatin Valley Creates – presents workshops and networking events in Washington County
The Oregon Cultural Trust – offers several grant programs annually