After first round of Measure P paperwork, one thing is clear: More applicants will be competing for less money
By Doug Hoagland
Memo to Fresno’s arts community: Buckle up. Competition for Measure P grants in 2025 could be fierce in this second year of funding.
Compared to 2024, the number of potential grants applicants has doubled while the pot of available Measure P money is down by one-third.
Numbers tell the story.
In 2025, 278 arts organizations, artists collectives, individuals artists and culture bearers submitted letters of intent to the Fresno Arts Council, which runs the grants program. (Full disclosure: The Munro Review is one of the 278.)
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A letter of intent – an online form – is designed to ensure that potential Measure P applicants have met key requirements before submitting a separate grant application. Letters of intent weren’t required in 2024.
Staff at the Arts Council are now checking each letter for compliance. “Most have their documents in order and those that do not have plenty of time to get things in order,” said Lilia González Chávez, executive director of the Fresno Arts Council.
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It’s unlikely, though, that all 278 will get the go-ahead to submit grant applications. But, if they did, that would be more than double the 112 grantees that got a share of Measure P money in 2024.
In 2025, according to the Arts Council, $6.2 million will be divvied up. The figure was $9.4 million in 2024 because money built up over several years as officials worked to launch the grants program. Most applicants in 2024 received at least some Measure P money. (Again, in full disclosure, The Munro Review received $26,220.)
González Chávez told The Munro Review it’s “premature” to talk about increased competition in 2025. “I don’t yet know how many applications we will ultimately have. I anticipate requests for grants will be greater than the funds available, but I won’t know this until the application process ends.”
Changing deadlines
June 11 is now the deadline for submitting grant applications, which are different from letters of intent. The original grant application deadline was June 6. The change followed a last-minute extension of the deadline for the letters of intent.The original deadline was April 4, but on that date, the Arts Council announced an extension to April 11.
The reason: to allow for greater participation in the process. It worked.
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The Arts Council received 177 letters of intent by April 4. During the one-week extension, another 101 came in, bringing the total to 278.
Some of the 278 need a fiscal sponsor because they don’t have the nonprofit, tax exempt status required for receiving Measure P money. A fiscal sponsor is a registered 501(c)(3) organization recognized by the Internal Revenue Service that’s supposed to provide guidance, support and oversight to any grantee it sponsors.
To cover fiscal sponsors’ administrative expenses, they can receive up to 10% of each grant received by a sponsored grantee.
Seven organizations have agreed to serve as fiscal sponsors in 2025. They are Arte Américas, Arts Enrichment for All, Community Media Access Collaborative (CMAC), Downtown Fresno Foundation, Dulce UpFront, Fresno City and County Historical Society, and South Tower Community Land Trust.
‘Filling the void’
Dulce UpFront agreed to fiscally sponsor 84 of the 278. Co-founder Ome Lopez told The Munro Review: “Dulce UpFront is doing what we can to remove any barrier to access for artists and culture bearers. We know how difficult it can be to navigate [the Measure P process], so if we can eliminate one major challenge – like not having a fiscal sponsor – we will do just that.”
Lopez added that Dulce UpFront has planned for more than a year with the Fresno firm that does its accounting so they’re jointly ready to “handle the load.” In addition, Dulce has an integrated management system, college interns and AI tools for support, she said.
Other organizations that agreed to serve as fiscal sponsors report the following:
The Downtown Fresno Foundation is sponsoring multiple artists who want to work on one project, according to Elliott Balch, president and chief executive officer of the Downtown Fresno Partnership.
The Fresno City & County Historical Society is sponsoring six groups that have specific projects or missions that align with the Historical Society, said President Elizabeth Laval. The six are primarily located in southwest and southeast Fresno.
Laval said fiscal sponsors have important responsibilities. “Sponsoring six groups was the most we felt comfortable with because part of our relationship involves mentoring them.” It’s also the fiscal sponsor’s job to ensure grant money is properly spent, projects are completed and reports are filed, she added: “It takes time.”
Arts Enrichment for All is sponsoring seven organizations and artists. “It’s our first year so we thought, ‘Let’s start with a small number. Let’s not go crazy,’ ” said Executive Director Erin Burd. “We have a fiduciary responsibility to make sure that anyone we take on is using the funds properly. We want to mentor them so they don’t need a sponsor in the future.”
CMAC agreed to sponsor 17 Measure P hopefuls, though Executive Director Bryan Harley said he doesn’t know how many of the 17 submitted letters of intent.
Arte Américas is doubling in 2025 the number of emerging organizations it fiscally sponsored in 2024, according to Executive Director Arianna Paz Chávez. She did not specify a number, but said: “For us, it’s very important that we make sure that we can fully support each organization we work with to do our part and help them grow.”
The Munro Review also sent emails to the South Tower Community Land Trust but had not heard back prior to publication.
Next steps
González Chávez has outlined the timetable that will follow the June deadline for applications.
June and July: Panels composed of artists, nonprofit administrators and culture bearers (artists and individuals who practice and carry forward cultural art forms, beliefs and traditions) review grant applications.
August: Parks, Recreation and Arts Commission reviews and adopts funding recommendations.
September: Successful applicants receive notice.
October: Grant money disbursed. (Many arts organizations start their fiscal year on July 1, which makes the September/October dates problematic for planning their 2025-26 budgets.)
But González Chávez has said publicly the timetable could change because “things don’t always go as scheduled. But we’ll give it our best.”
Measure P is financed by a ⅜-cent increase in the city’s sales tax that Fresno voters approved in 2018. The measure will raise millions of dollars for 30 years to boost parks and arts.
