PAY ATTENTION - URGENT: Your DCA GPS grant is in JEOPARDY.

Friday, February 9, 2018

Your 2018-19 Cultural and Museum Grant for General Program Support

is in Serious JEOPARDY!

The Senate currently recommends ONLY $203,985 and the House currently recommends $10 million to fund 489 Cultural and Museum Matching Grants in 2018-19.

These appropriation recommendations are

NOT FINAL and CAN BE CHANGED if you take action now.

Please invest 15 to minutes now to read the information below to better understand where we are in this year's legislative session regarding the appropriation recommendations to fund Cultural and Museum Grants as of today's date. Once you've read this update, please follow through now on two action steps .

Let's continue to work together to restore budget line item 3121 to a higher level so your organization can receive a higher percentage of its qualified grant amount under the Cultural and Museum Grants' category.

ADVOCATES, we have to pay attention for our policy makers to pay attention to us.

Your follow-up actions can demonstrate that we are all paying attention to the recommendations and actions our state policy makers are taking on the appropriations needed to fund the DCA Cultural and Museum matching grants, and the other DCA grants' programs.

Please invest 15-20 minutes now to let Florida Senate and House legislative leadership know WHY this state DCA Cultural and Museum matching grant matters to your organization, community, and state.

How does your organization leverage this grant to help raise a critical
percentage of your annual operating budget?

What amount of your budget does it help you secure as a match?

How many jobs does it help your organization to preserve and create?

How many educational program s does it support?

How many residents and tourists are reached by your programs?

What other matching 2018-2019 DCA grant applicants are recommended
for these matching grants that are based in your county?

What is the economic impact of Florida's nonprofit arts and culture
organizations within your city, county, region, and state?

How has your organization's expenses increased due to loss of revenue

from hurricane damage and/or temporary closure?

How much additional money is your organization investing to strengthen
security measures at your facilities for greater safety of your staff and
residents and tourists who engage with your programs and services?

It's important to share
with your Florida representative and senator and legislative leadership WHY this state Cultural and Museum grant investment matters and is used and matched in the most ACCOUNTABLE of ways.

These current appropriation recommendations are
NOT FINAL and CAN BE CHANGED. Legislators will be heading into budget conference meetings over the next couple of weeks to reconcile differences and develop our state's FY 2018-19 state budget to send to the governor.

The Revenue Estimating Conference meets today, and we're optimistic that there is additional revenue that could be added by Florida Legislative Leadership to the Cultural and Museums Grants' line item 3121 and other DCA grants-program budget line items. HOWEVER, they need to hear from you and others WHY this state-appropriation investment has substantial importance to your organization and community.

Together, we must continue to communicate with them throughout the next three weeks about the value and return on investment that these Florida Department of State Division of Cultural Affairs' grants bring to our arts and cultural organizations and state.

What approximate percentage of your qualified and recommended grant amount would you receive if either of these appropriation recommendations remain and are not

restored to a higher level for these recommended 2018-19 Cultural and Museum matching grants?

In the Florida SENATE:

ONLY $203,985 is currently recommended.

This appropriation amount would provide approximately 0.0049% of each of the qualified grant amounts for the 489 vetted and recommended DCA matching grants under the Cultural and Museum Grants' category (budget line item 3121).

In the Florida HOUSE:

$10 million is currently recommended.

This appropriation amount would provide approximately 24% of each of the qualified grant amounts for 489 vetted and recommended DCA matching grants under the Cultural and Museum Grants' category (budget line item 3121)

These appropriation recommendations

ARE NOT FINAL and CAN be CHANGED if they hear from us.

Florida Legislative Leadership
Must Hear From

You,

Your board members,

Other arts & culture advocates, and

Other Legislators in the Senate & House.

A large number of advocates from across the state must communicate now and throughout this year's legislative session (scheduled to end March 9) to Senate and House Leadership and your own Florida Senator and Representative.

We all must ask Florida Legislative Leadership and our senators and representatives to please RESTORE the appropriation level for budget line item 3121 for Cultural and Museum Grants to a level that is closer to the $41,608,780 needed to honor and fund the qualified-matching-grant amounts of 489 vetted and recommended arts and culture nonprofit grant applicants.

STEP 1:
Send two different emails now -- one to
6 Senate Leaders AND one to 6 House Leaders.

Below are linked TWO DIFFERENT SUGGESTED EMAILS for you to edit and use:

1. Here is a suggested SENATE email to edit, cut, add your own WHY

facts (see questions above), and personalize and send to

6 SENATE Leaders listed on page 1 -- send each Senate Leader

his or her own email -- do not send as a group of 6.

AND

2. Here is a suggested HOUSE email to edit, cut, add your own WHY

facts (see questions above), personalize, and send to

6 HOUSE Leaders listed on page 2 -- send each Senate Leader

his or her own email -- do not send as a group of 6.

STEP 2:
Please COPY the emails you send to

1. SENATE Leaders' legislative assistants -- their names and emails are
included in above linked PDF.

2. HOUSE Leaders' legislative assistants -- their names and emails are
included in above linked PDF.

3. Your state senator on the the emails you send to Senate leaders AND
to your state representative on the emails you send to House leaders.

If you do not know who your state senator and representative are in the
Florida Legislature, please go here and enter your address.

4. The Florida Cultural Alliance at info@FLCA.net so we know who is being
communicated with and how many emails are being sent.

This is a PROCESS to develop the state's annual budget. We all must stay involved and engaged in this process until this year's legislative session is completely over. It's not over until it's over.