Finding Funding

Creative placemaking is always about partnerships. Funding for creative placemaking can come from a variety of places, and your project will probably always involve a mix of funding sources. Consider all the options available in your community, and how they may work together.

• Government
  • Municipal governments have funded creative placemaking from city budgets (public works, housing, arts council, public health, etc.) and special financing districts (TIF).
  • Regional Initiative Grants, Arts Project Support, Indiana Arts Commission
  • CreatINg Places, Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority
  • Quick Impact Placebased (QuIP) Grant, Office of Community and Rural Affairs
  • Community Facilities Technical Assistance and Training Grant, US Dept. of Agriculture
  • Our Town, National Endowment for the Arts
• Nonprofits and Foundations
  • ArtPlace America
  • The Levitt AMP [Your City] Grant Awards
  • Smart Growth America
  • Local community development corporation (CDC). Contact Prosperity Indiana to find yours.
  • Impact investment. Find your community foundation here.
  • Nonprofit lenders are financial institutions that set up special financing for nonprofits or projects with social impact. See more about these kinds of institutions in “Special Financing” below.
• Private Funding

  Who benefits from the impacts your creative placemaking brings about? Would they be willing to pay for it? It’s very likely that an individual or business may contribute to the creative placemaking process. It’s all about matching their needs with yours. Storytelling is key.

  If your creative placemaking process is intended to result in economic impact, perhaps local businesses would be interested in supporting it. Don’t forget about in kind contributions. If your creative placemaking process is intended to improve the quality of life in your community, perhaps a large employer may see it as an investment in employee retention.

• Special Financing

  Look for a community development financial institution that does place-based or community development financing.

  • Community Development Financial Institutions in Indiana
  • Opportunity Finance Network CDFI Locator
  • IFF
• Other Supporters

  National Association of Realtors Placemaking Microgrants: NAR’s Placemaking Initiative encourages REALTOR® associations and their members, to engage in Placemaking in their communities. The Placemaking Micro-Grant is available to REALTOR® associations to help them plan, organize, implement and maintain Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper Placemaking activities in their communities.

  ioby Crowdfunding for Neighborhood Projects: ioby helps neighbors grow and implement great ideas one block at a time. Their crowd-resourcing platform connects leaders with funding and support to make our neighborhoods safer, greener, more livable and more fun. ioby believes that it should be easy to make meaningful change “in our backyards” – the positive opposite of NIMBY. ioby’s platform gives everyone the ability to organize all kinds of capital—cash, social networks, in-kind donations, volunteer time, advocacy—from within the neighborhood to make the neighborhood a better place to live.