The Hawaiʻi State Foundation on Culture and the Arts (SFCA), administratively attached to the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, has opened its FY2028 Community Arts Grants cycle for eligible nonprofit arts and culture organizations throughout Hawaiʻi.
Funding and current deadline status
Applicants may request exactly $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000. A 1:1 match is required, and the program operates on a reimbursement basis. The current SFCA program page and grants calendar state that the FY2028 Intent to Apply is open August 1 through October 30, 2026 and the project application is open September 1 through October 30, 2026.
Atlas fail-closed note: the current official SFCA pages and application instructions identify October 30, 2026 as the deadline but do not publish an exact cutoff time or time zone. Atlas therefore has not treated the deadline as fully verified for publication or ORIGINAL outreach. This record remains Draft until an authoritative source establishes the exact cutoff time and time zone, or the issuer confirms that no clock-time cutoff applies.
Eligibility
Applicants must be nonprofit arts or culture organizations recognized by the IRS as 501(c)(3), incorporated in Hawaiʻi, not barred or suspended from federal funding, and have at least one year of experience with the proposed project. The project must take place in Hawaiʻi. Applicants must remain compliant with Hawaiʻi Compliance Express, maintain an active SAM.gov registration when the application is submitted, and satisfy the program’s accessibility and legal-eligibility documentation requirements. Fiscal sponsorship is not permitted, and only one application may be submitted per fiscal-year grant cycle.
Eligible program categories
Projects may be proposed under Heritage/Preservation; Community Arts, Community Development, Arts and Healing; Arts Education; or Presentation/Performing Arts.
Application and budget rules
The Intent to Apply and project application must be completed through Hawaiʻi GO Smart. Applications are not accepted by email or hard copy. Grant requests must be matched one-to-one with non-SFCA cash or in-kind support. In-kind support may comprise no more than 40% of the required match.
Items not funded include capital improvements, activities outside the project period, fellowships and scholarships, fundraising, grant-management fees or indirect cost rates, food or refreshments, equipment purchases or long-term rentals, foreign travel, regranting, utilities, accounting and audit costs, maintenance, and technology-related expenses such as computer hardware, software, internet, website, email, or contracted technology support.
Atlas analysis
Atlas Opportunity Score: 72/100. The opportunity is current and credible for qualifying Hawaiʻi arts and culture nonprofits. N9+ Fit Score: 0/100 because equipment and technology-related expenses are expressly excluded. QC Healthcare Fit: 20/100 conditional only where an otherwise eligible nonprofit arts organization proposes a bona fide Arts and Healing project; this is not a clinical-equipment or healthcare-technology funding vehicle.
Official source: SFCA Community Arts Grants.