FRANKFORT, Ky. — The Kentucky Arts Council is partnering with the Fund for the Arts in Louisville for a second year to provide dollar-for-dollar matching funds to nonprofit arts projects across the state through the social media fundraising website power2give.org.

The arts council has made $100,000 available for fiscal year 2013 toward qualifying initiatives posted on the website. Projects must be sponsored by organizations in the Kentucky Arts Partners (KAP) program. The arts council will match funds for projects up to $10,000.

In fiscal year 2012, the state arts agency provided $50,000 in matching funds for 17 KAP group projects. Because the arts council matches funding from other donors, the total impact of the agency’s contributions was doubled.

“Participating organizations can seek donations from unlimited sources to meet their fundraising goals,” said Lori Meadows, executive director of the arts council. “Power2give encourages the use of nontraditional fundraising methods and has been extremely beneficial to groups that have taken advantage of the opportunity.”

From the website, donors can support a variety of projects proposed by arts organizations. Projects have a limited time to meet fundraising goals. In the last fiscal year, 223 donors contributed to projects that received matches from the arts council. The minimum donation for a project is $1 and donations must be made in whole dollar amounts.

“From workshops to arts education initiatives, building websites and sponsoring interns and performances, groups were creative in using power2give to fill the gaps they continue to experience in these leaner times,” said Meadows.

Power2give.org started as an initiative of the Arts & Science Council in Charlotte, N.C. It is hosted in Kentucky by Fund for the Arts. Kentucky is the second state to utilize the fundraising tool. The arts council is the first state arts agency in the country to participate in the online fundraising tool

The Kentucky Arts Council, the state arts agency, creates opportunities for Kentuckians to value, participate in and benefit from the arts. Kentucky Arts Council funding is provided by the Kentucky General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts.

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