Echo Fund Guidelines

The following guidelines have been updated as of August 13, 2024. Please read thoroughly before beginning your application.

WHO CAN APPLY?

• Independent, working musicians. residing in the Greater Portland metropolitan area in the following zip codes: Portland Metro: 970xx, 971xx, 972xx. “Independent, working musician” means that you are working as a musician in commercial environments like clubs and other venues. "Independent" means that you are not employed full time by a nonprofit music institution for which you earn a salary for performance, such as a symphony, opera, a professional ensemble, etc. NOTE: Future rounds of funding will be available to musicians residing throughout the state of Oregon.

• Individuals and businesses. We make grant awards to independent, working musicians operating as individuals, sole proprietors, Limited Liability Companies (LLC), partnerships, and other legally organized entities.

• Musicians who are 18 years of age or older.  While we recognize that there are professional musicians of all ages, currently, music grant funding sources for adults are far fewer than youth music funding sources. MusicOregon aims to fill that gap.

• Tax Status: You must provide MusicPortland with a W-9 form if you receive an award. The W-9 form must have a Social Security Number (SSN), Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), or an Employer Identification Number (EIN) with your legal address in the Portland or Vancouver metro areas (see above). If you do not have one of these numbers, please email us at contact@musicoregon.org for confidential assistance.

• One applicant and application per project. If you are a band, please designate ONE person as your applicant. Do not submit multiple applications for the same project.

• This year, the City of Portland is partnering with three local arts service providers – Friends of IFCC, MusicOregon, and RACC – to award $1,360,000 in small grants to artists and organizations. Grantseekers may apply to more than one of the city’s arts service providers, but may not receive more than $5,000 total from all three partners combined in 2024-25. For more information, visit Portland.gov/arts-grants.

WHO CANNOT APPLY

• Non-musicians The Echo Fund is currently only open to musicians. If you are an event producer, engineer, venue or other individual or business working in the music industry but not creating music yourself, you are not eligible at this time.

• Radio DJs or Playlist Curators who do not contribute creatively to the music played for their audiences.

• Musicians who are full time employees of a nonprofit music institution for which you earn a salary for performance, such as a symphony, opera, a professional ensemble, etc.

• Employees, board members and family members of employees and board members of MusicPortland, MusicPortland Bridge and/or LEAP

• Nonprofit organizations, schools and school districts.

• If you have questions about eligibility, please reach out to us by email at contact@musicoregon.org.

PROJECT ELIGIBILITY

Projects must fit one of the following categories. Using local vendors, contractors and resources is highly encouraged. 

• Production (tracking, session players, engineering, production, mixing, mastering, recording project management, studio rental, etc.)

• Promotion (promo materials, website development, EPK, publicity, photography, videography, digital and print advertising, posters, printing, design)

• Distribution (physical media replication (vinyl/CD), distribution platform fees such as Distrokid or CD Baby, mailing costs)

• Resources (purchases of instruments, gear, software, performance-related equipment, pedals, amplifiers, etc.)

Here are some sample projects that fit within our guidelines.

INELIGIBLE PROJECTS

Due to a limited pool of resources, we do not fund the following activities:

• Activities related to live performances, events, and touring

• Artists' personal expenses such as rent, groceries, childcare, etc.

• Paid or brokered placement on streaming playlists/platforms

• Education, training, lessons, etc.

• Gas, food, travel expenses

• Rehearsal space rental costs

• Activities that do not take place between December 9, 2024 and August 1, 2025. We cannot support activities that happen before or after these dates. This includes: work already done on an album, a fee for a past gig, something you already purchased or plan to purchase after these dates, etc.

• A project that’s not related to music.

• A project that exceeds $5000.

APPLICATION SUBMISSION

Applications are accepted only through the online portal Good Grants (unless you have made an accessibility request to coordinate the application with the program manager ahead of the submission deadline).

• Applicants create an account before starting an application. They are encouraged to download the application questions and work on their application outside the portal first.

• Sample applications can be reviewed on our website at musicoregon.org/echo-fund-sample-projects

• MusicOregon staff is available to answer questions and provide support by email at contact@musicoregon.org.

• Applicants that have accessibility needs can contact@musicoregon.org for assistance. We may not be able to accommodate all needs, but we make our best effort to support all who seek to apply.

Applications open for one month from August 19 until September 19, 2024. We do not provide extensions to the application deadline. Applicants can expect to hear about the outcome of their application by mid-November 2024.

Applications should reflect projects within the $1,000 to $5,000 budget range. All funded activities must take place within the grant project window (dates are unique to each grant cycle and last approximately eight months). We do not provide extensions for project completion. If the proposed project activities cannot be completed in this timeframe, the artist is required to return the funds awarded.

Our staff reviews applications for eligibility before passing it along to our community review panel, which consists of music professionals and working musicians. Panelists score applications based on a set of criteria. 

PANEL REVIEW CRITERIA

Panelists will review applications and select awardees using the following criteria:

1. Benefit to the applicant:

• New growth: Opening opportunities and taking chances that are new to the applicant

• Next level: Spurring creative and/or career development.

• Right time/right now: Project is timely and able to be completed by the closing date of the grant window.

2. Impact of Echo Fund award:

• Will the Echo Fund make a significant contribution to the project?

3. Demonstrated planning and preparation:

• Is the project clearly described with details including who is involved, when/where it will take place, timeline, and budget?

4. Local impact:

• Are the vendors, contractors and resources coming from our local music community? Though not required in order to apply, applicants who use local vendors will be viewed favorably by the review panel.

Each criteria is scored based on a points system. Each question can be scored 1 to 6 points to determine a final total score.

The top 50% scoring applicants will be reviewed and scored based on the same criteria in a second panel round. MusicOregon will then grant awards to as many of the top scoring applicants in round 2 as possible (approximately 20 or more awards depending on grant requests and available funding).

*Note that reviewers do not measure or consider artistic merit.

AWARDEE RESPONSIBILITIES & REPORTING

• Awardees must provide a signed grant agreement and W9 with a Social Security Number (SSN), Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), or an Employer Identification Number (EIN) with your legal address in the Portland Metro Area (see above). Note that grant awards are income, and you will receive a 1099-NEC for the amount of the grant award paid in the calendar year.

• Acknowledge MusicOregon and the City of Portland in all print and online materials such as press releases and posters and any online promotion of the work funded by the Echo Fund. Please reach out to us at contact@musicoregon.org if you have challenges with this requirement, so we can help.

• Participate in a video interview that may be shared publicly on MusicOregon’s website and social media. Please reach out to us at contact@musicoregon.org if you have challenges with this requirement, so we can help.

• Funded project activities must be completed in full by August 1, 2025. You agree to contact MusicOregon if you experience any issues with your project that may affect your ability to turn in your project on time.

• Provide a final, brief, oral and/or written report on the ways you used the funding, and provide proof of completion by August 1, 2025. Please note that in order to be eligible for this round of funding, you must have completed these grant reporting requirements for previous grant cycles.

TO APPLY:

Go to MusicOregon Echo Fund and create an account with Good Grants. (Here is a video tutorial on how to create an account.)

Fill out the application and click submit. (Here is a video tutorial that walks through the application. Note that there have been small changes made to the application since this was recorded in 2022, but the instructions still apply).

Check out our FAQ page here.

Email us at contact@musicoregon.org for any questions or help with your application.