Northern California Grantmakers

The Arts Loan Fund (ALF) is a collaborative program of the Northern California Grantmakers, a regional association of grantmakers. The purpose of the Arts Loan Fund is to provide quick-turnaround, low-cost financial assistance to San Francisco Bay Area arts organizations. The ALF is not designed to replace contributed or earned income, but to help organizations manage their cash flow needs. All loans must be repaid within one year, and while extensions are periodically granted the loan default rate is less than 2%. The ALF makes loans of up to $50,000 and in an average year makes 40-50 loans. The Hewlett Foundation has been a member of NCG, and a participant in the Arts Loan Fund since its inception in 1981 and in 2008-09 a Hewlett Program Officer is one of the ALF’s co-chairs. While the fund had $400,000 on hand at the end of 2008, it is anticipated that the recession will hit Bay Area arts organizations particularly hard and there is strong evidence to suggest an increased demand for short-term low-interest loans in 2009-10. Renewed support for the ALF will increase the likelihood that well managed arts organizations, many of them recipients of Hewlett performing arts grants, will sucessfully meet the financial challenges posed by a dismal economic cycle.