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For many California arts organizations, the process of applying for grants can be a major headache, with almost as many different application requirements as there are grantmaking organizations in the state.

But starting in January, the state's largest arts funders will take a major step toward streamlining that process with the launch of the California Cultural Data Project, a statewide collaboration that will standardize the information that funders collect from grant-seeking arts and cultural organizations. More than 30 major private and public arts funders have joined the collaboration.

The goal is not only to simplify the grant application process for thousands of California arts organizations but also to give arts groups an improved ability to track and analyze their financial and operational data over time and compare it to their peers. Another benefit will be a powerful, long-term database resource for documenting the overall contribution of the arts sector to the state's economy.

"This information can be used by arts organizations, funders, researchers and policymakers," said John E. McGuirk, Arts program director for the Irvine Foundation, the lead funder of the project. "Building information for the sector will help shed light on the opportunities and challenges for arts organizations, which should lead to improved grantmaking and policy development."

Most of the largest arts funders in California have signed on, including the California Arts Council, the Getty Foundation, the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Altogether, the funders are contributing more than
$2.5 million to the project, which is being managed by The Pew Charitable Trusts. Irvine has committed $1 million.

The project was developed in California partly in response to a 2006 Irvine-funded study, "Critical Issues Facing the Arts," which, among other findings, concluded that "there is a lack of objective, reliable data about the sector." McGuirk said that leading public and private funders agreed that there was a critical need to gather data on the arts sector to help inform arts and culture policy.

For individual arts and cultural organizations, the project will mean not having to file separate financial and operational information for every grant application. Instead, arts organizations will only need to complete an online data profile once a year. It will be available electronically and submitted as part of most grant applications to the participating funding agencies throughout the year.

Organizations will be able to use the online system to track trends in their own data over time. And after the first year of data collection, aggregate information will be available to enable users to compare their organizations to others by discipline, budget size, geography and many other categories.

Project organizers will offer online training materials and host training workshops throughout the state to help arts organizations complete their data profiles over the first year of implementation. More than 1,000 arts organizations attended the initial round of information sessions held throughout the state late last year, and the general consensus among participants was positive.

Leah Hofkin, development director at Magic Theatre in San Francisco, said she is excited about the project.

"Not only will it ultimately make our workload easier in terms of applying for and reporting on grants, but it will give us access to information about the field for benchmarking and other purposes," Hofkin said. "Detailing financial information for grant requests and reports is time consuming and often involves the gathering of data in different formats depending on the funder. The Cultural Data Project model will be a tremendous time-saver, enabling us to focus our attention on additional fundraising efforts."

California is the third state to implement the data project, following Pennsylvania in 2004 and Maryland last year. The Pew Charitable Trusts administers the projects in those states as well.

The results in Pennsylvania have been significant, according to Bobbie Lippman, Pew's project director for the Cultural Data Project. The number of arts organizations that signed up in Pennsylvania has more than doubled from 400 to 800 since its inception, and nearly all major arts funders have joined. Additionally, many smaller arts organizations have been able to use their data profiles to create annual reports, something they could not afford to produce before, resulting in a higher level of sophistication and more financial support.

"I've had a lot of executive directors call me and say thank you," Lippman said. "One of the things I've heard from groups is that we make it easier for them to collect their numbers so that they can spend more time thinking about what those numbers mean, benchmarking, trend analysis, what's happening with their organization and thinking about where they want to go."

Perhaps most noteworthy in Pennsylvania is what the sector has been able to do with the information that has been collected. A 2006 research report released by the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance with data from the project provided the first comprehensive snapshot of the sector's importance and contributed to the passage of a $150 million bond measure to support capital campaigns within the five-county Philadelphia region.

"Key policymakers, city council representatives and civic leaders were quoting from the report," Lippman said. "As a result of the project, our community felt like they understood the needs of the sector."

California Cultural Data Project supporters are hoping for the same impact here to help strengthen the cultural sector after years of dwindling public support for the arts in California. In California, funders expect up to 5,000 arts and culture organizations to participate within the first three years.

"Funders will be able to use the Data Project to look at trends and sectorwide needs to improve grantmaking and evaluation," McGuirk said. "Policymakers will be able to see the direct economic impact of the arts within their legislative districts. Arts advocates and researchers will be able to better articulate the case for increased public investment and participation in the arts."

"This is the first time that arts funders have sat at the table together to address this critical issue. We are very optimistic about the project's impact on the field," he said.

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