Grants for Art Therapy Programs 2026: Who Pays for Them
Quick Answer: If you're raising money for an art therapy program, expect foundations, not federal agencies, to carry the load.
Full answer and how we checked it
Art therapy programs raise most of their outside money from private foundations, and those foundations file the gifts under several causes, not just health. Grantsights analysis of 990-PF filings pulled October 30, 2026 found 124 foundations that made 190 grants naming art therapy, totaling $2,865,338. The largest was $250,000 from the Bob and Renee Parsons Foundation to Free Arts for Abused Children of Arizona. Only 33 of the 124 foundations filed the grants as health giving. The one federal option is narrow: Creative Forces Community Engagement grants of up to $25,000 for arts work with military-connected people.
This guide is for executive directors, clinical leads and grant writers at nonprofit art therapy studios, expressive arts therapy centers, hospital art therapy programs, and social service agencies that have added an art therapist to their staff.
Data note: The art therapy counts come from a Grantsights search of 990-PF grants, pulled October 30, 2026, for recipients or purposes that name art therapy, arts therapy, creative arts therapy or expressive arts therapy. Grants to universities and colleges were left out. The search covers every cause, so it includes youth, arts and human services giving as well as health. State medians come from the Grantsights health funder data, pulled October 29, 2026.
In this guide (11 sections)
- 3 Kinds of Art Therapy Programs, 3 Different Funders
- Who Gave to Art Therapy: What 990-PF Filings Show
- Federal Money: The Creative Forces Community Grants
- What the NEA and Federal Rules Don't Tell You About Art Therapy Funding
- Writing the Request: Clinical, Not Craft
- 5 Art Therapy Projects Foundations Have Funded
- Common Mistakes in Art Therapy Grant Requests
- A Funding Calendar for an Art Therapy Program
- Related Guides for Art Therapy Programs
- FAQ: Common Questions
- Sources
Foundations near you already fund this work. See three in your state that take requests, with how to apply. Free, about a minute.
Foundations that fund this work
43,922 private foundations gave to hospitals, clinics, hospices and health charities
From their own IRS Form 990-PF filings (tax years 2019 to 2025). Pick your state to see who gave there, with one foundation in full. About the list
Across the US, these foundations gave 282,323 grants totaling $48,801,068,047.
Historical giving does not establish an open application or eligibility for your organization. For-profit operators should check each foundation's applicant rules before buying.
The full list names all 43,922, state by state: what each gave, to whom, for what, and a link to its filings. One payment, no subscription.
Art therapy source review, Grantsights, October 30, 2026: Grantsights checked the NEA Creative Forces overview (opens in a new tab), the Creative Forces Community Engagement Program page (opens in a new tab), the NEA's 2026 Community Engagement grant announcement (opens in a new tab), the Creative Forces Clinical Program page (opens in a new tab), the IDEA related services rule at 34 CFR 300.34 (opens in a new tab) and 990-PF filings. Where official sources stop: none of them tells a small art therapy nonprofit which foundation category to approach first, and that choice decides whether a request even gets read.
3 Kinds of Art Therapy Programs, 3 Different Funders
At least 3 kinds of organizations run art therapy, and Grantsights analysis of the 30 largest art therapy grants shows each one pulling money from a different place. Of those 30 grants, 11 went to free-standing art therapy nonprofits, 10 to hospitals or hospital foundations and 7 to social service agencies such as settlement houses and family health clinics. The other 2 went to a health museum and a theater project.
| Program type | Example from the filings | Who funded it | Grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free-standing art therapy nonprofit | The Art Therapy Project, New York | The Laurie M. Tisch Foundation | $55,000 (2023) |
| Hospital art therapy service | Magee Rehabilitation Hospital, Philadelphia | Gray Charitable Trust | $50,000 a year for a full-time art therapist (2023 and 2024) |
| Social service agency program | Union Settlement Association, New York | van Ameringen Foundation | $75,000 for child-parent and creative arts therapy (2023) |
| Youth trauma program | Free Arts for Abused Children of Arizona | The Bob and Renee Parsons Foundation | $250,000 (2021) |
The lesson for a grant writer is that "art therapy" isn't a funding category on its own. A hospital program asks its hospital foundation's donors. A settlement house folds art therapy into a mental health grant. A free-standing studio has to build its own list, and that's the hardest job of the 3. Hospital-based programs should also read grants for hospital foundations, since that's where most hospital art therapy gifts arrive.
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Who Gave to Art Therapy: What 990-PF Filings Show
Foundations reporting on IRS Form 990-PF are a main source for nonprofit art therapy, and they're mostly family and independent foundations rather than large national funders. Grantsights analysis of 990-PF grants pulled October 30, 2026 found 124 foundations that made 190 grants naming art therapy, with a median grant of $6,750. These grants show the range:
| Foundation | Art therapy recipient | State | Amount | What the filing says | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Bob and Renee Parsons Foundation | Free Arts for Abused Children of Arizona, Phoenix | AZ | $250,000 | Art therapy with volunteers for children affected by abuse, neglect, poverty and homelessness | 2021 |
| Charles F. and Beatrice D. Adams Charitable Trust | Raw Art Works, Lynn | MA | $75,000 | Three-year flexible support to preserve arts therapy resources | 2025 |
| The Max H. Gluck Foundation | Westchester Medical Center Foundation, Valhalla | NY | $75,000 | Child life and creative arts therapy team | 2024 |
| The Lozier Foundation | Nebraska Expressive Arts Therapy Foundation, Omaha | NE | $50,000 | General operating support | 2024 |
| Texas Capital Foundation | Art Station, Fort Worth | TX | $50,000 | Mental health services and art therapy for underinsured and Medicaid communities | 2025 |
| VNA Foundation | Institute for Therapy through the Arts, Evanston | IL | $40,000 | Creative arts therapies regardless of ability to pay | 2023 |
| Westmeath Foundation | Inspire Heart, Farmington | NM | $45,000 | Art therapy and mental wellness | 2024 |
For example, Art Station in Fort Worth received $50,000 from Texas Capital Foundation in 2025 to widen access to art therapy for people on Medicaid or with thin coverage. That framing, access for people who can't pay, shows up again and again in the larger grants.
Art therapy grants by state
| State | Foundations that named art therapy | Grants | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 23 | 50 | $1,067,587 |
| Ohio | 12 | 24 | $109,250 |
| Pennsylvania | 11 | 17 | $419,700 |
| Maryland | 8 | 9 | $45,065 |
| Texas | 8 | 9 | $232,500 |
| California | 5 | 7 | $30,011 |
New York's lead comes partly from repeat funders. The van Ameringen Foundation renewed $75,000 grants to Little Sisters of the Assumption Family Health Service in both 2023 and 2024 for trauma-informed art therapy with immigrant Latino women and children. The Art Therapy Project in New York drew grants from at least 3 foundations: the Laurie M. Tisch Foundation, Jade Foundation ($48,587 in 2024) and Elia Philanthropies ($30,000 in 2023).
California is thin in this search. The Dudley-Vehmeyer-Brown Memorial Foundation gave Children's Health Council in Palo Alto $5,000 in 2023, $6,000 in 2024 and $8,000 in 2025 for art therapy, a small but rising pattern a program can point to when it asks for a renewal. One organization in California, then, shows how a modest first grant can grow when the funder sees results each year.
Why only 33 health funders
Only 33 of the 124 foundations filed their art therapy grants under health. The rest sit under youth, human services or arts giving, because the funder saw the program as a children's program, a family service or a creative project. Treat all 124 as a floor: plenty of hospital art therapy gifts are filed as "patient care" and never use the words.
Where the health funder list fits
Art therapy is too small a slice to get its own count on the Grantsights health funder list, whose free preview shows health funders in your state with those that say they take requests listed first. Art therapy is too small to get its own count there. That's fine. A foundation already backing your local children's hospital, community mental health center or hospice is a stronger first ask than a distant art therapy donor. A state list is $29, or $99 for a year of every cause, refundable within 30 days.
| State | 990-PF health grants | Health foundations | Open to requests | Median health grant |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 34,563 | 9,879 | 2,025 | $5,000 |
| California | 27,604 | 6,824 | 1,451 | $10,000 |
| Texas | 15,645 | 3,926 | 1,182 | $6,875 |
| Illinois | 12,856 | 4,248 | 1,045 | $5,000 |
| Pennsylvania | 12,224 | 3,362 | 865 | $6,000 |
| Ohio | 8,771 | 2,328 | 759 | $5,967 |
Federal Money: The Creative Forces Community Grants
Federal grants for art therapy come down to 1 open program, and it only fits programs serving military-connected people. According to NEA program pages, the Creative Forces initiative is a partnership with the Department of War and the Department of Veterans Affairs for military and veteran populations exposed to trauma, plus their families and caregivers.
The Community Engagement grants
NEA reports on its Community Engagement Program page that Creative Forces and Mid-America Arts Alliance (M-AAA) offer matching grants of up to $10,000 for 1-year "emerging" projects and up to $25,000 for 1-year "advanced" projects. The page says recipients can work in health care, community or virtual settings, and that applications for 2026 are closed.
According to NEA's 2026 announcement, 48 organizations received grants ranging from $4,669 to $25,000, totaling $888,413. Each funded project includes at least 2 organizations or artists working together. Including 2026, the NEA reports nearly 200 Community Engagement grants totaling more than $4 million since 2022.
3 points matter for an art therapy program:
- It funds arts engagement, not clinical therapy. The program page describes writing workshops, visual arts projects, music-making and dance classes. An art therapist can lead a project, but the request should describe community arts activity, not treatment sessions.
- It's a matching grant. You'll need cash or in-kind support to match the award. A hospital or veterans' group partner can often supply that.
- You need a partner. The 2-organization rule suits art therapy studios well: pair with a local veterans' post or a military family group.
Programs serving veterans should also read grants for veterans organizations for local funders who back that work.
The clinical side
NEA reports on its Clinical Program page that 32 creative arts therapists work with patients and families at 12 Creative Forces clinical sites, and that 25,063 patients had received care at those sites since 2017, as of 2024. That program places therapists inside military and VA health care. A community nonprofit can't apply to it. What it gives you is federal language describing art therapy as part of patient care, which helps when a health funder asks whether your work is clinical.
Schools
Art therapy programs working with students ask whether districts will pay. The federal related services list at 34 CFR 300.34 (opens in a new tab) names counseling services, psychological services and social work services, but art therapy isn't on it by name. A district can still buy it when a student's team decides it's needed. Count school contracts as possible income, not a budget anchor.
What the NEA and Federal Rules Don't Tell You About Art Therapy Funding
Grantsights compared the federal pages with the 990-PF filings and found 5 gaps that cost art therapy programs money.
- Art funders and health funders both say no for opposite reasons. An arts foundation may read "therapy" and decide it's a health service. A health funder may read "art" and decide it's an enrichment class. Contrary to popular belief, the word "therapy" doesn't open health money by itself; the request has to name the clinical problem, the credential and the outcome.
- Staff positions get funded. Gray Charitable Trust paid $50,000 a year for a full-time art therapist at Magee Rehabilitation Hospital in 2023 and 2024. Funders will pay for a person when the request ties that person to a patient group.
- Multi-year support exists but isn't common. The Adams Charitable Trust's 2025 grant to Raw Art Works was a 3-year flexible commitment. Ask for multi-year terms only after 2 strong reports.
- Pediatric hospitals collect repeat gifts. The Burkland Foundation gave Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation $35,000 and $40,000 in 2023 and $40,000 in 2024 for its art therapy fund. A named fund inside a hospital foundation can draw gifts every year.
- Creative Forces won't cover your general program. It's for military-connected participants only, so a program serving foster youth or cancer patients gets nothing from it.
Grantsights' honest view: a free-standing art therapy nonprofit should land 2 or 3 anchor partners, such as a hospital, a school district or a social service agency, and then approach 6 to 10 local health and family foundations to pay for sessions for people who can't afford them.
Writing the Request: Clinical, Not Craft
Of the 30 largest grants, the purposes that funders wrote down almost never mention art supplies. They name a population and a problem: abused children, immigrant women dealing with trauma, teens at risk of suicide, rehabilitation patients, young people leaving the justice system. That's the model for your own request.
| Weak request | Stronger request |
|---|---|
| "Art classes for kids" | "Weekly group art therapy for 40 children in foster placements, led by a credentialed art therapist" |
| "Help us buy supplies" | "Salary for a half-time art therapist serving the pediatric oncology unit" |
| "Creative expression for seniors" | "Art therapy groups for people with early dementia, with before and after mood ratings" |
| "General support" | "Free sessions for 120 clients on Medicaid or without coverage" |
The table is illustrative, not data. It shows how the purpose lines in the filings were written, not exact requests.
A common mistake is listing art therapy goals that a funder can't check. Pick 1 or 2 measures you'll collect every session, such as a short distress rating or attendance, and report them the same way each year. Programs serving autistic children can borrow measurement ideas from grants for autism organizations, which covers funders who ask for outcome data.
5 Art Therapy Projects Foundations Have Funded
Each of these 5 project types appears in 2023 to 2025 filings with a named funder.
- Trauma art therapy for children. Free Arts for Abused Children of Arizona received the largest grant in the search.
- Suicide prevention for teens. The Marion E. Kenworthy Sarah H. Swift Foundation gave Comunilife $25,000 in 2025 for creative art therapy activities for Latina teens at risk of suicide.
- Emergency room art therapy. Hidden Ponds Foundation gave the Foundation for Morristown Medical Center $25,000 in 2024 for an art therapy program in the emergency room.
- Justice-involved youth. The same Kenworthy Swift foundation gave Youth Represent $35,000 in 2023 for an art therapy program aimed at breaking cycles of incarceration.
- Veterans with post-traumatic stress. The Rosendin Foundation gave Black Locust Designs in California $5,000 in 2023 for art therapy for veterans with PTSD.
Common Mistakes in Art Therapy Grant Requests
These 5 mistakes come up because art therapy sits between 2 funding worlds.
- Calling an art class therapy. If a credentialed art therapist isn't leading it, don't call it art therapy. Informed funders notice, and it's a red flag.
- Underestimating documentation. Hospital and agency work requires clinical notes, which a request often leaves out of the budget.
- Sending a clinical request to an arts-only funder. It usually fails because the funder's guidelines exclude health services.
- Ignoring the hospital foundation. Hospital programs that apply on their own, rather than through the foundation, often duplicate an ask the foundation was already making.
- Sizing asks without research. Read how to read a 990-PF before you pick a number, so the request fits what the funder actually gives.
A Funding Calendar for an Art Therapy Program
This calendar lines up contracts, foundation requests and the Creative Forces cycle.
| Month | Action |
|---|---|
| January | Check the NEA and M-AAA pages for the next Creative Forces cycle |
| February | Pull last year's session counts and outcome ratings |
| March to May | Send 6 to 10 foundation requests for free sessions |
| June | Report outcomes to current funders and ask about renewals |
| July to September | Pitch hospital, school and agency contracts |
| October to December | Ask families and past clients' supporters for year-end and memorial gifts |
The Grantsights grant database lists open federal and state notices, including behavioral health, trauma and youth programs where an art therapy component can fit inside a larger application.
Related Guides for Art Therapy Programs
These 4 guides cover neighboring programs. If your program uses music rather than visual art, grants for music therapy programs covers hospice and hospital funders for that discipline. Art therapists working with bereaved children and families can find more prospects in grants for grief support programs. Programs running open studios alongside therapy groups should see grants for art centers for arts funders who back community studios. Programs working inside hospices can use grants for hospices.
Art therapists who work in infusion centers or support houses should also read grants for cancer support organizations, since those groups often host art therapy groups.
FAQ: Common Questions
Is there a federal grant for art therapy programs? Only Creative Forces Community Engagement grants, up to $25,000, for work with military-connected people.
How many foundations fund art therapy? 124 in Grantsights' search of 990-PF grants pulled October 30, 2026, across every cause.
What's the largest art therapy grant in the filings? $250,000 to Free Arts for Abused Children of Arizona from the Bob and Renee Parsons Foundation.
Do hospitals or community nonprofits win more art therapy grants? Roughly even among the 30 largest grants, with free-standing nonprofits slightly ahead.
What's a typical health foundation grant in states where art therapy funders are active? Medians from $5,000 to $10,000 in the states shown.
Sources
- NEA: Creative Forces, NEA Military Healing Arts Network (opens in a new tab)
- NEA: Creative Forces Community Engagement Program (opens in a new tab)
- NEA: 2026 Creative Forces Community Engagement grant recipients (opens in a new tab)
- NEA: Creative Forces Clinical Program (opens in a new tab)
- eCFR: 34 CFR 300.34 Related services (opens in a new tab)
- IRS: About Form 990-PF (opens in a new tab)
Last updated October 30, 2026. Published by Grantsights from public sources. See our editorial policy, how we build and check guides, corrections and how we make money.
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