Maybe. Applicants without a 501c3 designation letter (US) or registered charity status (Canada) may only apply if fiscally sponsored by a 501c3 nonprofit/registered charity. To do so, please make sure to include your fiscal sponsor’s name and EIN/registration number when completing the application, and upload documentation of your fiscal sponsorship to the final attachments section.

While you can submit an application on your smart phone, we recommend using a tablet, laptop, or desktop computer for the easiest experience. 

Yes! First and foremost, please make sure to review the  scoring rubric and core values to gain a clear understanding of the criteria that will be used to evaluate your application. We also highly recommend that you make use of the Application toolkit. 

Second, we encourage you to have someone not familiar with your program read or listen to your application to check for clarity. If they have questions, it’s likely the panelists will too. 

Finally, we recommend submitting your application early. If any last-minute questions or issues arise, it’s easier for our staff to assist you when there's not a rush to meet the deadline. 

In 2024, a Chorus America board-led taskforce made the recommendation to transition the Dale Warland Singers Commission Award to a grant. Our grants program focuses on funding future work, while our award program is focused on recognizing the achievements and accomplishments of past work.

The grant is very similar to the previous award in terms of funding amount, requirements, and evaluation criteria. The most substantial change is that in lieu of submitting a 5-page statement, we are asking applicants to answer 4 narrative questions (that previously would have been addressed in a submitted statement) and that we now require a letter of commitment from the composer. In addition, all panelists reviewing applications will now participate in our grant panel orientation, which includes an awareness training and discussion on how bias can show up in the review process. 

Potentially, yes. Please note that both funding opportunities are not offered every year, and please check the eligibility guidelines for both to ensure that you meet the criteria for each grant opportunity. 

For organizations submitting applications to both opportunities, we do require that each application proposes different projects. The same project will not be considered for both the Dale Warland Singers Commission Grant and Music Education Partnership Grants.

We require a project budget. We have found that it is most helpful for the panel to understand how you are supporting the composer in a wholistic fashion. Please keep this in mind as you draft your budget. It can be particularly valuable to explain how you determined the composer’s fee and other ways you may be supporting the composer’s experience (such as fees for onsite media, publishing costs, travel and lodging, etc.) in the budget notes.

For more resources on this topic, we encourage applicants to visit American Composer Forum’s Anatomy of a Commission.   

We do not require matching funds. We also recognize that matching fund requirements prevent smaller or less-resourced nonprofits from applying.   

The application portal will open October 7, 2025. Please check to make sure you are using your application portal credentials and not your Chorus America site username and password. If you are having trouble, we recommend restarting your computer and using the most updated version of your browser. Browsers supported by this software include Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Microsoft Edge. If problems persist, please contact Kim Theodore Sidey at [email protected] or (after October) Vale Southard at [email protected] or (202) 331-7577 ext. 253.   

Please check to make sure all required fields are completed. If the submit box is still green, you have only marked your application as complete, but have not yet submitted. You must click the green submit box to ensure your application is received. If you are still running into issues,  please contact Kim Theodore Sidey at [email protected] or (after October) Vale Southard at [email protected] or (202) 331-7577 ext. 253. 

You will be contacted in December if there are any components missing from your application. Upon submission, staff will review applications for eligibility and completion. We encourage all applicants to review the application requirements and scoring rubric thoroughly.  

Review panelists from across the US and Canada will review and score all applications. These panelists will be selected by Chorus America based on their experience collaborating with composers and choruses on commissions and understanding of nonprofits arts management and funding. All panelists must agree to a confidentiality agreement and disclose any conflicts of interest. If one is present, panelists must recuse themselves from reviewing the assigned application. 

Chorus America will strongly prioritize diversity of perspectives and lived experience in its selection of review panelists, including but not limited to diversity of race, gender, identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, and religion.

A full list of panelists, as well as demographic information for these reviewers, will be published on the Chorus America website in April 2026 when the grant recipient is also announced.  

All applicants to the Dale Warland Singers Commission grant will receive a status update in mid April 2026, including projects that will not be funded. We anticipate receiving many more quality applications than we are able to fund. 

We can share the scores from your application, along with anonymous reviewer feedback. We encourage you to reach out to us to better understand why your application was declined. To contact staff, please schedule a time to meet with the grants team here.