NYC DCLA · New York City · Cultural Development Fund (CDF) grantees
There's no DCLA voucher to file. There is a Payment Checklist — and a record to keep.
DCLA's Cultural Development Fund is paid against the online Payment Checklist and a final program report, with requirements that step up with award size. Prove It's voucher Excel for a CDF award is your own internal record of how the grant was spent — payroll read by AI, invoices coded to the grant — ready for the final report and the audit file. You review every line before anything posts.
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What DCLA checks before it pays
There is no expense voucher for a CDF award
Payment runs on the Payment Checklist in the DCLA grants portal, not a cost-reimbursement voucher — this check can only look at your internal spreadsheet.
Requirements step up with award size
Over $5,000 a Doing Business Data Form; $25,000 or more EFT enrollment through PIP; $100,000 or more the insurance package and CEO/CFO certifications; Member Items add a Lobbying Certification on DCLA’s own form.
The FY2026 Funding Requirements are the operative fiscal document — everything is submitted online through the DCLA grants portal (dclagms.nyc.gov/grants) via the Payment Checklist on the grant tile, hard copies are not accepted, e-signatures are accepted for all documents, and the FY2026 materials deadline was Monday, January 26, 2026
Payment is released only after the Payment Checklist documents are reviewed, marked complete and the organization is found compliant; DCLA does not disburse — payments come from the NYC Department of Finance through FMS as 'The City of New York'
Tiers by award size: over $5,000 — a Doing Business Data Form (Local Law 34); $25,000 or more — enroll in Electronic Funds Transfer through the Payee Information Portal (PIP), otherwise the City deducts $3.50 per paper check; $100,000 or more — an insurance package (Commercial General Liability on an Acord 25 with an additional-insured endorsement naming the City and a broker/agent certification, Workers' Compensation such as a C-105.2 or NYSIF U-26.3, and Disability/Paid Family Leave such as a DB-120.1) covering at minimum July 1, 2025 through the submission date, plus organization and individual (CEO and CFO) certifications
City Council discretionary awards or 'Member Items' inside a CDF award add a Lobbying Certification on DCLA's own form — no alternative form is accepted
Charities Bureau registration with the NYS Attorney General must be current, address changes go through PIP/FMS, and first-time City grantees complete the City's Substitute W-9 (which is neither the IRS W-9 nor the NYS Substitute W-9)
A final report on the services delivered is due August 3, 2026 and must be approved before the final payment; organizations that do not execute the funded programming or do not comply with reporting must return all FY26 funds within ninety (90) days of the close of the fiscal year, and a late or missing FY26 report may make the organization ineligible for FY27 and FY28
There is no expense voucher, budget-category list or allowable-cost list in the Funding Requirements — internal expense tracking is for your own records, not for submission to DCLA
What Prove It does about it
Payroll
Imports payroll from ADP, Paychex, Gusto, Paylocity, TriNet, QuickBooks and anything else that exports a file. Common layouts are read instantly; anything else, Claude AI finds the names, gross pay and pay date. You confirm every name before anything posts.
Exports
📥 Download voucher Excel (voucher number)
Download voucher Excel (voucher number) — Four sheets — Voucher Summary, PSA (monthly), OTPS detail and Certification — laid out by this funder's own categories, from your approved payroll and coded invoices.
DCLA's Cultural Development Fund is paid against the online Payment Checklist and a final program report — there is no expense voucher to file. The voucher Excel here is your own internal record of how the award was spent.
Invoices
Coded invoices flow into the OTPS detail: the month's expenses are auto-included in this voucher, you uncheck an item to hold it for a later voucher, and earlier-dated invoices count as prior claims automatically. Categories follow DCLA's own list — .
Checker
The free voucher checker is a fixed set of rules, not AI: costs DCLA's manual lists as unallowable, fringe above the 35% review threshold the app uses for DCLA, allocations that don't total 100%, totals that don't reconcile, blank contract, provider or period identifiers — plus DCLA's own recurring errors: There is no expense voucher for a CDF award; Requirements step up with award size. The file is read in your browser and never uploaded.
Ask a CFO
Ask a CFO answers "can I charge this?" from DCLA's current fiscal manual, with the source and date cited. AI guidance grounded in your live platform data, 2 CFR 200, and live lookups of current funder manuals — not legal, tax, or audit advice. Confirm consequential decisions with your funder or auditor.
Backup
Every voucher Excel carries four sheets — Voucher Summary, PSA (monthly), OTPS detail and Certification — so the backup travels with the claim, and the Print / PDF view gives you the same voucher for a signature.
DCLA at a glance
Funder
NYC Department of Cultural Affairs — Cultural Development Fund
Jurisdiction
New York City
Fringe
Not applicable — a CDF award has no personnel or fringe budget lines; the organization spends the grant on the funded programming
Indirect basis
No indirect line exists — a CDF award is a grant released against DCLA's Payment Checklist and a final program report, not a cost-reimbursement voucher with budget categories, so overhead is simply part of how the organization spends the award (DCLA Cultural Development Fund FY2026 Funding Requirements)
Founding pilot · 10 NYC nonprofits · 60 days free · no card
Your next DCLA voucher, built in Prove It — with us on the call
We're taking 10 New York nonprofits into a founding pilot. You get the full platform for 60 days at no charge, and we set it up with you: in one 30-minute working session we load your contracts, your staff and your last payroll file, then rebuild your most recent DCLA voucher in DCLA's own format. If it doesn't match what you filed — or catch something you missed — you've spent half an hour and owe nothing.
If there's no voucher, what does Prove It do for a CDF award?
Keeps the record: the award's payroll and invoices post to the grant month by month, so the final program report and the audit file have a spending record behind them instead of a spreadsheet rebuilt after the fact.
Why isn't there a DCLA voucher checker?
The checker validates a filled-in expense voucher against a funder's rules, and a CDF award has no expense voucher. The DCLA fiscal guide covers the Payment Checklist requirements by award size instead.
Does the app fill the Payment Checklist?
No. The Payment Checklist lives in DCLA's grants portal and is completed there.
Does Prove It submit my DCLA voucher for me?
No. Prove It builds the voucher and the backup from your live numbers; a person on your team reviews every line and submits it the way you do today. Nothing is filed automatically, and nothing guarantees acceptance — what you get is the funder's own format, filled from the same payroll and invoices you already have, with the recurring errors flagged before you send it.