Unlike many non profit art organizations, the EAC has a significant grant-making program. Since its founding in 1966 EAC has supported institutions, especially museums, through donations of monies and/or artifacts. Since 2004 the EAC has donated over $300,000 to individuals and organizations that advance its mission, including support for graduate student fellowships, research/travel grants, publications, and museum exhibitions.
Grant awards are determined by the Board through a RFP process that occurs bi-annually or when sufficient monies are available. The EAC Grants Program extends the mission of EAC. See selected examples of grant awards below:
- Fowler Museum: Permanent Gallery – Intersections: World Arts, Local Lives, 2004; Central Nigeria Unmasked, 2010; 50th Anniversary Celebration, 2013; Art of the Austronesians, 2015; Striking Iron catalogue, 2018; Aboriginal Screen-Printed Textiles from Australia Top End (book), 2020
- LACMA: Lords of Creation – Origins of Maya Kingship, 2004; Children of the Plumed Serpent, 2011; African Art Gallery, 2012; Colonial Latin American Art Handbook, 2015; Ancient Bodies, 2017; Fiji Art & Life of the Pacific, 2018
- Bowers Museum: Queen of Sheba gallery guide, 2004; Sacred Gold: Pre-Hispanic Art of Columbia, 2012; The Red that Colored the World, 2015
- USC Pacific Asia Museum: Tibetan Furniture in Religious and Secular Life, 2004
- Autry Museum of the American West: Katsina Imagery in Hopi Life, 2006; Harry Fonseca (book), 2020
- UCLA: Painting the Cosmos: Ceramics of Ancient Panama (book), 2015
- Ethnic Arts Council: Grantee of the Templeton Foundation for the Wallace Centennial Celebration, 2013 – 2015; LA Collects! 4 videos of EAC’s History, 2016
- Craft Contemporary (formerly CAFAM): Healing: A Cultural Exploration, 2006; Fifty Years of the Art of Dora Delarios, 2008