City of
Planning & Community
Development Department
Neighborhood Matching Fund
Program
SMALL
AND SIMPLE P
2005
Guidelines
Your community organization
has the opportunity to apply for a Small and Simple Projects Fund reimbursement
grant. The Small and Simple Projects
grant of up to $2,500 allows neighborhood organizations and others to complete
projects beneficial to the entire community.
Applications will be reviewed
and rated according to the following criteria.
Meeting all the criteria will increase the competitive position of your
application. 100 points are possible as
follows:
20 points The
application is complete with correct accounting figures. It is received on or before the deadline of
20 points The
project is well-planned and ready to proceed upon approval. The project budget is realistic and well
thought out.
20 points The
project includes significant neighborhood participation in selecting, planning,
and carrying it out. The project
illustrates opportunities for self-help and has diverse neighborhood support.
20 points The
project has a citywide benefit. Project
activities are a creative solution to a recognized neighborhood need or problem.
20 points The
project includes a community “half match” (see Community Match, page 3). The applicant can demonstrate that the match
is secured and ready to be expended.
Deadlines are firm. Submit
an original and one (1) photocopy of your application and budget pages to the
Planning & Community Development Department, City Hall,
Notification: A
letter of notification will be sent to the contact person within 25 working
days (approximately one month) of the application deadline, notifying
applicants of award decisions and specific conditions, if any, that need to be
met before a contract is executed.
Contracting: Within 50 working days
(approximately 10 weeks) of the application deadline, a contract between the
community organization and the City is finalized and signed, authorizing the
project to begin. Until all parties sign
the Agreement for Services contract, the City has no responsibility to
reimburse the organization for any expenses incurred before the contract is
executed. Be aware that awards may be
rescinded for projects not ready for contracting within 50 working days of the
application deadline. “Working days” are
Monday through Friday, excluding holidays.
Project Completion: When the
project is completed in full, the applicant will submit for reimbursement of
approved expenses as provided for in their contract. The applicant shall submit a Match
Expenditure Statement and Final Written
ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS
A neighborhood association, community
organization, or group of businesses that draws its membership from a
designated geographic neighborhood in
Individual applicants may be eligible provided
they can prove support of neighborhood/community.
An ad hoc group of neighbors who form an
organization to work on a specific project.
The applicant group must have
an open membership, have a non-discrimination membership policy, and actively
seek the involvement of neighborhood residents and/or business proprietors.
Your project must be
completed on or before
The numbered points under
each project category list information you will need to provide or
documentation you will need to include in your application as attachments.
v Community Organization Project – Creates, diversifies or enlarges the
membership of a multi-issue community organization in a neighborhood.
1. Tell
us if your project expands an existing group or creates a new one.
2.
Tell us
what organizations already exist in your neighborhood and how yours will fill a
gap not currently met by existing groups.
v Community Physical Improvement Project – Build or enhance a tangible (physical) improvement
in your neighborhood/community.
1.
Provide
proof of the property owner's permission to construct your proposed
improvement.
2.
Provide
written approval from the Public Works, Planning, Building Services Departments
and/or Arts Commission.
2. Include
information on how installation, landscaping and on-going maintenance will be
provided.
3. If
this project is proposed for Bellingham Public Schools-owned property, you must
provide proof of approval by the school district. Attach a copy to your Small and Simple
Projects Fund application.
v Community Non-Physical Improvement Project – One-time events such as a festival or event,
training session or educational campaign, program or workshop.
1. Provide
the start date, end date, and location of the proposed project.
2. Provide
proof of the property owner's permission to use the property for this purpose.
3. Provide
a statement as to the citywide benefit.
v Public School Partnership Project – Pilot or start-up program that directly
benefits a public school and the immediate neighborhood.
1. Describe
how neighborhood residents in addition to students, parents, and teachers of
the school, have been involved in planning the project and how they will be
actively involved in project implementation.
2. Explain
how neighborhood residents and the community will benefit from the completed
project.
3. For
a physical improvement project, you must provide proof of approval by the
school district. Attach a copy of it to
your Small and Simple Projects Fund application.
4. For
a project that is not a physical improvement, attach a letter of approval from
the school principal.
As a practical matter, applications need a
matching contribution to receive funding.
For a Community Improvement (either
physical or non-physical), or a Public School Partnership project,
you should provide a dollar-on-dollar match.
For example, if you request $1,000 from the Small and Simple Projects
Fund, your application should prove your organization can come up with a match
package valued at $1,000 or more.
Eligible
Components: Your total match package can include
components from any combination of the following four (4) categories:
v Volunteer labor valued at $10 per hour. Volunteer hours are also called
"in-kind" match.
v Donated professional services or skilled labor valued at the "reasonable and customary
rate" higher than the $10 per hour for most types of volunteer of in-kind
labor.
v Donated materials or supplies such as art materials, lumber, or trees. Such donations are also called
"in-kind" match.
v Cash that you have "in hand" such as dues paid to your
organization and approved for use on your project, or cash and checks you have
already collected for your project by going door-to-door in your
neighborhood. Or it can be money that
you will raise during the course of your project by holding fundraising events
such as bake sales or by getting pledges from community organizations and businesses;
also grants for your project from foundations and other entities. Funds from other City departments are not eligible for a
neighborhood match.
Verification: A key
to making your application competitive is to demonstrate that your community
match is ready to go. There are a number
of options you can use to prove that your cash match, in-kind materials, and/or
in-kind volunteer time are secured.
1. Volunteer
Time (also called In-Kind Match)
v
Sign-up forms showing names, addresses (including zip codes that tell us these
volunteers are from your neighborhood), phone numbers, number of hours each
person is willing to donate, and type of labor.
v
Phone log showing the same information as a sign-up form plus a column
showing the date you secured each person's volunteer time over the phone. Although this requires you to do a
question-and-answer session with each volunteer and fill out the form for each,
this may be the fastest way for you to get commitments.
v
Pledge letters from individuals promising to donate a
specific number of hours and explaining what type of work each will do for your
project.
v
Pledge letters from
community council chairs, agency volunteer coordinators, etc., stating they
will personally be responsible for rounding up a specific number of their
members for a specific number of hours to do specific tasks. For example, "I will ensure that 20
members of the Columbia Neighborhood Association will work four hours each on
Saturday, September 16, 2005, amending soil and planting trees and bushes for
the Columbia Pocket Park project."
2. Donations
of Materials, Supplies, and Things (the other type of In-Kind Match)
v
Pledge letters on company letterhead pledging a specific
material donation and its retail value.
For example, "$500 in lumber from Beta Hardware to build a
tool-shed for the Birchwood Community Garden," or "$250 donated
photocopying for flyers and advertising, for the Dickens of a Holiday Festival
in Old Town.”
v
Invoice or bid form showing
type of donation and value. For example,
"Design of 8.5" x 11" advertising flyer ($250), printing 5,000
copies ($250), postage and distribution ($700) donated by A-1 Mailing House for
the Fairhaven Environmental Festival project, to be delivered the week of
10/9/05."
3. Cash
Match
v
Fundraising plan – If your cash match is not secured by the
application deadline, provide a detailed fundraising plan including a timeline
and stating methods for raising cash and how much money you expect to raise
with each method or event. If you need
to raise a lot of money be sure to describe the fundraising experience of the
individuals or organization involved.
Your fundraising plan will be reviewed for credibility. If you are applying for grants to other
funders as a portion of your fundraising plan, be sure to provide us with a
list of funders you will be approaching, amount you are requesting from each,
and their funding decision dates.
v
Photocopies of bank statements – If you have already collected your cash
match, a copy of a recent bank statement for the account in which you are
holding the funds is a good way to show that you are ready to proceed.
v
Photocopies of checks – This is a good way to show both that you
have the money in hand and how many people from your community pitched in to
help you achieve your fundraising goal.
v
Photocopies of commitment letters – If your project has been granted or promised
funding but you haven't received the money by the time of your Small and Simple
application deadline, or the funding is dependent upon your project receiving a
Small and Simple Projects Fund award, you can provide letters of commitment
from the donors or funders on their letterhead.
Match
Guidelines:
1. Your
match components must be appropriate to the goals of your project.
2. Your match must be expended during the
life of the project - neither before an award is made nor after the contract
has ended.
3. At least 25% of your required match
package must come from the neighborhood itself, as opposed to other funders,
the
4. You cannot count assistance
from City staff or funds from other City sources as match.
5.
You cannot
count your time spent preparing your application or time spent
fundraising for your project as match except as noted in the Starter Match
section of these guidelines.
6.
Professional
services or skilled labor can be donated as match or hired for a fee, but
professionals who donate their services cannot also receive compensation
from the award money. This ensures that
persons hired to provide services are selected on the basis of their
qualifications, not on their ability to donate services.
The expenditure of government
dollars is always subject to public scrutiny.
The Community Matching Fund program must be able to prove to the public
that public benefit was derived from your use of a Small and Simple Projects
Fund award. You will need a person
(fiscal agent) to handle and account for your award funds and any cash you've
raised that is part of your neighborhood match.
Your organization may be able to act as its own fiscal agent or you may
select another group or individual to act as your fiscal agent. An individual can serve as your fiscal agent
provided the person obtains a tax identification number (easy to do) and files
an additional form with the I
Any promotional materials
about your project must mention that the project is made possible by a Small
and Simple Project grant from the City of
AME
All Small and Simple Fund
projects must demonstrate a good faith effort to comply with the
For your project, whether you
are purchasing landscaping rocks or printing a festival program, you should
shop around and get at least three (3) bids for your significant expenses. You can show us you've done your homework by
including copies of the bid sheets (or just the lowest bid) as an attachment to
your application, but you cannot commit to the purchase
until AFTE
The same advice also goes for
hiring. Whether employing a volunteer
coordinator or contracting out to a consultant, you should advertise for
applicants and interview more than one.
You can include this process in your application as a step in your work
plan.
Although you cannot count
most of your time spent preparing your application as match, you are allowed to
include in your match package ten hours (valued at $100) representing the
effort you have put into the preparation of your application. In the Personnel section of the budget, enter
"Application Preparation" under "Item" and "$100"
under "Neighborhood In-Kind."
City of
Mayor's Office
Neighborhood Matching Fund
Program
SMALL
AND SIMPLE P
Submit the original and one
(1) copy of the application form and attachments to the Planning &
Community Development Department,
________________________________________________________________________________
Applicant
Organization/Community Group
________________________________________________________________________________
Project Contact Person
_________________________________________________ __________________________
Mailing Address Zip
Code
_________________________ _________________________ _________________________
Day Phone Evening
Phone E-mail Address
________________________________________________________________________________
Project Name
__________________________________________________ __________________________
Project Location (Address) Zip
Code
________________________________________________________________________________
Neighborhood
Briefly describe the project in 50 words or
less:
TOTAL Small and Simple Projects Fund award request
from the City: $____________________
TOTAL value of community match (neighborhood's
contribution): $____________________
TOTAL P
The signatory declares that
s/he is the elected Chair or President of the applicant organization, assures
that a majority of members of the organization's governing board have voted to
undertake this project, and assures that any funds received as a result of the
application will be used only for purposes set forth herein, and that s/he has
read and understands the Small and Simple Project Fund Guidelines and
Application.
______________________________________
Name (print)
______________________________________
Title (print)
I have read and understand
the contents of this Agreement.
_____________________________________ __________________________
Signature Date
1. Project Information
Describe
your proposed project. What do you want
to do? Why do you want to do it?
2. Community Involvement
Demonstrate
broad participation by community residents in your project by providing how you
contacted them, how many became involved, and what sectors of your community
they represent. Provide specific
examples of how they participated in selecting and planning your project and
how they will be involved in carrying out the project.
3. Project Budget
It is
helpful if in your budget you group together related items. For example, group tools such as hammers with
material such as lumber and nails. The
budget tables display four (4) categories:
1) Materials and Equipment,
2) Personnel,
3) Services, and
4) Construction and Capital.
You may
have entries for all four (4) categories or for just numbers 1 or 2. If you have more line items than the grid
provides for, use another sheet of paper.
Column F, Actual Costs, is completed upon completion of the project and
submitted with your Final Written
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A |
B |
C |
D |
E |
F |
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1) Materials and Equipment Item Description |
Estimated Total Cost |
City's Small & Simple Funds |
Neighborhood In-Kind (Donated Things) |
Community Cash Match |
ACTUAL COST |
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Subtotal Materials and Equipment |
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A |
B |
C |
D |
E |
F |
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2) Personnel Item Description |
Estimated Total Cost |
City's Small & Simple Funds |
Neighborhood In-Kind (Donated Time) |
Neighborhood Cash Match |
ACTUAL COST |
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Subtotal Personnel |
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SE
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A |
B |
C |
D |
E |
F |
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3) Services Item Description |
Estimated Total Cost |
City's Small & Simple Funds |
Neighborhood In-Kind (Donated Services) |
Neighborhood Cash Match |
ACTUAL COST |
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Subtotal Services |
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B |
C |
D |
E |
F |
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4) Construction and Capital Item Description |
Estimated Total Cost |
City's Small & Simple Funds |
Neighborhood In-Kind (Donated Construction Package) |
Neighborhood Cash Match |
ACTUAL COST |
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Subtotal Construction/Capital |
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BUDGET G |
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4.
Work Plan
A. List in chronological order specific steps you
will take to complete this project.
B. Next to each step, identify who will be
responsible for carrying out the step or activity
C. Estimate the date the step or activity will be
completed (month and year).
A
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B
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C
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Step/Activity |
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Date Done |
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5. Project Type
Decide which of the following project types
best describes your project, and then answer the questions below pertaining to
that project type: Community Organizing
Project, Community Physical Improvement Project, Community Non-Physical
Improvement Project, or Public School Partnership Project.
v Community Organizing Project – Create, diversify, or enlarge the membership
of a multi-issue community organization
in a neighborhood.
1. Tell
us if your project expands an existing group or creates a new one.
2. Tell
us what organizations already exist in your neighborhood and how yours will
fill a gap not currently met by existing groups.
v Community Physical Improvement Project – Build or enhance a tangible (physical)
improvement in your community.
1. Provide
proof of the property owner's permission to construct your proposed
improvement.
2. Include
information on how on-going maintenance will be provided.
3. If this project is proposed for
Bellingham Public Schools-owned property, you must provide proof of approval by
the school district. Attach a copy to
your Small and Simple Projects Fund application.
v Community Non-Physical Improvement Project – One-time events such as a festival or
special celebration, training session or educational campaign, computer
literacy pilot program, or workshop.
1. Provide
the start date, end date, and location of the proposed project.
2. Provide proof of the property owner's
permission to use the property for this purpose.
v Public School Partnership Project – Pilot or start-up program that directly
benefits a public school and the immediate neighborhood.
1. Describe how neighborhood residents in
addition to students, parents, and teachers of the school, have been involved
in planning the project and how they will be actively involved in project
implementation.
2. Explain
how neighborhood residents will benefit from the completed project.
3. For a physical improvement project, you must provide proof of approval by the school district. Attach a copy of it to your Small and Simple Projects Fund application.
4. For a project that is not a physical
improvement, attach a letter of approval from the school principal.
6. Attachments
Attached
documents should demonstrate that your community match is in place, your
project is well planned and ready to go, and your community supports your
proposed project.
v Attach documentation of in-kind match (labor
and items) and cash match, as appropriate
v Attach documentation of community support for
the proposed project.
v Attach copies of map, site plans, and/or
construction drawings, as appropriate.
v If there is anything else a reviewer should
know about your proposed project, you may attach a brief narrative.
7.
(We
require this information for tracking purposes only. The answer to this question does not affect
the award decision.)
Is this
project referenced in a neighborhood plan?
NO YES
8. Please describe your organization: number of members, geographic boundaries,
mission, membership policy, and accomplishments.
9. Fiscal Agent (Optional information, not
required at time of submitting application.)
________________________________________________________________________________
Fiscal Agent Organization (if
different than applicant organization; if known at this time)
________________________________________ _____________________________________
Fiscal Agent Contact Person Fiscal
Agent Organization's Federal Tax ID #
____________________________________________________ _________________________
Mailing Address Zip Code
_______________________ ___________________ _________________________________
Day Phone Evening Phone E-mail Address
10.
BEFO