Grant guidelines and decision making framework for granting ARPA funds

TanyaAndreasen

Our organization is partnering with our county to support their grantmaking efforts for APRA (American Rescue Plan Act) funding for nonprofits. They would like to grant us $500,000 to then create a Nonprofit Economic Recovery fund. We will provide unrestricted funding to our local nonprofit organizations from this fund to support organizational resiliency and recovery. As we know other organizations have already engaged in this type of grantmaking, we were wondering if anyone has examples of the following they'd be willing to share...and lessons learned if you have any!

- Sample application questions

- Decision-making matrix for evaluating the grant applications for our committee

- Reporting framework 

KatieOttinger

Hi @TanyaAndreasen

This is a great question! My community foundation has entered into a similar arrangement with our county government. One key difference is that they are not granting us any funds to re-grant. Our role includes overseeing and administering the application, fielding all questions from applicants, assisting in the review and decision process, and following up on grantee reporting and documentation. The county will approve grant decisions, handle all grant disbursements, and report back to the US Treasury.

The process is starting with an LOI that will be open until March 1. From there, we will approach the next steps based on the number and scale of requests that come in. We set no limit on the number of LOIs nonprofits can submit nor a maximum request amount.

If you're interested, you can see more information about our process here: https://givehcgrowhc.org/nonprofits/?target=ARPA-Grants

I've also attached our LOI questions.

Best wishes!

Katie Ottinger

LOI - 2022 American Rescue Plan Act Hancock County Nonprofit Grant Cycle.pdf

TanyaAndreasen

Thank you, @KatieOttinger! Much appreciated. I'll reach out directly if we have further questions.

LaurieAbildso

@KatieOttinger, we have been approached by our County Commissioners to oversee the administration of their annual grant program. We are putting together a proposal outlining what we are able to provide, and it will be very similar to your arrangement with your county's administration of ARPA funds. I am wondering if you would be willing to share the details of your arrangement, including how your community foundation is compensated. Do you charge a flat fee or a percentage of dollars awarded? Some other arrangement? If you have any lessons learned you would be willing to share, that would also be much appreciated.

Many thanks!

Laurie

KatieOttinger

@LaurieAbildso Happy to share! Here is the language from our MOU around the fee structure: "In consideration of the services provided, the Board of Commissioners (BOC) will pay HCCF an administration fee equal to 2% of all Grant Funds distributed, but not less than a minimum annual fee of $20,000 in each of 2022, 2023, and 2024. The fee will be paid quarterly and invoiced to the BOC by HCCF."

I hope this helps. Good luck!

Katie

LaurieAbildso

Thank you, @KatieOttinger! Much appreciated. If you would be willing to share the MOU template, I'd love to see it. You may email it to me at laurie@ycfwv.org. Thanks again!