The Denver Foundation s Strengthening Neighborhoods Program Small Grant Application The Strengthening Neighborhoods Program (SNP) of The Denver Foundation has four primary goals: (1) to help strengthen the social fabric that knits neighborhoods together; (2) to help develop neighborhood leaders; (3) to help communities develop and/or sustain vital local economies; and (4) to support or enhance residents sense of pride in where they live. The SNP Small Grants Program makes grants from $100 to $5,000 available directly to residents of its nine partner neighborhoods to use in resident-led projects meeting one or more of these goals. Key components of the Small Grants Program include the following: Grants are limited to residents and projects in Commerce City and the Denver neighborhoods of Clayton, Elyria Swansea, Globeville, Highland, Northeast Park Hill, Skyland (North City Park), Sunnyside, and Whittier; All proposed projects must be planned and led by three or more unrelated residents of the neighborhood(s) seeking funding. Applicant groups need not, however, be formally structured or have tax exempt status; Projects must employ and build on the strengths and assets already existing in the community, such as residents specific skills, volunteer skills and labor, or a neighborhood s public spaces, institutions, businesses, or churches; Small Grant funding is extremely diverse and flexible. Projects and activities are limited only by the imagination and energy of a neighborhood s residents, and can include one-time events such as cultural fairs, block parties, and beautification projects, as well as longer-term undertakings such as after school programs or community organizing efforts. To apply for a small grant, just complete the attached application and submit one copy to us. Mail to LaDawn Sullivan Strengthening Neighborhoods Program The Denver Foundation 950 South Cherry St., Suite 200 Denver, CO 80246 (over)
If you have received this application electronically, you may submit it by e-mail to LaDawn at lsullivan@denverfoundation.org. There is no application deadline, and applications need not be typed. YOU SHOULD RECEIVE A FINAL DECISION ON YOUR APPLICATION WITHIN APPROXIMATELY FIVE WEEKS FROM THE TIME WE RECEIVE YOUR APPLICATION, SO PLEASE PLAN ACCORDINGLY. If you have an idea for a grant but need help completing the application, or have any other questions, please contact The Denver Foundation at 303-300-1790 and ask for Patrick Horvath, David Portillo, or LaDawn Sullivan. E-mail inquiries can be sent to LaDawn at lsullivan@denverfoundation.org. Please don t hesitate to call. You can also learn more about the Strengthening Neighborhoods Program by visiting our website. Go to www.denverfoundation.org and follow the link on the left for Strengthening Neighborhoods.
ANTI-DISCRIMINATION POLICY As a publicly supported community foundation serving all of the metro Denver community, The Denver Foundation believes strongly in the importance of inclusiveness. To that end the Foundation s trustees have adopted a broad anti-discrimination policy that states as follows: The Denver Foundation shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), color, gender, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status in any of its activities or operations. These activities include, but are not limited to, hiring and firing of staff, selection of volunteers, selection of vendors, and provision of services. In addition, the trustees have adopted a specific written policy declining to consider grant applications made to the Foundation s Community Grants Program (our primary grantmaking program for Denver area nonprofits) from any group that discriminates on the basis of any of the categories included in the statement above, except to serve historically disadvantaged groups such as members of racial minorities or women. The Strengthening Neighborhoods Program fully endorses this policy. Because the large majority of our small grants are made to informal groups of neighborhood residents, we do not require applicants to adopt or vote on any particular statement of anti-discrimination or include a statement to this effect in your application. We do, however, require that the projects and activities you carry out with Strengthening Neighborhoods funding do not discriminate on the basis of any of the categories noted above. We know that you share our goal of creating neighborhoods in which all residents feel welcomed and valued, and we look forward to helping you achieve this goal. If you have any concerns about this, please do not hesitate to contact one of the Strengthening Neighborhoods staff members.
STRENGTHENING NEIGHBORHOODS PROGRAM COMPLETING YOUR SMALL GRANT APPLICATION BUDGET Each year the Strengthening Neighborhoods small grants program receives requests for more funds than we have available. In order to help as many groups as possible, we must often give applicants less than they request. Proposals that show evidence of carefully prepared and accurate budgets are most likely to receive all or a greater portion of the amount sought, however, because such budgets help us to see how the amount requested is critical to the success of the project. It is thus extremely important that you prepare an accurate and well-researched budget. Please call a Strengthening Neighborhoods Program (SNP) staff person if you d like help preparing an accurate estimate of the costs of various items you will include in your budget. Your application will also be stronger if it is clear that you are not relying on SNP to fund the entire project or activity. One of SNP s goals is to help partner residents identify assets and resources in their own neighborhoods that can be used to accomplish their projects. We are one potential neighborhood asset, but your volunteer labor, contributions from local businesses and churches, donated food and materials, etc. are also important assets. These resources can be cash or in-kind. Try to think creatively about how you can find neighborhood assets and put them to work in your project. Any such non-snp resources that you plan to use in your project should be included in your budget in column B. When you are preparing your budget, please try to fit all your budget items into the categories listed on the budget page. This will make things simpler for you both now and when you prepare your final report. If you have questions about which category to use for a certain expense, please give us a call, or simply use your best judgment. In addition, if you are including a request for STIPENDS or EQUIPMENT in your budget, you MUST submit a separate sheet explaining your reasons for the request. Please see the separate instruction sheets for STIPENDS and EQUIPMENT that are included with these materials. The budget section of the application has three goals: (1) to help you submit reasonably accurate estimates of the cost of your project; (2) to get a complete picture of the resources you will need from SNP to complete your project; and (3) to see what other neighborhood resources or assets you will be using. It is not our goal to make you crazy, so if you feel like the budgeting process is making you crazy, please call us!
STRENGTHENING NEIGHBORHOODS PROGRAM SMALL GRANT BUDGET REQUESTS FOR STIPENDS The Strengthening Neighborhoods Program assumes that most of the neighborhoodbuilding work it supports will be undertaken by volunteers whose motivation for participating in a project is their desire to improve their neighborhood. In certain circumstances, however, payment of a stipend may be necessary to ensure that the project or activity is completed or is done properly. The following rules cover ALL stipend requests. If you are seeking funding in your budget for stipends, your request MUST fit one of the categories below to be eligible. 1. A stipend request will be considered to pay a professional (e.g., landscape designer, engineer, art/music instructor, graphic designer) ONLY if ALL of the following criteria are met: The specific goals of the project cannot be achieved without the professional s expertise; This expertise is not otherwise available on a volunteer basis from a community resident; The professional is supervised by and accountable to an independent volunteer group of residents involved in the project; The independent volunteer group of residents has established a procedure for reviewing the professional s work, determining that it has been satisfactorily completed, and paying the professional s bill; The professional is not involved in the handling of grant funds in any way (for example, the professional cannot also act as the project banker by receiving grant funds and paying project expenses). 2. A stipend request will be considered to pay a non-professional resident of the neighborhood ONLY if ALL of the following criteria are met: The stipended resident will acquire skills or experience in the course of doing the work that will be useful to the community after the project ends. (For example, a resident who designs and administer a door-to-door survey will gain skills that he or she can share with the community after the project ends. A stipend in this case would be appropriate. On the other hand, a resident who agrees to stuff and label envelopes for a neighborhood-wide mailing is not gaining any special skill and thus would not be eligible for a stipend.) The stipended resident is supervised by and accountable to an independent volunteer supervisory group of residents involved in the project; This supervisory group has a fair and established method for deciding who will receive a stipend and for choosing among residents interested in
receiving stipends (e.g., the stipends do not simply go to the three friends who are working on the project); The supervisory group has a fair and established procedure for reviewing the stipended resident s work, determining that it has been satisfactorily completed, and paying the resident; The stipended resident is not involved in the handling of grant funds in any way (for example, the stipended resident cannot also act as the project banker by receiving grant funds and paying project expenses). If your budget includes a request for stipends, please attach an additional sheet explaining which of the two categories described above fits your situation and how you will ensure that the requirements described in that category are met.
STRENGTHENING NEIGHBORHOODS PROGRAM SMALL GRANT BUDGET REQUESTS FOR EQUIPMENT The Strengthen Neighborhoods Program (SNP) assumes that equipment needed to undertake a project for which a resident group is seeking funding will be secured from within the community through loan or donation. In certain circumstances, however, we understand that applicants may need to include the cost of equipment (such as tools, gardening implements, sports equipment, and electronic devices) in their small grant application budgets. To guide you in your budget preparations we have prepared the following criteria for all equipment requests: 1. A budget request for equipment will be considered only if the equipment is critical to achieving the goals of the project and, IN ADDITION, if the applicants have determined that no resident or local institution would be willing to contribute the item(s) or use of the item(s) for free. 2. If the applicants determine that the equipment is not available on a loan or donation basis, the possibility of renting the equipment should be explored, particularly if the applicant does not have a public place to keep purchased items once the initial project is completed. If equipment is available to rent, the cost of the rental can be included as a budget item in the small grant application. 3. If neither (1) or (2) is feasible, applicants can seek equipment funding through the Strengthening Neighborhoods application. If such funding is provided, the applicant must commit to storing purchased equipment in a public place where it can be made available to other members of the community in the future. If your budget includes a request for the cost of purchasing equipment, please attach a separate sheet explaining why you need to purchase it and how it will be made available to the community after your project is completed. February 2002