2024 Grant Application

ELIGIBILITY 

Based upon the charitable structure of the United Way of Freeborn County, grants are limited to 501c3 non-profit organizations, or other charitable organizations able to receive a tax-deductible contribution, such as schools, faith-based organizations, and other public entities.  

Sponsoring Agencies of programs awarded funding will need to comply with Partner Agency Agreement terms. The completed Partner Agency Agreement form is due back within one month of the grant award notification.  

2024 GRANT Highlights  

• Grant proposals describe programmatic costs for one year.  

• Expenditure period for this grant is 1/1/24 to 12/31/24 

• Applications are for programs with specified outcomes, not for the agency/organization/nonprofit 

• The maximum any program may apply for is $10,000  

• One application per agency may be submitted 

2024 Grant Timeline & Awards Info  

• Applications due on September 4th at Noon 

• Panel Presentations will occur during the evening the week of September 16th or week of September 23rd 

• The primary contact will be sent an email with an invitation to sign up for Panel Presentations

• Allocation timelines are noted in your grant award letter

• Award letters will be sent out no later than the first two weeks of October

PANEL PRESENTATIONS  

Panel presentations are designed to showcase your program and community impact. It is also an opportunity to answer questions from the Community Investment Committee to clarify or expand answers on the application.  
Applicants will be notified of presentation details the week following the application deadline. Presentations will occur the weeks of September 16th or September 23rd. Applicants should plan for a 10-20 minute presentation, including Q&A. At this time, please prepare for these presentations to be in-person. Due to challenges of audio, there will be no hybrid option.  
Executive Directors are encouraged to invite a board member or program staff be at the presentation. If more than two people plan to attend, please notify UWFC staff.  

GRANT GUIDANCE SUPPORT 

In 2024, UWFC staff will be providing questions regarding grant guidelines via written format. Questions and answers will be posted on the website for all applicants to review. We are unable to answer questions specific to your organization or budget. This does not apply to technical support. Applicants should have logged into the grant portal, reviewed the grant application and fully reviewed the Grant Guidelines, Shared Outcomes and supporting documents. These can be reviewed at http://unitedwayfc.org/communityimpactgrant Please bookmark this page, as many questions can be answered by reviewing the materials provided here.  

TECHNICAL GRANT SUPPORT 

All applicants are highly encouraged to log in and review the grant materials within the first two weeks of the grant cycle.  

• It is best practice to answer your questions in a word document to ensure work is not lost due to technical issues. You may then copy and paste your answers into the grant form itself.  

• Technical assistance will be provided via virtual office hours each Friday from 2:00-3:00 starting August 9th. On August 2nd, office hours are offered from 11:00-Noon. You must sign up at least 30 minutes in advance for Office Hours, or they will be cancelled for the day if there are no registrants.    

• No phone calls will be accepted for grant or technical support. An email may be sent requesting a phone call if necessary to uwfc@unitedwayfc.org but should only be utilized as a last resort.  

• If technical difficulties are unable to be resolved, please notify UWFC staff and an alternate method of submitting the grant application will be provided.  
   
    

Investment Policy:
United Way's Community Investment Policy has historically been that United Way must not be the primary or only source of funds a program receives. United Way encourages applicants to be as self-sustaining as possible, consistent with sound principals of nonprofit fiscal management. This is done to align with United Way's mission to have the greatest impact and to be able to fund multiple programs in the areas of health, Education and Income.

United Way will not fund more than 50% of a program's budget costs. The overall organizational budget must not be considered when calculating the program percentages. 

Program applications that meet both of the following conditions, please review this additional guidance.

·        Grant recipient in 2022, using funds for expenditures in 2023

·        Applying for the same program in 2023

If your program meets the above, please consider the following:          

·        UWFC must not be the primary or only source of funds a program receives. To determine this, evidence must be shown on the financial documents that the agency is providing funding that match or are in excess of the requested amount.

·        Any funds granted by the United Way in 2022 for expenditures in 2022 must be included in the United Way's portion of the 50% program budget cost calculations.  

Example: XYZ Program has applied for funding in 2021 and 2022. They received $500 and will be applying that for expenditures in 2022. In 2022, XYZ Program is requesting another $500 for the same program. To sufficiently meet the financial requirements, XYZ Program must provide evidence of $1,000 designated for the program. In Kind donations and UWFC funding cannot be counted towards this designated line item.