Grant FAQ

SHARED EXPECTATIONS. SHARED OUTCOMES. SHARED IMPACT.

When collected and used effectively, shared outcomes can help supporters work collaboratively with organizations to:

1. Measure and clearly articulate that they are making the difference intended for the people they serve.
2. Implement ongoing quality improvement at the programmatic level; and
3. Inform stakeholders and the community on where and why programming is working or not working and how they are working to improve it.
4. Empower others to advocate on the program's behalf by having readily available "talking points." 

 At the end of this page, you will see expanding sections for the areas of Health, Education & Financial Stability.While agencies are encouraged to use the following Shared Outcomes when requesting funding, United Way also recognizes that there is never a one-size fits all approach, nor is it all inclusive of the work being done in Freeborn County. Agencies are invited to use the following Indicators to help write their own Program Outcomes & Indicators for the 2024 Grant Cycle if there is one that does not accurately reflect your program's work.
Please note: the application does ask for the primary Impact area, chosen outcomes & indicators should align with this impact area chosen. 

Agency/Organization/Nonprofit:
For the purposes of this United Way, these three terms are used interchangeably to define a collective group that is tax exempt and eligible for funding that has a defined community benefit in the areas of Health, Education and Financial Stability in Freeborn County.

Program:

Organized activities and actions that utilize resources to produce desired outcomes. Programs exist within an organization. United Way funds programs, and not agencies as a whole.

Indicators:

The specific items of data that are tracked to measure how well a program is achieving an outcome. This does not have a specific measurement at the start of the program, it is defining what will be measured.

Targets: 

Objectives for a program’s level of achievement.

Outputs:

The direct products of program operation and usually are measured in terms of the volume of work accomplished—for example, the numbers of classes taught, counseling sessions conducted, educational materials distributed, and participants served. Outputs have little inherent value in themselves. They are important because they are intended to lead to a desired benefit for participants or target populations.

Outcomes: 

The benefits or changes for individuals or populations during or after participating in program activities. They are influenced by a program’s outputs. Outcomes may relate to knowledge, attitudes, values, skills, behavior, condition or other attributes. They are what participants know, think or can do; or how they behave; or what their condition is, that is different following the program.

For example, in a youth development program that creates internship opportunities for high school youth, an outcome might be that participants develop expanded views of their career options. An indicator of how well the program is succeeding on this outcome could be the number and percent of participants who list more careers of interest to them at the end of the program than they did at the beginning of the program. A target might be that 40 percent of participants list at least two more careers after completing the program than they did when they started it.

Budget Help

United Way has developed this page to provide technical assistance to programs submitting grant proposals, particularly small and grassroots organizations who may not have experience submitting a program budget in the past. These guidelines may also be useful for programs and agencies who have not previously applied for United Way funding, or for agencies that plan to create a new program with United Way funding.

Program Budget:

We request programs to submit a program budget to the funding review team, but we do not have a set format in which we require this information. If your program already has a budget, stop here and submit that with your grant proposal - there is no need to create new work for yourself! If your program is starting from scratch, you can download the budget template here.

Income:

UWOC Request is the dollar amount you are requesting from United Way in your proposal. This is an annual amount.

Other UW refers to any United Way funding you receive through designations through our workplace campaigns. It is not the same as grant money you receive from UWOC.

Earned Income is generated by providing services or goods. Examples could include fees paid by participants, fundraising sales, renting out space, etc.

In-Kind Donations can be hard to quantify. They are donations that your programs receive that they otherwise would have paid out of pocket. For example, if you planned to rent a bus to transport students to an event but the rental company let you rent for free, you value the in-kind donation by how much money you saved. Frequent in-kind donations are technology, office equipment, meeting space, and marketing. Volunteer time counts as in-kind if it is operational (accounting, training, etc.) but is not in-kind if the volunteer is providing direct services.

Expenses:

Direct Services Personnel includes the wages and benefits of the individuals who do the on-the-ground work with program participants.

Grants to Individuals account for money that 'passes through' your organization to program participants. Examples could be the money that was paid out as rent assistance, the portion of the participation fee that was paid by your agency, tuition scholarships to students, etc.

Contract Services are those instances in which you pay another agency or company for services. Common examples are consultants, researchers, legal and accounting services, or office equipment maintenance.

Program Supplies are those supplies needed by the program, such as books, art supplies, sports equipment, etc. that are used by program participants and staff.

Advertising and Promotion can include the cost of social media advertisements, newspaper listings, billboards, radio spots, and TV commercials.

Office Expenses are those supplies such as paper, pens, paper clips, and so on. Often, these are not purchased by the program specifically, but by the agency. Your program's office expenses may be calculated as a certain percentage of your agency's office expenses, as long as the organizational and program budget line up. Don't forget to include utilities!

Information Technology can include software subscriptions and technology purchases.

Travel/Mileage is the amount reimbursed to employees for travel outside of their normal commute, the current rate is 56¢/mile.  It can also cover the costs of hotels, car rental, fuel for rental vehicles, and airplane tickets.

Administration/Overhead are expenses for your overall operations and management - for example, costs of Board of Director meetings and centralized services such as office management and human resources. 

Suggestions for data sources include: 

Minnesota Compass

Mayo Clinic Community Health Needs Assessment

Freeborn County Public Health Community Health Improvement Plan

Feeding America

Foundation for Essential Needs

Channel One Regional Food Bank

Blue Zones Project 2019 Community Wellness Report

Technical Grant Support

Support for the grant application process is handled in two ways: clarification on the grant questions and technical 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 2^nd   
• 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.