HomeMy WebLinkAboutGrant Recommendation Staff MemoDate: December 23, 2014
To: Deschutes County Board of Commissioners
From: Judith Ure, Management Analyst
Subject: Community Grant Award Recommendations
Changes to Community Grant Program
In April 2014, while prioritizing the use of video lottery funds, the Board of Commissioners
made the following changes to the Deschutes County Community Grant program:
1. Allocated funds in the amount of $21,960 each to the Health, Mental Health, and Addictions
and the Other Essential Services categories and $4,880 to the Arts and Culture category.
These amounts reflect an overall reduction of $14,367 from fiscal year 2013-14.
2. Continued the practice of transferring funds to United Way to administer in conjunction with
the Emergency, Food and Shelter program. The amount allocated for this purpose was
reduced by $10,000 from fiscal year 2013-14 for a total of $65,000 in fiscal year 2014-15.
3. In a subsequent discussion, established a set number of two awards of $11,000 each to be
made in the Health, Mental Health, and Addictions and Other Essential Services categories
and two awards of $2,400 each in the Arts and Culture category.
These changes were reflected in the solicitation notice, funding guidelines, and application and
ratings forms.
Applications Submitted
Deschutes County received 25 applications in response to the 2014-15 Community Grant
solicitation as follows:
Arts and Culture
Deschutes Public Library Foundation
Cascades Theatrical Company
Deschutes County Historical Society
Women’s Civic Improvement League
High Desert Chamber Music
Discover Your Forest
Health, Mental Health, and Addictions Services
Volunteers in Medicine
Advantage Smiles for Kids
Healing Reins
Children’s Vision Foundation
Deschutes Family Recovery
Other Essential Services
Volunteers in Action
Big Brothers Big Sisters Central Oregon
NeighborImpact
American Red Cross
ICON City
Bloom Project
Heart of Oregon
The Center Foundation
Bend Spay & Neuter Project
Families Forward
Bend’s Community Center
Grandma’s House
La Pine Community Kitchen
St. Vincent de Paul Redmond
Review Process
A three-person panel reviewed the 2014-15 Community Grant applications, assigning numerical
points and rankings based four evaluation criteria that included organizational strength; financial
stability; proposed program, project, or activity benefit; and performance management
capability. Points and rankings assigned by members of the review panel were averaged and the
results were compared to individual ratings to assess conformity. The review panelists were then
given an opportunity to confirm that the highest ranking applications reflected a consensus
recommendation.
Recommendations
Specific recommendations will be presented to the Board of Commissioners for discussion
during the work session scheduled on December 29, 2014.