A second cycle of grant funding has become available for Sicamous non-profit organizations.
At the Feb. 22 council meeting, district chief financial officer Bianca Colonna presented the revised Community Service Grant Program.
Colonna asked council to decide if they would approve a second cycle of grant funding and authorize changes discussed at the Jan. 25 finance committee meeting.
The grant program is an agreement between the District of Sicamous and and the Shuswap Community Foundation that funds non-profit organizations that have goals in line with those of council. The grants are funded from the district’s general tax revenue.
A second cycle of funding can be dispersed if funds leftover from the previous cycle amount to more than $10,000. The district had over $30,000 left after its most recent disbursement.
Colonna confirmed it is council’s decision to open another round of funding. She said it’s a bit of a tighter turnaround for the second cycle, with applications due by April 15, the grant committee’s meeting deadline set for April 30, and cheques being distributed to recipients by May 15.
Council decided to go ahead with the second cycle. Requests for grants must be submitted to the Shuswap Community Foundation’s grant portal or through the form on the district website.
Additional changes to the agreement include moving the next application deadline from August 31 to October 31, giving groups an extra two months to finalize their budgets and submit.
There is also clarification surrounding the review process, Colonna said, and a change to when the grants committee meets, from Nov. 15 to Nov. 30. As well, the deadline for the committee to make its final decisions was pushed to Dec. 15, meaning cheques will be dispersed by Jan. 31.
The grant committee is made up of Coun. Siobhan Rich, a district resident appointed by the mayor, two directors of the community foundation and a member of the foundation’s staff. Currently, there is only one director on the committee and the foundation is looking to fill more of those seats. Colonna said council can appoint someone to round out the committee to five members.
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