Deadline: 26-Mar-21
The City of Virginia Beach is inviting applications for its Community Organization Grant (COG) program which provides an opportunity for qualified non-profit organizations that deliver services to Virginia Beach citizens to receive funding from the City.
The City of Virginia Beach recognizes that nonprofit organizations fill an important role in improving the quality of life for our community. To encourage nonprofit organizations to provide services that affect the welfare of residents of Virginia Beach, the City has established a system to award monetary grants to qualified nonprofit organizations.
Objectives
These grants are intended to:
- Provide funding to nonprofit organizations serving Virginia Beach, whose services are easily accessible to Virginia Beach residents and whose service costs can be documented.
- Provide funding for services to meet specific needs of Virginia Beach residents and to support City Council goals.
- Provide grant funding for operational support or capital outlay. Programs qualifying for this funding category will be determined by the Community Organization Grant Review and Allocation Committee.
- Provide a systematic, impartial, and informed process through which nonprofit organizations may request funding from the City of Virginia Beach.
Eligibility Criteria
An applicant is eligible to apply for a Community Organization Grant (COG) from the City of Virginia Beach if it meets the following criteria:
- The applicant must be a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization meeting the legal requirements of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the City of Virginia Beach.
- The applicant must provide significant, measurable direct services to residents of Virginia Beach. The organization must be able to provide an unduplicated count of the residents served.
- In accordance with Section 15.2-953 of the Code of Virginia, the applicant cannot be controlled in whole or in part by a church or sectarian society.
- The applicant may not receive grants from other City of Virginia Beach resources. For example, the applicant cannot be eligible to apply for a grant while receiving a grant through the City of Virginia Beach Arts and Humanities Commission.
- The applicant may not have any permanent City of Virginia Beach employees nor any City officials involved in the COG grant application, interview, or reporting process.
- The applicant must have fulfilled all service, reporting, auditing, and payment obligations for any previous loans or grants from the City.
- Programs, activities, employment opportunities, and any other operations of the applicant that may be fully or partially funded by the City of Virginia Beach must comply with local, state, and national legal requirements related to nondiscrimination.
- The applicant may not use COG funding as a means to provide grant or pass-through funding for other nonprofit organizations.
- All funds awarded through COG are to remain local (Virginia Beach) and are not to be used to fund national organizations (i.e., dues, etc.).
- If awarded a grant, the City shall have the right to audit all books and records relating or pertaining to the agreement, kept by or under the control of Contractor, including, but not limited to those kept by Contractor, its employees, agents, assigns, successors and subcontractors.
Application Review
- Applications will be reviewed by the Review and Allocation Committee. Specific questions concerning the applications may be directed through BMS for follow-up with the applicant, when appropriate.
- After the Committee has reviewed the applications, meetings are arranged, if needed, with those City departments (e.g., Housing, Human Services, Health, and Parks and Recreation) whose services are most closely associated with the services for which funding is being requested. The purpose of those meetings is to determine if the requested funding would address needs in the community that are not currently being met.
- If necessary, the applicant will be scheduled for an interview with the Committee. The interview is the applicant’s opportunity to further explain its programs and proposed services. Because the interview provides the applicant an opportunity to be heard, there is no provision for appeal beyond the Committee.
For more information, visit https://bit.ly/3almMOj