The Paris Independent
5
February 17, 2024
COMMUNITY NEWS Brant Community Foundation will review and distribute 2024 Community Grant Funding "They look a lot more closely at the merits of the application and use of the money. They look at it in a lot more depth than we as staff in our technical review did. So, they would be working through the overall allocations based on that (review).” ~Heather Boyd, General Manager of Corporate Services By Casandra Turnbull It's almost time to award Community Grants and the county is taking a completely different approach this year. The County of Brant has entered an agreement that will see the Brant Community Foundation (BCF) oversee and deliver the 2024 County of Brant Community Grants Program. It's a radical change from the current process where County staff accepted, reviewed, and graded applications who were then awarded funding based on their score in a variety of required fields. This newer process was just implemented within the last few years, replacing a program that once brought applicants to council chambers to present as delegations. The Brant Community Foundation acts as a catalyst for donors by allowing named funds to be created to benefit the community, so allocating and distributing funds to help communities and organizations grow is something the Foundation is well equipped to handle.
This 2024 change in process was suggested after county staff took a comprehensive review of the Grants Program, and how other cities and municipalities handled funding requests. During a February 13th Grant Committee Meeting, members discussed a motion, presented by Heather Boyd, General Manager of Corporate Services, which outlined details on eligibility criteria and included a draft application form. These types of details must be ratified by council in February before the official grant application window can be announced. County Grants staff and the BCF hope to open the process on March 1st for the entire month. Both County of Brant and BCF staff will be available to assist applicants in making their submissions. Part of this application process, like in past years, includes reaching out to recipients from the previous grant year. That, says Councillor Jennifer Kyle and Councillor John Peirce, is a part of the application process they could do without. With proper
communication and advertisement, coupled by the fact that there's always a high interest in the program, reaching out to previous recipients can be time consuming and not fair to new applicants who haven't received funds before and follow the process correctly. The criteria to even be considered is strict. Eligible organizations must complete all relevant sections of the application form and submit all documents requested, must be either a registered charity of a notfor-profit organization and must have a location and/or presence in the County of Brant. They cannot be in arrears with or involved in any litigation against the municipality and cannot have a primary purpose to provide funds to another or an ineligible organization. Funds are not to be used for any activity or purpose that engages in political activity, supportive of political parties/candidates or lobbying for law / government policy change.
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