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Hello WUIP Members,
I would like to start by saying what an absolute pleasure it was to see many of you at the Fall Gathering! Since we last spoke, the Grants Committee has drafted an updated set of grant guidelines that incorporates your feedback on our 2021 funding priorities.
Updates include expanding the category of Health & Wellness to include threats to women’s safety, adding Child Care and Food Security as new categories to address increasing need resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, and creating the category Emerging Needs to provide the opportunity for agencies to propose programs that address budding women’s issues impacting women in Bergen County.
We have also incorporated member suggestions including encouraging the submission of proposals for the expansion of existing programs to allow organizations the option to focus their efforts on maintaining and improving existing programs without the additional work of new program creation.
We have also highlighted the option for funds to be paid out over a one, two, or three year period. This provides organizations with the option to create a smaller yearly program budget with the guarantee of the following year’s payout to sustain the program in the next year.
In addition, a major point of discussion during the event was awarding a large impact grant and also awarding a small general operating fund to select runner-ups. The grants committee is still discussing implementation options. We have listed the total grant amount as $60,000, with the expectation that our true total will be $70,000. This will provide us with the flexibility to either provide a small general operating award to a runner-up or add the funds back to the impact grant total once we can determine what course of action will be most impactful.
Our goal is to release the 2021 Grant Guidelines on December 1st, and begin welcoming Letters of Intent with a deadline of January 6th. Final applications will be due on February 18th, afterwhich site visits will be conducted in preparation for our Membership Voting Dinner in early April. I will follow-up within the next few days with the final version of the 2021 Grant Guidelines and a link to the Letter of Intent.
Thank you all for your commitment and enthusiasm!
All the best,
Allie Fellema