The City of Haines provides grant money from the General Fund in one form or another to various Haines City Not-for-Profit agencies. The goal of these allocations is to ensure the residents of Haines City have access to services provided by local not-for-profit providers. These agencies offer a public purpose the City of Haines City does not or that are complimentary to and consistent with City goals, extending additional benefits to our residents.
Process and Guidelines
Eligibility Requirements
• Not-for-Profit Agencies that provide a public purpose to Haines City residents are eligible to apply for a grant each year through the Grant and Aid application.
• Mandatory training sessions will be offered during the application window. Applicants are required to attend one of the two training sessions to be eligible to apply for the grant. Each training session is the same and applicants only need to attend one.
Application Review Committee
The Grant and Aid Review Committee reviews all applications received by the cycle’s deadline and make funding recommendations to the City Manager for final approval.
Funding Amounts
All funding amounts are contingent on the number of qualified applications received and the total amount of budgeted funding available. In fiscal years where application requests exceed the budgeted funding; all applicants will be reduced equally on a pro-rata basis in correlation to their eligible funding. Applicants are required to include all In-Kind contribution request as part of their application.
• First-Time / New Applicants:
The maximum amount that can be awarded to a new applicant is $5,000 in their first grant cycle. Applicants are considered first-time if they did not receive funding in the most current fiscal year. The fiscal year runs October 1 – September 30. Award amounts will be limited to 25% of the agencies total revenues based off of the Form 990 provided. If Form 990 is not provided, the total revenues will be based on the annual budget from the application.
• Returning Applicants:
The maximum amount that can be awarded to a returning applicant is $10,000 in a single cycle. The only exception to this are agencies presently funded above this threshold in the current fiscal year. Returning applicants currently funded above $10,000 may be considered for funding up to the same amount of their current grant award. Award amounts will be limited based on the review committees ranking per the scale provided and the 25% threshold of the agencies total revenues based off of the Form 990 provided.
• Single Initiative Applicants:
The Grant Committee will consider and may allocate additional funds to a returning applicant towards a large, single initiative award amount up to $10,000. This is designed to support capital improvements or fund new and innovative programmatic efforts that will benefit citizens citywide. Not-for-profit agencies may request this larger allocation once every five years. The nonprofit organization must be in existence for a minimum of 5 years in Haines City to qualify.
Application Process
Not-for-profit agencies should prepare the following documents and information prior to beginning the application:
• Application – Not-for-profit agencies are invited to submit an application for funding through the Grant and Aid Program each year.
• Project Budget Sheet – Download and complete the project budget spreadsheet. Fill in the information for your project and save a new copy of the sheet. This must be uploaded to the application when prompted.
• Sunbiz Annual Report – Download your most recent annual report from Sunbiz.org. If your organization does not have an annual report, please upload your Articles of Incorporation from Sunbiz.org. If you do not have your annual report saved, you can search for it here: https://dos.myflorida.com/sunbiz/search/
• 501c3 IRS Determination Letter – This is the letter provided by the IRS granting your organization tax-exempt status. If you do not have this letter already saved, you can search for it here: https://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/
• IRS Form 990 Filing – Each agency will be required to provide a copy of the most recent IRS Form 990 Filing. The filing must be within a 2-year timeframe of the date of application. Newly formed agencies will be exempt from this requirement if within a 12-month timeframe from IRS determination letter.
Once all documentation is gathered, ensure you are prepared to answer questions about these topics:
• Your organization. This includes information such as your mission, vision, contact information and leadership team.
• Your project. This is the project, initiative or program you are requesting funds for. Be prepared to provide a detailed description of the effort, how you plan to measure the impact, how many Haines City residents it will benefit, and any funding sources outside of the City’s Grant.
• Evaluation Method and Previous Results. If you have received grant and aid funds from the City of Haines in the current fiscal year, please be prepared to detail the results you have achieved with those funds. All applicants will be required to provide an evaluation plan detailing how you will track and evaluate the results from any funding you may receive as a result of your application.
Questions? The City of Haines City staff is available to answer any questions you may have about the Grant and Aid Program. Please direct questions to the Finance Department. Email: Omar.DeJesus@HainesCity.com
