By Seth Daniel
The second round of non-profit grant funding from the proceeds of a community fund provided during the construction of Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital is ready to proceed, with an application deadline of Jan. 20.
It is the second year of a five-year process, said Peg Bradley of the Charlestown Neighborhood Council (CNC), which oversees the process with Spaulding. Each year there will be $100,000 distributed to Charlestown non-profits who apply, with a second level of an additional $5,000 possible for special projects that uniquely help the community.
“The wonderful thing about the Spaulding grants is about everybody who applied last year was so good in their applications about addressing the four points of criteria,” said Bradley. “Last year was very good. Everyone got some money. That may not happen again. If someone writes a bad application, they may not get anything. This isn’t a giveaway. They have to show that they will benefit the community.”
Applications have been available for the last few months, and the last tutorial on the application process took place Wednesday night, Jan. 11. The process now will move on to the final stages with the deadline coming on Jan. 20 – next week.
The process has two levels.
Most of the non-profits apply for the first level of funding, which allows a maximum of $5,000 grants for applications spelling out specific programming and efforts to help the community.
A second application for a second-tier of funding – which allows up to another $5,000 – requires applicants to spell out a very specific project that will help the organization achieve a goal.
Bradley said four applicants last year got the extra, second-level, of funding.
One example was the Harvest on the Vine Food Pantry, which applied for extra funding to buy a custom-sized cooler to fit under their counter in the small space they occupy.
“They don’t have a lot of space and they needed a freezer that would fit under their counter and it had to be a custom size,” said Bradley. “That was a really a very good project and one that served a great purpose.”
Once all of the applications have been compiled, the CNC and Spaulding will host four evenings of presentations. Each applicant will have an allotted time to talk about their organization and their application.
Meetings will take place on Feb. 8, 9, 14 and 15.
The CNC will announce the award winners at its meeting on April 4.