Title
Universal Grant Application Process (NB)
This item requests that the City Commission consider authorizing staff to work in partnership with the United Way of North Central Florida, Alachua County and the North Florida Foundation to develop a Universal Online Grant Application submission process for organizations to apply for grant funding.
Explanation
In an effort to increase its own efficiency as an agency that provides grant funding to local nonprofit organizations, the United Way of North Central Florida has begun work on an online submission process for grant applications. Recognizing this process could also benefit the City and the County in their roles as grantors, the United Way has invited the City and the County to participate in that process.
Under the current process, applying organizations must fill out a separate form for each application, even if the forms request the same information. The proposed process would allow organizations to enter and update data online, and that data would be available to each of the grantor agencies as their grant application cycles are advertised to the general public. As a result, the benefits of the universal online application process appear to be both logistical and analytical for granting agencies and organizations applying for grant funding.
The logistical benefits, received by both the grantors and the grantees would include reduced costs of: 1) updating agency information; and 2) printing, storing and delivering applications. The analytical benefits, which are also applicable to both grantors and grantees, would include an increase in the ability to generate and share data utilizing a common network. Working in partnership with the United Way of North Central Florida and the North Florida Foundation will help staff to determine if a universal grant application process will be feasible for the City.
Fiscal Note
No fiscal impacts are anticipated at this time.
Recommendation
The City Commiss...
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