2021 SDCEA Community Grants

CCCF is excited to commence 2021 Sangre de Cristo Electric Association Community Grants! Please read this information carefully before applying.

Interested in volunteering on the Grant Review Committee? Scroll down and complete the application form!

grants portal Access Code

SDCEA

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Timeline

Applications open Monday, July 26th here (you can create/update your user & organization profiles ahead of time!).
Application deadline is Monday, August 23rd at 5pm.
Reviews, site visits (remote), and decisions will be conducted until on or around September 24th.
Final funding decisions will be made on or around October 8th
Approved grants will be paid within 10 business days of a completed grant agreement.

Priorities

Applicants must be able to demonstrate how their activities align with SDCEA priorities:

Community-based Health Programs such as Community Health Clinics, Substance Abuse Dependency, Prevention & Treatment, Hot Lines & Crisis Intervention, Sexual Assault Services, Protection Against Abuse, Spouse/Child/Sexual Abuse Prevention
Support of Food, Shelter & Human Services such as Food Programs/Food Banks & Food Pantries, Homeless Shelters, Temporary Housing, Children & Youth Services, Child Day Care, Family Services, Family Violence Shelters, Pregnancy Centers
Disaster Preparedness & Relief Services, Search & Rescue, Fire Prevention, Safety Education & First Aid
Animal Protection & Welfare

Process

CCCF will convene a citizen Grant Review Committee comprised of community members and CCCF board members to review, rank, and choose grantees.

All applications will follow this process:

Initial staff screening to ensure completeness, CO Secretary of State Good Standing, and review of financials.
Individual committee member review and ranking.
Applications which receive 50% combined average rank or higher will be contacted for a ‘site visit’ to discuss any questions that came up during the reviews. These site visits will be done remotely.
Review committee convenes a final work session to aggregate site visit information, rank, and other considerations such as program budget to make final funding recommendations and rationale.
The review committee will meet to finalize grant awards and amounts.
All approved grants, upon the completion of a grant agreement, will receive funds via direct deposit.

Eligibility & Requirements

All applicants MUST be currently providing programs in Chaffee, Lake, Custer or Fremont counties.

501c3, as well as 501c4 and 501c6 organizations that can prove they do not engage in political activity are eligible to apply.
General operating, program, and capital requests are eligible and can be for an amount between $501 - $5,000.
Applicants may only be awarded one grant from the SDCEA Community Grants program per calendar year.
Grant periods will be 12 months long.
A new grant application will not be accepted until a final report has been submitted for any previous award.
If an applicant is denied funding, unless otherwise stated in a denial letter, they may apply for funding again on the following deadline
Having been awarded Community Grants from SDCEA in the past does not increase your chances of being selected for funding.

Applications that demonstrate the following factors will be most competitive:

Clearly defined and measurable outcomes, outputs, and impacts for proposed programs and projects
Projects, programs, or organizations that serve basic needs (food, housing, health)
Projects, programs, or organizations that serve populations with special needs

Any organization that received funding from SDCEA Community Grants in 2020 is required to submit a Colorado Common Grant Report prior to, or with, their 2021 application. Organizations who fail to do this will not be considered for funding. The Common Grant Report can be downloaded below.

Click here to learn more about the grants portal and how to navigate getting started.