Okay.
Hi! Everyone thanks so much again for joining our support grants orientation today.
My name is Tamara. I'm the Grants program manager with Arts Council, County.
I use both she her, and they pronouns. Either of those are fine with me.
And to provide a short visual description. I have long, straight, dark brown hair that is partially pulled back.
And light tan.
I'm wearing a gray knit top.
Portish shell glasses, and I have 2 nose piercings.
And my zoom background is a blurred back background right now.
We do have captions and a live audio transcript available if you need it.
Or would like to use it. You do have to be using the zoom app, either on your phone or computer in order to use the captions. You can't be joining from a browser.
If you would like to use this captions, just look for the
CC. Icon that says, show captions in the toolbar.
And then you can also click the upward arrow. Next to that icon to view the full transcript.
I do. Have everyone muted.
If you have questions as we go, feel free to put them in the chat, and I'll try to keep an eye on that.
You can also come off mute if you need help with something, but otherwise please try to stay muted until the Q. And a at the end.
And if you're calling in on a phone which it looks like we have a couple of people, you can press.
Star 9 to raise your hand or star 6 to mute and unmute yourself if you need to.
So I think that's it for housekeeping, and we'll go to the next slide.
So before we start our presentation presentation today, I'd like to do a land acknowledgement.
The land on which we gather is the unseeded territory of the Awas speaking up tribe.
The unlimited tribal band comprised of the descendants of indigenous people.
Taken to Mission Santa Cruz and San Juan Bautista during Spanish colonization of the central coast.
Is today working hard.
To restore traditional stewardship practices on these lands.
And heal from historical trauma.
And I encourage you to learn more about the Alamo tribal band via the link.
In the slides which I'll send out after this presentation.
So on our agenda today, we're gonna do a little bit of a grants program overview. We'll talk about the different types of grants that are that the Arts Council offers, including the support grant, which is the main one that we're gonna focus on today.
We'll go over some changes since last cycle, and the timeline for support grants.
And then we'll talk a little bit about the guidelines, including the eligibility and review criteria.
I'll talk about how to apply, how to access the Grants portal.
And then we'll have a QA. At the end.
Again. If you have questions as we go, feel free to put them in the chat.
And or, you know, unmute yourself if you need to.
So 1st we'll do a little overview of the Arts Council's Grants program.
First, st I just wanted to share our mission and vision. The Arts Council was founded in 1,979, and Grant making was one of its original programs.
And this is a relatively new mission and vision that was developed in 2,022 when we started a new strategic plan prioritizing equity in our programs.
So our mission is, we nurture and invest in artists, culture, and the arts throughout Santa Cruz County.
And we envision a Santa Cruz County, where all artists have access to the resources they need to thrive.
We're a full range of creative expression is accessible to everyone.
And the arts are recognized for their essential contributions to a healthy, vibrant, and representative community.
And we also have an equity statement.
In brief, we seek to deliberately and continuously address systemic barriers to opportunity.
And are committed to promoting equity and inclusion for all Santa Cruz county residents.
And you can learn a little bit more about the Arts Council's equity work as a whole.
In that link in the slides. We have an equity page on our website with some more information. But I'll share a little bit that's related to our grants program today.
Bear with me just trying to let people in.
While I talk.
So.
We've made a few shifts over the past few years.
During and since I started in this role about 2 and a half years ago.
So we now have a majority Board and Grants committee, meaning that most of our board members and most of our grants committee members are people of color.
We are trying to expand our grants committee. I'll talk a little bit more about what the Grants Committee does, but if you happen to be interested in volunteering to be a committee member.
Please feel free to reach out to me.
And I can give you more information.
We offer, create, and develop grants in Spanish.
And we're exploring whether that is needed for support grants as well. So if you need Spanish translation for support grants or any other accommodations please contact us, and we'll work with you to see what we can do.
And are the diversity of the grantees that we have has increased a lot over the past few years. So.
Since 2021, both our funds going to applicants. That's people of color or organizations led by and serving people of color.
And to Watsonville applicants has increased by about 10.
So this past year, over 51% of our funds went to bypock artists and organizations.
And over 34% of our Grant funds went to Watsonville artists and organizations, which is really awesome because it's really kind of rebalancing. What has happened in the past, and just making funds more broadly accessible across the county.
So these are our grants program objectives. They inform our entire grants program from the types of grants that we offer to the questions that we ask in the application.
And I'll read them in a second here. But that being said, these have been in place for many years, and they're a little need of updating.
For example, the social impact one at the bottom is not currently part of our application or evaluation process. So we do plan on reviewing them.
Soon, but regardless, there's still overall fairly accurate. And our Grant program objectives are to support the creation and presentation of artistically excellent work.
Increase the success and sustainability of artists and arts, organizations.
Engage new audiences in the arts.
Expand equitable access to the arts.
An increase social impact through the arts.
And so you'll see most of those reflected in what we're gonna talk about today.
I also wanted to share a little bit about where our money for the Grants comes from.
And so this is just for the money that we grant out, and not for all of the expenses for a grants program such as staff time and things like that.
But we get most of our funds from just 3 sources. Packard Foundation, city of Santa Cruz.
And county of Santa Cruz.
And
Those have been typically the same 3 sources throughout the years. We've also had funding from the national endowment for the arts in the past. We did apply for more funding for them in 2026. So fingers crossed that we'll get it and have a little bit more money to grant out.
But yeah, and then we also have contributions from individual donors which always really helps our grants program, especially to cover things like staff time and other expenses that aren't covered by these sources.
And.
I'm seeing some like red lines on the screen, and I can't figure out, why can you guys see that, too? Or is that just you can see that, too. Okay.
Let me see if I can figure out how to make that go away.
Give me one second. Here.
Ha, okay, got it?
That fix it for you guys, too.
Okay. Good.
So support grants. I wanted to go over some recent changes at the top in case some of you can't stay, or just.
To start off with for those of you after.
We started making some shifts to our grants program and our review criteria back in 2,021, before I was in this role.
And again with a goal to distribute our Grant funds more equitably across the county.
And we've been kind of moving it forward piece by piece of recycle. And we've also been trying to make our eligibility criteria and our review criteria more clear, so that people.
Don't waste their time, and that people understand how to.
Rate, their responses.
So this year we've only had a few small changes. There's been a few.
Tweaks to the review criteria.
The application's been reorganized a little bit, and some things have been reworded just to try to make it a little more clear.
And the final report for those who got a support. Grant last year is still part of the application. But it's really short right now.
So
Everything's pretty similar to last year. But I'll talk about those changes in a little bit more detail as we go on.
So. Even though support grants are the only ones that are currently open. I wanted to share a quick summary of each of the types of grants that the Arts Council offers. Just to give you a little bit of context.
So first, st we have support grants. These are the ones that we'll focus on today. And it's the only type of grant available during our current Grant cycle, which is cycle one for us.
These are general operating support grants. So it's unrestricted funding.
And they go from 3,000 to $7,000.
And they're only open to nonprofit or fiscally arts, organizations.
So for profit. Businesses like Llc's or.
Unincorporated groups like an arts. Collective, maybe, would not be eligible for this grant unless they have a fiscal sponsor.
And 65% of our total grant making budget goes to these support grants. The majority of our funds.
Then we also have a create. So I won't talk about this in detail during this presentation. But you can apply for one of these grants during Cycle 2. If you don't receive a support, grant this time.
And these are arts and funding for arts or cultural projects. So it's restricted for a specific project.
And it's open to.
Artists and arts organizations as well as non-arts organizations. If they're collaborating with an artist.
But it has to be a specific project with like a public presentation or exhibition, or some sort of public component.
Offering workshops and classes is eligible. So, for example, the photo here Community School received a create grant to offer free after school music classes in live oak.
Performances, exhibitions, and all of that are also eligible as well.
And 35% of our total grant making goes to create grants as well as to develop grants which I'll cover next.
So!
These will also be in cycle, which will be in February. March. Unlike, create grants. If even if you do receive a support, grant you can apply for one of these as well. So this is a good one to pay attention to.
Develop grants are for professional development. So something that's gonna improve artistic skills or expand business and professional capacity. And they're up to $1,500.
They're open to both individual artists and arts, organizations.
And they don't require any sort of publication or exhibit exhibition. Unlike grants.
So, for example, here this artist, April received a grant to get a.
Piece of equipment for her art practice. And she's here seeing grinding a bell plate on the lapping wheel with a new diamond disc, which was what was funded by the grant.
For organizations. It might look like your staff attending a conference or hiring a consultant to work with you on something.
And again, you can apply for developed grants. Even if you receive a support. Grant.
So to get a little bit more into the timeline.
The application cycle takes place a few months before the Grant period begins.
So you're gonna be applying now for support grants.
And the applications are due. October 23, rd at 5 Pm.
And then the Grants will be awarded in January, and the Grant period is technically January through December. So that's when all the funds should be used.
Support grants are only offered during cycle. One.
And then in cycle 2.
From February to March. You can apply for, create, or develop grants.
And that will fund projects or professional development activities taking place. Starting in July.
Of next year. Sorry I just realized this year is wrong. It should be July 25, through June 26.
And so up until this year we offered and developed grants twice per year in both cycles, one and 2. But this year they're only gonna be available during Cycle 2. This is partially due to our reduced staff capacity this year. I'm the only Grant staff member now.
And partially, also, we can consider other shifts to a grants program rather than just trying to make these like little tweaks. Every cycle.
But again, if you do not receive a support, Grant, you can apply for a create grant in February, March.
And whether or not you get a support Grant, you can apply for a developed grant.
So key dates for our current Grant cycle.
Good job making it to the orientation.
Or if you're just watching the recording. Thank you for watching the recording.
The other key dates are. We have drop in office hours on zoom at the same time. So Tuesdays, 2 to 3 Pm.
I'll be here on zoom.
And you can come in at any time with questions. I've listed the dates here. It's every Tuesday until the application closes.
And then I'll talk a little bit more about that later. And there's a link later on in the application.
We also have a couple of hybrid workshops that our Grants Ambassador Zone will be offering.
So they'll be offering 2 workshops at their location in Watsonville, as well as on Zoom.
And I'll talk a little bit more about that later.
The application. Deadline is October 23rd at 5 PM. It's a hard deadline, and we can't make any exceptions, so please try to submit well, behead well ahead of the deadline.
And then we have a bit of a break there between October, and when we let you know whether you got the grant or not. January 10.th
And that's due to our review process.
It's all kind of based around the Arts Council's Board meeting schedule because the Board has to approve all of our grants.
And it's a bit longer than cycle, just because of the holidays and things like that happening.
But by January 10th we'll you'll let you know we usually send out an email that morning. It's a Friday morning.
And then, by the end of January, you should receive your grant. As long as you sign your grant award letter.
And then again, the Grant period is January, which is when all the funds should be used.
So now we'll talk a little bit about the guidelines.
1st we'll get into eligibility, which means who can apply.
So 1st again, it must be a 5, 1 c. 3. Nonprofit.
Or have a fiscal sponsor. That's a 5 0. 1 c. 3. Nonprofit.
Your primary mission must be the development and delivery of arts and or cultural programming to the public.
If you have questions about that, feel free to reach out.
You have to be based in and produce the majority of your work in Santa Cruz County.
You have to have a board approvedndation policy.
And the way we check that is.
Just on the application. There's a checkbox that you fill out to say that you have one. That's how we check that.
And you have to complete required for pre previous arts. Council grants.
However, the Support Grant final report is now part of the application, so you'll definitely complete it as part of the application process. If you got a grant last year.
You might have another report like for a develop and if you do, I will definitely reach out to you to make sure we get that completed before the new set of grants is awarded.
You can also log into the Grants portal if you'd like to check
But I'll definitely touch Base with you if you have something outstanding that's due.
And the final report for Supportees is a very short form. That's part of the application. It's really brief.
The only required question is to share some highlights from the past year. And then there's a few other optional questions as well.
And then if you received a 2 year, Grant, last year, there's a final report. You've been assigned separately.
But you're probably not here during this orientation, because you don't need to apply this here.
So anyway, we used to have a separate final report form that was completed at a different time. But then we kind of realized. It was just duplicating a lot of what was in the application.
Which is a little silly, because it's pretty much the same group of organizations that apply every year for the most part.
So we are kind of reviewing what changes we want to make to the reporting process in the future.
One idea we've had is to do like an in person gathering where everyone can kind of learn from each other and hear what's going on but for now.
It's pretty minimal. It's just this brief section in the application.
And it hopefully won't be too much of a hassle.
A few more eligibility things.
These are well, even though support grants are unrestricted grants. There are some limitations to how the funds can be used.
So they can't be used for capital improvements or renovation projects.
And then the rest of these are kind of specific types of restrictions about who can apply. So we don't fund government departments or programs.
We don't fund foundations that don't produce arts programming.
Some variations do.
We don't fund social services, political or religious advocacy, or for profit organizations.
We don't find school programs through our support grants, but we do fund them through our art program.
We don't find culinary arts or healing arts, organizations.
And for universities and colleges. It's where did a little strangely, maybe, but we allow them to apply for one arts program only per university or college.
Okay. Let's see.
So awards.
The support Grant cycle will be competitive. We estimate 65 to 75% of the applications will be funded. But we won't really know until we see how many applications we get.
We do think this will be similar to previous cycles.
The award size will be based on the result of the review process ranging from 3 to 7,000.
So arts, organizations of all budget sizes can get any size of Grant in that range.
It'll just be based on the score. For the most part.
And then, the top. Scoring arts. Organizations will also be considered for 2 or 3 year. Grant awards.
And what this means is that their grants will automatically be renewed for additional years.
However, the funding level is subject to change. If our available grants budget changes hopefully, it won't.
But you never know. And when we are considering.
Making 2 or 3 year grants the equity and accessibility. Criteria is weighted, so it's worth a little bit more.
We are aiming to make more of these this year than we have the past couple years, I think. Last year we made 2, and the year before that we made 3 2 year grants.
And so this year we're hoping to do a little bit more, but we'll just see how it all plays out.
So here's a little bit more info about our review process.
So first.st
The Grants Committee and Arts Council staff read and score of the applications.
And then the Grants Committee, as I mentioned before, is majority people of color. If they're community volunteers with diverse backgrounds. And we're trying to expand, how many folks we have participating. So again, if you're interested, let me know, and I can give you more information.
So it takes about a month to read and score all of the applications.
Then, we have a meeting where the Grants Committee comes together to discuss all the scores and comments, and come up with a set of recommendations for the grants.
And then we send those recommendations. The Arts Council Board and the Board approves them hopefully.
So it's a bit of a process. And again, that's kind of why it takes a little bit of time, and then with the holidays. It just takes a little bit longer, but
We try our best to make sure that we're making decisions.
Thoughtfully and thoroughly.
And the other thing I wanted to note here is that if you've gotten grants consistently in the past, it doesn't guarantee you a grant this time. It all kind of depends on.
The scores and comments and the funding.
Decisions recommend that happen during that meeting.
But mostly it's based on the scores and comments.
And those are based on our review criteria, which I'll talk about now.
Oops! Did I skip.
Think I skipped over something.
So the review criteria is.
These 3 review criteria are the same as previous years. Just. Some of the questions have been tweaked very slightly. So I'll talk about that in a second.
But the 3 categories are artistic and relevance.
Strategy and sustainability.
And equity and accessibility.
Each of these is worth.
1 3rd of your total score 50 out of 150 points. If you'd like to think about it that way.
And so.
Each of these bullet points.
Is a question that we score on.
And each question is scored on a scale of one to 4.
One meaning week does not meet criteria, and then 4 meaning exemplary, meets the criteria to the highest degree.
So each of these bullet points is worth.
About 10 out of 150 total points.
So for artistic excellence and relevance.
The questions are, is a clear description of artistic excellence, provided.
And does the organization's programming with their view of artistic excellence. So in the application, you'll be asked to describe your organization's view of what artistic excellence means.
And how your programming aligns with that, and then we will.
Review that to see if it's clear, and if your programming does align with what you wrote.
Then you'll be asked to describe your organization's current and participants.
And to write about your community engagement strategies. So what we're looking at here is whether you demonstrate a strong understanding of your audience and participants.
And this is in terms of geography, age, race, ethnicity, things like that.
And then whether you clearly explain how you're programming and engagement strategies are relevant and responsive to the community. So, for example, this could be how you incorporate community input into your programming.
Or how you respond to feedback.
Or maybe something else.
But I want to emphasize here. This is about your current audience. I think last year we got a few folks writing about like diversity goals. But this is really about your current audience as it exists, and how you're trying to be responsive and relevant.
About them, not about an audience. You hope to engage in the future.
You'll have a chance to read about that later on.
Okay. So then, we have the second review, which is strategy and sustainability.
1st you'll be asked to describe or list your long term goals and strategy.
And to share how you're making progress on them.
So we're looking for clear and appropriate long term goals.
And to see that you're actively making progress on those long-term goals.
This was a little bit different than last year. We tried to make it just a little more clear and simple. Last year we asked for specific short term goals. But now we're just looking for generally making progress on the long term goals.
Be brief. You don't have to describe everything you're doing, but just I think an example or 2 would be great.
Then you'll be asked to talk about your organization's challenges.
So we're looking that you can demonstrate awareness of the organization.
And then you can identify the organization's biggest risks and challenges as well as strategies to address them. So make sure you don't miss that part.
Make sure you write about how you're going to address the challenges or how you're trying to address the challenges. I know there's always an answer. That's why there's challenges. But what are some things they're doing to try to address them.
And then for financial management.
We look at your budget and financial documents. So we require.
Either a board, approved Audit. If you have one.
Or if you don't have one, you can submit a profit and loss statement and a balance sheet.
A profit and loss statement is also called a statement of activities, and it will show all of your.
Income and expense categories for the year.
And then the balance sheet is called a statement of financial position sometimes, and it'll show your assets.
Liabilities and equity.
So these these financial statements are only evaluated by arts. Council staff.
Since the Grants Committee. Isn't there just volunteers that are not trained to kind of review financial statements? But it's still worth the same amount as the other items.
And oh, I think I forgot to mention a current budget as well. So the financial statements will be for your previous year, whichever year you've completed.
You have finished those.
And then the budget will be for your current fiscal year. What is projected.
Okay. And now we have equity and accessibility.
So the rubric for this criteria was expanded significantly last year, because we had heard back that people wanted kind of more clear expectations of what we are looking for.
And I think it got a little unmanageable. So we tried to dial it back a little bit this year to make it less burdensome for everyone, and still trying to be clear about what we're looking for.
So first.st we're looking at.
Do staff board, and artists include diverse from under represented communities.
And we have an example list of what types of communities those could include, such as people of color.
The queer community, those with disabilities or neurodiversity.
etc, etc.
So.
Sorry to back up again. We're looking at. You're gonna be asked to provide a description of your staff Board artists.
Describing representation from under represented communities.
Then you'll have responses to kind of talk about what your organization is doing to increase access or representation for these communities.
Including what you've worked on in the past as well as what.
Future goals you have.
So the questions that we're scoring are, has the organization taken steps to reduce barriers to access.
And or increase representation in the past.
It could be for audience participants or collaborators.
So again, this 1st one is more about your organization, and then this second part can include audience as well.
And then is at least one future goal related to equity and accessibility, articulated with a plan in place for the coming year to make progress on the goal.
And then, finally, do you specify which underrepresented communities will have improved access.
So basically naming one of these communities or another community. That's not part of the list.
So again to reiterate, we're looking at your organization.
And then what you've done in the past to increase either access for audiences or.
Within your organization, and then something you're looking at doing in the future.
And then so those are 3 review criteria. But we do look at a couple other things during the application review meeting with the Grants Committee.
One of the tools that we can use is called the Healthy Places Index, and it maps out.
23 key drivers of health outcomes like education, job opportunities, clean air and water.
And it puts those on a map, and you can see which areas are more impacted by inequities.
Compared to other areas. And so.
I can show you an example. Here's Santa Cruz County.
And each.
Census tracked within Santa Cruz County, is assigned a score.
Where green areas have more healthy conditions and less and blue areas have less healthy conditions.
So, for example,
This area. Where our office is located.
Is in the middle, and you can see the different.
Factors that contribute to that.
Economic education, social it's got. It's got good access to transportation. For example.
Whereas if we look at something in Watsonville, maybe.
There's less access to education, less access to transportation. Things like that.
So
This is just one additional tool we can use if we're trying to make some hard decisions about a couple applications with similar scores.
I'd say we tend to use this more often with the individual artists. When we, when we have applications in the cycle.
But we can use it for these grants as well if we'd like.
And however, our scoring that I just went over with the 3 criteria is definitely still the primary way that we make decisions.
Another thing that we use to make grant decisions is the variety of artistic disciplines. So we're always trying to have kind of a diverse pool of grantees, and making sure a variety of artistic disciplines are included, as well.
Okay. So now we'll talk about how to apply.
All applications have to be submitted online in the grants portal.
Definitely download and review the Grant guidelines carefully from our website before beginning your application. I've gone over a lot of stuff today, but.
There's always a little bit more in there than I can go over in one orientation, so it's good to review it all on your own.
And then we'll also post the list of application questions as a Microsoft word, Doc, on that web page. If you want to use that as a reference or as a working document, but you still have to submit everything, copy and paste it into the grants portal.
So I have the links to the Grants portal here, as well as the Grants web page.
I'll show you the Grants web page here in a second. So.
You can.
Use any of these links. If you go to this 1st link, it will bring you to our apply for a Grant web page which includes.
Information about all of our grants.
But what you want to look for is support grants.
And
It'll have the basic information about the grant.
And this is where you'll be able to access the guidelines.
The application questions as a word, Doc, that I just mentioned.
And then, after today, we'll post the video from the orientation and the slides here. Right now. It's the video and slides from last year. But we'll update that after today.
There's also key dates here, so you can find the office hours, the deadline, and anything you might need to know about when things happen.
And there's just a couple faqs here.
Oh, that reminds me.
On the apply for a Grant web page. It's really good to know we have a bunch of Faqs down here, so if you.
If you're on this, apply for a Grant page, you just scroll all the way down, and there's a whole bunch of FAQ that is really helpful to read over. There's equity and accessibility resources. There's information about how to use the online grants portal.
Eligibility and restrictions.
Work, Sample Questions.
And then stuff about the Grant awards themselves. So that's a good place to look for information as well.
And then on either of these pages you can get to the Grants portal through this little button at the top of the page that says grants Portal.
Right here, and then we also have a link here.
Or you can get to it through the slides.
So let me go back.
So
Alright. So now we'll talk about the Grants portal. Let me switch over. So after you click on this link to get to the Grants portal.
I'll bring you to a page that looks like this. This is the log on page.
If you don't have an account yet.
Check with me 1st before you create an account, just because your organization might have one, even if you don't know what it is.
And it's better to retain the organization's old account and information. So there's not like duplicates in the system.
If you have an account, but you don't remember your password. You can just click the forgot your password button.
But.
Regardless. Once you have an account, and you know the password. You log on.
And this is you'll probably see an applicant dashboard first, st which is where your old applications will be at it looks a little crazy in here because it's just a bunch of like test stuff that I've created in this account.
But this is what will be like your last year's application, and maybe develop grant applications and things like that.
You'll want to click on this. Apply button in order to apply for the grant.
And
I turned it on so you can see it. But it's not open yet. Once it's open, there'll be. I think it's a blue button that says, apply like right here. So you'll just click on that to get into the application.
I may have to turn this off brief. So if you don't see this today, when you go on there, it's because I have to like, make some edits really quick. We're just finishing up the application form.
But tomorrow, when the application opens, it should look just like this, with the button on, there.
You can also preview the questions here. But in order to actually complete the application, you'll have to click that blue button.
Once.
You are in the application.
There's a button at the very bottom that says, save and submit.
It should save automatically. But if you're gonna log off and not work on the application anymore, I recommend scrolling all the way to the bottom of the form and clicking, save just to be extra sure you don't lose your work.
Another thing I like to do personally is just like working on your responses in a different document that you know will save just in case anything happens, and then just copying them over and pasting them. So you don't lose any work.
Once you do hit the submit button. You can't make any changes to the application, but if you hit it by accident, or something like that. Or, if you notice.
Something that you want to fix after you submit the application, just contact us, and we can help you figure it out.
Oops!
Okay.
So now we'll talk about some ways. You can get additional support.
We do have drop in office hours, like I mentioned earlier every Tuesday. At the same time.
There's a link here to join the Zoom, and it'll also be available on the website and that key date section. You can get the link there, too.
If you can't attend at this time, or you want to request an in person meeting, there's also a link to do that, both here in the slides and on our website.
And if a lot of folks show up at once, we'll just kind of use a learning circle approach and have each question. Each person share questions and ideas.
But if you're the only one, we can give you more one on one support, and that's always great, too.
No questions or situations are too simple or too complicated. So I really encourage you to come and talk.
And I hope to see you there.
And then we also have workshops offered by art deco this year. So Art dell quotas on is our grants, our Watsonville Grants program Ambassador. They've been helping us.
Get more grant applications in Watsonville and help our Watsonville applicants be more successful because we're still trying to shift funds.
Over to that part of the county, so that it's a little more even across the county.
And this year they're offering a couple of workshops to take a deeper dive on some topics.
So they have 2 workshops. Each workshop will be hybrid meaning. It's in person and virtual.
The in person part will be at their studio and Co. Workspace, and I put the address here.
And then they also have a zoom that you can join if you can't make it in person.
The 1st workshop will be about equity and accessibility.
And then the second workshop will be.
About planning for the future, setting and managing goals.
And anyone is welcome to attend that, even if you don't live in Watsonville.
However, if you are a Watsonville based organization they can also provide you with a little one on one support. After the workshops are at another time.
And then finally, just a few more tips. Start. Now make sure you can log into the grants portal.
Again. Download the guidelines from our website and read through them.
Collect your supporting materials. So again, that's your financial statements. You do have to submit work samples as well. I think it's up to 4 work samples that you can submit.
Either uploads or links are good.
And make sure to upload. Anything's well ahead of the deadline, because sometimes, as the deadline approaches, it can take a really long time to upload items, so just make sure to do that.
In advance. Go through the review again and aim to write click, concise and clear written responses. You don't have to use the whole space that's provided.
The more succinct you can be, the better for all of us.
And make sure to submit the application well ahead of the deadline.
We can't accept late applications, even if you have a technical difficulty. And as I kind of just mentioned, the system slows down a bit the closer as more people are on it and trying to do things. So just try to submit early.
And then we do.
Have that. FAQ, that I mentioned. There's some really great equity and accessibility resources there in particular.
Including some example responses from last year some applicants who got high scores on their equity and accessibility responses.
Have given us permission to share them. So if you want to check those out, it might give you an idea of how to respond, or what other organizations are doing in the equity realm.
There's also some guidance on selecting work samples and things like that.
And that's all I have for today. My contact information is here. If you need it.
And again, we'll send out these slides after the orientation, both by email. And we'll put them up on our website. So you have them, and we will also have the recording available.
But now I'd like to open it up to questions. If anyone has questions feel free to.
Come off mute if you'd like, or
Can put them in the chat, too. I don't see any in the chat so far, so.
Yeah, trish, go ahead.
Hi, I have a couple of questions. Regarding the fiscal year.
In the current application which would be for.
25, right? It's.
For the year fiscal year 25.
So we would put our financials for the year 24.
In our application.
If we got a grant already for 20.
Is that? Is that correct?
It's based on whenever your financials are completed, for your organization, like at the time of doing the application.
So right now, like, let's say your fiscal year is the calendar year.
Yes, calendar.
Yeah, this, it is. Okay. Good. So then you will be submitting your financial statements for 2023, because 2024 isn't over yet.
So we need the Comp, the ones.
Oh, oh, I see. Okay, that's good to know. Alright.
So.
But then the budget will be for 24. It's like your projections for the current year.
So the budget would be for 2024. But what about the budget for 2025? Which is the where we would be getting a grant for 25. You don't want the budget for 2025.
Okay. Okay.
You can submit it if you want, but we don't need it. It's just your current fiscal year budget. Yeah.
Okay. So I had another one other question,
Our seniors, who are often in a lower socio economic.
Got us, our seniors considered unrepresented.
Community.
That's a good question.
I think
If you can draw the line that there's, you know, low socioeconomic classes as well. Maybe.
I think.
Sometimes.
Serving seniors can be really helpful in certain ways. But a lot of arts programs do serve.
Primarily seniors, so I wouldn't say that they are necessarily under represented.
Okay. Alright!
It would have to be something really compelling. That shows you're really.
Well, yeah, a lot of arts serve.
Seniors,
Yeah.
But that doesn't mean that seniors as a group are not underrepresented with their needs and everything else. So.
Yeah, yeah.
Anyways.
Yeah, I hear that.
Okay, well, those were my questions. Thank you.
Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Trish.
Any other questions.
Well, if you do have questions that come up after this again, feel free to reach out or come to one of the office hours.
And I hope to see you there. Best of luck. And again, yeah, again, just don't hesitate to reach out. We're happy to help try to answer things and support you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Everyone.
Alright, bye.