NFC State-Level Grant Policy
Background
While national NFC will apply for and manage administration/staffing grants and certain research and habitat grants, most research and habitat related grants will be applied for and administered at the chapter level.
While funds will be housed at the national level, and checks written by national NFC, all other functions will be the responsibility of the local chapter(s). National will provide assistance in regard to developing grant applications where needed.
Issue
Many grants require matching contributions in the form of manpower, referred to as “in-kind,” and/or monetary. While chapters may commit to whatever level of in-kind support they will be able to provide, no promise of monetary support on the part of NFC may be made at the chapter level without expressed and formal approval of the Executive Director.
As a volunteer centric organization, NFC will always focus on in-kind contributions to projects first. Providing monetary support is a secondary focus, and will only be approved when it is done in conjunction with in-kind contribution. Chapters are encouraged to seek local project-specific grants to cover NFC’s portion of project costs.
chapter requirements
When partnering with other organizations, in-kind contribution may vary by organization based on resource availability. If in-kind contribution is tilted notably toward NFC, other organization(s) will be expected to provide additional support where they can, including monetary.
When in-kind support is required, the sponsoring chapter will be required to provide a running tally of detailed hours contributed, along with what our partner organizations have contributed to date.
When partnering with other organizations, where monetary contributions are required, each entity must contribute an equal amount of support. Exceptions must be pre-approved by the Executive Director, and will not be granted except in extreme cases where a partner is unable to contribute and the amount is minimal. In most cases, NFC monetary contributions shall not exceed that paid by other project partners.
Requests for monetary contribution from national NFC must be presented independent of, and in advance of a grant application for visibility and clarity purposes. This will be subject to approval by the Executive Director. In some cases, chapters may be asked to find additional grants, or funds, to lessen the amount needed to be paid by national.
If NFC is contributing monetary support for services rendered, it must be done at the invoice level and only for services provided by a 3rd-party. NFC will not pay invoices sent to a partner organization. If previously approved, NFC will pay our share of invoices sent to project partners to the respective partner. Payment for services provided by a partner organization will not be allowed.
The chapter will be required to provide invoices, along with proof of equal contribution from partner organizations, for all monetary contributions.
SUMMARY
Due to the small size of our state boards, and the difficulty and overhead associated with fund-raising at the chapter level, National NFC funds most chapter expenses including website hosting and maintenance, email and newsletter processing, schwag procurement and shipping, shows and events, and small projects.
With close to 20 chapters and growing, NFC needs to be very careful with regard to cash contributions to projects, including those that are funded by outside grants. Failure to do so could deplete our financial resources and put projects, daily operations, and the organization at risk.