Staff has reviewed community event grant funding applications for FY 2001-2002 and developed a list of recommendations. Staff is recommending that Council approve staff’s grant funding recommendations. Further, staff makes the following recommendations:

1. Specify that higher priority be given to encouraging new events as well as supporting existing events that have been highly successful in the past, subject to the other grant criteria.
2. Specify that grant approval in a given year does not set a precedent for future years. All applicants are subject to a fresh review vis-à-vis competing applications each year.
3. Specify that City community event grant funding will represent no more than 40% of the total event budget, including the value of in-kind goods and services but excluding the value of volunteer time.
4. Since staff's total recommended funding ($14,960) is less than the total amount available ($25,000), staff recommends carrying the remaining funding to next year's community events grant budget.

In June, 2001, the City Manager submitted, and City Council approved, a recommended annual budget of $25,000 for community event grant support to help build a spirit of community and celebrate our City’s diversity, heritage and uniqueness. A September 25, 2001 Report to Council addressed the consideration of ways to promote non-City sponsored community events. Specifically, Council asked staff to consider how the City could facilitate non-City sponsored community events in Sunnyvale so that a proactive, welcoming process could exist for assisting groups that wished to hold all types of events. In the September 25, 2001 Report to Council, staff outlined how the City could take more proactive steps in promoting community events as opportunities to celebrate the City’s diversity, heritage, and uniqueness. As part of Council’s directive to develop a policy for funding community events, a grant funding application process was developed. This is the first year of the grant funding process.

Many policies, goals, and action statements in the sub-elements for Arts, Heritage Preservation, Recreation, Community Design, and Community Participation lend policy support to the City in fostering diversity.

In 1995, the Council specifically added the Community Participation Sub-Element to show the commitment to a "proactive program" for community involvement.

Specifically, the General Plan sub-element contains the following:

7.2E.2 - Encourage celebrations of community and projects which focus on the character, diversity and quality of Sunnyvale.

The Community Participation Sub-element also has a section on "Community Events" which states:

Letters were mailed to almost 200 community organizations informing them of the funding available for community events. These 200 organizations were identified through a variety of means: the International Street Fair database, City co-sponsored groups, organizations listed in Sunnyvale’s on-line e-neighborhood database and the on-line Sunnyvale Resource Guide, neighborhood associations, and others.

Information about the grant funding application process and deadline was posted on the web and KSUN and announced at a Council meeting. A press release was also utilized to notify potential applicants of grant funding availability. Reminders were mailed out before the application deadline of January 25, 2002. After the grant application deadline, a cross-section of staff from various departments in the City was called together to review the applications and develop recommendations. The grant review team considered the following eligibility requirements to determine funding suitability as well as amount of funding recommended.

In addition to meeting the eligibility requirements, applications were evaluated for funding based on how completely they met the following criteria.

• The event encourages celebrations of community which focus on the character, diversity and quality of Sunnyvale and provide vitality and identity to the community.
• The event is of a citywide nature and demonstrates an ability to draw a crowd of at least 500.
• The sponsoring organization must demonstrate the ability to produce a well-planned, safe event.
• The sponsoring organization demonstrates strong financial management and effective management controls, including cost-effectiveness.
• The review team will consider the financial and budgetary capabilities of the sponsoring organization, the extent to which City funds will be leveraged with other funding sources, and the need for City funding.

Grant applicants were also informed of the following information:

1. Grant funds must be expended within 90 days after the event or within two years after the organization has been notified of the award, whichever comes first.
2. Grant recipients will not receive the grant funding in a lump sum. Rather, grant recipients must invoice the City on an ongoing basis for reimbursement of expenses incurred, up to the grant amount. All original receipts must be submitted with invoices, along with an itemized brief description of each expense.

$22,000 Proposal #1

It may come as no surprise that many of the applications outlined worthy events, making the review team’s job a difficult one.

Various issues arose as the grant funding review team evaluated each application. One issue in particular was the criterion that calls for the proposed event to draw a crowd of at least 500. Staff found that some of the proposed events met other requirements, including, "encouraging celebrations of community which focus on the character, diversity, and quality of Sunnyvale and provide vitality and identity to the community," but fell short of the potential to draw a crowd of at least 500. These include: SNAIL Neighborhood Association - City Council site visit; Sunnyvale Heritage District Neighborhood Association - Earth Day Celebration: Landscaping and Barbecue; Leadership Sunnyvale - Bus Tour in conjunction with State of the City; and La Pena Juchit Ireta - Series of Latino folk culture events.

Further, many of the applications did not leverage City funding with other funding sources or leveraged City funding very little. Staff believes the true spirit of a community event is reflected when several groups join together to provide support for an event. For this reason, staff recommends that the funding criteria be amended to specify that City community event grant funding will represent no more than 40% of the total event budget, including the value of in-kind goods and services but excluding the value of volunteer time. This year, in cases where staff is recommending funding for an event, the recommended amount is no more than 40% of the total event budget. By doing so, staff hopes that applicants will reach out to other sources of funding in the community so the event is truly collaborative and community-building.

Staff recommends that the following applicants be funded at the indicated level. Please see Attachment A for a detailed explanation of staff's evaluation for all applicants.

As this was our first year administering the community events grant program, a number of questions and issues have arisen for which staff is seeking clarification from Council.

1. Should preference be given to new events (i.e., using the grant funding as seed money to encourage new events), or should equal priority be given to ongoing, existing events? Staff recommends that higher priority be given to encouraging new events as well as supporting existing events that have been highly successful in the past, subject to the other grant criteria.

2. Staff requests clarification as to the precedents that are set by the funding determinations. Specifically, if an event or organization is approved for funding in a given year, and they re-apply in a future year, do we set a precedent for funding them again or on an ongoing basis? Staff recommends that no such precedent is set and that all applicants are subject to a fresh review vis-à-vis competing applications each year.

The grant applications have been consolidated into a binder and are available for public review at the Communications Office. The public is invited to call the Communications Office at (408) 730-7535 or by email at igrassini@ci.sunnyvale.ca.us to coordinate a time to look through the binder.

Public contact was made through posting the Council agenda on the City's official notice bulletin board, posting the agenda and report on the City's web page, publishing the Council agenda in the San Jose Mercury News, and making the report available in the Library and the City Clerk's Office. Availability of this Report to Council and an invitation to attend the Council meeting were sent to all Boards & Commissions.

1. Explanation of Staff's Recommendations