Equitable Civic Engagement Fund (ECEF) 2024 Request for Proposals Guidelines
 

Greetings!

Thank you for your interest in applying for funding via Cleveland VOTES' 2024 Equitable Civic Engagement Fund (ECEF)! Advancing Equitable Civic Engagement is about bridging resources, identities, and organizations to a greater purpose of reclaiming our narrative. The purpose of the ECEF is to provide grants to nonprofit organizations committed to educating, connecting and empowering voting age residents in the Greater Cleveland area. We seek organizations that are committed to democracy building, racial equity and participatory practices. Ultimately, we seek to shift power while catalyzing innovation and inclusive strategies to strengthen the social fabric of our community. To learn more about Equitable Civic Engagement, please check out our 2023 Democracy in Review report.

Details:

• Release Date: Monday, April 15, 2024
• Submission Deadline: Friday, May 10th at 5:00 p.m.
• Eligibility Criteria: Applicant must be a registered 501(c)3 or be fiscally sponsored by a registered 501(c)3.

There are (3) types of funding opportunities available: 1) Capacity Building, 2) Activate + Mobilize, and 3) Educate + Connect. Please note, you are only permitted to apply for (1) one category. You can find out more below:

• Capacity Building (up to $10,000): Applicants considering this category are seeking funding to support infrastructure and/or organizational capacity. Permissible items for this category may include costs associated with general operating, staffing, stipends for volunteers or training. To be eligible for this category, applicants  must demonstrate in their application how they will reach 2500 voter contacts. Please note we will make up to (8) awards in this category. 
• Activate + Mobilize (up to $7,500): Applicants considering this category have a plan to educate, engage and empower voting age constituents. Applicants plan to conduct nonpartisan education, registration and mobilization (including Get-Out-to-Vote efforts). To be eligible for this category, applicants  must demonstrate in their application how they will reach 1000 voter contacts. Please note we will make up to (10) awards in this category.
• Educate + Engage (up to $2,500): Applicants considering this category seek to amplify and educate voting age constituents around the importance of nonpartisan engagement. The applicants will use funds to support democracy building initiatives such as forums, pop up events and printing voter guides. To be eligible for this category, applicants  must demonstrate in their application how they will reach 250-500 voter contacts. Please note we will make up to (8) awards in this category.

Please note: Voter contact includes persons engaged through: education/forums, voter registration, vote by mail applications, peer texting or phone banking, social media etc. 

Grant Application Technical Assistance:
 The Cleveland VOTES team wants to support you and a successful application submission! We will host (4) four grant application technical assistance sessions (see below for dates). Please note, these sessions will be open to any and all organizations interested in applying for funding. The Cleveland VOTES team will be present to answer questions and provide insight on the application process. 

Pre-registration is required (registration link: bit.ly/3oT4rBP). If you have any issues with the registration, please email us at grant@clevotes.com. For reference, prior to attending the grant application technical assistance session, we highly recommend you review Cleveland VOTES’s Branded Assets. 

• ECEF RFP Technical Assistance Session #1 - April 25th @ 5:30pm- 6:30pm 
• ECEF RFP Technical Assistance Session #2 - April 30th @ 6:00pm- 7:00pm
• ECEF RFP Technical Assistance Session #3 - May 7th @ 12:00pm- 1:00pm 
• ECEF RFP Technical Assistance Session #4 - May 9th @ 9:00am- 10:00am

Reminder, pre-registration is required (registration link: bit.ly/3oT4rBP). After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
 

Submission Instructions:
 You will need to create a free Submittable account or sign in with Google or Facebook credentials to submit to these forms. 

• You can save a draft of your work if you would like to finish filling out the form at a later date.
• If anything changes with the information you submitted, please request to edit the submission / If you need to make changes to your form, please withdraw your submission and resubmit.
• Submittable works best on Google Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. Internet Explorer is not supported. Please make sure you are using a supported browser.
• We will follow-up with you about your submission by email. Please be sure to whitelist notification emails from Submittable and check the email you used to sign up for your Submittable Account regularly.

Technical Questions with Submittable? Check out the Submitter Resource Center or contact Submittable Customer Support. 

Additional Application Guidance + Tips:
 You may view the full application/all questions here -REFERENCE ONLY. Please note, this document is just for reference. All answers must be completed directly in Submittable.

For this application, we are asking you to detail a minimum of (1) goal and related intended outcome and strategy. You may include up to (3) three, however only (1) is required. Please see below for an example of how to complete that question in the application.

• Goal No. 1: ABC organization will increase the number of registered voters at the event
• Intended Outcome No. 1: ABC organization will register at least 'xx' persons at the event.
• Strategy No. 1: Nonpartisan Voter Engagement - ABC organization will host a drive-thru voter registration event. 

Timeline:

• ECEF RFP Released - April 15th, 2024
• ECEF Applications Due - May 10th, 2024 by 5 p.m.
• ECEF Submittable Notifications to Awardees - no later than June 8th, 2024
• ECEF Grant Letters sent - no later than June 11, 2024
• ECEF Grantee Kick Off Meeting - June 25, 2024 at 12:00-2:00 (in-person) 
• ECEF Data + Reporting Training - July 11th, 2024 (virtual) 12:00-1:00p
• Monthly Community of Practice 

                          July 30th (in-person): 12:00-2:30p

                          August 27th (virtual): 1:00-2:45p

                          September 26th (in-person): 12:00-2:30p

• Office Hours: In addition to the scheduled community of practice sessions, our staff will be available for 1:1 office hours to support your project(s). More details will be shared at the kick off meeting. 
• End of the Year Celebrate Democracy Gathering - November 20th (in person/in the evening)

Scoring Rubric: 

Cleveland VOTES believes in radical transparency. It is important to us that we share our scoring rubric so that all prospective applicants have a clear understanding of how we are evaluating each submission. Please note, applications will be reviewed by the Cleveland VOTES staff, as well as our Advisory Board Equitable Civic Engagement Fund Committee. The staff and committee will conduct deliberations once all applications are reviewed and scored. Collectively, through the process of evaluating scores, comments and deliberations - applicants will be voted on for final selection.
 

Eligibility 

• Applicant meets the basic requirements (incorporated/fiscally sponsored and conducts programs in Ohio).

Equitable Civic Engagement + Racial Equity and Inclusion 

• Applicant has a clear understanding of Equitable Civic Engagement.
• Applicant has previously and/or is committed to embedding racial equity and inclusion strategies. Applicants demonstrate how these strategies are currently embedded into their organization's strategies. 

Organizational Information 

• Applicant has demonstrated adequate funding and staff/volunteer capacity to execute project/plan.
• If awarded, the ECEF funding should not be the sole source of funding for the project. 

Board + Staff Composition 

• Applicant’s Board, staff and/or volunteers reflect the community members they seek to engage.

Demographics + Project Details 

• Applicant has previously engaged and/or partnered with Cleveland VOTES.
• Applicant plans to focus in/on historically disenfranchised geographies and/or community members.
• Applicants’ requested grant amount aligns with project details.
• Applicant has detailed realistic goal(s), intended outcome(s) and related strategy(ies).
• Applicant has detailed how their plans will reach the related voter contact goal for that category. 
• Applicants have specified detailed information pertaining to how they track data related to their goal(s).
• Applicant has knowledge pertaining to effective data management and quality control measures

Reminder - If you have any technical support needs with your application or the platform, please contact the Submittable Support Team at: https://www.submittable.com/help/submitter/. 

For security and confidentiality, the Cleveland VOTES staff DOES NOT have access to your submittable account details - we are only able to view your submission and related documents.

 For content related needs please contact grants@clevotes.com.

Thank you in advance for considering this opportunity!

  Onward,
  The Cleveland VOTES Team