OVERVIEW

The Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven and United Way of Greater New Haven, with the continued leadership of volunteer chair Andrew Eder, are working together again in 2010 to raise awareness and funds to address hunger and housing needs in Greater New Haven. The purpose of the N2N 2010 fund is to help meet immediate needs in the areas of housing, food, and emergency relief (one-time expenses that threaten to put a family or individual in a crisis situation).  This is not intended to be an ongoing funding source, but rather additional funds to help meet the current emergency needs in our community.

N2N 2010 will raise financial contributions and distribute grants to nonprofit, faith, and government agencies to support the increased needs in food, housing, and emergency relief.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

Eligibility
Applicants must certify that they meet the following eligibility criteria:
• Serve individuals and families in the greater New Haven region, including the towns of Bethany, Branford, Cheshire, Chester, Clinton, Deep River, East Haven, Essex, Guilford, Hamden, Killingworth, Madison, Milford, New Haven, North Branford, North Haven, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, Orange, Wallingford, West Haven, Westbrook, and Woodbridge.
• Be a nonprofit or be a government institution or be a faith-based organization.
• Have a voluntary board if private not-for-profit.
• Practice non-discrimination in the provision of services and in employment practices consistent with applicable Connecticut statutes, including, but not limited to Connecticut General Statutes Section 46a-60.
• Have the capacity to deliver food, housing, and/or emergency relief services.
• Agree to use funds to supplement and extend existing resources and not utilize N2N LifeLine funds in support of existing programs and services.

Funding Categories and Expenditures
N2N LifeLine is accepting applications in the areas of emergency food, housing, and relief funds.  Agencies may submit multiple applications within a funding area, or across funding areas.  Applications that combine services from multiple funding areas in one application will not be accepted (e.g. one application cannot include food and emergency relief fund services).

The following list provides examples of services that would be eligible for funding through N2N LifeLine.  Please note that the list is not exhaustive but rather provides examples around food, housing, and emergency relief.

Emergency food

• Purchase of food
• Purchase and distribution of supermarket gift certificates/vouchers/cards
• Increased costs for your organization associated with procuring, storing and/or delivering emergency food
• Purchase of equipment to store, transport, or deliver food
• Costs associated with training volunteers or to reimbursing volunteers for travel expenses to deliver food

Emergency housing
• Additional shelter-based or supportive housing beds for individuals and/or families
• Foreclosure intervention services such as financial counseling and/or emergency mortgage payments
• Security deposits
• Emergency rental assistance
• Increased costs for your organization associated with providing additional emergency housing, shelter, foreclosure intervention, security deposit and emergency rental assistance services

Emergency relief funds
• In situations in which there is no other source of payment, and failure to intervene will place an individual or family in crisis, such as loss of job, utility shut-off, loss of transportation, or loss of child care, purchase of goods and/or services necessary to prevent the crisis

Grant Amounts
Grant requests must be between $1,000 up to $50,000.  Organizations may submit more than one application, however, a maximum amount an individual agency can receive from this fund will be determined based on the total amount raised, and will not exceed $100,000.

Application Process
The application will be posted on the N2N LifeLine website, www.n2nLifeLine.org, as of January 25, 2010 at noon.  Please keep a copy of the completed application for your records  Late applications will not be accepted. 

You will receive a confirmation email upon submission of your N2N 2010 application. If you do not receive such a confirmation, please contact Amy Townsley, United Way Community Impact Coordinator, at 203 691-4223 or atownsley@uwgnh.org.

The N2N LifeLine grant application form is electronic and should be submitted to n2nLifeLine@uwgnh.org.  Please save your application using the following naming format: yourorganization_N2N.pdf.  Hardcopy applications will not be accepted.

Application Deadlines
There are three application deadlines, one for each funding category (Food, Housing , and Emergency Relief).  Deadlines for grant request submissions are the following Fridays at noon:

Food Deadline:          February 12, 2010, Noon
Housing Deadline:     February 26, 2010, Noon
Emergency Relief:     March 12, 2010, Noon

Late applications will not be accepted.

Grant Review
Grant requests will be reviewed by a committee comprised of local community members and staff from United Way and the Jewish Federation.  Notice will be provided within two weeks of the grant deadline.

Please note that this year all applications for each funding area will be reviewed as submitted – there will be no process for re-submission.  

N2N LifeLine will make grants based on the dollars that are available at the time applications are received.

Criteria
It is likely that there will be more requests and needs than can be met by the N2N LifeLine.  This means that there may be some worthy programs/agencies that do not receive grants through this effort.

Criteria for receiving a N2N LifeLine grant award include:
• Applicants must meet the eligibility criteria.
• Applications must address one of the specified emergency needs and submit applications in accordance with the provided deadlines.
• Applicants must submit a complete, compelling and accurate application for funding that clearly describes the services to be provided and how the N2N LifeLine funds will enable the program to expand/improve its services.
• Applicants must provide documents on their financial capacity and status as outlined in the application for funding.
• Grant recipients must provide reporting on how grants funds were used and the impact of funding on the people served, as outlined in the application for funding

Financial Documentation

Please note that  financial documentation will be required from agencies that receive a N2N 2010 grant award.   Upon notification of award, agencies that are not currently funded by United Way of Greater New Haven  or The Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven must provide UWGNH within five business days:

1) A copy of the organization’s current operating budget

2) A copy of the organization’s 501(c)3 determination letter (if applicable)

3) Organizations with revenue of $100,000 or more must provide a copy of their most recent audit or review by an independent auditor

4) Organizations with revenues of $1000,000 or less must provide a financial report for the most recent fiscal year.  The financial report can be downloaded here: N2N Financial Report.xcl

Competitive application will demonstrate the following:
• A clear plan for expanding or enhancing services with strong estimates on who will be served and how they will be served
• A demonstrated history of providing services, capacity to provide services, and relationship with the population to be served
• The ability to start-up or expand services in a very short timeframe
• The ability to provide wrap-around/support services to connect people with other needed services
• The ability to leverage dollars, such as working with volunteers or partners, matching funds, etc.,

N2N LifeLine is particularly interested in receiving applications that include one or several of the following elements:
• Services that assist individuals/families residing in a catchment area, regardless of their affiliation with your organization
• Services that prevent individuals/families from entering crisis
• Increased coordination or collaboration among service providers

Use of Grant Funds
Grant funds may not be used for cash payments to individuals.  Rental assistance and emergency relief fund dollars may be paid to a landlord or corporate entity on behalf of a particular individual.  No more than 10% of the grant may be used for administrative (overhead) expenses.

N2N LifeLine funds are intended to address immediate, emergency needs. The timeframe for expending grant funds is from the date of the award through December 31, 2010.

REPORTING 

United Way will contact N2N LifeLine grantees periodically during the grant period to gather program statistics and stories. Grantees will be required to post two stories about the impact of the grant on the individuals and families they serve on the N2N LifeLine website.  The first story should be posted within the first month after receiving the grant award; the second story should be posted during the subsequent month.

A final report will be required at the close of the grant period. Failure to comply with the reporting requirements may jeopardize future funding.

Please note that no expenditure documentation is required.
 

QUESTIONS

Questions regarding the application process should be forwarded to:
Amy Townsley, United Way Community Impact Coordinator, (203) 691-4223 or n2nlifeline@uwgnh.org.

Questions regarding posting volunteer opportunities on the United Way website should be forwarded to Cecily Jones, United Way Volunteer Engagement Coordinator, (203) 691-4211 or cjones@uwgnh.org.