City fine tunes event-funding process

By Jana Seshadri

As a fledgling program in its first year of existence, the community event grant funding process is being fine-tuned by city officials and staff to make it more helpful for Sunnyvale residents to celebrate large events.

Sunnyvale residents and community groups who apply to the city for an event-funding grant will need to itemize their budget in more detail and city staff will facilitate the process for the applicants. At the March 26 city council meeting, council members unanimously approved the staff's recommendation to review the funding process with a few additional changes.

"We have been directed by council to develop guidelines to review applications for event grant funding," said Linda Bagneschi, communications officer for Sunnyvale.

The staff recommended that the event grant funding should represent no more than 40 percent of the total event budget, including the value of in-kind goods and services but excluding the value of volunteer time.

"Council has directed us to include volunteer time in a qualitative capacity for our review," Bagneschi said.

The new guidelines for application review will consider the in-kind goods and services that are quantified on the application and take into account whether the organization can celebrate the event in a safe and responsible manner with the number of volunteers they have, she said. City staff will be on hand to help residents itemize their budget in more detail on their event grant funding applications, she said.

Future application reviews will include attention to a few details that were not included in the original process. Higher priority will be given to encouraging new events as well as supporting existing successful events. Grant approval in a given year does not set a precedent for future years, so all applicants will be subject to a fresh review each year.

There are several evaluation criteria that will be observed when applications for grant funding are reviewed. Celebrations of community groups, while focusing on the character and diversity of Sunnyvale, should be held within the city and draw a crowd of at least 500 people. Admission to the event must be free and open to the public.

The review team will consider the financial and budgetary capabilities of the sponsoring organization and will carefully review the extent to which the city's funds will be leveraged with other funding sources such that the event is a collaborative community effort, Bagneschi said.

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