Watch an informational video of how to apply for a 2024 Planning and Technical Assistance Grant, and hear a presentation from Doug Sauer: "Planning to Plan: Preparing to Launch a Strategic Planning Process." This presentation concludes with a Q&A.

Grant Guidelines

WHO CAN APPLY

Applicants must be a City of Pittsfield ARPA Community Partner.

BACKGROUND

The City of Pittsfield awarded $8.8M in ARPA funds to thirty-seven (37) nonprofit grantees (“community partners”) in support of programs and capital projects that respond to the impact of the COVID pandemic and will have a positive community impact. Recognizing that ARPA funding is a one-time investment, the City is working with community partners to strengthen their individual and collective impact and to help build sustainable programmatic and organizational capacity. Through a collaborative and interactive ongoing process, including an online survey conducted in November 2022 with the community partners, the city has identified the level of need and interest in a comprehensive variety of collaborative activities and capacity-building support areas.

One of the striking findings from the survey that was also discussed at the January 24 convening was the number of partners had either no strategic plan at all or had not updated their current strategic plan, in large part due to the pandemic. Community Partners affirmed the vital importance of strategic planning and related focused planning efforts (fund development, capital campaigns, governance planning, etc.) to organizational and ARPA supported program success and sustainability.

To encourage and support community partners to prepare and/or update their strategic plans, the city has committed funding for the ARPA Community Partner Strategic Planning Grant Program to be administered and overseen by Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation.

ELIGIBILITY

Applicants must be a City of Pittsfield ARPA Community Partner. All Community Partners will receive an invitation to apply from Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation (BTCF).

PROJECT ELIGIBILITY

The grant program supports for the following types of planning projects:

1. Organization-wide Strategic Planning (either new plan or updates of existing plan)
2. Strategic Governance/Board Development Planning
3. Multi-year Fund Development Planning
4. ARPA Funded Program Sustainability Planning

AWARDS AND ELIGIBLE EXPENDITURES

Grants awarded through this program are one-time awards, with a maximum award of up to $10,000. A total of $196,000 will be awarded to eligible applicants. Matching funds are not required.

Grant expenditures restricted to the costs associated with retaining consultants, trainers or other outsourced services and additional direct expenses incurred with the project such as meeting room and equipment rentals, refreshments, etc.

REVIEW CRITERIA

Applications will be reviewed fairly and competitively by BTCF using the following criteria with respect to the proposed planning project:

• Demonstrated organizational need
• Potential to have a positive and discernible impact on the organization’s longer-term effectiveness and sustainability, especially as it relates to serving residents of the City of Pittsfield
• Level of project engagement by the Board of Directors, staff leadership and other stakeholders
• Clarity of anticipated project outcomes and deliverables
• The role and scope of services of qualified consultants and others retained or to be retained; if these individuals or firms are known at the time of the application, .please identify them.
• Preparation and readiness of the community partner to effectively implement the project with the grant resources available and within the time proposed.

REPORTING

Grantees will be required to submit a narrative report on project deliverables and activities along with itemized grant expenditures by June 30, 2025.