Item No. 1 - Community Funding Memo to Council 06.09.22_Desk Item
Memorandum
June 9, 2022
To: City Council
From: Rachelle Sander, Assistant Director of Parks and Recreation
Subject: Fiscal Year 2022-2023 Community Funding Grant Program
______________________________________________________________________________
The purpose of this memo is to update the City Council on information requested at the
June 7 regular meeting.
Organizational status of Omniware Networks.
The current Community Funding policy states that an organization must be a 501c3 non-
profit. 501c3 non-profits are not issued a new IRS letter each year, however, the IRS
website allows you to download a spreadsheet of current non-profits. The spreadsheet is
updated monthly. Given that Omniware Networks 501c3 status is in Washington, staff
has downloaded the list for Washington State (Attachment A).
Does the Cupertino Union School District qualify given the 501c3 requirement?
The IRS considers educational organizations to be public charities by the nature of their
structured educational offerings. Internal Revenue Code section 170(b)(1)(A)(ii) defines
educational organizations, which are most referred to as "schools."
While public schools may apply for recognition of tax-exempt status under section 501c3
of the internal revenue services code (IRC), this step is not required for such
organizations to qualify for grants. Given the IRS definition of schools, funding a school
district would be up to City Council’s discretion.
Metrics use for organizations such as West Valley Community Services, School
Districts, Omniware Networks, and Relay for Life.
The Community Funding Policy (Attachment B) states the following metrics for
eligibility and evaluation criteria:
Eligibility
To receive consideration for a Community Funding Grant, grant requests must:
• Be made or sponsored by a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with experienced
members capable of implementing and managing the program/project/event.
• Identify how the funds will be used to benefit the Cupertino community.
• Be awarded only once per project
• For specific needs, not ongoing, operational costs.
• Have more than 75% of the requested funds allocated for direct service costs versus
administrative costs.
• Be complete and submitted by the application deadline.
Evaluation Criteria
• Impact on and benefit to the Cupertino community
• Community need for the program/project/event
• Alignment with City mission and values
• Uniqueness of the program/project/event
• Qualifications and experience of the organization and its members
• Reasonable cost
• Demonstrated effort to secure funding from other sources and/or establishing
partnerships with other community or city organizations
• Clarity, completeness, and accuracy of grant application
• Past performance and compliance with requirements if a recurring applicant
Regarding future funding, the policy does not set expectations for multi-year grant
approval. Each year the organizations must fill out a new application if they wish to be
considered for funding. The final funding approval each year is at the discretion of City
Council.
Parks and Recreation Commission uses the funding totals form (Attachment C) when
providing their total out of 100 for each organization. Organizations are ranked by Parks
and Recreation Commission after a meeting for questions and clarification with the
organizations and then the evaluation and eligibility process. This year the questions
and clarification meeting was March 3 and the evaluation and eligibility meeting was
April 7. The Parks and Recreation Commission’s funding recommendation may be
different than City Council’s final funding recommendation. Final funding is at the
discretion of City Council.
Third party funding
The current Community Funding Policy does not preclude the use of a third party to run
the program, project, or event being applied for. In the case of the Fremont Union High
Schools Foundation request that includes Care Solace for a Mental Health program, the
decision to fund or not would be at City Council’s discretion.
Care Solace does have a webpage that speaks more to their organization.
https://www.caresolace.org/
Other City money received by the organizations
Staff pulled information from the past five years on any money paid to organizations
that applied for Community Funding this year (Attachment C). The payments include:
• Prior community funding grants
• Payments for contractual classes through Parks & Recreation
• Other grant programs
• Payments for rental of facilities (i.e.: Fourth of July, Pools for Learn to Swim
program, field house for sports classes/camps, etc.)
Festival funding is not captured in this spreadsheet. Three organizations that are
proposed for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022-2023 festival funding (Attachment D) are also
applicants for Community Grant Funding. The organizations are Cupertino Rotary,
Cupertino Bhubaneswar Sister City, and American Cancer Society. Community Funding
Historical funding information (Attachment E) is also provided.
CUSD clarifications
• The program will be at Sedgwick Elementary School and will serve Cupertino
residents from that area
• "Selected students" means students who meet the state criteria: Low income,
Foster Youth, or English Learners. The lowest achieving students from these
groups are prioritized to address capacity limitations and serve students who
need support
• The program is free of charge to our students
• The School District does not plan to apply annually for this city grant
Omniware Networks: Why there are only two Board Members for this non-profit
organization? My understanding is that non-profit Board should have at least 3 Board
members: President (or Chair), Secretary, Treasurer.
The state of California requires a minimum of one board member for each organization.
The IRS requires a minimum of three, to retain tax-exempt status the organization needs
to comply with both. Omniware networks has had turn-over and is actively looking to
replace the third board member.
Omniware Networks: Are the two board members and two staff different people?
One board member is also staff; however, all “staff” are volunteers, no one in the
organization gets paid.
Omniware Networks: Does the non-profit keep its monthly board meeting minutes?
Yes, Omniware keeps records of their board meeting minutes.
Additional Information:
FY 2021-2022 agreements were implemented with organizations that were approved for
funding (Attachment G).
Additional funding received by organizations for the specific program, project, or event
they are applying to receive funding for is answered in question 14 of the organization’s
application.
Attachments:
A – Washington Non-Profit List
B – Community Funding Policy
C – Commission Totals Form
D – Five years of payments to applicable organizations
E – Proposed FY 2022-2023 Festival Costs
F – Community Funding Historical Funding Information FY 2018-2022
G – Community Funding Agreement