Both local governments will work with United Way this year to disseminate grants to local nonprofits.
Melissa Clements, the executive director of the United Way of Henderson County, said that the UW board of directors will not make decisions on awards. But instead, there is a 12-person allocation team made of community members that will make award recommendations that will be forwarded to the Fiscal Court and Henderson City Commission for approval.
Applications will be submitted through a page on the UW website, and these will be turned over to the allocation team, Clements said.
Clements said a rubric to determine awards includes criteria such as longtime sustainability, immediate needs, future needs, community partnerships and other funding sources.
There will also be an accountability aspect in which organizations that are awarded funds must report within six months how they are using the money, Clements said.
Henderson County Judge-Executive Brad Schneider said the county usually gives out about $120,000 to local nonprofits each year. He said Fiscal Court doesn’t have an in-house person to handle the grant process and believes working through the model presented by Clements will allow for more efficiency.
According to Henderson Mayor Brad Staton, both local governments will award $150,000 this year, and UW will receive 5%, or $15,000, for coordinating the process.
Clements said an information session for interested nonprofits will be 2 p.m. Feb. 28 in the Pittsburg Tank and Tower room at the Henderson County Public Library.
She said the preliminary plan is to open application submissions on April 1 and close that on April 30.