On May 15, 2013, 147 applications were submitted for FY2014 Cultural Development grants.
Since then, staff has been busy entering information into the Trust database, summarizing applications for panelist review and reviewing proposals for glaring errors before giving panelists access to the applications through Grants Online!
Open panel meetings will be held from 9am to 4pm, at 775 Summer St. NE, Conference Room 201, Salem, 97301, on the following days:
June 25 – Creativity
June 27 – Capacity
July 10 – Access
July 11 – Preservation
Volunteer panel members are recruited among Trust board members, representatives of Trust partner organizations, and arts, heritage and humanities leaders from around the state. They are invited to participate based on their expertise, and they accept based on their availability to be in Salem on the review day.
Between five and eight panelists serve on each review panel. At press time, the Creativity and Capacity panels have already begun reviewing applications! Panel meetings are open to the public and applicants are welcome to attend, though they are not allowed to present or participate in the conversation. Panelists may ask questions of applicants in attendance, however. Past applicants have said that observing the panel review proved helpful in their understanding of the process and in shaping their applications for future Trust grants.
Applications are reviewed in alphabetical order, with an estimated 10 minutes discussion per application. A list of the applications to be reviewed, in alphabetical order, will be available three weeks prior to the panel and can be found by going to the webinar public sessions page. An organization traveling a long distance to hear its grant review should check this list for trip planning purposes; past applicants suggest planning an early arrival.
In addition to observing in person, applicants and interested parties can also access the panel meetings through teleconference webinar. Public listings of all panel webinars can be found by clicking here. [https://oregonconnect.ilinc.com/perl/ilinc/lms/event.pl?div_view=reg&eve… ]
During the meetings, panelists will first identify the applications they found non-competitive. With the unanimous support of the panel, these applications will be eliminated from further review.The panel will then rank the list of remaining applications, based on the scores against published review criteria.
The ranked applications from each of the four panels will be reviewed on July 17 by a “super panel” consisting of Trust Board members and advisors who have served on a review panel. This super panel will develop a final list of recommended grant awards, based on rankings, and how much money is available to grant.
This recommendation will go to the full board of the Cultural Trust in July and applicants will be advised of funding decisions the first week in August. The Cultural Trust thanks every organization that submitted a grant application this year. Staff has reviewed many unique, interesting and resonant project proposals and wishes everyone the best in this process.
And, a final reminder: the more donations the Trust receives by the end of the fiscal year (June 30), the more money is available for grant making in July. So give today, to ensure more granting this next fiscal year!