Info Sessions and Q&A - Portland Children's Levy

Large grant applications now open!

Apply

<img src='https://portlandchildrenslevy.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/logo.svg' alt='Site Logo' width='206' height='69'>

Info sessions

PCL held two virtual pre-application information sessions via Zoom on Sept. 19 and 24. Attending an information session is not mandatory. If you were unable to attend an info session, we highly encourage potential applicants to view a recording of the presentation below for an overview of the application requirements and WebGrants registration process.

Q&A

PCL welcomes all potential applicants to submit questions to info@portlandchildrenslevy.org. PCL will respond individually via email to answer questions within 3 business days.

Submitted questions are also posted anonymously in the Q&A below. PCL staff will post questions verbatim as received via email. If the question itself names the organization or program, PCL staff will not remove that reference before posting the question.

Applicants may submit questions until 5 p.m. on Oct. 28, 2024. Individuals will receive final responses, and PCL will post all final questions and responses to the digest by close of business on Nov. 1, 2024.

Week of Sept. 10 Q&A
Week of Sept. 16 Q&A
Week of Sept. 23 Q&A
Sept. 19 info session Q&A
Week of Sept. 30 Q&A

Click the arrow next to each question to see the full question and/or response.

Week of Sept. 10 Q&A

For all program areas except early childhood, the maximum 3-year grant is $2.5 million. In early childhood, the maximum 3-year grant is $4.5 million. Please review the Funding Requirements section in the program area application for which you intend to apply for other relevant information on grant size and resources available. Program area applications are available in the Grant Applications page on the PCL website.

An agency acting as a fiscal sponsor for a program may apply for PCL funding. The agency acting as a fiscal sponsor must meet the requirements for applicants including, but not limited to, being a 501 (c)(3), local education agency, community college or university with annual revenues of at least $750,000 in their last closed fiscal year. If the application is successful, the fiscal sponsor enters into the grant agreement with PCL and is responsible submitting quarterly invoices and expense reports and all required grant reports. Fiscal sponsors must be willing and able to meet these requirements.

Dougy Center is interested in applying for a grant with the Portland Children’s Levy. We have reviewed the applications for the six program areas and have found that our proposal falls within the funding priorities for two of the six program areas (Foster Care and Child Abuse Prevention & Intervention Program Services).

Specifically:

Program Services Eligible for PCL Funding – Foster Care (#6, p.4) Provide services that support and improve youth mental health, especially for youth who identify as LGBTQ2SIA+
Program Services Eligible for PCL Funding – Child Abuse Prevention & Intervention Program Services (#3, p.4) Support parents/caregivers and youth experiencing grief and stress to learn coping skills

Dougy Center’s L.Y.G.H.T. program is an evidence-based peer grief support intervention for youth in foster care that is listed in the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare and is currently delivered to youth in foster care throughout South Carolina. We will be bringing this program to Oregon and are interested in partnering with the Portland Children’s Levy to provide critical grief support to youth in foster care. As the L.Y.G.H.T. program both improves youth mental health and supports youth experiencing grief and stress to learn coping skills, could you provide guidance on which program area we should apply to?

PCL response:

Since the program you describe specifically plans to serve foster youth, PCL recommends that you apply in the foster care program area assuming that the population to be served otherwise meets the definition of the eligible service population in the foster care application excerpted below:

“Proposed programs must directly serve children and youth in foster care or former foster youth, ages birth – 24. Children and youth in foster care are those who are placed, by Oregon Department of Human Services or a Tribal organization, in a relative or non-relative foster home, group home, emergency shelter, residential facility, or pre-adoptive home.

All children and families to be served with PCL funding must live or go to school within City of Portland boundaries. See a map with zip codes and a map with detailed street and school locations for reference.”

I have been reviewing the RFP for this upcoming grant cycle and I am wondering if we apply with a partner organization for a mentoring grant and both organizations combine have an income of $750,000 if that would meet the criteria. We run and after school skate program for youth and we often partner with another organization to do so. We are hoping to use this grant for that, but our organizations do not fit the $750,000 a year budget. However, combine we do. Just curious if we are able to still apply?

PCL response:

No. Groups of organizations can apply together for funding; however, the group would need to choose a lead agency or fiscal agent to be the “applicant.” The lead agency/fiscal agent/applicant needs to independently meet the requirements for an eligible applicant, which include having revenues of $750,000 in the last closed fiscal year. The lead agency/fiscal agent/applicant enters into the grant agreement with the City, and subcontracts with partner agencies. The lead agency/fiscal agent/applicant is responsible for submitting invoices and expense reports, and other grant reports.

PCL’s small grants funding round will open later in 2025 and we encourage your organization to consider applying in that funding round.

Week of Sept. 16 Q&A

Please see responses to Questions 2 and 4 in the Q&A for the week of September 10.

Receiving funding from Preschool for All does not disqualify United Way/ELM from applying for a PCL early childhood grant. PCL is not accepting applications for programs proposing to offer preschool services due to the passage of Preschool for All. United Way would need to meet the requirements for eligible organizations, and whatever program was proposed for funding in the application would need to meet eligibility requirements. Please see PCL’s website for more information on eligibility and requirements for applicant organizations and proposed programs.

Please see responses to Questions 2 and 4 in the Q&A for the week of September 10. Applicant organizations are not required to be located in Portland.

Yes. The map published by the City of Portland and referenced in the application slows that Alder Elementary school is located within City of Portland boundaries. Programs serving children who go to school within City of Portland boundaries are eligible to apply for funding.

The applicant organization must have had at least $750,000 in revenue in its last closed fiscal year at the time you apply for a PCL grant. It’s not clear from your description of the PCEF grant when the organization received or will receive revenue from the grant, or what the organization’s fiscal year is. For example, if your organization’s fiscal year is July 1 through June 30, the organization would need to show revenues of $750,000 from all sources between July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024 to be eligible to apply for a PCL grant in this funding round.

There is no limit on the number of applications that can be submitted. The amount of total funding requested in all applications from a single applicant organization cannot exceed 30% of the applicant organization’s revenues in the last closed fiscal year.

Thanks for your inquiry. There are no exceptions to the annual revenue requirement. PCL suggests you consider applying for funding in the Small Grants round that is planned for late 2025. Another option is to work with a fiscal sponsor that meets the requirements for eligible applicants. The fiscal sponsor must apply for the grant and can subcontract with the sponsored organization to provide the services. Please see responses to Questions 2 and 4 in the Q&A for the week of September 10 for additional information on fiscal sponsors.

Week of Sept. 23 Q&A

Please see responses to questions 2 and 4 in the Week of September 10, and questions 7, 9 and 11 in the Week of September 16 for more information on fiscal sponsors, including requirements for organizations acting as fiscal sponsors. PCL does not recommend fiscal sponsors to potential applicants but encourages applicants to explore the possibility of sponsorship with any partner organizations you have worked with in the past, and/or organizations that are serving a similar population with different services than your organization plans to offer. In addition, the Nonprofit Association of Oregon provides information and resources on fiscal sponsors in their Guide to Fiscal Sponsorships.

To clarify, maximum grant amounts are set for the 3-year grant period, not for an annual period. The maximum grant amount refers to the maximum that can be requested in a single application in a program area. Please see response to question 1 in the Week of September 10 for maximum 3-year funding amounts depending on program area.

The total amount of funding requested in all applications from a single applicant organization cannot exceed 30% of the applicant organization’s revenues in the last closed fiscal year.

There is nothing in the grant requirements that would prohibit requesting a grant to cover only the expenses you outlined in your question, assuming that the grant amount requested meets the minimum grant requirement and doesn’t exceed the maximum grant amount allowed for the program area.

As a grantee, you would be obligated to report data on the program supported with PCL funds. PCL requires program reporting on the number and demographics of children/parents/caregivers served, level of service provided, participation and outcome goals. PCL also requires expense reports with quarterly invoices that provide detail on all expenses included in the invoice.

No. PCL will not require grantees to submit annual audits during the 3-year grant term after the required audit is complete.

Based on the map with street level boundaries referenced in the application materials, this address is outside the boundaries of the City of Portland. If the program serves children with addresses that fall within city boundaries based on the referenced map, you can apply for funding to support services for those children. PCL funding could not support services for program participants who don’t live within city boundaries.

The Grant Budget Guidance on Allowable Costs (included as part of each program area application available on the PCL website)does not prohibit including this cost in your proposed budget. You may include the expenses in your proposed budget and explain why this program activity is part of the program design in your narrative response to application questions.

At minimum, afterschool programs must provide services in the afternoon hours after the school day ends. If the school day ends at noon, then PCL funded programming can begin then. See Part 2. G of the afterschool application posted on the PCL website for additional details.

How do you qualify annual revenue? Can it include released/restricted grants?

We have large multi-year grants released from restriction as income, without those included our revenue isn’t reflective of our size and activities. To be specific:
– Without grants released from restriction our last fiscal year put us at $728k
– With grants released, we are well over $750k

PCL response:

An organization may use total annual unrestricted revenues that include revenues released from donor restrictions in that fiscal year as the organization’s revenue for purposes of determining whether it meets the eligibility requirement of at least $750,000 in revenue for the last closed fiscal year. Organizations may also use their total revenue as the basis for meeting this eligibility requirement.

To illustrate how unrestricted, restricted and released revenues appear on financial statements, please see the example below. In this example, the organization’s unrestricted revenue and its total revenue are above $750,000.

image of example statement of activities budget

Under Step 2: Program Information, the first two questions are:

1. Is the program you are proposing currently operating or new?

☐ New program ☐ Currently operating program

2. Does this application propose to expand a currently operating program?

☐ YES ☐ NO

If a program we were considering applying for is neither a new program nor an expansion of a current program, would it still qualify? Would it score unfavorably?

PCL response:

Yes, the program would qualify for funding. In the scenario you outlined, you would mark “currently operating program” for question 1, and “no” for question 2. Responses to these questions are not scored. Currently operating programs that are not seeking to expand would not necessarily score more unfavorably than new programs or programs requesting expansion funding. Responses to these questions help staff and reviewers correctly understand the current status of the program requesting funding.

Sept. 19 info session Q&A

PCL funds services for children/youth who live or go to school within City of Portland boundaries. If a school is outside of City boundaries, the youth who attend the school may live within City boundaries. PCL funds can be used to support those youth served in a program or school who live within City boundaries even if the program or school is geographically located outside City boundaries.

$4.5 million is the maximum grant that can be requested in a single 3-year early childhood application.

Yes.

$4.5 million is the maximum 3-year grant for a single early childhood application. The maximum 3-year grant for a single application in all other program areas is $2.5 million. An organization’s total annual PCL grant request(s) cannot exceed 30% of the organization’s revenue in its last closed fiscal year.

Applicants must submit organization budgets for the current and last closed fiscal year. An organization’s (not program) total annual PCL grant request(s) cannot exceed 30% of the organization’s (not program) revenue in its last closed fiscal year.

The limitation referred to applies to the organization acting as the fiscal sponsor. See responses to questions 2, 4, 7, 9, 11 regarding fiscal sponsors for more information.

Yes. You can include contracted services in your PCL grant request and proposed budget.

It’s likely because your name isn’t associated with an organization. Please contact PCL at info@portlandchildrenslevy.org for help solving this problem.

Yes. You can still edit your responses in any of the WebGrants steps after you have marked it complete. Choose the green “edit form” button to continue editing. You do not need to mark the form complete again; it will still show as complete after you edit your response.

Yes, $300,000 for a 3-year grant.

It depends. You may volunteer to review grants in a program area in which the organization you work for will not apply. For example, you may have experience and knowledge about hunger relief programming in the community. The organization you work for does not submit an application in hunger relief, but does submit an application in early childhood. You could review hunger relief applications, but not early childhood applications.

Yes.

To meet eligibility requirements, an organization must have $750,000 in revenue in its last closed fiscal year at the time the application is submitted. In your case, the last closed fiscal year would be the year that ended in December 2023.

PCL funds cannot be used for preschool, and PCL does not fund K-12 instruction provided by local education agencies. PCL can fund after school and mentoring programs that serve children attending kindergarten.

Yes.

PCL cannot fund preschool services. PCL can fund other services provided to children of preschool age so long as the services proposed meet other eligibility requirements.

In the community engagement process, youth voiced a desire for confidential communication with adult service providers. Adult service providers are required to follow ethical and legal rules that may constrain confidentiality in some situations.

The Small Grants funding round will not open until fall of 2025. The only funding round open now, and for which organizations can apply, is the large grant funding round.

PCL has funded mentoring programs since 2003. In this funding cycle, the age range of youth that can be served is expanded to age 24, and different types of mentoring services were prioritized in community engagement.

Yes.

Applications must address at least one funding priority in the program area. This ensures that PCL invests in programs and services that were highly prioritized by participants in the community engagement process.

No. After school programs must provide some programming during the school year, in the hours after the regular school day ends, to be eligible to apply.

Week of Sept. 30 Q&A

Yes. You may include revenues received as a result of acting as a fiscal sponsor for other organizations.