NCA July 2018 grants

Niwot Community Association board members are drafting possible guidelines for groups and individuals requesting grant aid from the NCA.

“We’ve noticed an uptick in funding requests to groups in Niwot and it would be good to have some guidelines in place for our own process,” said NCA board member Johnny Barrett at the NCA board’s July 11 meeting. Barrett and board member Lance Goff were tasked in June with developing draft grant guidelines.

In general, NCA board members agreed that grant requests should be made in person. They also agreed that the principal purpose of grants from the NCA should be to benefit the Niwot community as a whole or a group within the Niwot community.

Educational events and social gatherings for the community should be presumed to have a community benefit, according to the draft guidelines.

Board members generally agreed that if an individual applicant’s grant request is reviewed favorably, it would be appropriate to add a condition to that grant requiring the individual to participate in a public service activity benefiting the Niwot area.

The draft guidelines also state that grant applications from NCA members or from persons and groups located within the NCA’s service boundaries will be preferred over those from outside the area. The board also will look carefully at any potential conflict between the stated community benefit and any personal interest or potential benefit to the applicant.

“Maybe there’s a way to include asking grant recipients to report back to the NCA board about the event or project that the grant helped fund,” suggested Tom Sesnic.

The guidelines will be revised and reviewed again at the NCA’s Aug. 1 board meeting.

July 4 parade

NCA President David Limbach thanked July 4 parade organizers for a “very smoothly run” parade and celebration. The parade had 40 participants this year, according to parade co-organizer Julie Breyer. “That seems to be a sustainable number for our parade,” she said.

The NCA sponsors and organizes the event, working with the Niwot Market to host the annual pancake breakfast. This year’s breakfast proceeds will benefit the Niwot Fire House restoration, and tip jar proceeds will be donated to the Niwot Patriotic Cookie Moms, a group which sends cookies to troops serving overseas.

In addition, NCA board members agreed to make donations to the Niwot Nifties 4-H Club for their help with the bike decorations and children’s face painting for the parade, and the Niwot High School Key Club and Boy Scout Troop 161 for their help with the pancake breakfast and bike decorations.