Story 170412-CCO-Gaming Grant
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The gaming branch has just put out a new release about grants available for Major Capital Projects.
The Province is investing $5-million into this Community Gaming Grants program for capital projects that demonstrate a community benefit and are accessible to the public.
Eligible not-for-profits in B.C. can apply for up to $250,000 or 50% of the project cost over $20,000.
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Capital project
A capital project is a project that helps maintain or improve a community asset, often called infrastructure. This could be anything that meets ONE of the following criteria: new construction, expansion, renovation, or replacement project for an existing facility or facilities.
Examples of capital projects include:Making improvements to public playgrounds or parks
Repairing streets and sidewalks
Installing accessibility ramps on public property
Renovating public buildings
Installing benches or street lights
Creating a community garden
Resurfacing a basketball court
Grant Eligibility
Three categories of capital projects are eligible for funding:Facilities: construction, renovation or maintenance of facilities.
Community infrastructure: public amenities such as docks, parks or playgrounds.
Acquisitions: the purchase of fixed capital assets for long-term use, including vehicles.
Matching funds from the applicants are required.
The Province will announce the successful candidates and award the grants by the end of 2017. Applications will be competitively adjudicated, with consideration also given to regional distribution, representation of the six community gaming grant sectors, project size and Aboriginal inclusion.
Eligible organizations may apply for gaming grant funding in more than one sector – i.e. for a capital projects in addition to one of the other categories: arts and culture; sport; environment; public safety; human and social services; parent advisory councils and district parent advisory councils.
Matching Funds
Matching funds may include in-kind contributions of tangible assets and letters of guarantees from other funders, or grant contributions from other sources.
This means that smaller community groups can still dream big even if they have limited resources. Finding matching funds is often as simple as getting more partnerships on board.
Building community infrastructure is in the interests of the whole community so often its fairly easy to get collaboration between several groups and agencies. It just takes a little planning and effort to complete the application form, but it’s certainly worth a try!
Your group might be one of more than 5,000 not-for-profit organizations, representing communities throughout B.C. which could benefit from community gaming grants every year. If you aren’t successful one year, then get feedback from the grant administrators, review your application and submit it again the following year.
Broad spectrum
Capital projects is just one of the community gaming grant categories. Gaming grants overall are meant to fund a broad spectrum of projects. In addition to the $5 million for Capital Projects the B.C. government has committed another $135 million to other categories of Community Gaming Grants this year.
As described on their website — www.gov.bc.ca/gaminggrants— the aim of Gaming Grants is to “help foster a high quality of life in B.C. communities by supporting diverse programming responsive to local needs and issues, such as youth sports teams, performing arts, cultural festivals and fairs, restorative justice initiatives, volunteer fire departments, search and rescue services, wildlife shelters, nature reserves, food banks, transition houses, hospices, drop-in centres, day cares and enhancements to K-12 students’ extracurricular opportunities.”
Deadline
The application window is from Aug 1, 2017 to Sept 30, 2017.
– files from the Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development
story text created on Friday 4/7/2017 at 2:57:27 pm by Fiona Maureen
story text modified on Sunday 4/9/2017 at 12:06:01 pm by Deb Theoret
