Grant Guidelines
All grant inquiries must be submitted and funds administered through a youth organization’s Board of Trustees. Groups whose home facility is in Pinellas County are welcome to apply and will be considered for grants. Groups who are part of, or affiliated with a school program (either public, private, or charter) are not eligible for funding within these programs. Grants may be requested within five specific funding areas, outlined on the following pages. All applications will be evaluated upon due diligence and merit of the request. Grant seeking organizations shall have programming for the season the request is made to be considered for a grant. The CFY Grants Committee and Board of Trustees may exceed these guidelines upon their discretion and best judgment in alignment with the organization’s overall mission and vision as stated above.
Organizations who have not previously received funds from CFY must first contact the CFY offices for a consultation of eligibility. Organizations who do not have a consultation with the CFY offices will not have their application considered for funding. An initial consultation to discuss eligibility prior to a grant deadline may be conducted via phone or email.
The priority of CFY’s Board of Trustees is to support access to recreational youth athletic programs for Title One eligible Pinellas County youth. While an organization may have other financial needs, CFY’s Registration Reimbursement programs are based upon Pinellas County Schools Title One eligibility only.
The program is available on a rolling basis throughout the year. It is imperative to meet the deadlines listed below as applications must be reviewed by the CFY Grants Committee and approved by the CFY Board of Trustees, both scheduled in succession following each submission deadline:
February 25
April 25
June 25
August 25
October 25
December 18
Applications must be submitted via the CFY website at www.cfypinellas.org/grants/application, including the organization’s Annual Budget and other supplemental materials as required by specific funding category (see page 2). All CFY grant application forms must be filled out using CFY forms only. Failure to provide the requested information on the appropriate CFY forms will render an application non-compliant and it will be returned for correction using the required forms. This may delay funding or result in denial of a request if not provided in a timely manner. All grants are awarded on a competitive basis regardless of historical funding; renewals or repeat funding for subsequent years/seasons is not guaranteed. CFY reserves the right to approve, deny, or counter-offer funding requests based on a formal review of the requesting organization’s annual budget submission and allocation. Please note that organizations applying for funding will be required to report any financial thefts occurring within the past 2 years including all relevant details to be considered by the CFY Board of Trustees.
Upon application approval, grantee will be required to sign the CFY Partnership Agreement outlining terms of the reciprocal partnership. Agreement includes the following conditions:
- Certification that funds will be used for purposes explicitly intended.
- Furnishing of documentation requested within 10 business days of request.
- Prominent display of CFY branding on all websites and print material.
- Signage or banners (as provided by CFY) in a prominent location at primary facility.
- Completion of Grant Impact Report within 90 days of the conclusion of the approved program season, detailing impact including supplemental documentation to be used by CFY for marketing purposes.
We look forward to receiving your organization’s submission! Thank you for serving the youth of our community.
Funding Categories & Criteria
PRESENTED BY THE BAYSTAR RESTURANT GROUP
- CFY’s priority is to fund community/recreational youth athletic organizations. Any funding provided to competitive teams will be based upon available funds and may change from time to time based upon budget availability. Competitive teams should check with CFY office to determine if funding is available prior to submission.
- Community/recreational youth athletics organization
- A community/recreational youth athletic organization is defined as a youth athletic organization playing a minimum of one half of its competition on or at its home facility.
- Registration fees may not include the cost of uniforms that are retained by the participant the conclusion of the season.
- Available to all participants who qualify*
- Pinellas County youth athletic based organizations only.
- Competitive team
- Individual player grants availability are contingent on available funds.
- Competitive teams should check with CFY office to determine if funding is available prior to submission.
- Request maybe modified by CFY in its sole discretion based upon available funds.
- Competitive teams are identified as teams that play more than one half of their competition at a facility other than their host facility.
Requests must be made at the conclusion of the organization’s registration cycle and must include the CFY Registration Ledger detailing registrants.
Funding under Athlete Registration Reimbursement is to cover the portion of the typical registration fee not funded by the participant.
Nonresident fees are ineligible for Athlete Registration Reimbursement (whether stand alone or embedded). If fees are embedded, they must be removed from the request in this category or the request will be denied.
Only Pinellas County Title One eligible youth will be considered for Athlete RegistrationReimbursement. For more information on which schools are Title One please go to; https://www.pcsb.org/Page/10735.
For facility cost to be included in the Athlete Registration Reimbursement program, the submitting organization needs to show evidence of their attempt to be “co-sponsored” by their host community and the reason for the community’s denial. This expense is typically not an expense funded by CFY and that cost will be denied without providing the requested documentation. This provision may be waived by the CFY Board of Trustees in their sole discretion.
Limited to one scholarship per fiscal year per program*
PRESENTED BY THE PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES/CLEARWATER THRESHERS
- CFY’s priority is to fund community/recreational or competitive youth athletic organizations equipment needs and any funding provided to other programs for equipment supplement should first be vetted through the CFY office and will only be funded based upon budget availability.
- Large equipment purchase to be used by participants at host facility
- Uniforms are eligible for equipment supplement and are not eligible for athletic registration reimbursement funding.
- Any equipment funded through this program may only be used by the requesting program for the express purpose the grant was approved for during the lifecycle of the equipment by the requesting organization and its participants as part of that program. Any unauthorized use of equipment funded with this program may render the applicant ineligible for future CFY funding.
- Award not to exceed fifty percent of total cost
- Evidence of matching specific to purchase is required prior to approval. Applicant must identify the specific funding and origin of the funding to be utilized to provide the match.Funding may not be “double counted” as a potential source as it must be specific to the match.
- Equipment price quote from three vendors must be submitted with application
Limited to one award annually
Grant funds paid directly to approved vendor
Storage plans to ensure longevity must be detailed in application
- Youth athletes competing on the state/regional/national level where a qualifier or a qualifying invitation from the national office is required to advance
- Number of qualified athletes and proof of qualification must be submitted with application
- Awards may be for a team or individual, but not both
- Individual awards are granted on a need basis, only to participants on the original roster
- Evidence of matching fundraising specific to the travel event is required prior to approval
- Funds are issued as a reimbursement to the organization contingent on the submission of receipts showing travel expenses paid
- Community arts and culture organizations engaging Pinellas County youth programming such as after school activities or camp
- Available to all participants who qualify*
- Limited to one scholarship per fiscal year per program
- Requests must be made at the conclusion of the organization’s registration cycle and must include the CFY Registration Ledger detailing registrants
- New athletic program or initiative meeting any of the following criteria:
- Established within an existing program serving youth in Pinellas County
- Working with an established nonprofit affiliated with a professional sports organization
- Partnership sponsorship program working in conjunction with the Juvenile Welfare Board
- New program or initiative can only receive funds under this category one time.
- Evidence of matching grants is required prior to approval
