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Committee: all approved grantees funded; FY2025 application will follow an October cycle with a Sept. 1 outreach push
Summary
Staff reported that all approved grantees have been paid, described software improvements for budget attachments, and outlined an FY2025 application timeline with outreach beginning around Sept. 1; members asked staff to provide a distribution estimate Nov. 5 and noted that the final trust balance will be known after Dec. 31.
Committee members heard a report that funds approved in the recent grant round have been disbursed and discussed preparations for the FY2025 application cycle.
Angela, a committee staff member, told members, “Everyone that was approved has received their funds now,” and said a small number of distributions took longer due to internal processing. She said staff distributed a packet that includes the proposed application, a timeline mirroring last year’s October cycle, and sample mid-year and end-of-year reports.
Angela described recent training with the grant software vendor and said the system now allows budget line items to be entered directly rather than supplied only as an attachment, which staff hopes will improve consistency across applications. She also said the committee’s informational video is in draft and staff recommend posting it to the website for outreach around Sept. 1 ahead of the October application window.
A committee member summarized the Board of Trustees’ investment activity and OCIO selection, noting the board chose Marquette and Associates and has deployed funds over a multi-month dollar-cost-averaging approach. In that exchange a committee member said, “There was another $10,000,000, I think, in round number, about $10,000,000 that went into the trust,” referring to the most recent payment into the trust.
Budgeting questions followed: a speaker noted the committee budgeted “just a little under $2,100,000” as the distribution to the general fund based on the Dec. 31 balance; staff said an estimate can be provided at the Nov. 5 meeting and the final number will be known after Dec. 31 when the trust balance is reported.
Members discussed administrative improvements for managing higher application volumes in future years, including enhanced staff due-diligence review and a short letter-of-intent pre-qualifier to reduce time spent on ineligible applications. Several members noted that funding categories are embedded in the trust agreement and that any change would require returning to the terms of the assembly.
The committee debated dates for a software-review meeting and agreed to meet Nov. 5 at 1:30 p.m. (Eastern) to review the application software and receive the staff estimate. Staff were asked to finalize application changes and outreach materials ahead of that schedule.
Next steps: staff will post outreach materials and the draft video for member review, provide an initial distribution estimate at the Nov. 5 meeting, and report the final trust balance after Dec. 31.
