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United Way outlines competitive grant process as commissioners consider outsourcing nonprofit allocations
Summary
Molly Olson of United Way of Southeastern Idaho described a competitive application process with volunteer panels, site visits and caps for new applicants; commissioners raised questions about levied funds for veterans, oversight, scoring criteria and the potential to sit on review panels before deciding whether to move county allocations.
United Way of Southeastern Idaho detailed to Bannock County commissioners on April 7 how the nonprofit organization manages competitive allocations and what it would mean if the county used United Way as a distribution partner.
Molly Olson, United Way chief operations officer, described a standard cycle that begins with a letter of intent in January, a written application period, a volunteer-review process with site visits and panel funding recommendations that the United Way board ultimately votes to adopt. "We bring volunteers from across the community to go in, review the applications ... They then go and do site visits and get to see the programs in action," Olson said.
Olson said United Way serves seven Southeastern Idaho counties and can earmark donated funds for specific uses when requested. She noted new organizations must be registered as 501(c)(3) entities for two years before applying and that a first-year cap for new applicants is $3,000; established applicants can request up to $30,000 subject to available funds.
Commissioners welcomed the efficiency of a single point of distribution but raised concerns about levied funds that the county is statutorily required to direct to certain services (for example, veterans programs). One commissioner asked how United Way weights prior year allocations in its scoring; Olson said volunteers review financials and reserve levels and that staff provide summaries to reviewers.
Several commissioners suggested that county representatives could serve on review panels or that the county could retain oversight or carve-outs for levied and statutory funding. No formal decision was made; commissioners asked staff to continue discussions and indicated they would like additional details on scoring, criteria and how existing levy-directed dollars would be handled.
