Such an exciting time of the year for us! We just selected 10 communities to receive up to $2,000 in Better Together Grants! This year we had 49 applications – narrowing it down to only 10 was not an easy task. We each took about two weeks to read the applications on our own and assign them a score, coming together at the end of the review period to discuss them and determine our final ratings. It took a few days and several meetings, but we made our final decision and notified the recipients before posting the results for everyone to see. There was so much joy in reaching out to each community to let them know they were selected.
It was great to see how many applications were submitted and to see the efforts put into filling out the request and planning the project itself. We so appreciate the funding ROC USA has provided for these grants for so many years now. And we all said to each other that we need to raise money so we can give out even more grants next year!
Know that even if your community was not selected, you were still successful! It took a non-board member to write and draw up the plan to fill out the application and have it passed by the board of directors. Hopefully that’s one more person taking an active part in your community.
And think of this: Does your community’s project idea have to die? Or is there another way to raise the money? Can the board fund the project? What about other sources? Or even waiting to apply next year? There are many more chances for projects to be completed – please don’t be discouraged. All 49 applications were filled with deserving needs and wishes. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the funds available to support them all.
The three of us, Marjory, Deb and John, are honored to represent you and want to encourage you to join the Better Together Calls and to reach out to rocassociation@rocusa.org if you have questions or requests. We want to help in any way we can!
