RAGBRAI grant deadline coming up
By Thomas Nelson, tnelson@charlescitypress.com
The Charles City RAGBRAI committee is still looking for groups to share money left over from the bicycle event’s overnight stay in the community.
“We ended up making about $28,000 profit,” said Trudy O’Donnell, the treasurer for the committee. “The bulk of that probably came from the beverage garden.”
Local donors also helped contribute to the fund, O’Donnell said.
“The committee got together and decided to give some of this back to the local community, because the community helped pull this off,” she said.
The committee is hoping to give away grants to help fund tangible improvements to Charles City, O’Donnell said.
“We want it to be something that’s going to be around for a while,” O’Donnell said. “We don’t want it to go for something like salaries.”
The most any one project can receive this year is $5,000, so there is potential to help fund at least four local projects.
“We didn’t want it to go to one big chunk,” O’Donnell said. “We’ll be able to help at least four projects. We’ll hopefully be able to give all the money away.”
Currently there are two applicants and one more pending.
The committee will keep about $5 to $6,000 back for seed money for the next time RAGBRAI comes through.
“We ran into issues this time around when we had to make down payments on bands,” O’Donnell said.
The deadline for grant applications is Oct. 6 to O’Donnell’s office at City Hall.
Applications need to include the following information:
• Status of the applicant (city/county, business/corporation, nonprofit organization or committee/group/club) and a brief description of the organization.
• A brief description of the project for which funding is being requested.
• Amount being requested, total project cost and a budget for the total project.
• Anticipated timeline of completion for the project. Projects should be completed within 18 months of the date a grant is awarded.
Applications can be picked up at the Chamber of Commerce office at 401 N. Main or at City Hall at 105 Milwaukee Mall.
After applications are turned the committee will have a date and time set to visit each of the applicants and answer questions.
“As soon as we get everyone talked to we’ll make a decision,” O’Donnell said.
She said she is hoping to see more applications come prior to the deadline.
Applicants that succeed in getting the grant will get half of the money at the time the grant is awarded and the other half upon completion of the project.
The application notes that the projects need to be completed with in 18 months of the date of the award.
For more information, contact O’Donnell at 641-257-6300.
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