PA Community Foundation proposal deadline closing in

The Prince Albert and Area Community Foundation (PAACF) accepts applications every year for their grant program, and this year’s deadline is just about here—Thursday.

Last year the PAACF was able to fund around 15 projects and this year they have about $90,000 in grants to award to various projects.

Marilyn Peterson, PAACF executive director, said the beauty of their grant process is they have a wide range of programs they can cover.

“The key is that the grants go to assist projects that are working with people that we might term disadvantaged. Such as youth, the elderly, newcomers to the country. We’ve done cultural activities, we’ve done things to assist various camps, we’ve done the snack programs at one or two of the schools,” Peterson said.

She said there has to be a need that fits into their goal of assisting people in need within the community.

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Funding for the grant comes from a few sources and the Moffat family is one of those sources.

The Moffat’s used to live in Prince Albert and every year they donate grant money to nine communities across Saskatchewan with Prince Albert being one of them.

Peterson said that’s the only involvement the Moffat’s have and they don’t even want the credit for it, but the PAACF is grateful for their help.

Another donor is the Saskatoon United Way.

“This is now the third year, I believe, that we’ve been working in partnership with the Saskatoon United Way. They, again like Moffat, feel that PAACF probably know the community and the needs of the community much better than they do looking at it from a distance,” Peterson said.

“They give us the opportunity to give out those grants.”

The Saskatoon United Way assists with the screening and assessment process of the applications.

The grant money is spread across a number of projects and Peterson said many of the projects they help don’t require a huge amount, but still need some assistance.

“We could give it all to one project, if we wished, but so far there have been so many smaller ones, and these are usually projects that don’t fit into your traditional government funding,” Peterson said.

To be considered for a grant Peterson said each applicant must be registered as a charity and fill out the application form.

The forms asks certain questions like whether they are in partnership with someone else, what their budget is, how many people will receive the service, and what they’re goals are for their project, just to name a few.

“After we have all the projects in then we get together, there’s a grant making committee composed of a member of PAACF board, a representative from the Saskatoon United Way and usually one or two other people from the community, as well as myself,” Peterson explained.

The committee in Prince Albert will go through all the applications and then when they’ve created their list they send it to their board in Saskatoon and Winnipeg. Once the board gives the go ahead the grants should be awarded by mid-June.

Applications can be picked up in Prince Albert at the city clerk’s office at city hall or either one of the Conexus Credit Unions at the information desks.

Applications have to be post marked by the Mar. 7 or dropped off at the location where they were picked up.

Anyone who needs more information or has questions can call the PAACF at 764-9108.

swallace@panow.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow