The Volunteer Stream Monitoring Program Startup Grants are for organizations who seek to learn the MiCorps protocols of monitoring and set themselves up to submit successful Implementation Grant proposals in future years.
Donor Name: Michigan Clean Water Corps (MiCorps)
State: Michigan
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline (mm/dd/yyyy): 03/07/2022
Grant Size: $5,000
Grant Duration: 1 year
Details:
MiCorps VSMP Startup Grants
- Startup grants are “seed money” for newly forming volunteer monitoring groups that want to get involved in aquatic macroinvertebrate and stream habitat monitoring in wadable streams.
- Startup grants support groups in learning these monitoring techniques and how to run them through volunteer monitoring events. They do not actually do monitoring and data collection except in a practice format.
- Startup grantees can spend the money to attend the MiCorps stream training and annual conferences, attend monitoring events held by other organizations, buy starter equipment, hold a pilot/mock monitoring event, and associated staff time and travel
Funding Information
- There is a maximum amount of $5,000 per grant award for one-year projects under this funding area.
Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible, entities must meet all of the following:
- Local units of government and not-for-profit entities are eligible to receive grant funding. Nonprofit entities are those exempt from taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Eligible entities generally include county, city, township, and village agencies watershed and environmental action councils; universities; regional planning agencies; and incorporated not-for-profit organizations.
- Must not have had a grant revoked or terminated or demonstrated an inability to manage a grant or meet the obligations in a project contract within the 24-month period immediately preceding the application.
- Supply proof of a successful financial audit of the applicant organization conducted in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards for a period ending within the two years immediately preceding the RFP due date, as demonstrated by an Independent Auditor’s Report signed by a Certified Public Accountant from a Comprehensive Annual Report. Note: The audit date (on or after March 7, 2020) is based on the audit period and not the date of the audit or the audit letter.
- Entities that do not have an audit can partner with an eligible local unit of government or a nonprofit organization
Ineligible Entities and Activities
- Individuals, for-profit organizations, and federal and state agencies are not eligible to receive funding.
- River cleanups, lake monitoring, restoration efforts, and strictly education or school activities will not be funded.
- School or classroom-based programs using students as the primary volunteer source are not eligible for grant funding. It is acceptable to have some students as volunteers but adults must be involved as well; the goal of this program is to develop long term monitoring through long term volunteers.
- Costs associated with chemical and thermal analysis are not eligible activities under the MiCorps VSMP.
For more information, visit Michigan Clean Water Corps (MiCorps).
