North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund Commission Grant

Applicants are invited to apply for the North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund Commission Grant.

Donor Name: North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund Commission

State: North Carolina

County: All Counties

Type of Grant: Grant

Deadline: 03/07/2025

Size of the Grant: Not Available

Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned

Details:

The North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund Commission (Commission) was created in 2000 by the North Carolina General Assembly to receive and disburse funds from the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) between the state and various cigarette manufacturers. The Commission recognizes that North Carolina’s prosperity has been historically supported by agriculture, specifically the tobacco-related segment of agriculture.

Objectives

Alleviates Unemployment in a Tobacco-Related Sector:
- Describe specifically how the project may increase or sustain jobs by reducing dependency on traditional tobacco farming and manufacturing. Examples: develop innovative farming practices, new agricultural crop research, education programs for current or future agriculture employers and workers, regional or commodity specific marketing, foster growth in emerging sectors in the industry.
Preserve and Increase the Local Tax Base:
- Describe specifically how the project may increase taxes collected by the State and/or local government. Examples: encourage economic development, business incentives, attract and retain residents in rural counties, support agriculture businesses, diversify agricultural production, ensure efficient public services and markets, promote growth, enhance property values, and strengthen the overall farm economy.
Encourages Economic Stability:
- Describe specifically how the project may may maintain/strengthen a regional or agricultural economy, especially as it relates to farmers. Examples: develop innovative farming practices, improve infrastructure, support product diversification, enhance productivity, sustainability, and market access, implement training programs, improve productivity, sustainability, and market access.
Uses Natural Resources Optimally:
- Describe specifically how the project may ensure sustainable resource utilization. Examples of natural resource categories to consider include Conservation practices, Renewable Resources, (Non-)Renewable Resources, Biotic Resources, Abiotic Resources and Energy Resources.
Supports/Fosters the Vitality and Solvency of a Tobacco-Related Sector:
- Describe specifically how the project may support the tobacco sector by providing opportunities in the greater agriculture industry ensuring long-term economic vitality and solvency for those currently or formerly involved in the traditional tobacco-related segment. Examples: diversification and sustainable practices, promote alternative products, enhance processing technologies, provide training, enhance market access, alternative crop research.

Categories

Qualified Agricultural Program (QAP)
- The Qualified Agricultural Program (QAP), by statute, authorizes the Commission to support and foster the vitality and solvency of the tobacco-related segment of the agricultural economy with emphasis on the segment adversely impacted by the MSA.
- The majority of NCTTFC applicants fall under the QAP category and are agriculturally based.
- Projects will address one or more of the following goals:
  - Alleviating and avoiding unemployment in the tobacco-related sector of the state’s agricultural economy
  - Preserving and increasing the local tax base in agricultural areas
  - Encouraging the economic stability of participants in the state’s agricultural economy
  - Optimally using natural resources in the tobacco-related segment of the state’s agricultural economy
  - Supporting and fostering the vitality and solvency of a tobacco-related sector
Indirect Compensatory Program (ICP)
- Indirect Compensatory Program Grants are made available under the statute to fund projects that indirectly compensate entities or identified groups for economic losses resulting from lost quota or declining market conditions caused by the MSA.

Funding Criteria

Projects will be funded based on the availability of funds and how effectively the stated grant criteria are met. Projects must benefit and impact one or more of these areas:

A population that is tobacco-dependent at the farm level and/or manufacturing level and is experiencing economic distress
A population that has been adversely affected by changes in the state’s tobacco industry
A population that derives most of its income from agriculture.

Eligible Projects

Qualified Agricultural Program (QAP)
- Examples of possible QAP projects include, but are not limited to:
  - Incentives to finance diversification due to loss of the quota system
  - Programs for farmer cooperatives, commodities or farmer’s markets
  - Programs to incentives the modernization of farming equipment or conversion of existing equipment to conform to environmental and other regulatory requirements
  - Programs to assist in the conversion or replacement of equipment in order to cultivate crops that are more profitable than those currently being cultivated
  - Domestic marketing or export programs for NC Products
  - Incentives to grow and/or research alternative crops and/or fuel sources
  - Development of value-added facilities and/or resources
  - Programs that encourage purchase of NC products and prove sustainability of family farms
  - Educational initiatives to sustain farming as a viable profession
Indirect Compensatory Program (ICP)
- Indirect Compensatory projects may indirectly benefit any of the following:
  - Persons engaged in tobacco-related business (except tobacco product wholesaling and retailing)
  - Persons displaced from tobacco-related employment in North Carolina (except persons employed in the sale of tobacco products at wholesale or retail)
  - Tobacco product component businesses that are adversely impacted by the MSA and which need financial assistance to retool machinery or equipment or to retrain workers, in order to convert to the production of new products or nontobacco use of existing products.