2024 Equitable Civic Engagement Fund (ECEF) - Request for Proposals

Thank you for your interest in applying for funding via Cleveland VOTES' 2024 Equitable Civic Engagement Fund (ECEF)! Advancing Equitable Civic Engagement is about bridging resources, identities, and organizations to a greater purpose of reclaiming our narrative. The purpose of the ECEF is to provide grants to nonprofit organizations committed to educating, connecting and empowering voting age residents in the Greater Cleveland area. We seek organizations that are committed to democracy building, racial equity and participatory practices. Ultimately, we seek to shift power while catalyzing innovation and inclusive strategies to strengthen the social fabric of our community. To learn more about Equitable Civic Engagement, please check out our 2023 Democracy in Review report.

Details:

• Release Date: Monday, April 15, 2024
• Submission Deadline: Friday, May 10th at 5:00 p.m.
• Eligibility Criteria: Applicant must be a registered 501(c)3 or be fiscally sponsored by a registered 501(c)3.

There are (3) types of funding opportunities available: 1) Capacity Building, 2) Activate + Mobilize, and 3) Educate + Connect. Please note, you are only permitted to apply for (1) one category. You can find out more below:

• Capacity Building (up to $10,000): Applicants considering this category are seeking funding to support infrastructure and/or organizational capacity. Permissible items for this category may include costs associated with general operating, staffing, stipends for volunteers or training. To be eligible for this category, applicants  must demonstrate in their application how they will reach 2500 voter contacts. Please note we will make up to (8) awards in this category.
• Activate + Mobilize (up to $7,500): Applicants considering this category have a plan to educate, engage and empower voting age constituents. Applicants plan to conduct nonpartisan education, registration and mobilization (including Get-Out-to-Vote efforts). To be eligible for this category, applicants  must demonstrate in their application how they will reach 1000 voter contacts. Please note we will make up to (10) awards in this category.
• Educate + Engage (up to $2,500): Applicants considering this category seek to amplify and educate voting age constituents around the importance of nonpartisan engagement. The applicants will use funds to support democracy building initiatives such as forums, pop up events and printing voter guides. To be eligible for this category, applicants  must demonstrate in their application how they will reach 250-500 voter contacts. Please note we will make up to (8) awards in this category.

Please note: Voter contact includes persons engaged through: education/forums, voter registration, vote by mail applications, peer texting or phone banking, social media etc.

Grant Application Technical Assistance:
The Cleveland VOTES team wants to support you and a successful application submission! We will host (4) four grant application technical assistance sessions (see below for dates). Please note, these sessions will be open to any and all organizations interested in applying for funding. The Cleveland VOTES team will be present to answer questions and provide insight on the application process.

Pre-registration is required (registration link: bit.ly/3oT4rBP). If you have any issues with the registration, please email us at grant@clevotes.com. For reference, prior to attending the grant application technical assistance session, we highly recommend you review Cleveland VOTES’s Branded Assets. 

ECEF RFP Technical Assistance Session #1 - April 25th @ 5:30pm- 6:30pm
ECEF RFP Technical Assistance Session #2 - April 30th @ 6:00pm- 7:00pm
ECEF RFP Technical Assistance Session #3 - May 7th @ 12:00pm- 1:00pm
ECEF RFP Technical Assistance Session #4 - May 9th @ 9:00am- 10:00am
Reminder, pre-registration is required (registration link: bit.ly/3oT4rBP). After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

View the full guidelines and submission instructions here.