The Grants Leadership Academy is an intensive, in-person class training on grants management and compliance facilitated by Management Concepts. The name of the course is Managing Federal Grants and Cooperative Agreements for Recipients.

Grantee organizations chosen for the grant cycle cohort will send one key grant project team member to participate in this training at Delta State University in the fall of 2023.

At the end of the training, the organization representative takes a test. If they pass, they are considered a graduate of the Academy.

Upon completion of the Grants Leadership Academy, organizations will be awarded funds to support the cultural heritage development project proposals that they submitted as part of their Grants Leadership Academy applications.

The Grants Leadership Academy in person training is 3 days long. Classes will be held at Delta State University in Cleveland, MS from Tuesday, September 12, 2023 through Thursday, September 14, 2023 from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM CST.

If your organization was not awarded a grant in the summer 2022 cycle, you must send a key grant project team member to attend all three days of the training.

If an organization that was awarded a grant in 2022 is awarded a grant this cycle, they will not be required to take the training course again, if their Grants Leadership Academy participant from last cycle is still on staff.

Grant Leadership Academy attendees must attend all three days of the course and pass the course’s final exam. A first disbursement of 80% will be issued in October 2023. The remaining 20% of the grant award will be released once an awardee’s project has been completed, all quarterly reports submitted, and the final report submitted and approved by MS Delta NHA grants compliance.

Your proposal application must be submitted in its entirety on or before the end of the day on Wednesday, July 12, 2023.

Your proposal must address at least one of MS Delta NHA’s five cultural heritage themes.

Your proposal must address at least one of MS Delta NHA’s goals.

Your proposal must be digitally signed and submitted by an individual with the authority to do so in your organization.

Your proposal must include a minimum 1:1 cash or in-kind match of requested funds. This match must be verifiable by letters of commitment, proof of cash in hand, or other supporting documentation. Federal funds cannot be matched with federal funds.

Do not ask for more than $29,500 in grant funds.

Do not ask for grant funds in any amount that cannot be matched 1:1, dollar for dollar.

Do not spend personal money for reimbursement by the grant.

Do not ask for grant funds to acquire any interest in real property.

Do not ask for grant funds to pay for food, beverages, meals, or entertainment costs.

Do not ask for grant funds that are essentially a contribution to support annual campaigns, capital campaigns, endowment funds or scholarship funds.

Do not ask for grant funds that are essentially general operating support (overhead, administrative expenses), or requesting general sponsorship of events.

Do not ask for grant funds for general support for existing annual or other regular community festivals or events.

Organizations may submit more than one application during any grant cycle, provided that separate and independent matching funds are committed and documented for each application.

The only method of delivery is via our online application portal.

This is the only application cycle in our current fiscal year 2024

Proposed activities should take place between October 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024.

An organization is eligible to apply if:

• It is located in or directly serves at least one of the 18 counties within the MS Delta NHA service area.

• It is a unit of local government (including schools and quasi-governmental entities), a public or private institution of higher learning, an institute or research center at such institutions, a nonprofit organization, or a federally-recognized Native American tribe.

• If the organization is a nonprofit, it must have current tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS code, and be in compliance with the MS Secretary of State’s registration and reporting requirements. This also applies to applicants outside the state of Mississippi. Status and compliance will be verified by your EIN, letter of good standing from your state, and a W-9 submitted with your application.

• All applicants must have an active Unique Entity ID (UEI). The UEI is FREE. Learn more at Sam.gov.

No, you may partner with private entities, but only organizations that meet the requirements above may be listed as the fiscal agent. This means the grant would be applied for, and given to, the organization listed as the fiscal agent.

All funded project activities must take place within or directly serve at least one of the 18 counties within the MS Delta NHA service area.

If your project also includes areas outside of the MS Delta NHA, but still serves at least one of the MS Delta NHA counties you may still apply, but the MS Delta NHA will only provide funds for the portion of your project that directly serves the heritage area.

We cannot say specifically what we would or would not be interested in regarding grants. We won't even know that until all submissions are gathered and evaluated. A project that receives funding one year might not receive it had it come in a different year simply because of the nature of evaluating a proposal relative to the others that are submitted at the same time. It also would not be equitable if we were to read some proposals but not others, therefore our policy is not to provide subject feedback for any specific proposals.

We are happy, however, to provide specific feedback on what can and cannot be in your budget, and what activities we can or cannot fund.

Another helpful resource is to look at past projects we have funded to glean ideas from there.

And a final reminder / suggestion is to give deep thought to how your project serves the needs (as opposed to wants) of as many Deltans as possible, as well as give an honest look to the capacity of your organization to successfully complete your proposal within the 12 month fiscal year timeframe. Those are two things we pay quite a bit of attention to in the evaluation process. The stronger and clearer your argument and logic is for both of those things, the better your proposal will do.

No. Please see the answer above to provide more context, but the main reason we cannot do this is because we need to ensure equitability for all potential applicants. It would be impossible for us to review every application prior to submission and therefore our policy is to not read drafts of applications.

For the same reasons as the answer above, we cannot review your entire budget to tell you if it is "good" or not. But we are here to answer specific questions such as "Can I include food as a budget item?" or "Is travel an allowable expense?"

Your total project budget is the sum of the amount you are requesting from MS Delta NHA plus the amount you are providing as match.

All cash and in-kind match MUST be from non-federal sources.

Please keep in mind that your match MUST be equal to, or more than, the amount you are requesting from MS Delta NHA. Match cannot be less than the requested amount.

For example, if you are requesting $10,000 from MS Delta NHA then you must also match, at a minimum, that same $10,000.

Thus, $10,000 (requested) + $10,000 (matched) equals $20,000 (total budget)

This fulfills the dollar for dollar (one-to-one) match requirement for the MS Delta NHA Grants Program.

The term "fiscal year" refers to the twelve-month period or financial calendar that your organization uses. The start and end dates of the fiscal year can vary from organization to organization. Your accounting staff, board treasurer, or bookkeeper should be able to tell you when your fiscal year starts and ends.

The Grants Leadership Academy is operating on the fiscal year October 1 to September 30.

Estimate the amount of in-kind support and volunteer hours your organization has received; include either actual or projected annual operating budget for the next year.

In-kind support means items or services that are provided for your project at no cost, and items that your organization will contribute to the project. For example, if a consultant has agreed to provide free services for the project, you should list the fee that they would normally charge for the same service. If a business or landlord has donated office space to your organization, you should list the rent you would normally pay. The dollar amount you list here should be the actual or estimated cost of obtaining the same item/service.

For general hourly volunteer labor, we use the hourly rate provided by Independent Sector. For 2023-2024, that value is $23.90 per hour for the state of Mississippi.

If your grant was from another federal agency, then no, you cannot use it as match. Matching federal funds with other federal funds is prohibited by the US government.

If your grant is from state funds or a foundation not connected with the federal government, then yes, you may use those funds as match so long as your other grant allows for it. Before assuming this is ok, we advise you check with all program managers related to the funds you are planning to use as match to ensure they allow it.