Coordinated Funding
In the fall of 2010, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed amongst three partners— the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation, the Joint Office of Community and Economic Development (representing Washtenaw County, City of Ann Arbor and the Washtenaw Urban County Executive Committee), and the United Way of Washtenaw County--to coordinate their leadership and funding of Washtenaw County human service programs between 2011-2013, in order to maximize the community impact of that funding.
This new pilot initiative was designed to help us:- Understand the full landscape of needs and distribute resources more strategically
- Model the collaboration we espouse from funded agencies
- Leverage each other’s funding and resource
- Reduce or eliminate redundancies and streamline processes and procedures
- Better coordinate grant-making processes so we can make better informed decisions together
- Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation (AAACF)
- Office of Community and Economic Development(OCED), representing Washtenaw County, Urban County and the City of Ann Arbor
- United Way of Washtenaw County (UWWC)
The spokesperson for Coordinated Funding at United Way is Debbie Jackson, Director of Community Investment – reach her by email at djackson@uwwashtenaw.org or by phone, 734.677.7209.
Planning and Coordination Partners
United Way of Washtenaw County +the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation work together to ensure:
agencies are working together to understand gaps, needs and solutions that require more attention than one single agency could handle on their own.
Funding Focus:
Leadership, infrastructure and support to steer issue-specific collaborative efforts embodied in community plans/blueprints.
Our planning and coordination partners include:
- Blueprint for Aging
- Food Gatherers
- Success by Six
- Washtenaw Alliance for Children and Youth
- Washtenaw Health Plan
- Washtenaw Housing Alliance
United Way of Washtenaw County + the Office of Community and Economic Development work together to provide and manage:
Support to local nonprofit agencies providing core services and programs to meet human service needs in one of six priority areas
Funding Focus:
Performance-based funding support for the day-to-day expenses of delivering essential services in the agreed upon focus areas. Grants to agencies.
Our priorities:
- Early Childhood
- School-Aged Youth
- Safety Net Health Care and Nutrition
- Housing and Homelessness
- Hunger Relief
- Aging
United Way of Washtenaw County + the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation work together to:
Award grants to help strengthen nonprofit agencies and the nonprofit sector as a whole
Funding Focus:
Discreet, one-time initiatives that strengthen a nonprofit organization and/or the sector as a whole, such as strategic planning, leadership development, program design and evaluation, collaborations and merger, and seed funding for new and innovative approaches.
MORE ABOUT COORDINATED FUNDING
Among the various components of the three funders' work, one task is shared by all: funding human services in the community. All three funders have parallel distribution processes with numerous redundant practices, which will be addressed through the coordinated funding model. The model also supports shared, community-wide strategies -- focusing the attention of donors, funders and nonprofit service providers on outcomes, and stretching community resources to the greatest extent possible.
Each organization brings capacity, knowledge, best practices, and experience, which results in improvements such as more comprehensive data about community needs and “one application-one review-one evaluation” process for agencies to manage rather than one per funder.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Does this model exist in any other communities?
No. This model was created through the efforts of volunteers, coordinated funding partners’ staff, agencies, and community leaders over a period of 8 months. It is unique in that private philanthropy and government are working together to respond to the nonprofit landscape across the county.
What types of programs receive funding under this model… and for how long?
Programs that address the issues of hunger relief, housing and homelessness, access to healthcare, early childhood, school-aged youth, and aging. Agencies are funded under this model for two years beginning July 1, 2011.
Do the Coordinated Funding partners pool all their resources (public and private funds)?
No, each partner maintains accountability and authority for distributing their unique funds. NO dollars are exchanged or co-mingled.
Has each funding partner committed 100% of their resources to Coordinated Funding?
No. The boards of each funder determined the amount of money they wished to distribute through the Coordinated Funding approach. United Way of Washtenaw County will continue to fund several other programs--such as 2-1-1, Success by 6, the American Red Cross, etc. --entirely outside of Coordinated Funding. United Way has also made sure to retain a small flexible fund to address any emerging need or opportunity that arises over the course of the year as well.
For more information, see our links to “Disaster and Emergency Assistance”, and ‘Current Community Engagement”.
PROGRAM OPERATIONS FUNDING
What was the process to apply for program operating funds under the Coordinated Funding model? For the program/operating funds process, a two-phased approach was completed. This included a pre-qualification phase that closely examined the financial reports, goverance practices, and operational policies of all interested applicants. Following this rigorous review facilitated by United Way, 51 of 57 applicants met these core threshholds and were thus eligible to apply for program operations funding.
Following training and with technical assistance during the application process, applicants then completed a streamlined online application, Applicants were informed of the scoring criteria that would be used in evaluating their requests prior to submitting their proposals. Agencies were aware that they could submit proposals for up to four programs that aligned with one of the funding focus areas. An on-line appliciaotn was used throuigh commutnyigrants.org.
How and by whom are decisions made for program operating funds regarding who gets funded and at what level?
A team of volunteers representing UWWC and OCD worked together to review the 76 requests for funding. Volunteers reviewed the applications and scored them using an online scoring tool (communitygrants.org) that was available to all agencies for reference when completing their applications. Organizations could receive up to 100 points per application. Any application that received a score of less than 60 was not funded.
Where are you in the process?
DECISIONS for 2011-2013
Funding decisions for the first process:
- Planning and Coordination agreements are complete and have been announced
- Program Operation funding are complete
- Capacity Building grants are currently beeing reviewed by volunteers with announcements of awards expecteed in November
Yes, two organizations. The program requests from Ann Arbor YMCA and the Ann Arbor Community Center were not funded because their applications were among the 13 applications that received scores lower than 60. Dawn Farm did not apply for funding.
Are there any new agencies to receive funding?
Yes. United Way is pleased to fund programs of two agencies that have not previously received United Way dollars:
- The Center for Occupational and Personalized Education (COPE) helps middle and high school students experiencing difficulty in traditional schools to achieve success in academics and conflict management.
- The Project Outreach Team (PORT) serves the homeless mentally ill population and those involved in the justice system that need mental health assistance.
What are the oversight and stewardship processes for those who receive funding?
The Coordinated Funding Partners require bi-annual outcome reports, annual site visits and an annual audit for the program operations funds. Terms of the funding and expectations are mutually agreed to in a contract.
Is there a process for restricting funds once an agency has been awarded and for what reasons would this be implemented?
Yes. Funded agencies have signed a contract which outlines their responsibilities and specifically addresses the consequences of failing to meet those responsibilities, such as: deficient outcomes, failure to meet reporting deadlines, and failure to submit required documents.
Is there a process in place to evaluate the Coordinated Funding model?
The Coordinated Funding Partners will continue to meet to address on-going implementation issues and concerns. Agencies provided input as the model was designed. The Coordinated Funding partners are now developing a formal evaluation plan that will help us closely monitor both the successes and unintended consequences emerging from this new approach.
What has been the response from local agencies?
Following is a sampling of comments received from agencies following the first two phases of the coordinated funding effort:
"You all did such fine work bringing these funding sources together, setting up the coordinated funding competition, and keeping everyone informed as the process completed. Congrats on a job well done."
Washtenaw Intermediate School District
"You are all doing a great job managing an incredibly complex integration process. Thanks for all YOUR hard work and patience. We nonprofits have not been an easy ‘audience’ for this change process. I just wanted to acknowledge the tough work you’ve been engaged in, and the admirable intentions behind it."
Women’s Center of Southeast Michigan
"You do a great job of keeping us informed"
Literacy Coalition of Washtenaw County
"I humbly submit that having to discpline myself in the grant-writing propcess has paid off.In the first place, for the first time EVER, our federal grantors released an RFP that requires us to cite research on our programs/interventions. .. and I have it all done after writing the Coordinated Funding proposals."
Ozone House
"Thanks for all of the work you are doing related to this new coordinated funding process"
HIV/AIDS Resource Center
