2021-2023 request for proposal community impact partner ... · the entire community benefits when...
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2021-2023 Request for Proposal
Community Impact Partner Fund
Financial Stability
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Our mission: Unite the caring power of communities to invest in effective solutions that improve people’s lives.
United Way of East Central Iowa invites non-profit organizations to apply for a
competitive grant opportunity. This grant provides funding for programming that aligns
with United Way’s three pillars; Education, Financial Stability and Health. Each pillar has
goals rooted in an understanding of community conditions, supported by purposeful
interventions, and attained through a collaborative process.
This is a renewable three-year grant process, with funding and performance reviewed and renewed annually during the cycle.
As we work to build thriving communities,
we are aware we can’t do it alone; no one
can. That’s why we partner with
community stakeholders, organizations,
donors, and area nonprofits to pull
together the resources needed to support
individuals and families during some of
their greatest challenges. We invest in
programs that are necessary to build a
thriving community.
Introduction
Building a
Thriving Community
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UWECI is committed to create lasting change with measurable improvements for people
in Iowa, Jones, Linn, Benton and Cedar counties. As a convener, collaborator, activator
and connector for change, our vision is to create a thriving community where individuals
have access to education, financial stability, and health in order to provide for self-
sufficiency and a high quality of life.
• Convene: The community around shared goals
• Collaborate: To obtain and share information and design solutions
• Activate: To set knowledge into action and mobilize our resources
• Connect: UWECI’s mission to all our work
Thriving communities are built when available resources meet needs. We focus on
equity, diversity and inclusion, collaboration and care coordination. Approaches that
include addressing multi-generational problems, being trauma informed and being
innovative are essential to make the greatest impact in changing people’s lives and
strengthening communities.
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Components of Thriving Communities
Element Purpose How it helps
Diversity & Inclusion
To appreciate & respect the diverse communities and bring together unique individuals.
Effectively addresses key social issues facing communities.
Collaboration & Care Coordination
To enhance potential for integration and improvement of services to meet the needs of the community.
Develops solutions and connects resources to create a thriving community. Addresses challenges to develop solutions to changing communities.
Multi-Generational Services
To support whole families with education, economic support, social capital, and health needs.
Builds resiliency in our families and supports skill building to break the cycle of poverty.
Trauma-Informed Care
To promote trauma-informed care services throughout communities.
Creates strategies to prevent or address ACEs in communities. Promotes healing and recovery with the community.
Community Innovation
To enhance the efficiency of intervention strategies used by community members and agencies working together.
Create capacity building and infrastructure development throughout communities.
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United Way of East Central Iowa presents an intersecting set of investment areas where
programs can contribute to significant outcomes. These goals create conditions for
lasting change by bridging critical gaps, enhancing programs, building awareness, and
fostering collaboration. United Way’s funded partners are key in making an impact in
communities. These programs and services provide expansive work and critical
collaboration needed to meet our community goals. In addition, it is not just the
services provided, but how services are provided, that makes a critical difference. Our
partners work to meet people’s needs on a day-to-day basis and make a difference in
the quality of people’s lives in order to create a thriving community.
The Impact of Our Partners
More Healthy People • Access to timely and appropriate health care • Healthy independent community living for older
adults and people with disabilities • Social-emotional and physical well being • Education and prevention
More Financially Stable People • The ability to pursue education, employment, and
training that grows income • Develop skills to increase or retain employment,
stabilization of housing and income • Resiliency through education and empowerment • Availability and access safety net services to address
critical needs
More Kids on Track to Succeed in School, Work, & Life • Caregiver engagement and support • Social-emotional health during out of school time • Exploration and preparation for success after school • Quality early childcare and education
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• Use a strength-based approach that draws upon the strengths, resourcefulness, and resiliency of people and communities in its policies, practice and strategies.
• Intentionally incorporate evidence-based programming, best practices from the field, and community input in their programming.
• Demonstrate they are consistently learning best practices and are incorporating methods to encourage a growth mindset
• Demonstrate cultural competence, as evidenced by practices that reflect respect for and understanding of specific cultural nuances among those served.
• Demonstrate a commitment to continuous improvement by identifying areas for improvement, through on-going data collection and analysis that informs practice change
• Demonstrate a higher level of coordination and collaboration by encompassing strategies to serve populations on varying levels of need and intensity.
UWECI Seeks to Fund Organizations
That Demonstrate the Following:
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To be eligible for United Way funding through the Community Impact Partner
Fund, organizations must demonstrate they are able to meet all the following
requirements. The entity must:
• Be an entity that operates for charitable purposes in the area of health and human
services;
• Be incorporated and actively conducting business for at least two years at the time
of application and serving residents of one of the five counties in United Way of East
Central Iowa’s service area (Benton, Cedar, Iowa, Jones, Linn);
• Be governed by an active, nonsectarian, voluntary board of directors or its
equivalent, consisting of members of the general community;
• Maintain at least one half-time FTE staff (20 hours per week);
• Receive a positive review by United Way Accountability Review Team;
• Submit all application materials complete and on time.
All applicants must read, agree to sign, and meet all applicable provisions of the partner
agency agreement and standards including Accountability Review requirements. If an
entity is currently funded by United Way, they must follow all Partner Agency Standards
and Reporting Requirements at the time of submitting their new application.
Applicants who do not meet all but do meet most of the requirements are still
encouraged to apply. For additional expectations for being a United Way of East Central
Partner please refer to:
uweci.org/partnerresources
Eligibility
Requirements
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Proposals will be evaluated using the following criteria, which will inform United
Way’s investment decisions:
• Evidence of Need for Service
o Demonstrate a strong fit with the goals of the Focus Area and a strong connection between community need and proposed strategies.
• Evidence of success/performance measures achieved in prior cycle
o Demonstrate strong performance in improving the well-being of
client populations aligned with the desired community outcome.
• Evidence of Coordination and Collaboration
o Integrate promising and best practices, and leverage resources and
collaborative opportunities. The organization has value in the community
and develops relationships to effect community change.
• Research and/or evaluation supports the service delivery model
o Program Improvement and Staffing: Organizations should demonstrate
use of validated assessment tools designed to evaluate program quality,
identify staff training needs, and create customized action plans to
enhance programming.
• Alignment with one or more priority population
o Demonstrate an understanding of client populations and communities you
serve, their challenges and used to help clients achieve positive
outcomes.
• Accountability and Review
o The organization must be in good financial standing, have staff and
resource capacity to successfully apply for funding, regularly report on
outcomes, and work with UWECI to improve issue area and community
outcomes.
Proposal
Review Criteria
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The entire community benefits when all families and individuals achieve financial
stability. Financial instability and living in poverty have a multigenerational impact. There
are often long-term negative consequences for adults, children, and our community.
United Way’s Financial Stability goal is set at 250% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL).
The FPL accounts for varying family sizes and average household spending patterns
across the nation. For instance, one third of a family’s budget is expected to go towards
food. Today, housing and transportation are the largest expenses in a family budget.
For families with children, childcare is also a significant expense that is not factored into
the FPL1 calculation at all. Given these differences, the Iowa Policy Project has
determined that families require an annual income comparable to 250% FPL in order to
meet a family’s basic needs on a frugal budget. We focus on income because we know
that living in poverty had long-term negative consequences for adults, children, and our
community.
Financial Stability
Priorities
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More than half (59.1%) of single parent households are not able to reach this break-
even level of income within United Way of East Central Iowa’s Five-County Region.
There are a number of factors that go into families struggling to make incomes over
250% FPL. A few of the main factors are education level and household make-up.
Families with low educational attainment struggle to access higher wage jobs that also
offer a benefits package such as health insurance and a retirement savings plan
because they do not have the skills and qualifications to meet the demands of those
jobs. Moreover, individuals without a high school diploma are more likely to be in
poverty.
When families make less than the basic needs budget (250% of the federal poverty line)
they often cannot meet their basic needs without the help of public benefits such as
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP (formerly known as food stamps)
or childcare assistance. Relying on public benefits to get by puts low-income families at
risk for added instability because of the effort needed to document eligibility and
maintain enrollment.
1The Federal Poverty Guideline, a measure provided by the Department of Health and Human Services, is widely used to quantify
the number of individuals and households living in poverty and to determine eligibility for public benefits and other programs and services.
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The effects from the benefits cliff occur when benefits for low-income families drop off
as they make more money, but not enough money to meet their basic needs. The result
is that low-income families are stuck still not meeting their basic needs, but it is the best
they can do unless they get a significant wage increase. Therefore filling gaps in
services and needs are critically important to help smooth the volatility created when
families “fall off” the cliff and no longer qualify for critical basic needs.
To combat the benefits cliff, we have developed a “stair-step” model that outlines the
elements necessary to achieve Financial Stability. By creating an integrated network of
financial and basic need providers, using collaborative strategies and addressing
obstacles, we will move families along the continuum toward thriving. When basic needs
are met, such as stable housing, families will gain the financial capability to increase
their incomes and savings, access to financial services and achieve long term financial
goals. Employment programs will aid unemployed and under employed workers access
training and employment pathways
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Meeting Basic Needs
When basic needs are not met, planning for the future is nearly impossible. To counter
this variability, we focus on funding strategies that fill the gaps and smooth transitions to
help families successfully reach financial stability. Some of these gaps include housing,
access to food, and transportation.
Stabilization
When a family or individual can meet their basic needs on a consistent basis, continued
support such as benefits are used to provide stabilization. Some of these benefits
include health screening and enrollment, access to tax preparation, credits, refunds, as
well as legal services that stabilize housing.
Skill Building
Basic and soft skills allow individuals to enter the workforce, develop financial literacy
and capabilities, and build a resume and professional network.
Growing income
Creating access to career pathways and supports to enter and complete post-
secondary education in a field that has local demand leading to employment helps put a
household on track to achieve 250% FPL.
In 2017 more than 25,048 households (with at least one child under the age of 18) in
the five-county region (Benton, Cedar, Iowa, Jones, Linn) were unable to consistently
provide for their families. These household incomes were under the 250% Federal
Poverty Line. In order to impact this number, the basic needs of individuals must be met
as well as providing a pathway (continuum) from poverty to financial stability. As you
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can see on the following graphs, the trend lines illustrate progress over the past nine
years.
Target Population
Individuals and families at or below 250% of the Federal Poverty Guideline within United
Way’s five county service area (Benton, Cedar, Iowa, Jones, and Linn Counties).
Priority is given to the following subpopulations in greatest need:
• Single female-headed households
• Families with children
• Individuals with low educational attainment
Priorities 1. Critical basic needs must be met. Families must have access to safe, affordable,
and reliable housing; food; and transportation.
2. Families need stabilization. One keyway for families to do this is to access all benefits for which they are eligible.
3. Families access basic and soft skills that allow them to get into the workforce, start to build skills, develop financial literacy skills, and build a resume and professional connections.
4. Families enter and complete post-secondary education in a field that has local demand and obtain employment that puts their household more than 250% FPL.
Goal: By 2030, increase the number of financially stable
households by 15%.
UWECI recognizes the importance of collecting and utilizing data to help us in our
impact efforts and in articulating how the work you do translates into a valuable return
on investment and a positive impact within our communities.
Financial Stability measures should come from the list of measures below that
corresponds with the area or program focus which you are applying for. Please select at
least, but not limited to one, area of measurement from each indicator category.
Acknowledging that you may already collect data and report on other outcome
measures not included in our list, you may report up to three (3) additional measures of
your own if you so desire.
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Basic needs How much did we do?
• # of individuals receiving housing assistance
• # nights sheltered
• # individuals who have program support (case management)
• # of individuals
• # of individuals served with transportation
• # individuals accessed food How well did we do it?
• % individuals who were diverted from shelter
• %individuals who maintain housing (3 months post, no recidivism to shelter)
Is anyone better off?:
• # change in housing status Is anyone better off?%:
• % decrease the number of chronically homeless
• % access to affordable housing with support services
Financial Education
How much did we do?:
• # of individuals served
• # of individual who created a budget
• # of participants that attended a financial course/education or training How well did we do it?:
• % of individuals who became banked
• % of individuals who completed the course or training Is anyone better off?:
• # individuals with increased credit scores
• # of individuals who opened a savings account
• # of individuals who have reduced debt Is anyone better off?%:
• % of individuals or families whose financial position changed
Employment How much did we do?:
• # of job trainings offered
• # individuals enrolled in job training
• # individuals offered continuing education
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How well did we do it?:
• % completed job trainings
• % gained recognized skills or credentials
• % who obtained education Is anyone better off?:
• # change in position
• # who had an increase in pay
• # who had a new job
• # who had an increase in hours Is anyone better off? %:
• % individuals who retained, gained, or advanced in employment
• % households who increased their income
**All applicants are required to report on demographic information. Demographic information includes age, race/ethnicity, household, income level, county and city.
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Program Information Evidence of need of Service
1. Please describe how you determine that participants experience better
outcomes by participating in your program, compared to people who are
not in your program:
a. How the program examined local data and engaged with people who have
relevant experience and expertise, including members of the population of
concern, in selecting the strategy and developing approaches to
implementing it based on local conditions and assets.
b. What is the root systemic issue(s) that your program addresses?
c. Please describe what part of the continuum of service (prevention, crisis,
education, treatment) etc.) your program is best suited to address and how
it interacts with other strategies on other levels of the continuum.
Evidence of Success/Performance Achievement in prior Cycles
2. What evidence can you provide of the effectiveness of your strategy (please cite
research, evidence-based best practices, and other evidence-based work that
strongly supports your strategies)?
3. Describe the Quality Assurance or Quality Improvement methods employed and
their uses within your organization.
a. What’s changed in our environment that’s impacted the service and how
have you coped with those changes?
Evidence of Coordination and Collaboration
4. Please describe any system-level or community-level collaborations of cross-
sector partners.
a. How does the program align with local efforts related to issues in the
community? How does your work complement community work?
b. How does your strategy continue to engage the community and clients in
meaningful ways and demonstrate a diversity of stakeholders including
client perspectives?
5. How does the program go beyond funding direct services to create change in
organizations, associations, systems, services and neighborhood?
a. What tools, methods, practices and analysis are you utilizing to ensure
collaboration and coordination is impacting your clients?
Agency and
Program Information
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Research and or Evaluation supports the service delivery model
6. Please describe the measurement tool you are using including the source of the
tool and the method of choosing this tool. Please also provide any reliability and
validity information you have on the measurement you will be using to collect
your data.
7. Please clearly describe your methodology for calculating indicator measurements
including timing and frequency of measurement.
8. How will you use the outcome data you report to make meaningful adaptations to
your practices, measures, and use of resources?
Alignment with one or more priority populations
9. Describe the client populations and communities you serve, and the challenges
associated with serving these populations and communities.
10. Using data or other supporting information, describe how your program is part of
the solution to addressing their barriers.
a. Describe your outreach techniques used to attract clients (including referral
networks, client engagement, advertising, etc.).
b. Describe your criteria and/or eligibility guidelines used for serving your
targeted population. Please provide a description of the assessment process
used to determine client needs including when you engage in a needs
assessment and how the assessment is completed.
c. Describe how your program incorporates a client-centered and culturally
competent perspective (e.g. has defined policy practices, staff trainings, etc.).
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Impact Strategy Budget Form
Please complete an Impact Strategy Budget Form using the MS Excel form on the
UWECI website. UWECI should not be the only source of income reflected on the
impact strategy budget. The Impact Strategy Budget should reflect all sources of
income and related expenses required to implement the strategy being proposed.
Budget figures should coincide with the grant cycle (July 1-June 30 fiscal year). Funding
requested from UWECI should not exceed 70% of the total strategy budget.
Do not change any line item titles in the budget form.
Impact Strategy Budget Narrative
Provide an explanation that gives additional information about the Impact
Strategy Budget line items including:
• Line item variance greater than $10,000 or greater than 10% between budget
years. Please reference the line item(s) and provide an explanation.
• Complete the schedules as appropriate.
• Budget deficits of any size require both an explanation and an anticipated
resolution.
• Describe key financial opportunities and threats that may affect your strategy
budget in the next three years.
Please reference the applicable line item number and description for each explanation
provided. For example:
Line item 10-Salaries: The variance is a result of a 1 FTE staff position that was not
filled for five months.
Funding Request Justification Form
Please complete a Funding Request Justification Form using the MS Excel form on the
UWECI website. This form shall serve as the primary tool to set context for funding
being requested. Agencies may modify the form to suit their need, however all
information requested must be addressed. If the proposal is requesting funding to
support activities that align with two or more intermediate outcomes, please
complete a “Funding Request Justification Form” for each intermediate outcome.
Financial
Review
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Funding Request Narrative for Intermediate Outcome:
Provide additional information that sets context for the funding requested, including but
not limited to:
• Provide and explain how the agency’s general administrative rate (%) is
calculated applied to services provided.
• Revenue streams that support this strategy and funding restrictions they may
impose.
Leveraged or Matching Funds
Describe the source and amount of dollars that you do or would be able to leverage or
matching funds you would be eligible to receive if you are awarded UWECI funds.
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LATE OR INCOMPLETE SUBMISSIONS
WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED FOR FUNDING.
Contact Information If you have any questions, please contact:
Karey Chase, Senior Manager, Community Investment
319-398-5372 ext. 828
Accessing the RFP Forms Agencies can find all necessary forms on the UWECI web site: uweci.org/funding
• Letter of Intent is due by October 18th, 2019, emailed to
• An invitation to apply will be sent from UWECI by November 1st, 2019.
Directions for submitting the RFP on Clear Impact will be given at this time.
• All RFP materials must be submitted electronically by January 14, 2020 at
Noon via Clear Impact.
• In order to be considered, each Funding Proposal should include the items
on checklist in the next page.
Submission
Requirements
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Checklist Submission Method Completed
Letter of Intent [email protected]
Funding Proposal including:
• Cover Page
• Narrative
• Impact Strategy Budget
• Funding Request Justification Form
• Program Process Map
Clear Impact
Logic model Clear Impact (download)
Current roster of organization’s Board of Directors with their affiliations
Clear Impact (download)
Affidavit of non-discrimination Clear Impact (download)
Counterterrorism compliance form Clear Impact (download)
Current partners: Submit Accountability Review documents on your regular schedule
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New applicants only:
1. 501(C)(3) Designation Letter
2. Current Bylaws
3. Audit or Independent
Financial Review
4. IRS Form 990 5. Board approved annual budget
with accompanying narrative
Email all documents together as one PDF that may be duplicated