The BC Placemakers Challenge was created to foster new leadership in Battle Creek through supporting your creative ideas for your neighborhood with real money.
Next Round: The current round closed July 15, 2022. Stay tuned for the next opportunity soon!
For the current round, we are accepting proposals for the Events category only (see description below), with a $1,500 maximum award per project, open to anyone who has NOT previously received one of our Placemaking grants. Application form is below.
We are challenging YOU to come up with unique event ideas and neighborhood improvement projects. If your concept is chosen, you will receive money to complete your project.
We want you to think about ideas that might increase neighborhood vibrancy and civic pride, improve our citizen’s perceptions of our home, increase investment, support beautification, and foster collaboration between residents, business owners, and civic leaders.
Our core values that you should consider when applying are:
– Building a connected community
– Supporting locally owned & operated businesses
– Environmental sustainability
– Diversity and inclusion
There are three separate types of challenges in a typical cycle (see note above on current cycle limits):
1) EVENTS
We will only be funding awesome projects that get people back together and engage them in their community. These projects may be singular one-time events, reoccurring experiences, value added moments attached to existing events, etc. Think live music, competitions, team activities, etc.
The top 5 event winners will be awarded $3,000. Then, they will participate in a pitch competition with 4 other recipients. During that process each awardee will tell the others about their project. The idea here is that each awardee will have an opportunity to sell their project to others, forge relationships, and foster collaborations. Each awardee is given an additional $1,500 that they must award to the others. They cannot keep it. So, it’s possible that you could leave with $3,000 or any amount up to $7,500. Tell us what you plan to do with $3,000 and tell us what you could do if you had more, up to $7,500 total.
Awardees must have a fiscal sponsor to accept your funds and disperse them, but DO NOT LET THAT SCARE YOU. If you do not know what a fiscal sponsor or a 501(c)3 is, we will help you with that part. No big deal. Your fiscal sponsor must be a 501c3 organization (a nonprofit) or a local church with proper designation.
2) INFRASTRUCTURE
Our infrastructure awards will fund physical improvements to our neighborhoods. These are MATCHING awards, which means that the applicant will have to have half of the funding for their project from a source other than this award. These projects can include signage, façade improvements, outdoor areas, and public art. While these projects do not have to be led by business owners, we encourage their partnership and support.
The top 5 infrastructure winners will be awarded $3,000. You must match that amount in order to receive funding. This means that if you want to do a $6,000 project, you must fund half of it and provide supporting documentation in your expense report. We will fund projects larger than $6,000, but our pledge towards your total will not exceed $3,000.
Awards will be made to business owners once the expense has occurred through reimbursement and supporting documentation (receipts). If you are not a business owner, see the instructions above for Event Awardees.
3) FAST TRACK MINI GRANTS
We’re now offering mini grants of up to $1,000 that follow a fast-tracked award process separate from the main grant process described above. These applications will be evaluated on their own merits as they come in and awarded right away if they meet our criteria. Turn around time is only 1-2 weeks.
These can be used for whatever kind of project you have that fits our overall criteria: small events, murals, quick facade improvements, WHATEVER YOU CAN DREAM UP.
QUESTIONS ABOUT ANYTHING BEFORE YOU BEGIN?
Call Penetrator Events at (269) 815-8173 or email gopenetrator@gmail.com