Support for Grantees
The Portland Harbor Community Involvement Coordinator is available to answer questions, help navigate City requirements, and provide programmatic support to grantees. Questions regarding the grant agreement, invoicing, reporting, and legal matters between the grantee and the City should be directed to the coordinator.
Accommodations
Grantees are expected to provide reasonable accommodations for their City grant-funded programming. Accommodations may include translation, interpretation of written materials, physical space needs, childcare, reimbursement for public transit, etc. Applicants may include a line item for accommodation costs in their budgets.
Fiscal Requirements
Grantees must have a 501-C3 tax status or have a fiscal agent with that status. Grantees must also have a bank account for their organization, ability to make payments and purchases in advance, and meet the insurance requirements outlined below.
Organizations that do not have a bank account or cannot meet the insurance requirements will need a fiscal agent. Fiscal agents help groups with the administrative and financial side of the grant. The fiscal agent will participate in the contracting process by providing the required insurance documents, setting up direct deposit for reimbursement, and signing the contract. Established organizations can serve as fiscal agents if they have:
- 501-C3 tax status
- A bank account
- Insurance (general liability, workers’ compensation, automobile) and
- The ability to make purchases up-front, with the understanding that reimbursement will come 30 days after the City receives an invoice.
Insurance Requirements
Grantees shall agree to maintain continuous, uninterrupted coverage of all insurance as required by the City. There shall be no cancellation, material change, reduction of limits or intent not to renew the insurance coverage(s) without a 30-day written notice from the grantee or its insurer(s) to the City. If a grantee or its fiscal sponsor have different levels of insurance, we may be able to modify the requirements of the legal agreement.
Workers’ Compensation Insurance
Fiscal agents and grantees and all persons working under the agreement are subject employers under the Oregon workers compensation law and fiscal agents shall provide workers compensation insurance for all of the fiscal agents’ and grantees’ subject workers. A certificate of insurance shall be attached to the agreement. If a fiscal agent or grantee qualify as a non-subject employer, this certification shall be maintained with the agreement as proof of that certification.
General Liability Insurance
Commercial general liability insurance covering bodily injury, personal injury, property damage, including coverage for independent contractor's protection (required if any work will be subcontracted), premises/operations, contractual liability, products and completed operations, in a per occurrence limit of not less than $1,000,000, and aggregate limit of not less than $2,000,000. Grantees shall have all participants sign the liability waiver provided by Environmental Services.
Automobile Liability
Insurance with a combined single limit of not less than $1,000,000 per occurrence for bodily injury and property damage, including coverage for owned, hired, or non-owned vehicles, as applicable. This coverage may be combined with the commercial general liability insurance policy.
For All Types of Insurance
There shall be no cancellation, material change, reduction of limits, or intent not to renew the insurance coverage(s) without 30-days written notice from grantee or its insurer(s) to the City.
Certificates of Insurance
As evidence of the insurance coverage required by the agreement, the fiscal agent shall furnish acceptable insurance certificates to the City at the time the fiscal agent returns the signed agreement. The certificate will specify all of the parties who are additional insured entities, shall include a 30-day cancellation clause that provides that the insurance shall not terminate or be canceled without 30 days written notice first being given to the City, and shall provide that coverage applies to claims between insureds on the policy.
Delivery of Awarded Funds
Awarded funds are dispersed through reimbursement. Grantees or their fiscal agents are required to cover costs up-front. In cases where covering costs upfront is a hardship, grantees can submit a written request for 25 percent of their total award to the coordinator when the grant agreement is signed.
Grantees (or their fiscal agents) must submit invoices detailing grant expenses along with copies of receipts for approved budget items. Grantees that receive advance payment must provide documentation within that same quarter for how funds were spent. These grantees will receive the remainder of awarded funds through reimbursement of costs incurred by grantees.
Projects may not start without fully authorized grant agreements. All grantees will receive written guidance and a template for requesting reimbursement. Funds must be spent by February 16, 2024.
Expectations of Grantees
Grantees are expected to:
- Meet the terms of their grant agreements
- Participate in:
- Orientation for first time City grant recipients
- Grantee cohort kick-off meeting
- Mid-year grant check-in with the coordinator to share progress, challenges, and outcomes to date
- Assess impacts and outcomes of grant funding in a year-end report using metrics such as, but not limited to:
- Number of people engaged, educated, trained, or participating in events or activities
- New or stronger relationships and strategic partnerships
- Increases in constituent leadership skills, knowledge, and confidence
- Sustained, expanded, or deepened constituent participation
- Membership recruitment outcomes
- Hiring and onboarding new staff
- Number of meetings, events, and activities held
- Provide invoices and receipts for expenditures
- Communicate with the Portland Harbor Community Involvement Coordinator through in-person and virtual meetings, phone calls, and emails about:
- Opportunities to promote or attend grantee activities
- Technical assistance needs
- Project challenges
- Adhere to COVID-19 safety protocols