Marion Cultural Development Corp

 

The Marion Cultural Development Corporation, a non-profit agency, has been formed for the purpose of distributing grant funds from the Oregon Cultural Trust and potentially from other sources to cultural, arts and heritage efforts and projects for the benefit of the people of Marion County.  The corporation is grateful to Salem Library  for hosting our Web pages.

 The organizational meeting of the Marion Cultural Development Board was held on February 11, 2004, and the agency is in the process of seeking status with the U.S. Department of Revenue as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) non-profit.

Grant Application Information
Revs 2/08/05

Introduction
The Oregon Cultural Trust and the Marion Cultural Development Corporation were established to support and protect Oregon culture, as presented in a Plan For Cultural Development in  Marion County, a planning document produced by the Marion County Cultural Coalition, 2003 and 2004. The Trust and the Marion Cultural Development Corporation will work to:

 Protect and stabilize Marion County cultural resources, and to create a solid foundation for the future.
 Expand public awareness of, quality of, access to, and use of culture in Marion County.
 Ensure that Marion County cultural resources are strong and dynamic contributors to Marion County’s communities and quality of life.

The Marion Cultural Development Corporation (MCDC) will award grants to proposals that:

Address significant opportunities to promote awareness preserve and stabilize cultural resources;
Invest in the vitality of the arts and humanities;

Support proposals that have a cultural impact beyond the applicant; and promote excellence in cultural projects.
 

In general, the following are not eligible for MCDC grants:

Scholarships, Operating costs, except as part of a viable crisis recovery plan;
Projects whose primary focus is advocacy of a particular political or religious viewpoint or which primarily benefit a political, religious, labor, fraternal,       athletic group or commercial venture;
Fund-raising efforts, except those in which fund-raising is incidental to a project that meets cultural priorities.

Grants will be competively awarded to incorporated non-profit organizations qualifying as tax-exempt organizations under Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3) or those unincorporated groups or individuals sponsored by a tax-exempt organization or local unit of government. Applicants must be residents of Marion County or maintain their registered headquarters in Marion County.

The MCDC receives its funds from the Oregon Cultural Trust. The amount of funding MCDC may award depends both upon the funds businesses and individuals donate to the Oregon Cultural Trust in the previous fiscal year and upon the amount of carry-over funding, if any, maintained by the MCDC. The MCDC cannot guarantee that it will have any funds or any particular level of funds to distribute in any year.
The MCDC's grant year begins July 1, when the Oregon Cultural Trust begins to distribute funds to County and Tribal Coalitions. The MCDC may establish and announce one or more application and grant cycles each year.

Grant applicants should generally consider MCDC funds to be essential seed funds or supplemental funds and not the sole source of funding for their projects. As a general rule the grantee will be required to provide matching funds in at least a one-to-one ratio.

The Application Process

Application forms are available from:
Marion Cultural Development Corporation, c/o the Mid-Willamette Valley Council of Governments, 105 High Street SE, Salem, OR 97301-3667.
or from the website: http://www.marionculturaltrust.org

In case there are several applications that show an interest in similar or complementary projects, the Grants Committee may notify all appropriate applicants and encourage collaborative planning, resource sharing, or other forms of cooperation.

 The Grants Committee may request additional information about the project or the applicant.
No Appeal. Grants will be awarded by the full MCDC after review of the Grants Committee's recommendations. The MCDC will provide a brief indication
of its reason for rejecting an application. There will be no appeal. Unsuccessful applicants who wish to reapply in subsequent grant cycles may ask the MCDC for a confidential, constructive explanation of the basis of the MCDC's decision, and the new application should correct any deficiencies the MCDC notes.
The MCDC and Grants Committee will respect the privacy of applicants and the confidentiality of fiscal and proprietary information they submit, to the extent allowed by law. Deliberations and decisions will be made in private as permitted by law.

Grant Administration Guidelines

In making awards, the Grants Committee and the MCDC will be alert to fairness and accountability issues. Fairness will include assurance that, over time, grants are fairly distributed to individuals and organizations bringing cultural experience to all parts of Marion County. Accountability will include measures to indicate when the promised product has been completed.

The MCDC will have the power to impose appropriate safeguards on awards to protect public funds. These safeguards may include ongoing communications, including structured progress reports, between the applicant and either the MCDC or its fiscal agent or overseer for the project. Projects undertaken by a single individual will be monitored by MCDC to ensure that the project goes forward, if appropriate, in the event the individual applicant is unable or unwilling to follow through as promised. Funds may be dispensed in installments, with subsequent installments dependent upon satisfactory progress reports, including meeting pre-established progress benchmarks.

The MCDC may recall funds if they are misused, if the applicant fails to comply with grant conditions, or if projects are abandoned. The MCDC shall have recourse to law to recover misappropriated funds.

Successful applicants will be required to submit final reports to the MCDC, for its use in assessing its own achievement and in revising Plan priorities, goals, and strategies, and for public review. The MCDC may hold an annual event to present successful applicants to the public in order to expand community awareness of cultural activities and cultural providers in the County. The MCDC may require successful applicants to participate in this event.
 

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GRANT APPLICATION (PDF format)

GRANT APPLICATION

Email   MCDC@marionculturaltrust.org 

 

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A Plan for Cultural Development in Marion County (PDF format)

Cultural Inventory

Inventory Categories

Registration Form

Senate Bill 931

Oregon Cultural Trust

How to obtain a Cultural Trust license plate