Capacity Building Grants

Capacity-Building Grants: Purpose:These grants are intended to strengthen existing farmers' markets in New Mexico, by building the capacity and sustainability of market organizations. These grants are awarded on a competitive basis, in order to encourage farmers' markets to strive to improve their markets, and to leverage resources within their own communities.

Eligibility: To be eligible for a New Market grant, markets must:

• Be members of the New Mexico Farmers' Marketing Association;
• Demonstrate that they are a bona fide farmers' market, in accordance with our Definition;
• Be in their third or subsequent year of operation as a market;
• Complete a Capacity Building Grant Application, an organizational budget, and a marketing plan

Grant Size: Maximum grant per farmers' market is $2,000.

Selection: A Grants Committee of the New Mexico Farmers' Marketing Association will select the best proposals, and determine the level of funding to be allocated. Since available funds are limited, the Grants Committee will make an effort to rotate funding between markets from year to year, so that all markets with adequate proposals receive funding at some point. The committee will rank proposals according to the following criteria:

• Market demonstrates how it will use the funding to build market capacity (10 points);
• Market demonstrates need for funding (this includes taking into consideration the fact that a market has not received funding through this program recently) (15 points);
• Market states two or more goals that are realistic and measurable (10 points);
• Market demonstrates that NMFMA funds will be used to leverage new funding and resources, building closer relationships between the market and the rest of the community (15 points);
• Market is involved with NMFMA and the network of markets across the state (10 points);
• Discretionary points awarded by committee for such things as a market making a particularly strong effort to build capacity, or dealing with an adverse situation (10 points).

How to Apply: To apply, complete the following steps:

1. Complete the Capacity Building Grant Application, and mail or email to us by May 1, 2009. For help, read our Capacity Building Grant FAQs.
2. Develop a marketing plan and organizational budget for the 2009 season (this is also required in order to obtain promotional funding).
3. We will be happy to help you with preparing your proposal and marketing plan - please call us at 983-4010. You can also download the document How to Write a Farmers' Market Marketing Plan.
4. Share the application with your board of directors and have two members sign. If you do not have a board of directors, have two vendors sign it. If you are emailing the application, please send the page that is signed by mail, fax or scan.
5. E-mail the application to dmiller@farmersmarketsnm.org or heidil@farmersmarketsnm.org. If you don't have e-mail, send the type-written application, organizational and project budgets, and market plan to us at NMFMA, 320 Aztec Street, Suite B, Santa Fe, NM 87501.

How to get the Money: Funding is provided on a reimbursement basis, so markets must have the cash flow to cover expenses at the time they are incurred. Exceptions to this can be made at the discretion of NMFMA staff. At the end of the season, or once you have spent the funds approved in your grant, please send us:

• A completed Capacity Building Grant Evaluation
• A packet of invoices for your expenses, totaling the grant amount, with proofs of payment by the market (for example, canceled checks, invoices stamped "paid" or a copy of the front of the check, and the bank statement that indicates it has cleared). Once we have received the packet of invoices we will reimburse the market for these expenses.
• In the case of a stipend covering a person's labor, the individual needs to make out an invoice for the time he/she worked, detailing dates and hours worked, and activities conducted. The recipient must also send their name, mailing address and social security number (in the event that we need to send them a 1099 tax form). Stipend invoices should be signed by the market manager, before sending.
• 2009 market data on customers, gross sales and vendor days, on the form provided by NMFMA

We recognize that sometimes circumstances change during the course of the season - if you have to significantly modify your work plan in mid-season, please discuss this with us.

Instructions for downloading and completing forms
1. Click on the link to the form to open and download
2. From the FILE menu, click on SAVE AS
3. Rename the file and save to your hard drive
4. Fill out the blanks in the form by typing directly on the lines. If you see a box or circle, click on it to check
5. From the FILE menu, click SAVE
6. In your email, compose a message to dmiller@farmersmarketsnm.org and click on ATTACH
7. From the search menu, click on the file that you renamed to attach
8. Send email

Deadlines
May 1, 2009 - Deadline for sending applications to us.
July 1, 2009 - NMFMA notifies applicants that they have/have not been selected
November 1, 2009 - Deadline for submitting market data and invoices to NMFMA for reimbursement
February 15, 2010 - Deadline for submitting invoices for expenses incurred after Nov 1, 2009, and which have been approved by the NMFMA.

Markets will be ineligible for future funding if they are found to have misused the funds given by the NMFMA, or if they have not submitted appropriate paperwork and proof of how the funds were used. This will be at the discretion of the Grants Committee.