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Grant Applicant Eligibility Criteria

ELIGIBLE PROJECTS AND APPLICANTS:

  • Focus on waste prevention, reuse, or recovery of food, goods and materials. 
  • Be based in Alameda County or recover materials generated in Alameda County
  • Submit one grant application to one grant category per year.  
  • Be either a nonprofit, business or institution with a valid 501(c)3 and/or business license.  
  • Be in compliance with all federal, state and local land use, regulatory, and permit requirements. 
  • Have sufficient suitable space, infrastructure and power supply to make immediate use of requested equipment upon award of funds. 
  • Have secured additional funding to execute proposed project if the total cost of proposed project budget exceeds the requested funding amount.   
  • Received prior approval from StopWaste staff if planning to utilize a Fiscal Sponsor. Please review fiscal sponsor definition here and contact swgrants@stopwaste.org for authorization to utilize a Fiscal Sponsor for proposed project.  
  • Contacted StopWaste grant manager prior to submitting an application if they have a current open grant with StopWaste.  
  • Maintains insurance (or obtained a cost estimate) that meets Agency minimum criteria, review insurance requirements here*. *Reusable Transport Equipment and Surplus Food Donation equipment grants are excluded from this requirement. 

 

NON-ELIGIBLE GRANT ACTIVITIES AND APPLICANTS

  • Individual schools are not eligible to receive grant funding directly, however K-12 School Districts are eligible to apply in three grant categories: Food Waste Prevention and Recovery, Reusable Foodware, and Reusable Transport Packaging Equipment. Businesses and nonprofits are encouraged to create partnerships with school districts to implement a project. Contact the grant category staff contact to assess if your proposed project that involves school district would be eligible for funding. A letter of support from a school district administrator will be required.
  • Municipalities and Sanitary Districts are not eligible for funding. 
  • Recycling and/or composting based projects and related supplies are not eligible (this includes purchase of bins for compost/recycling or garbage). Please see our free food scrap bin program for businesses and multifamily properties here.  
  • Funding for any staffing position (full or part time) in excess of 50% of the budgeted position. 
  • Applicant cannot use grant funds to subsidize existing contracts, repayment of existing debt or pre-existing tax liens or obligations, payment of organizational overhead exceeding 15% of project budget, legal, loan or bank fees, fines or penalties. Payment for any activities before contract execution will not be covered by grant funding. 
  • Requests to purchase vehicles, trucks, or vans will not be considered for funding in the following categories: Food Waste Prevention & Recovery, Surplus Food Donation Equipment, and Community Food Systems.

For additional questions about eligibility, please contact StopWaste Staff.

 

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