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

• For the majority of grant categories, individual schools are not eligible to receive grant funding directly but projects that affect a School District are eligible. Businesses and nonprofits are encouraged to create partnerships with schools and school districts to implement a project. Contact the grant category manager to assess if your proposed project that involves a school district would be eligible for funding. A letter of support from school district administrator and/or school department 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:
 

1. Select a grant category and staff member

2. Select a suitable day and time

3. Confirm your details
4. We will send you an email with a Zoom meeting invite