568083 - BOOST Application
Funding Opportunity Details

Rural Revitalization

Final Application Deadline: Aug 30, 2024 4:00 PM

Description

• Description

  Recognizing that rural challenges do not exist in a silo, this program helps a community utilize its unique assets and challenges its leaders to set realistic goals to advance their economic and business development vision. A community that participates in Rural BOOST is committed to the creation of innovative strategies that promote partnerships, community design, and a strong business economy. Experts will look holistically at the strengths and weaknesses of a community and partner in the development of solutions. Leveraging the expertise of Empower Rural Iowa task force members, IEDA staff, and Iowa Rural Development Council partners, each community will work with a team to mentor and develop next steps. Participants in Rural BOOST receive the following:

  • In-person meeting with the individualized Rural BOOST Team and local committee
  • Follow-up in person or virtual meetings as needed
  • Recommendations resource document from the Center for Rural Revitalization

  Rural BOOST is administered by the Center for Rural Revitalization, a division of the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA), in consultation with the Governor’s Empower Rural Iowa Initiative Task Forces.

  Eligible Use of Funding

  Funding from Rural BOOST is intended to be used to increase capacity, plan for the future, or develop additional skills within the community. Eligible use of funds for Rural BOOST grant includes, but is not limited to, the following:

  • Engineering
  • Planning
  • Design Costs
  • Training Program
  • Certification Program
  • Marketing Strategies
  • Succession Planning
  • Sustainability of Services
  • Economic Development Training
  • Grant writing training (but not grant writing)

  Eligible Applicants
  Eligible applicants must be one of the following types of entities and must meet all the related requirements. Entities who do not meet these requirements are not eligible to apply.

  Nonprofits

  • Federally tax-exempt nonprofit organization incorporated and physically located in Iowa.
  • Physical location of the organization is defined as maintaining a current home office and registered agent address in Iowa defined by Iowa Code

  490.501 as well as maintaining a primary staff presence physically located and working in Iowa.

  Communities

  • Unit of local, county or federally recognized tribal government physically located in Iowa

  Programs must exist in and benefit a community in Iowa with a population of 20,000 or fewer and not contiguous to a city with a population of 40,000 or greater or if it is a county-wide program, must be one of the 88 least populous counties in Iowa.

  Grant Amount

  Grantees will receive $10,000 for eligible one-time project expenses incurred and expended within the eligible funding period.

  Match Requirement

  Applicants are required to demonstrate investment in projects by providing a minimum of $5,000 cash match. The cash match must be secured, dedicated to eligible expenses, a legitimate part of the proposed project and must be expended within the eligible funding period. The $5,000 match requirement may be raised through a combination of public and private sources but may not include in-kind donations of goods or services, unsecured funding, or loans. While the minimum match requirement is $5,000, competitive proposals will demonstrate broad-based financial support for the project and public funding sources adequately leveraged to seek and obtain private dollars.

  • Cash match constitutes actual cash contributed to direct project expenses by the applicant or other funding sources.
  • Funding from state government already being used as match from another program, including other funds from the IEDA, cannot be used to meet the match requirement.

  Contact Empower Rural Iowa Director Robin Bostrom at robin.bostrom@IowaEDA.com with questions.