Roundup for Safety is a community safety program sponsored by Flathead Electric Cooperative and voluntarily funded by members who “round up” their monthly electric bill to the nearest dollar. The extra money provides grant funds for locally based nonprofit safety projects. You can read about recent projects at flatheadelectric.com/roundup.
“Rounding up” only costs each member about $6 per year, yet it makes a huge impact on our community. Since 1997, the Roundup for Safety program has awarded more than $5M in support of over 1,400 community safety projects.
The Roundup for Safety Board of Directors is independent from the Co-op. It evaluates all applications and award grants. The Roundup for Safety Youth Director assists the Board in evaluating grant applications and discussing their merits. The Youth Director is a nonvoting position.
Flathead Electric Cooperative awards a one-time, non-renewable $1,000 scholarship to Youth Directors who successfully complete their terms of service. Typically, that means being present for 7 of 9 school year meetings (September – May), although the Board may consider other arrangements at its discretion. Youth Directors may request the scholarship money be paid to any accredited post-secondary education institution in or outside of Montana.
Roundup for Safety Youth Director applicants must meet the following requirements:
- The Youth Director’s parent/legal guardian must be a member of Flathead Electric Cooperative and served by the Co-op at their primary residence.
- The Youth Director must submit a resume, transcript, letter of recommendation, and a one-page cover letter or 2-minute video explaining their interest in serving the Roundup for Safety program.
- Applications will be ranked by assigning 50% of score to letter/video of interest, 25% to resume; and 25% to transcript.
- Scholarship money must be used to attend an accredited post-secondary education institution.
If you are interested in applying for a Roundup for Safety grant to fund a local non-profit safety project, please read through these guidelines, then complete the online application below.
Please note that you must apply for funding BEFORE beginning a Roundup for Safety project.
About the Program
Flathead Electric Cooperative developed the Roundup for Safety Program to help identify and fix safety hazards in our neighborhoods by awarding grants to non-profit organizations to help pay for these life-safety projects throughout our entire service territory. Roundup for Safety is funded by participating members who voluntarily “round up” their monthly electric bill to the nearest dollar with the extra money going to a fund for these projects.
Eligibility Requirements
To receive funding, the application must demonstrate that the life safety project is directly linked to providing or improving the safety of persons in the communities Flathead Electric Cooperative serves. Applications are evaluated by a volunteer board of directors, and funds are awarded based on community need for the safety project and the number of people impacted.
To be eligible to apply for Roundup for Safety funding, organizations must be exempt from federal income taxation under 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (or the corresponding provision of any future United States Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) as a corporation described in 501(c)(3) of the Code, or for the activities of other organizations and entities for whom a charitable deduction is deemed authorized pursuant to sec. 170(c) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Roundup for Safety Fund Restrictions
- Funds may not be used for political purposes, salaries, travel, rolling stock (vehicles, boats, etc), or other purposes not directly impacting safety.
- No more than $12,000 may be funded to any organization or entity per calendar year. Multiple organizations or entities with the same tax ID# are eligible to apply (e.g. City Police and City Fire), but no more than $30,000 may be funded to any collection of organizations sharing the same tax ID number. The Board may determine whether separate applicants are truly distinct entities or organizations, in the Board's sole discretion.
- If you are applying under a tax ID# shared by multiple organizations or entities, as contemplated above, you must include a letter of support from the head of the organization, such as the Superintendent in the case of a school district or the City Manager in the case of a fire or police department.
- Once granted, funding will be available for 6 months. If funding is not used within 6 months, it will go back into the general fund, and the organization must re-apply to receive funds.
- Team sports safety gear requests are limited to 25% of the cost of the equipment, up to a maximum of $1,000.
- AED requests are limited to $1,500 per AED.
- The board considers Roundup for Safety funding to be seed money for life safety projects in our community. Due to the large number of requests received each month (we commonly receive 3 to 4 times the amount in requests than there are dollars to award), Roundup for Safety typically does not fund projects at 100%.
- Applications for projects that have already been completed cannot be considered for Roundup for Safety funding.
Application Requirements
Before applying, please make sure that you have all the elements required to complete the application, including:
- Please note that you must apply for funding before beginning a community safety project.
- Description of the project.
- Description of who will benefit from the project.
- Two bids for each item you are requesting funding for.
- Description of other sources of financial and in-kind support already available for this project.
- Organization's IRS Tax ID Number (FEIN).
- Verification from the IRS of your tax-exempt status (you should have received a determination letter from the IRS approving your tax-exempt status at the time it was granted).
Application Deadline:
The deadline for applications to be reviewed and considered at each month's Roundup for Safety board meeting is the last day of the prior month. Applications submitted later than the last day of the month will be considered at the next meeting. (E.g. an application submitted by January 31 will be considered at the February board meeting; an application submitted on February 1 will be considered at the March board meeting.)
Meetings:
During our monthly board meeting, each applicant will offer the board an overview of their project. This presentation should be very short -- 5 minutes and under is preferred. The board may use this time to ask the applicant questions. This process is casual, and applicants do not need to submit a slide deck or otherwise overthink this process.
Our monthly meetings are typically held on the second Thursday of the month at 7 p.m., but not always. You'll receive an invitation after the first of the month letting you know a firm date and time. Meetings are hybrid, which means you may join either virtually via Microsoft Teams or in-person at the Flathead Electric Cooperative Community Room (2510 US Hwy 2E, Kalispell, entrance at the north end of the building). We look forward to seeing you!