 Good afternoon, and welcome to our prerecorded informational webinar on preserving black on the preserving black churches program. I'm Leslie Kanan senior manager for preserving black churches, a project of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund here at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. I'm joined today by Alaska McGinnis, the director of the National Grants Program for the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund here at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Hi everyone. In the course of this webinar, we will cover the following items and provide information to you all. This will include an overview of preserving black churches and specifically discuss the grant process. We will discuss details of the eligibility criteria for applicants and projects grant guidelines and funding categories. We will also give guidance on how to apply for a grant using the National Trust grant system and to receive assistance with your application. We will go over the narrative application questions and talk about what we are trying to learn from them. Lastly, we will talk about frequently asked questions. As this is a prerecorded webinar, you of course can't ask questions. We are setting up two live Q&A sessions on July 24 and 25 so that you can ask questions. We will be releasing, releasing registration details on our website, so stay tuned. Let's get started with our overview of preserving black churches project. We're extremely excited to receive a $20 million gift from the Lilly Endowment to support the preservation of historic black churches across the country. In his book, The Black Church, Dr. Henry Lewis Gates Jr. says, no pillar of the African American community has been more central to its journey identity and social justice vision than the black church. They are the oldest institutions created and controlled by African Americans. And historic buildings that house these congregations are living testament to the achievements and resiliency of generations in the face of a racialized and inequitable society. These places continue to inform and shape black identity today and are foundational to black religious, political, economic and social life. They serve as houses of worship, safe havens, social centers and cultural repositories. They provide all manner of vital services in space for community programs that uplift the broader social, economic and cultural health of their community. So does with this spirit preserving black churches with conceived, it is intended to work to ensure this legacy is maintained. With the support of the Lilly Endowment, preserving black churches is a three year pilot project to advance preservation strategies that model and strengthen stewardship, asset management, interpretation, programming and fundraising activities of historic black churches. Specifically, the project established a national grant fund to direct funding to historic black churches. We will discuss this grant fund in more detail during this webinar. We know that last year we were able to give 35 churches $4 million in funding through this grant program. For more information on these projects, you should check out our website. A rapid response and emergency grant fund to address imminent threats to black churches was established through this program we have already helped churches like St. James and me in Kentucky. We are hoping to help more churches moving forward that have similar emergencies caused by imminent threats. We will provide targeted technical assistance and support to black churches, serving as sites of social justice and sites of civil rights. These are the churches that represent resilience and agency in the face of historical racial violence, such as Chicago's Robert Temple Church of God and Christ, the site of Emmett Till's 1955 extended visitation and funeral. The goal for this work is to maximize the economic value of heritage environments, foster safe spaces for healing and truth telling and create greater potential for increased philanthropic investments and earned income. We are working with the church in Los Angeles to assess their needs. In the early 1960s, Alabama and in particular its cities of Birmingham, Montgomery and Selma were the epicenter of the civil rights movement. In order to preserve this legacy. We are working with partners and stakeholders in Alabama to model innovative stewardship strategies and build preservation capacity for Alabama's historic civil rights churches to ensure they can continue to serve. The social, political and spiritual needs of their surrounding communities. We will have our first stewardship cohort in the fall. Lastly, we are working to amplify historic black churches through digital documentation, storytelling and media relations. This work is supported by our marketing teams and our existing African American cultural heritage action fund fellows program. I want to share that preserving black churches joins a strong foundation of the work of the national trust have done in support of churches and religious institutions across this country. It joins existing programs, such as the National Fund for Sacred Places and the preservation fund as another strong resource available to support historic churches congregations and places of worship across the country. Now, let's talk specifically about the different components of the national grant program. The overall purpose of grants from preserving black churches is to preserve historic black houses of worship, either with active or non active congregations. The grants are intended to advance ongoing preservation activities while strengthening the capacity for historic congregations and preservation and community organizations to steward manage and better utilize their historic structures. The grants are available to entities representing historic black churches. This includes either the historic black church itself. The church does not have to be a 501C3 entity, but will need to provide a federal tax ID number to apply 501C3 nonprofit organizations that includes organizations directly connected to a historic black church, such as a preservation foundation, friends group, societies, as well as community organizations, public agencies, this includes municipalities, public colleges or universities, state and state governments. Grant awards will range from 50 to $200,000. Eligible projects must fall under one of these five funding categories, which include capital projects, endowment and financial sustainability, organizational capacity and operations, programming and interpretation and project planning. The maximum grant award will depend on the funding category applied, which eligible applicants is applying for the funding and the current use of the historic black church building by an active or non active congregation. For eligible applicants, also note if you've received previous national trust grants, you are eligible to apply for preserving black churches provided all grant requirements are current. This also includes previous African American cultural heritage action fund national grant grantees. However, action fund grantee can only apply under a different funding category than previously awarded. For example, a national grant program recipient of capital projects funding is not eligible to apply to preserving black churches for capital projects grant and should apply through a new funding category, such as project planning. As mentioned, the purpose of the grants for preserving black churches is to preserve historic black houses of worship. So the first consideration to determine eligibility is whether the proposed project involves a historic black church. For the purpose of this program, a historic black church is defined as you see and hear on the screen. Religious buildings erected by black congregations continuously occupied by active black congregations congregations. Religious buildings designed and are constructed by black architects, builders and currently occupied by black congregations are repurposed for arts, cultures, community and social justice programs. Religious buildings not originally built by or for black congregations but continuously occupied by an active black congregation for at least 50 years. Active historic black congregations that are part of historic black religion, religious denominations, such as African Methodist Episcopal Church, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, the Baptist Church, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, Church of God in Christ and so on. Active historic black congregations that are part of religious denominations such as the Baptist Church, Episcopal Church, Lutheran Church, United Methodist Church, Presbyterian Church, Catholic Church and non-denominational church. Next, here are some of the criteria and guidelines that should be considered when developing a proposal. First, matching funds are not required to apply for preserving black churches in the following funding categories. Capital projects, project planning, program and interpretation and organizational capacity building and operations. However, projects leveraging additional investments are strongly preferred. This could include both cash and in-kind support. Matching funds are required for endowment and financial sustainability projects. I will discuss this in detail shortly in the next section of the webinar. As mentioned earlier, grants from preserving black churches can't be used to match grants received from the Action Fund National Grant Program or the National Fund for Sacred Places. Please be aware of what is ineligible to receiving funding through preserving black churches. In addition to standard non-fundable activities, the items you see here specific to churches are not eligible for funding. I want to highlight projects involving the interior sanctuary. A rehabilitation project focuses on the interior sanctuary is eligible to receive funding. However, singular projects focused on sanctuary elements meant to enhance the worship experience are not eligible. For example, a proposal for restoration of the pews or altar would not be eligible for funding. However, if the applicant is undertaking a full comprehensive rehabilitation project of the sanctuary and removal and reinstallation of the pews is required as part of the scope of work, the full project would be eligible. Lastly, when preparing an application, the following criteria should be considered. As you complete the application, it is important to demonstrate the historic and cultural significance of the church. Leadership support for preservation and capacity to manage the project and funding. Also, regardless of the project, it is important to show that the appropriate planning and pre-development steps have been taken to determine the project's needs and goals, particularly for capital projects. I have provided an overview of the guidelines and criteria. However, more details can be found on the grants guidelines page. I are encouraged to review them for additional information and guidance. The page can be accessed by visiting www.savingplaces.org backslash black churches. Now, I'm going to discuss the funding categories which eligible projects should fall under. In developing your project and assessing which category is eligible, please review the guidelines and pay attention to which type of applicant is eligible to apply for each category. The amount of funding allowed to be requested and what type of projects are eligible under the category. Grants from preserving black churches are offered under the following categories. Capital projects, endowment and financial sustainability, organizational capacity and operations, programming and interpretation, and project planning. Eligible applicants can submit multiple applications, but only one under each funding category. If you are invited to submit an application, only one application will be selected and only one type of grant will be awarded to each organization. I will say that again, you can always submit an application in each funding category, but each organization will only be funded for one grant. Cemetery restoration projects are not eligible under the capital projects category. Eligible applicants under this category are historic black churches with active congregations and they can apply for up to $200,000. Not for profit organizations and public agencies can apply for funding up to $100,000. This is intended for churches no longer with active congregations and the building is being repurposed for community programmatic use. Other 501c3 and other nonprofit organizations established by or affiliated with active congregations with a mission to preserve a historic black church with an active congregation are also eligible to apply on behalf of the active congregation and can receive funding up to $200,000. If you are applying and developing your proposal, scope of work and budget, no more than 15% of awarded grant funds for developing any needed construction and planning and documents can be used. If you are awarded funds, all planning documents and plans will have to be approved by the national trust staff before funds are dispersed and planning work can begin. Matching funds are not required for this category, though leveraging funds of funds is encouraged. Projects that develop plans for cemetery conservation and restoration are eligible under project planning. This includes the development of planning documents guides and the assessment studies. The cemetery must be owned by and continuously and contiguously connected to a historic black church. All eligible applicants of this program can apply for funding up to $100,000 matching funds are not required. But again, projects that leverage dollars are encouraged. This is a category to consider if you are needing time to develop an understanding of the capital needs of a historic black church prior to seeking capital dollars programming and interpretation projects under this category are meant to elevate the significance of the historic black church legacy and contributions to the community, and that advances new approaches to storytelling and public education. All eligible applicants of the program can apply for funding up to $100,000 matching funds are not required, but again projects that leverage dollars are encouraged organizational capacity building and operations. The preservation of new full time staff or promotion part time volunteers staff to full time positions which directly support the preservation and stewardship of historic black churches or structures. Staff positions should be occupied but by those with experience and in preservation planning project management construction management or interpretation. All eligible applicants include historic black churches with active congregations. They can apply for funding up to $150,000 501 C3 not for profit organizations and public agencies can apply for funding up to $100,000 grant funds are intended to sustain positions for two years. The clergy and religious ministry staff positions are ineligible matching funds are not required, but leveraging of dollars is encouraged. Additionally, proposal should include plans for sustaining position past the grant period if needed. Endowment and financial sustainability. Endowment and financial sustainability is a new category for the action fund, and it's only included in preserving black churches. The purpose of this category is to invest in the legacy preservation of historic black churches, allowing continued stewardship of these facilities, following comprehensive rehabilitation projects. Eligible activities under this category include increasing existing or establishing new preservation endowments for store black churches buildings with active congregations to support activities such as cyclical maintenance of the building and grounds. And search insurance services and other activities related to the perpetual stewardship of the structure. Only active congregations, or 501 C3 organizations established with the sole purpose of preserving a historic black church are eligible to apply. Non profits must have an organizational mission and leadership role in stewardship of a historic black church. To apply for funding up to $200,000. Eligible applicants should have completed a comprehensive restoration or rehabilitation of historic church building within the last 10 years or advancing an active restoration or rehabilitation project to be completed within the next two years at the time of application. A one on one, a one to one match is required for new endowments the match can be funds to be raised, or for existing endowments principal funds currently investing investment equal to a greater than the requested grant funds. awarded grant funds will not be provided until proof of a one to one match is secured. Lastly, grants received from other national trust grants programs cannot be used as a match. Grant funds cannot be used for active capital projects, planning programs, programming and direct support or operational needs. Again, more detailed guidelines on the funding categories and what is eligible can be found online via saving places.org blacks backslash black churches. I will now turn it over to Alaska, who will give an overview on on how to submit your application using our grant system. Alaska. Hello everyone it is a pleasure to share this information with you and to walk me through the process that we have in place in order to get these applications in process and awardees notified. Before we go off we'll discuss some upcoming dates that are really important, but initially is important to know that all applications must be submitted through the National Trust online grant application system by the deadline or they will not be reviewed. The mailed applications are not eligible and will not be reviewed so please note that we won't be able to accept any other forms of application. Coming in coming from different organizations that are not based in found it. We will be providing direct technical assistance. During the final stage of review. In the meantime, National Trust staff members will be engaging with prospective grantees during the application stage to answer specific questions applicants may have about their projects. We will be utilizing the Microsoft Microsoft bookings app that allows grantees to schedule 30 minute meetings with respective staff to have their questions answered. If you have specific questions about your proposed projects, please utilize the email black churches at saving places.org. Please note the grant process timeline and schedule here will have a live Q&A on July 23 and 24. This is where we will be able to hear directly from you. After hopefully you taken in this webinar and maybe you have some additional questions that weren't covered here. This will be the opportunity for folks to join us and ask us questions so that we can go ahead and have those answered for you. We will have the applications due on July 23. And we will from there go on to have a technical assistance period in which grantee will potential grantees will be assigned to staff, and we will work with them more intensely in October of 2023. And also the time at the end of October beginning of November folks will start to get notifications and learn more about their status in the application process so please note to be looking out for your emails. In terms of updates there. Also an important note here that I'll add the folks that you will want to have as the main contacts for Foundant when you're setting up the system should be the person that you'll be that will be engaging with the administration of this grant the most. Some folks are more inclined to say indicate the most senior members of the staff who sometimes may not have the capacity to keep track of inquiries and requests. Can you please we ask that you make sure that the folks who are associated with the accounts and managing the emails, have the information that they need. And are entered have the information that we would need entered into the Foundant our grant management system. From there we will have an announcement of the grantees in January of 2024. And here I just wanted to give you a quick view of the booking system, this is what you would see when you're looking to book your meeting. These will be set up like I said for 30 minutes. And on the left you'll see an option to select the date that you are available, and there will be times that will be made available please note that if you don't see the time that maybe you need. I said there's just not availability within our staff. So please feel free to select a different date. These links will be sent out via just based on need and based on availability in engagement with our staff at black churches at saving places. We've made sure it's pretty user friendly. And if you have any trouble please let us know but this is what we're using to make sure that we're tracking the need for direct assistance and connecting staff as well. And here we have the section where you'll provide us with some additional information. So please have yourself take a look at the frequently asked questions page at saving places.org backslash black churches dash FAQ. There's a lot of information there and a lot of information just in terms of general grant criteria that we really would like for you to make this appointment. A lot of questions that may come up have typically been addressed in these frequently asked questions so please make sure that you're familiar with that information. From there we will ask if you started or submitted your application just so we can make sure that we know exactly where you are in the process and take a look at what's been submitted or saved. And then we will ask what project category you're applying for specifically. And from there, we would like you to provide us with more detail on exactly what you'd like to know. And what you need some help on in terms of this particular meeting from there, you would just hit book and we would be notified internally. And then we would schedule a meeting for us so that we can go ahead and connect with you at a later date. Please note that we need at least at minimum 24 hours notice for these meetings, and you can book your meeting out at roughly three weeks out from from the Next I will be going over found that specifically found that is our grant management system is what we utilize to manage these, these opportunities. And when you go to the system and when you are access the link from our guidelines page, you will see this screen. If you have a account you would simply log in as you have for previous opportunities. If you do not have account you would select the create new account button, but this is where you would start for all applications coming into the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Please note that if you get an EIN warning it means that someone in your organization has established an account so you may want to reach out to us so we can determine if a new account is needed, or not, or if we need to reset a password and get you all set in that way. After you've logged in, you will come to a new screen which is essentially the applications page. If you have all the information available for the current open applications at the trust, you would then preview the application should you want to take a look at all of the questions and prepare ahead of time. If you are ready to go ahead and start the application you would hit the start eligibility quiz option at the bottom of the page. Please note that you do not need an access code as you would see at the top of the screen that's not required in order to apply. And you would also need to make sure again that you are logged in to properly view this page. Now at the applications page you would see the information that you would need after you've completed the eligibility quiz assuming that the eligibility has been confirmed. You would be able to select apply at the bottom of the page next to the preserving black churches grant fund. Tips to remember it is essential that you make sure that these three emails action fund grants at saving places.org black churches at saving places.org and administrator at grant interface.com are saved in your address books to ensure that this information doesn't doesn't become routed to your junk emails. We've had a lot of folks that have had some feedback for us regarding missing emails and things they've not received so please make sure that these are saved so that you can get all notifications coming from our system and or our staff. Please note as you're actually looking at the application that there are care character counts and spaces do count in that number so there are limits to most questions on the actual applications. And for those that require text spaces do count in that character count. Please ensure as I mentioned earlier that the main contact for the grant process is the contact in slash applicant in the system. Please be aware if you need to review this information and you have any trouble that we can work with you if you have any issues in terms of logging in and getting set up as I mentioned. Also note if you see an asterisk nest to a question in the system it is a required question so you may not skip any questions that have asterisk they're really important and so they are required questions in the system. And if you have any questions about submitting your application, please reach out to us at the action fund grants at saving places.org email and note that applications are due at 1159 local time. Thank you Alaska. I would like to get started with going through the application. I'm going to go through each each question and explain what we are looking to learn from you. I will also give you some tips about what to avoid based on some Apple applications from last year. I would note that I'm going to go through the narrative questions and not every single question on question on the application. So let's start with the project. So the project name is pretty straightforward. And but what you want to do is make sure to actually include both what you're doing and the name of your church. So for instance you'd want to put something like cane and church for for the director. Next, you want to put a brief project description. This helps us understand a little bit more about what you're asking for strictly focus on the project and describe exactly what you're requesting the funds for. And just a few sentences. An example is the port is requested to repair the siding of the siding roof and windows at Canaan Church damaged by Hurricane Ida and 2020. The amount requested. Here you will indicate the amount you're requesting. Remember, the amount you can request is based on your project type and what type of organization you are. If you have questions, consult the guidelines. There will be a direct link to the guidelines in the application. Next we have estimated project costs. This is the total cost of the project. Some of you may have multiple projects or phases of project. We are only looking for the cost of the project you are seeking funding for. Remember that these project costs can't be for work that has already happened. It can only be for work that will occur after you receive an award letter and to 2024. Next we have project partnerships. We are looking to understand the type of support and collaborations you have with the project you are seeking funding for. Partnerships could include consultants, vendors, contractors, supporting the project, local preservation organizations, historical societies, funders, municipal governments, those types of partnerships. For overall partnerships, we are more focused on the organizations you collaborate with on a regular basis for your mission driven work or your programming. For your case for support, we are looking for you to describe why your proposal aligns with the goals of preserving black churches and as a strong fit. What we want you to do is read over the criteria and the guidelines and eligibility section and think about how your church or organization and your project might meet some of those criteria. Think about why this is the right time now. Think about how funding of this project will lead to a positive impact on the preservation of the building or a positive impact on the community the building serves. Next, I want to talk about on the section that talks about congregation information. Here, we want you to talk about the history and significance of your congregation, whether that significance is local regional or national. We want to know who founded your congregation and how they related to the community. What we don't want is a list of every head of every head clergy person that existed from the founding till now. Remember you have a limit on your characters and you want to touch upon multiple things in this section. Remember this is not a question about the mission, your mission or faith. In this section, there are some prompts to help you answer this question. Let those guide you. If this is for a building without an active congregation, you'll be answering about the congregation that used to reside in this building. We also want to understand the process of approval based on the on the denomination. And for us to understand if permissions have been secured, who needs to review it, and how long those permissions take. Next, I want to talk about building information. Now, again, we ask about history and significance, but this time we're talking specifically about the building. We're looking for you to give us information on the building. First we want to know, is it on any local state or national register. It's okay if it's not. But think about how it might be connected to the local regional or national history, even if it's not on a register. Think about how the building has been used and how it is related to African American history. It's important that we know when the building was constructed. And remember, we are talking about the building for which you are seeking funding for. This should be the date for the, the, it should be the date to focus on that you're focused on the grant application. If the date is unknown, or if it's only an estimate, please let us know this. We want to find out who the building architect or builder is. Many of you won't know that, and that's okay. Let us know what additions have been made to your current building and when they were made. It's important for us to know how the building has changed over time, and whether there have been any alterations or additions. It would also be good to know if there are any auxiliary buildings this year, unlike last year, we will be allowing for auxiliary buildings to be eligible for funding. So it's important to know if there are any auxiliary buildings. It's important for us to understand when your move in date is. If the building is currently being used by an active current active congregation, when did they move in. For those churches that were not originally black churches is important that we understand exactly when the congregation will then so that we can verify that you meet the requirements of being considered a historic black church. Next, I want to talk about architectural significance. This is a question that people often find hard to answer. If you don't know who the architect is you might find that this is a problem but it's not. First, there will be guiding questions in the application to help you. Second, think about checking out some resources from your local library on religious architecture. This might be helpful. Think about reaching out for help to partners who, who for those who might know about architecture, if you don't have those resources in your congregation or on your team. There are resources out there that can help you learn more about the type of building that you're in, even if it isn't specifically about your church. Next, I want to talk about the community and congregational view of your building. We are trying to understand how the community and or the congregation views this building is this building an important part of its history. Can you find a way to show how the community or the congregation expresses this opinion. This helps us understand just how important this building is to the community and the congregation. We want to understand how your building is being used, is it just being used for worship services, or does it have multiple purposes. Is it a building that's just used by the congregation or does the community use it to outline that for us in the application. You want to understand how your organization or congregation engages with the community. Is there programming? Do you have relationships? Do you share your space? Talk about that in your application. Next, I want to talk a little bit about endowment and financial sustainability. Actually, before we get to endowment and financial sustainability, we're going to start with capital projects. While you briefly described your project in another section, we are looking for you to give us more details about the project you are seeking funding for. We are looking for a detailed scope of work. Walk us through your project. What are the components? Think about if you had the funding and we're asking someone to do the work for you. What list would you give them? What is the list that you should, that is the list that you should give us so that we can understand what you want funding for. We need to understand what the outcome of the projects of your project is. What do you want to accomplish? We need to understand if you are ready to proceed with a capital project. Some planning has to be done before you are ready. Examples of planning work include building our site studies, evaluations and our assessments such as historic structures report, preservation plan, engineering study, architectural drawings, conditions assessments, engineering studies and assessments, cost estimates. In this section you should detail what planning work has been done and when it was done. Let us know if it has been completed or if it is underway and who completed the work. We want to understand how your project is solving a preservation issue. How will this funding contribute to preserving parts of parts or the entire historic building. Identify what the preservation is. For example, it could be that water infiltration is causing deterioration and damage of the interior walls. The proposed roof replacement, the proposed roof replacement will stop the water infiltration and therefore stop the damage from worsening. What this means is this project part of a larger rehabilitation or capital project. If so, then describe for us what those phases and objectives are. Let us know what the estimated cost are and the funders and the timeline. We need to understand how this existing what you're proposing now will lead to these future plans. With the project planning process, we're trying to understand, we're trying to learn why this particular project is a priority now. Walk us through your decision making process for picking this project for a funding ask. Was this based on planning and is it an emergency? Did you consult a preservation expert? Walk us through that. What is the project urgency? It's important for us to understand that. Is this a project that needs to be done now or can it wait? Is this an emergency? Make sure to talk about that. Talk about your preservation capacity. What has been done in this building over the last or to the site over the last 10 years? Talk to us about what you've been able to do and why you haven't been able to do it. Talk to us about your preservation challenges. Think about and this could be multiple. This doesn't have to be one answer. There could be multiple answers. Think about as many as you can. What have been the challenges you've had preserving this building? Now we get to endowment and financial sustainability. So one thing that we need to know are your annual maintenance costs. Now, a lot of churches don't necessarily, all churches have annual maintenance costs, but they don't necessarily think about what those are or how they get covered. So really think about what your annual maintenance costs are and really walk us through how those get covered because it's really important if you're going to set up an endowment that you really think about and walk us through what your annual maintenance costs are and how they actually get covered. And then we have the capital work description. Really describe for us the capital project, including that you completed, including when it was completed, how it was funded. It's really important that you walk us through the preservation aspects of it. What were the issues? What preservation issues did you have? What preservation issues did it resolve? If the work is not yet completed, it's important that you walk us through the timeline for when you expect for it to be completed. And remember that the rehabilitation project must be completed within the next two years. So really walk us through that capital project that's associated with this endowment request. Now let's talk about planned management plans. For proposed endowments, have you consulted or identified a financial management firm to invest awarded funds? And describe when and how this process will be completed. Now this is only for people who do not have an existing endowment. It's really important that you really, we need to really need to have an understanding of making sure that this is going to be an appropriate management firm. So make sure you really walk us through who the financial firm is and how this process is going to be, how and when this process is going to be completed. If you already have an existing endowment, you really want to understand when it was established, who established it and what the purpose is, where is the endowment currently invested and how is it managed. It's really important for us to understand exactly what's going on with your existing endowment. So we make sure that it aligns with the type of endowment that we're looking to match, fundraising. Now, other than the fact that you need a one to one match, we need to make sure that you have a plan to actually match it. So it's important for you to walk us through what your plan is to actually match this grant. So walk us through that or do you have money plan pledged, anticipated and hand. Do you have potential for money? Walk us through how you plan on doing that fundraising. And also walk us through what the timeline for that is. You do have some time, but make sure that in your application, you're indicating that you do in fact have some donors or you're working with a consultant that there is in fact a strategy for coming up with the money that you're asking for. Next, I want to talk about organizational capacity building and operations. Here, you really want to talk about, you really want to describe what your existing, the first thing you want to do is really talk about what your current organizational needs are. What are the priorities and what are the needs and what are your needs. And the other thing you want to do. The other thing that I would ask is, if you need information on what the eligible expenses are. Please check out our guidelines and remember that positions related to religious and spiritual mission of the church are not eligible. When we look at the applicants current preservation work, please provide details on how the proposed use of the grant funds will advance your organization's mission and ability to manage preservation priorities. That's really important. When we look at organizational capacity position description. Please describe the project you are seeking funding for, including existing operational needs and preservation priorities and there's some prompts that are in the application that will help you answer this question. Some of those prompts include, is this a new position? How will this position support preservation stewardship? What are the qualifications of the roles? What are the qualifications role and duties of the position? But I think the most important thing, again, that we are looking for is what are the current needs of your organization from a preservation point of view and for you to show us through these descriptions. How this particular role that you're asking for will really fill that position and improve the organizational capacity from a preservation point of view. We want to understand the compensation in terms of what are you and what is the proposed salary and compensation. We want to understand what the main preservation challenges of your organization are and really talk to us about, again, how is this role going to help you with those preservation challenges because we want to make sure that if we're helping with organizational capacity that it's actually going to help with your preservation challenges. The other question is about the future of this position. Is this position intended to extend past the grant period? If it is, then do you have a strategy for being able to fund past this grant period? Walk us through that. Next, we have programming and interpretation. The first thing is project description. Really, with project description, I know, again, that you have in another section talked about a project description, but again, in more detail, walk us through that. Include step by step what your scope of work is and your desired outcomes. So go through those guidelines and make sure that you are putting what the eligible expenses are. That's really important. We really need to understand one thing that's a little bit different about programming and interpretation because like the other categories, it's the same thing in terms of really having a robust set of scope of work. It's the same thing of a list that you can bring to someone and say, this is what I need. This is what I need help with. And that person could take that list and go to work. But with programming and interpretation, you need to think about some other things. You need to think about who your audience is. We need to understand who will benefit from this project. It's really important. Who's going to benefit? How many people will it serve? Who's your target audience? How many people, you know, how will it expand your existing audience if you have one? How will it increase the public's understanding of the church and its cultural heritage? This is a really important section that in the past people have not given us enough information on. And so really think about taking your time in this section to really walk us through who benefits from your programming and interpretation and who it serves, and make sure you're taking your time in this section to walk us through. There are some questions that help prompt you to take your time and walk us through this. Talk about your past programming work. If you have some, talk about that work and whether it's been successful or not. When did it occur? How many people did it impact? And describe that for us. That helps us understand if you've had, if you have some experience in that. So describe that for us. But that would be my advice for programming interpretation is, who does it impact? Do you have experience doing this before and walk us through that? Next, I want to talk about project planning. Same thing as with the other categories is you're going to talk about your project description. You're going to expand on what you did in a previous section. You're going to really in detail, you know, give us that proposed scope of work where you're going to, you know, bullet point if you want to tell us exactly the type of work that you want to do. You're going to make sure that you check in with the guidelines to make sure that the work that you're asking for is eligible. You're going to make sure to look at what the preservation issues are and talk to us about how, what the planning that you're doing is working to solve a preservation issue. So what the, so what kind of planning are you doing that will help either preserve the building either in part or in whole? How does it do that? So what is, what is the issue that you are trying to solve with your planning and how will the planning that you're doing ultimately work towards that? Are you working towards a capital project? What are you doing? So an example is that you believe that your building has serious issues, but you're not quite sure what they are. So you decide to get a building assessment to figure out what all the issues are so that you can work towards saving the building. So you've identified what the preservation issue is and you've identified that you're going to get planning so that you can work towards solving that issue. Talk about project urgency. Why, why is it needed now? How will it help preserve the building? Talk about that. Make sure that you really work as walk us through that. Implementation. Talk about whether, whether once you get the planning done, whether you have the ability to actually implement the suggestions that are in the document. Walk us through that. Talk about any preservation capacity that you have. What work has your organization or church been able to do in the last 10 years, whether that be preservation work, planning work, capital work. Walk us through that. There are some questions in the application that help you answer that some prompts that help you answer that question. Let's talk about what the preservation challenges are. Again, this is one of those things where there's not, there doesn't have to be just one answer. There can be multiple answers for this. So, let us know what those are. Sorry about that. Yes, I want to talk about the budget. So the budget is a very important document, but one that people often have a hard time with. Budget is really important for us to understand exactly what you're asking for, and what you're bringing to the table, what you're asking for, and what your project costs. So one of the budget also involves a budget narrative. And what the budget narrative is, is it basically explains each item in your budget, and it explains in greater detail, exactly what it's for. So for instance, you might have a line item in your detailed expenses, which you see it, you'll see an arrow that goes to the right hand side that says detailed expenses. You might have a line item in your detailed expenses that might say, you know, contractor, you know, expenses and you might have an amount. In your budget narrative. There might be a note there that further explains exactly what those contractor expenses are for, which helps us better understand exactly what that expenses for, which is helpful to us when we're trying to make decisions on all these projects because remember, you're all going to submit amazing projects, and it's going to be very difficult for us to make decisions on all of these things. And so it's important that we understand all of, you know, all of your expenses to help us, you know, make decisions. So make sure to talk about that in your in your budget narrative. But in looking at the sheet, what you're going to have on the right hand side is you're going to put in all of your detailed expenses. These are the different costs that are associated with your scope of work. You're going to break down those as as much as possible so instead of just putting large numbers here in terms of, you know, roofing $150,000, you're going to want to break those down into a small numbers as possible. You're going to so for a roofing job, you might put, you know, labor, you might put sheathing, you might put tiles, you might put break down that job as much as possible and make those numbers as small as possible. On the left hand side, you're going to put your different income sources. These are some of the sources of income that you're going to bring to the table. These can be ones that could be grants, other grants that you're applying for. And some of those might be ones that are anticipated. You're not quite sure if you're going to, you know, you've applied for them but you haven't heard back yet. Some of those could be services that are donated. Those could be in kind services. It could be, you know, a staff member is donating their services, put all of that in there. If you, if you're doing a fundraiser and you're putting dollars there, if you're doing in kind services, if you secured money already, that all goes on the left hand side. And then in the middle, where it says grant amount requested, that's going to be where you're going to put the money that you're requesting from the trust. So you're going to total those amounts and the amount on the left hand side and the right hand side asked to match. Make sure those match. Otherwise, then you're not doing the budget right. Now we can always help with that. If you get stuck that, you know, as a reason to reach out. But remember that detailed expenses. Make sure you break those down. And that's, you know, the different expenses of the project that you are asking for funding for. And then on the left hand side are the different sources of income that you have to add to the budget or to the project rather. Okay, I'm going to go over some frequently asked questions and you can we have more frequently asked questions that are available on our website. So first, does my church need to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places or designated as a landmark to apply. The answer is no. Our only historic black churches eligible to apply. The answer is yes, only historic black church buildings as defined early in the presentation are eligible to receive grants in all funding categories. Historic cemeteries owned by historic black church are only eligible under the project planning category, funding for capital projects for historic cemeteries is available through the African American cultural heritage action fund national grant program. Okay, what is an active congregation for the purposes of preserving black churches active congregations are those which hold regular worship services and or conduct public programming from historic black church building before can we apply for the preserving black churches in the African American cultural heritage action fund grant program. Yes. I think one of the African American cultural heritage action fund national grant program are eligible to apply for a grant from preserving black churches. However, the existing African American cultural heritage action fund grantee must submit the application under a different funding category than previously awarded. For example, an African American cultural heritage action fund grant recipient of capital projects funding is not eligible to apply to preserving black churches for capital projects grant to apply through a new funding category such as project planning. Next, can we apply for preserving black churches and the national fund of safe for sacred places. Yes, eligible applicants can apply to national fund for sacred places and preserving black churches how our funding received from other national trust programs, including the African American cultural heritage action funds preserving black churches and the national grant program cannot be used to match grants from the national fund for sacred places. Next, can get grant funds be used for staffing and techno tech technology needs. Yes, grant funds can be used to support tech not technological needs associated with non religious programming and historic interpretation. The applying for technology for this purpose and application should be submitted under organizational capacity building and operations funding category. The ADA accessibility projects eligible for preserving black churches. Yes, projects to improve accessibility of historic black churches buildings are eligible projects seeking capital funding should have completed all necessary planning. Engineering and architectural prior to the middle of an application. If planning is not complete applicants are encouraged to apply for project funding. And last, our percentages and access and education buildings eligible for preserving black churches funding. Yes, the building must be located directly adjacent to the historic black church. Please email black churches at saving places for guidance prior to submitting an application. As we're closing, just a few tips to remember access to the grant guidelines FAQ and application can be found via saving places.org black backslash black churches. On July 24 and 25, we will have a webinar for live Q&A sessions about our preserving black churches grant and application and process. If you have any questions about a specific project project, please email black churches at saving places.org. If you have questions about the grant system and accessing an application, email action fund grants at saving places.org. Applications are due August 23 and must be submitted via our grant system. Thank you so much for watching our webinar and we look forward to seeing you and hearing from you soon.