CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO-DEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT
Q and A
for Community Greening Project Proposals
1)When would projects start?
As soon as grant agreements are signed. This can take anywhere from 2-6 months after approval, depending on when grantees complete the required paperwork to become a Certified City Vendor.
2)In one part of the RFP it states that proposals are 11 pages including cover, narrative, workplan and budget and in a different section it states that proposals are 11 pages including the cover, narrative and workplan. Which one is correct?
The budget does not count towards the 11 pages. Although it can be part of it. If you want to make one pdf that includes those four items (cover, narrative, workplan, budget) that would be desirable.
3)The RFP asks for an electronic submission but also requests that attachments be double-sided. Which one is correct?
Forms to be submitted as pdf documents and should be doubled-sided.
4)Do you have someone that you use to remove pavement?
We don’t make those recommendations.You could contact other grantees that have that done that type of work to see who they used.
5)Does this allow a renter to apply for a grant to plant trees and an edible garden?
Check the RFP for questions about eligibility and project requirements.Applicants must be a 501c3 and projects must be publicly accessible unless they are in schools.
6)Can I do an outreach project training people on urban gardening?
The purpose of the funding is permanent carbon mitigation and sequestration. The majority of the budget has to go for publicly accessible greening projects that will result in quantifiable carbon savings.
7)Can we use funding to remove trees (such as Eucalyptus) or prune branches?
No. the legislation that created the SF Carbon Fund requires that projects mitigate and sequester carbon emissions and removing trees or pruning would not do that.
8)How do we decide what trees to plant?
You should plant trees appropriate for the city and that the community wants.
9)Can we plant fruit trees as street trees?
You should make sure that any plantings are in keeping with city policy. The Department of Public Works doesn’t allow fruit trees to be planted near sidewalks.
10)If we don’t know what kind of trees we should plant can we use the references in the appendix?
You should review those lists and also work with your community to decide what types of trees they want to plant and maintain.
11)Where can I find out how to calculate the carbon benefits of trees in my proposal?
Please review Attachment D: The Carbon Calculator/EcoSystems services document. It does that automatically when you enter the information in the spreadsheet.
12)Does my organization have a good chance of being funded?
If you meet the requirements of the RFP and have a competitive project, your chances are as good as any other organization.
13)Can funds be used to remove pavement or blacktop?Would that be personnel or a capital expense?
Funds can be used to remove pavement and blacktop and since this would be permanent, it would be included in the 70% of grant funding for capital.
14)In the RFP you ask about co-benefits of projects such as workforce development, but only allow 30% of grant funding for staff. How can we do a workforce development project?
The legislation that created the SF Carbon Fund requires that funding be used to mitigate and sequester carbon, so the bulk of funds must be used to obtain permanent carbon savings. Perhaps a project match could be used for the workforce development piece and SFCF funds be used for capital.
15)In the budget template we are to show in-kind or cash matches for the project. Is a match required?
No, but noting any project match helps us understand the overall size of the project and how we are able to leverage the SF Carbon Fund.
16)If we already have a grant with the Department do we have to apply for a new project or can we apply to expand an existing project.
Either one is fine. Just be very clear on how the project is expanding.
17)Can we apply if we already have a grant with the Department of the Environment?
Yes, but in order to be awarded your project must be in good standing and being implemented per your existing workplan.Also, we sometimes award a second grant, but it may not start until the first grant is completed—it depends on the circumstances and we would negotiate that after the award is announced.
18)How many grants will you give out?
5-8
19)Can we ask for the entire amount of funding available?
You may, but we probably would not give out the entire amount of funding to one project, as we generally get proposals for many worthy projects.
20)What is the average grant size?
We can’t really say until we get proposals in and evaluate them.
21)When is the proposal due?
Please review the RFP.
22)How many applications do you think you’ll receive?
With the last round of greening funding we had $250,000 available and received 12 proposals requesting a total of $508,143 and funded 9 of projects.
23)How professional does the site map need to be and what should be on it?
It doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be hand drawn or you can even print a google map. We want to understand the plans for the project and how it fits into the neighborhood, so you should note nearby streets, etc.
24)Can we create our MOU form?Yes
25)What if we don’t know what permits we need?
There are links in the RFP to learn about various permits. You should review this prior to submitting the proposal. While you don’t have to have the permits in place, we want to know that you understand what is entailed in securing the permitting.
26)Are you going to release these funds next year?
We release greening funds every other year.
27)What are our proposals being evaluated on?
In the RFP, we have listed points given for each question being asked.
28)How do you decide on projects?
We score the proposals based on the evaluation points noted in the RFP. If proposals are competitive, we may schedule an interview time to ask questions if we need more info.
29)Where can I find out more about San Francisco’s carbon plan?
You can check out the link in the RFP to the City’s Climate Action Strategy.
Updated on 11/30/2017