The deadline for the fall round of applications to the Neighborhood Matching Fund’s Small and Simple Projects Fund is a week away.
The Small and Simple Projects Fund provides matching funds of up to $20,000 to support community members as they work together to build a stronger and healthier neighborhood through civic participation. It is a program of the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods.
Examples of recent successful applications include the Alki Art Fair; design work on the new park at 19th and Madison; design work on the B.F. Day School playground, P-Patches in Magnolia and at North Seattle Community College, and the West Seattle community Fruit Harvest, in which neighbors harvest fruit from residential fruit trees and distribute it to partner organizations such as senior centers and food banks. 
Here’s a PDF with a complete list of the most recent awards, and here’s a site with some highlight videos (Georgetown’s Hat and Boots!) and a searchable database of all NMF recipients. (There are thousands. Since the program was created 24 years ago, the Neighborhood Matching Fund has awarded more than $49 million to neighborhood groups with a community match of more than $71 million. Projects have involved more than 85,600 volunteers who have donated over 573,000 work hours.)
Projects that receive funds include physical projects, as well as educational, cultural, and relationship-strengthening activities. All projects must demonstrate the capacity to build a stronger and healthier community, and must do the following:
- Provide a public benefit and be free and open to all members of the public.
- Emphasize self-help, with project ideas initiated, planned and implemented by the neighbors and community members who will themselves be affected by the project.
- Demonstrate community match.
- Occur within the Seattle city limits.
To apply, groups need to register first at webgrants.seattle.gov, our online application and fund management system. To learn about the guidelines and application process, visit http://seattle.gov/neighborhoods/nmf/smallandsimple.htm.
This is the final opportunity to apply to the Neighborhood Matching Fund in 2012. Programs and deadline dates for 2013 will be announced at the end of the year.