In September of 2003, the Board of County Commissioners entered into an agreement with eCivis for their Grants Locator product. The agreement made this internet based search tool available not only to the County and the Constitutional Officers of the County, but the Library District, all municipalities in the County, quasi-governmental agencies that serve the residents of the County as well as community based nonprofit organizations.
Grants Locator Is the central element of the Grant Opportunity Tools (GOT) program, an initiative designed to provide a variety of tools to those partnering with the County. The program plays to several themes common to most governments; The increasing downward pressure from the State and Federal level for local governments to shoulder more of the burden of services (often without funding); the idea embodied in the Chinese proverb Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach him to fish and he eats for life; and, the idea that communities and their government should be partners in building and sustaining Community.
The program has several goals; the most obvious is to bring additional money into the County to address unmet needs. Equally important is the less tangible goal of fostering and encouraging partnerships and of bringing together agencies and organizations to cooperate in community wide efforts.
In addition to Grants Locator, the County has developed this Web Page to highlight Grants Locator, to provide links to resources and information useful in preparing grant applications
To begin utilizing the Grants Locator program, a subscription agreement is required. Subscriptions are available to municipalities, public agencies and 501c organizations located in and servicing Alachua County.
The Alachua County Grants program is an effort to expand the idea of the community and government as a partnership. Success is measured as much by the cooperative partnerships and communication between partners as the amount of money brought into the County.