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December 2006 Featured Article
Dedication by Rider
Nancy LaCorte, Bohse & Associates, Inc. In your fundraising toolkit, make sure you are using Dedication by Riders. This is a useful tool for municipalities to collaborate with local businesses to meet the additional needs of the community.
Municipal governments are not in the solicitation business, and therefore they cannot knock on doors and ask for money. The organizations that have the potential to donate will understand the needs of the community because you have networked and openly communicated your needs. These donors who are wanting to be good neighbors and give back to the community, might ask how they may donate money to address your needs. This is when the Dedication by Rider comes into play.
If a municipality receives a donation and wishes to spend the donation in a time period which exceeds one fiscal year, the use of a Dedication by Rider trust fund is appropriate. The governing body adopts a resolution requesting approval from the Division of Local Government Services of a Dedication by Rider trust fund for the purpose of the contribution. After approval by the Division, all receipts and expenditures for the purpose of the contribution should go through the trust fund. Each contribution should have a separate dedication by rider passed and approved by the Division.
Most municipalities in New Jersey are finding that Dedication by Rider is a way to provide services to their communities in a non-traditional way.
The City of Linden recently presented at a session during the League’s Annual Conference in Atlantic City this past November titled “Grant Administration – Gaining Project Contributions through Partnerships”. At this session they discussed the 56 Dedications by Rider that they currently have in effect. Linden has been utilizing this funding source since 1973, and mostly use it for recreational programs; such as concerts in the park, a scoreboard, play structures and park beautification, equipment, baseball and programming.
However, they aren’t just using it for recreational programs. The City’s Police Department has been able to purchase additional marked cars, equipment and firearms. They have also been able to fund their DARE Program through a Dedication by Rider. The Fire Department was able to reap the benefits of Dedications by Rider for the purchase of submersible pumps and confined space rescue equipment, just to name a few of their programs.
The City’s Public Works Department utilized a Dedication by Rider for their Environmental Commission, funded their recycling program and created a Snow Removal Trust Fund. The Property & Construction Department have used Dedications by Rider for disposal of forfeited property and elevator inspections construction code fees. The City’s Animal Control Department, Cultural Affairs Committee and Holiday Celebration & Heritage Committee have also utilized Dedications by Rider. The City’s major Dedications by Rider that are in effect benefit the Police Department, Fire Department, Wood Promenade, General Trust, health benefits, workers compensation and dog licenses.
Some of their major donations have come from local businesses. For example, Conoco Phillips donated $70,000 to the City’s Recreation Department. Infinium donated $35,000 to a large variety of the City’s programs. Wal-Mart donated $9,500 to Linden’s Fire Department and Merck donated a police vehicle.
However, not all donations have come from local businesses. One woman donated $350,000 to structure a park in her husband’s name and the estate of another donated $200,000 to the City’s police and fire departments.
Dedication by Riders have also funded local not-for-profit organizations such as the Mayor’s Youth Commission, the Chamber of Commerce, Linden Industrial Association, Kiwanis Club of Linden, Police Athletic League, Linden Volunteer Ambulance Corporation and the General Pulaski Memorial Parade.
The benefits of using Dedication by Rider are:
- The ability to provide services to your community, services that you would not normally have the funding for,
- Saving the taxpayers money, and
- Cultivating relationships within your community to address the needs of the community.
Full version of December Article in Adobe PDF format for printing
We would like to thank those who spoke at our conference session, "Grants Administration - Gaining Project Contributions through Partnerships", in Atlantic City this past November. Thank you Alexis Zack, Municipal Treasurer, and Nancy Gomes from the City of Linden for sharing their successes with Dedications by Rider. And thanks to Judy Tripoldi from the Department of Consumer Affairs for speaking at the session.
To learn more about how to write grants, visit Bohse & Associate’s Web site, where they have provided a listing of links to various grant writing proposal aids, or visit the Online Proposal Writing Aids & Courses section of the League’s Grant Resource Center.
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