BEAUTIFICATION GRANTS

Do you have a really beautiful idea for your neighborhood?

Do you know of an area that needs
landscaping, or would be perfect for a garden?

For Grant due date call the Keep San Jose Beautiful Office at
(408) 723-1574

 

Here's what you can do:

• You can do what thousands of other residents have done, by getting plants and materials in exchange for your volunteer planting and maintenance efforts.
• Projects must be within the city limits of San Jose, and in a highly visible public area.
• Schools, nonprofits, and other neighborhood organizations who wish to help foster community pride in San Jose are eligible.

Basic Philosophy

Keep San Jose Beautiful provides matching grant support to nonprofit organizations, neighborhood associations, schools and other community organizations who wish to help foster community pride in San Jose through beautification or landscaping.

Grant Range

Grants generally range from $500-$35000.  Funding is to be matched by volunteer efforts and/or matching cash donations.

Grant Limitation

Projects must be within the city limits of San Jose. Please be advised that Federal and State Constitutions restrict the City's ability to award grants for the improvement of church property and religious schools.

Application Procedures

Keep San Jose Beautiful awards grants twice a year, once in the fall and again in early spring. Applications may be obtained by calling the Office of San Jose Beautiful at 408-723-1574. We can mail, fax or email the application to you. Then simply follow the instructions in the application packet. Each eligible applicant will be required to appear before our volunteer Grant Review Committee for a short presentation and to answer questions about their proposal. If you are interested in volunteering on this Committee, please visit our volunteer website at www.volunteersanjose.org or call the volunteer office at 408-723-3754 for a job description.

Areas of Interest

Primary areas of interest are highly visible sites to be enjoyed by the public, which include:

• Theme, cultural or educational gardens
• Plants and materials to support the plants
• Life Lab projects that teach science, nutrition and horticulture www.lifelab.org
• Public art pieces which reflect a theme consistent with the San Jose Beautiful Basic Philosophy above

Matching Grant Information

As an incentive to foster a greater sense of pride in the community and to re-establish the colorful, fruitful heritage of San Jose, " The Garden City", Keep San Jose Beautiful provides grant awards for beautification projects that:

• Are highly visible to the general public
• Provide educational enrichment opportunities for residents and visitors
• Are reflective of the specific theme, such as cultural heritage gardens, rose gardens and Victorian gardens
• Promote and preserve the cultural heritage of our community
• Promote tree planting and preservation
• Promote stewardship of the environment
• Enlist community participation
• Secure long-term maintenance assurances

Examples of beautification projects eligible for funding include:

• Landscaping projects, including plants, trees, containers, walkways, benches, tables, fountains, and irrigation systems
• Life Lab projects that teach science, nutrition and the benefits of horticulture through active participation and curriculum
• Planter-box construction

Approval is given by the Keep San Jose Beautiful Steering Committee at its regular meeting of the third Wednesday of the month.

Examples of ineligible projects include:

• Requests from individual property owners on their own behalf
• Tree removal
• Play equipment
• Overhead costs (office supplies, phone bills, it etc.)
• Tools and equipment

Grant Award Guidelines

1. Grants are awarded in amounts of $3,500 for the purchase of materials.
2. Projects that have demonstrated commitment from the applicants and the surrounding community are given preference.
3. Volunteer labor, cash or material contributions from outside sources must equal or exceed grant award. Manual labor is to be valued at $16.00 an hour. Skilled trade labor may be valued at prevailing cost rate.
4. Applicants are fully responsible for completing beautification projects. Applicants who fail to start their project within ninety (90) days of receipt of the grant award or who fail to complete their project within ninety (90) days of their estimated completion date maybe required to return the grant award with interest.
5. Where appropriate, applicants for landscaping projects are strongly advised to obtain assistance from design professionals before submitting their application.
6. Applicants whose beautification projects fit the basic criteria for grant award are required to make a brief presentation within approximately two weeks of the application deadline. Funding recommendations are then forwarded to the San Jose Beautiful Steering Committee for decision at their next regular meeting.
7. If you are hoping to landscape on City-owned property, to ensure that your project meets the City's requirement for landscaping within the street right-of-way, your plan must first be approved by the Department of Transportation Landscape Team.  Keep San José Beautiful will help coordinate this effort.

As part of your Keep San José Beautiful grant, you are required to maintain the area for a minimum of three years. At the end of the three years you may elect to continue to maintain the area. To do so you will need to become a volunteer with the Adopt-A-Street program. The Adopt-A-Street program is a beautification program that provides volunteers an opportunity to help make their neighborhood more attractive by cleaning and assisting with routine maintenance tasks and services. This will help ensure your efforts can be maintained long after the three-year agreement. Otherwise at the end of three years, without committed volunteers, it may be necessary for crews to remove some of your hard work as the maintenance can't be absorbed by City crews due to limited resources.

Forms Required Following Grant Award

Letter of Agreement: A Letter of Agreement detailing the conditions of funding, if any, reporting requirements etc. must be signed and returned before the grant check will be issued.

GRANT REPORTING FORM, A COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS FORM, Copies of all purchase receipts made with grant funds must be submitted within three weeks after beautification project completion. These reports must summarize the total value of the project, including volunteer contributions and San Jose Beautiful grant award.
Photographs of the project, work days (if possible) showing the work completed.  These photos may be sent electronically by attaching them to an email, or printed out in color, labeled, and sent along with your grant paperwork. 

Standard Conditions

1. Grant applicant agrees to acknowledge funding to Keep San Jose Beautiful in any and all press releases and public announcements regarding beautification projects.
2. Grant applicant agrees to post a visible sign provided by Keep San Jose Beautiful, acknowledging funding by Keep San Jose Beautiful. The sign must be maintained by grant applicant.
3. Grant applicant agrees to maintain, or have maintained, that beautification project for minimum of three years after the completion date of the project.

Application Instructions

• Fill in all blanks completely.
• You must provide a tax identification number for your organization.
• All attachments must be clearly labeled with organization, project, date and location. All photographs must be so labeled.
• All blueprints and site maps must show north direction. Streets and structures must be shown and labeled.
• All documents must fit in a letter sized folder.
• Return completed applications by mail to the Office of Keep San Jose Beautiful.

Please download the following forms:
Beautification Grant Guidelines
Application and Cost Benefit Analysis Form
Project Summary Form