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Leveraged Support

The City of Cincinnati provides financial support to specific programs or for the general operations of organizations that perform a service benefiting Cincinnati residents. 

Organizations are expected to leverage funding from the City with additional financial resources – either raised from other governmental or private entities or as earned revenue from providing a service. Learn more about the updates to the City's updates to the Leveraged Funding Process in our recent report here.

The Leveraged Support application for FY 2025 are open from February 12, 2024 at 9AM until March 24, 2024 at 11:59 PM. 

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What is Leveraged Support?

Leveraged support is financial support from the City of Cincinnati to an external organization 1) as general operating support to fund their work in the City or 2) as funding for a specific program aimed at addressing a public need in the City.

This does not include City funding of third parties to perform elements of City Operations—managing city-owned assets or programs.

How Can My Organization Apply?

Eligibility Requirements:

  • Applicants must have a three-year track record and must provide three years of audited financial statements or three years of filed federal tax returns.
  • Funding requests should be between $50,000 and $500,000. Requests exceeding $500,000 will be considered only under extraordinary circumstances.
  • Only projects or programs that align with one of the following service categories will be considered:

    • Arts 

    • Economic Development and Neighborhood Support 

    • Human Services and Violence Prevention 

      • specific interest in programs and organizations that are serving City youth who are “dual” involved with a dependency case through the Hamilton County Department of Job & Family Services and with a delinquency case with the Hamilton County Juvenile Court.

      • specific interest in programs and organizations that provide gender affirming mental health care to youth and adult residents in the City of Cincinnati.

      • specific interest in programs and organizations working to eliminate food insecurity in the City of Cincinnati.

    • Equity and Inclusion 

    • Homelessness and Eviction Prevention 

    • Workforce Programming and Poverty Reduction

    • Environment 

Exclusions:

  • Capital projects are not eligible for funding under this initiative. Our focus is to support operational and programmatic expenses that directly impact Cincinnati residents by addressing a public need or service gap.
  • Organizations currently debarred from contracting or subcontracting with the City are not eligible to apply.
  • Start-up organizations with less than three years of operation are not eligible to apply. Start-ups are encouraged to explore funding under the City’s Boots on the Ground program. https://www.gcfdn.org/rfp/
  • City funding of third parties for the management of city-owned assets or programs is not permitted.

Public Record Notice:

In accordance with the Ohio Public Records Act, all submitted Leveraged Support applications are subject to public records requests. While private or sensitive information will not be made public, your application could be shared if requested.

Training:

The City of Cincinnati has partnered with the Greater Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky African American Chamber of Commerce to provide a workshop for potential applicants. Check out the resources below to view a recording of the workshop and additional helpful materials.

Workshop Recording  Slide Deck

Questions?

Ahead of applying, you can view the full list of application questions here.

If you have additional questions, please contact Tonia Smith at tonia.smith@cincinnati-oh.gov or 513-352-5361.