Subrecipient FAQs

Consistent with previous years, the written proposal score is not impacted by the conversation.

Funding decisions are based on multiple factors including your written proposal score, previous program performance, grant compliance, etc. If you participate in a conversation, that will be one of many factors considered as part of funding decisions.

This year the conversation will take place with an external facilitator who has not read your written proposal. The external facilitator will be asking you questions reviewers wanted to clarify after reading your written proposal.

We recommend that you bring people who are familiar with the programming and/or contributed to the written proposal. This might include the Program lead, PSE lead, or a person with high level program insights.

When you receive the email on May 14 notifying you of where your written proposal scored, you will be asked to respond to the email letting MFF know if you will be participating in the conversation or not. If you choose not to participate in a conversation, both hold times you reserved will be cancelled. If you choose to have a conversation, you will be notified which of your two hold times will be used for the conversation.

A maximum of three people can attend.

Yes, upon submission of the Anticipated Programming Form (Qualtrics form), you will receive an email confirmation message that contains all of your responses to the questions in the body of the message, and also contains a link where you can click and view and/or download your responses to the questions as a pd

No, you cannot pay AmeriCorps members with your SNAP-Ed budget.

Your response can be written in the format you think best addresses the prompts. This question is intended to provide the reviewers with a snapshot of your anticipated programing. The reviewer should be able to understand what the program is going to do.

If you do decide to leave in prompts A-E, just a reminder that the prompt does not count towards the 500-word count limit.

Question #2 is similar, but the LOI is broader while the program narrative is more descriptive of the program elements. In addition, your LOI does not get shared with reviewers.

Correct, it should not. We want data that reflects your community. Community needs assessments often include broader data and information that isn’t specific to your community. What we are looking for is data that supports what has changed over the past year in terms of your local community needs, assets, and opportunities.

Yes, if you have localized data coming out of the community health assessment you can include that.

Anybody who is in a leadership position for your SNAP-Ed program. Depending on how your program is structured this might include: Local Program Lead, PSE Lead, Finance Lead, and Direct Education Lead.

Yes, you still must submit an updated Current & Pending form as part of the proposal package. We know staffing can change and we ask for an updated Current & Pending form one as part of the contract process for the new fiscal year.

To deliver a comprehensive SNAP-Ed program, your proposal should include both direct education and PSE efforts. FNS encourages the maximum use of PSE approaches, however, there is not an official recommendation of how programs split staff time and effort between direct education and PSE activities. Your staff’s time and effort should align with the proposed program plans and the time and effort needed to complete the proposed activities.

PSE reach is the number of people likely to be impacted by a change. There is no PSE indirect channel reach.

Ultimately, it is okay to make your best judgment based on the programming you’re proposing and which category you think fits best. PSE strategies for parks and open spaces are tied to specific settings and more focused on work related to parks and open spaces. The PSE strategy to increase physical activity opportunities is broader.

Consistent with previous years, the written proposal score is not impacted by the conversation.

Funding decisions are based on multiple factors including your written proposal score, previous program performance, grant compliance, etc. If you participate in a conversation, that will be one of many factors considered as part of funding decisions.

This year the conversation will take place with an external facilitator who has not read your written proposal. The external facilitator will be asking you questions reviewers wanted to clarify after reading your written proposal.

We recommend that you bring people who are familiar with the programming and/or contributed to the written proposal. This might include the Program lead, PSE lead, or a person with high level program insights.

When you receive the email on May 14 notifying you of where your written proposal scored, you will be asked to respond to the email letting MFF know if you will be participating in the conversation or not. If you choose not to participate in a conversation, both hold times you reserved will be cancelled. If you choose to have a conversation, you will be notified which of your two hold times will be used for the conversation.

If you’ve previously been funded by SNAP-Ed at MFF, take time with your finance lead to review previous funding awards and actual spend for a fiscal year. If you are seeking an increase in funding, we’d expect your proposal to include an increase in reach and/or expanded programming to new populations or communities. Any funding increase must be aligned with new and expanded programming. Note: Michigan’s SNAP-Ed allocation has not increased to align with inflation.

Your budget, including staffing, must align with your proposed programming and be reasonable and necessary.

It is anticipated that MFF resources will increase in price by 5-10% for FY 2025. See the Budget Worksheet Instructions for guidance on planning for trainings and conferences.

For organizations implementing the Farmers Market Food Navigator program, plan for an introductory offer of $150-$220 per user. Program costs of $150/user include resources and technical assistance. Program costs of $220/user include resources, technical assistance, and Food Navigator branded materials for market recognition (seasonality posters, apron, hat, table runner). These are priced per user. Customized end of market report pricing and social media promotion support is still being determined.

The five LOI prompts are not required to remain in your submission. Your LOI should still clearly address each prompt in 500 words or less (not including the prompts if they are left in). The signed acknowledgements should still be included.

The SNAP-Ed Toolkit website and its resources, including the list of evidence-based interventions and the SNAP-Ed Evaluation Framework, are now housed within the SNAP-Ed Connection website. Click the following link, snaped.fns.usda.gov, click Administration, select Evidence-Based SNAP-Ed Interventions.

For visual instructions, the USDA created this resource: snaped.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/SNAP-EdClearinghouse.pdf.

The estimated funding request listed in the LOI should be an approximate amount, not a range. A more detailed budget worksheet must be completed as part of your proposal package submission, but the budget is still a best estimate for the expenses that align with implementing your proposed program.

The estimated funding request included in the LOI does not affect the review of your proposal package. Final funding amounts awarded are determined in the review process, contingent on the availability of funds, and aligned with program plans detailed in your proposal package.

We recommend including staff time and effort necessary for completing evaluation activities, such as training and data collection. If your organization uses paper scantron surveys, you will want to include shipping costs to mail completed surveys to MFF. If your organization uses all electronic surveys, then no shipping costs would be needed for returning surveys.

CATCH curricula and PSE materials do not fully meet Michigan SNAP-Ed requirements. If an eligible school is using CATCH PSE materials, SNAP-Ed can offer direct education at that school. If a school has selected CATCH curricula to deliver, you will need to assess whether SNAP-Ed direct education would be duplicative.

No, contracting staff whose work or deliverables you will oversee, such as Nutrition Educators, is allowable; however, outsourcing or subcontracting to entities or individuals to administer and/or manage a part or the entirety of your SNAP-Ed program is not permitted.

Federal regulations outline criteria to delineate between subrecipient grantees and service providers as contractors. All currently funded organizations in FY24 (subrecipient and community impact project) and new organizations that meet the eligibility criteria to be a subrecipient and can demonstrate capacity to independently design, deliver, and monitor a federal grant, like SNAP-Ed, need to submit to be a subrecipient in FY25. Furthermore, a currently funded organization’s record of program performance and grant compliance will be considered; those with a successful record need to pursue being a subrecipient in FY25.

If you are unsure whether your organization should submit a proposal package to be a subrecipient in FY25, we recommend you submit a Letter of Intent (LOI) for the RFP. When MFF reviews your LOI, we will look to ensure you meet adequate standards to be a subrecipient and provide feedback on whether you should continue with the RFP process or consider other potential funding opportunities.

Questions about the FY 2025 RFP must come in through the FAQs or in the technical assistance session to be answered and posted so that everyone can benefit from the information. While there is not an opportunity to talk to MFF staff about proposed programming details before submitting a proposal package, keep in mind that what you anticipate and include in a proposal can evolve over time. If funded, there will be opportunity for conversations with an MFF Program Manager to finalize your programming for the upcoming year.

Currently, funding is for one program year.

There is a 500 word limit for question two in the program narrative. The remaining questions do not have a word or page limit; however, we encourage you to be thoughtful and intentional about what and how much information is included to clearly describe your programming.