Fiscal year 2023-2024 City of Spartanburg Hospitality Tax Grants Application

Hospitality Tax is a 2% tax on the sales of prepared meals and beverages sold in establishments or sales of prepared meals and beverages in the City of Spartanburg.

In order to support efforts of local partners to promote tourism and quality of life in the City of Spartanburg, City Council may designate a portion of the annual hospitality tax revenue for competitive grant awards. Council will decide the amount of such portion annually.

Spartanburg City Council has established the Hospitality Tax Grants Advisory Committee to assist with the process, review the applications, and make recommendations for funding to City Council. Applicants will be asked to answer questions and make a presentation before the Hospitality Tax Grants Advisory Committee. The makes the final determination regarding grant allocations.

Please Note: Organizations may only submit one application for Hospitality Tax Grant funding

The Hospitality Tax grant program seeks to improve the quality of life and draw more visitors to the City of Spartanburg.

Once all applications for H-Tax grant funds are received and eligibility is verified, they will be forwarded to the Hospitality Tax Grants Advisory Committee for review. Applicants will then be assigned a date and time to deliver a short presentation on their program to the committee. The committee will review and score each application and presentation based on the evaluation measures described below. The Committee will then submit its funding recommendations for review by City Council, which makes all final allocation decisions.

The committee will consider the following when evaluating requests:

The degree to which the organization, program, project, or event is likely to draw diverse visitors to the City of Spartanburg.
The impact of the organization, program, project, or event has on the quality-of-life for City residents.
The expected direct economic impact of the organization, program, project, or event.
The impact of the event on the image and marketing of Spartanburg as a dynamic and appealing community.
The degree to which the applying organization or event promotes and affirms racial equity in Spartanburg in accordance with Spartanburg City Council’s approved “Healing, Reconciling, and Unity” resolution.
The prior success and managerial track record of sponsoring organization.
The degree to which the organization, project, program, or event is supported by other community partners. Applications should reflect financial support from other local partners. Hospitality Tax Grants cannot be the sole local fund source for any organization project, program, or event.
The completeness of the application information.

If your organization, project, program, or event received an H-tax grant in fiscal year 2022-2023 and your request is for an amount larger than that award amount, please explain specifically how the requested increase will result in increased positive community impact of the project, program, or event.

All applicants for the competitive grant process must have an IRS Not For Profit status or be a governmental agency.
The organization must be located in or the Event/Project must take place within the corporate limits of the City of Spartanburg.
Grantee organizations may not re-grant City H-Tax funds to other organizations. All funds must be spent on direct expenditures by the organization that receives the allocation.

The Hospitality Tax application form must be filled out completely. Incomplete applications will not be considered and required supplimental information must be attached to the application. Projects and events must take place between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024.

Applications must be received by 5 p.m. on May 12, 2023 in order to be considered for funding.

Supporting documents to the applications must include:

Applicant’s Financials: Most recent (12-month) financial statements (income statement and balance sheet) for the entity seeking the grant (either in the form of audited statements, a compilation, or externally or internally prepared summary); and/or IRS Form 990.

In addition to the financial information for the applying entity, the committee seeks detailed revenue and expense information for any specific activity or event to be supported with grant funds. Any event or project financial information should detail all anticipated revenues and expenses for the upcoming year and the prior year.

Application deadline: 5 p.m., May 12, 2023.

Presentations before Hospitality Tax Grants Advisory Committee: May 23 and May 24, 5:30 p.m. at City Hall, 145 W Broad St.

Any organization receiving City H-Tax funding for event support must list the City of Spartanburg as a sponsoring organization for the specified event in all applicable marketing and promotional efforts.

All required reporting must be submitted within 60 days of any program, project, or event funded by a City Hospitality Tax Grant. Organizations receiving operational funding must submit post-grant reporting before applying for any further Hospitality Tax Grant funding. Organizations will be given post-grant reporting instructions upon disbursement of grant funding.

Organization Name*

Contact Name & Title*

Address*

Telephone*

Format: (000) 000-0000.

Email*

example@example.com

Organizational website address

Tax-exempt charitable organizationGovernmental Tax-exempt unitOther nonprofit

Nonprofit Tax ID Number*

What is the total budget for this organization/event/project (including requested hospitality funds)?*

What is the requested amount of Hospitality Tax Grant funding?*

What percentage of your total budget does this Hospitality Tax Grant request represent?*

Please provide a description of the organization or mission statement.*

Describe how the requested funds will be used i.e., event or project, operational funding, planning, fund-raising efforts, matching funds, marketing, programming, infrastructure/capital expenses).*

If your organization received Hospitality Tax Grant funding in fiscal year 2022-2023 and you are requesting an increase over that amount, please explain why.

Approximately how many visitors would be brought to Spartanburg as a result of the requested Hospitality Tax Grant funding? If you’ve requested funding in the past year, how many visitors were brought to Spartanburg as a result of prior Hospitality Tax Grant funding?*

What measurements will you use to assess impact/attendance?*

What methods will you use to attract tourists/non-residents and promote tourism to the city of Spartanburg? (i.e., advertising/promotion)*

How will you recognize the City of Spartanburg in your advertising/promotions?*

Please describe how you anticipate you will encourage visitors to spend money with local businesses or contribute to quality-of-life in the City of Spartanburg. Describe how you will quantify or measure this impact.*

Please describe how your organization or event will promote and affirm racial equity in the City of Spartanburg in accordance with City Council’s approved “Healing, Reconciling, and Unity” resolution.*

Follow link in application introduction above to view and download full "Healing, Reconciling, and Unity" resolution.

Please provide a list of sources and amounts of other financial support (e.g.,private donations, fundraisers, foundations, grants)*

Please provide a projection of how the requested Hospitality Tax funds will be utilized (e.g., salaries, rent, supplies):*

Please make sure to attach required information below

Cover Letter*

Organizational Financial Statements*

Event or project financial information (if applicable) detailing all anticipated revenues and expenses associated with the event/project for the upcoming year and previous year for recurring events.

Application for Hospitality Tax Grant

Purpose

Process

Eligibility

Instructions

Fiscal Year 2023-2024 Timeline

Acknowledgement

Reporting

Hospitality Tax Grant Application

Please make sure to attach required information below