The Gilroy Garlic Festival Association, which announced earlier this year that its world-famous summer garlic festival was being discontinued after a 43-year run, is repurposing its contributions to nonprofit organizations and volunteers in the community with grants of up to $5,000.
Local nonprofits may apply for needed funds through a grant process offered by the festival association.
Candidates for this grant should be based in Gilroy and the surrounding area.
Organizations involved in promoting Gilroy as a visitor destination or promoting the Gilroy business community would normally be supporting the festival association and therefore would not normally be considered for this grant.
Each nonprofit organization will sign a contract guaranteeing completion of requirements, or terms of the grant. As part of the application process, each must provide proof for a list of marketing tasks targeting each organization’s constituency of supporters.
These would consist of the following: Prominent presence of the Gilroy Garlic Festival Association on the organization’s website as a sponsor; minimum social media posts of at least once every eight weeks over a specified period of time; and a minimum number of e-blasts to the organization’s database.
The grant funding is between $500 and $5,000 per application per year.
Applications must be emailed to the festival association by 9 p.m. PDT Sept. 30.