SCIP Operation Guidelines

The Small Communities Improvement Program encourages communities to use volunteerism to generate a
savings toward the overall cost of a project. The Department of Commerce treats the savings generated by this
volunteer effort as match dollars. Each awarded SCIP project is contractually obligated to fulfill the operation
requirements of the SCIP grant. Satisfying the volunteer match component of the program is necessary to fulfill
the requirements of the SCIP contract. Although volunteer match can occur in many forms, it is key to keep in
mind that all match hours must be volunteer, meaning entirely unpaid. The guidelines must be followed for
communities to remain eligible for the use of the entire grant.

1) Volunteers may not be paid for their efforts or claim a reduced payment for any of the services they
provide to claim hours as a volunteer. Payment of any form disqualifies their hours from being claimed as
match hours. Only hours that are entirely unpaid may be claimed (sweat equity).
2) City or county workers that are working “on the clock” may not claim their hours as volunteer hours.
They may claim volunteer hours only when they are not being paid by the city or county for the hours.
3) General volunteer hours are only allowable for activities directly related to the construction of the
project. Hours may not be claimed for fundraising activities, marketing activities, committee meetings, or
for meal breaks.
4) Volunteer wage rates will be determined by using the most recent United States Department of Labor’s
Bureau of Labor Statistics report on the wages in Kansas. Wage credit for volunteer time should be the
Kansas median wage rate for the task that was performed.
5) Money spent on federal, state, or local taxes is not eligible for match or for reimbursement.
6) Minimum local match must equal or exceed 40% of the total project cost.
7) Minimum local match must be met by grant contract close on April 30, 2011. Commerce reserves the
right to suspend payments if the awardee is not current with providing documentation of match or if the
match is substantially behind the amount of funds requested. Final payment will not be made until the
match is fully met. A minimum of $2,000 will be withheld until final local match documentation is
submitted. Commerce may withhold more if the documented match is substantially behind the 40%
threshold.
8) Volunteer hours (sweat equity) must constitute at least 40% of total minimum match. Sweat equity may
exceed 40% of total minimum match.
9) Donated time for grant administration, including any professional services (engineer, design, legal,
architect, etc) cannot exceed 10% of total minimum match. Credit will not be given for administrative
match greater than 10% of total minimum match.
10) Grant administrators and professionals may claim donated time for facilitating meetings or meetings
where the primary purpose is the successful management of the project. General volunteers cannot
count time spent in meetings as match.
11) Donated materials, equipment, and land cannot exceed 50% of total minimum match. Material,
equipment, and land match that exceeds 50% is acceptable, but credit will not be given towards meeting
minimum match requirement beyond 50%.

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Small Community Improvement Program
 12) Credit for donated money is only given when funds are used toward the purchase of project materials and
documented with a receipt/invoice. This credit falls under material, equipment, and land match and
cannot exceed 50% of minimum match.
13) Land donations require two appraisals to determine value of the donation. Donated land must be entirely
donated (not including fees/taxes) to be eligible for credit. Donation credit will not be given for reduced
prices on land. Donated land must fall within the boundaries of the original scope of the project. Land
donations must occur within 90 days of the date of the application deadline or during the SCIP award
period to be eligible for in-kind credit.
14) Donation credit will not be given for reduced prices on materials. Materials should be entirely donated to
be eligible for credit. This may require a vendor providing two invoices: one with items billed and one
with items donated.
15) The Department of Commerce will provide equipment rental rates. City or county equipment is eligible
for donation credit if it is the best source for the equipment for the project. Credit for equipment is only
allowable for equipment used directly in the construction process. Credit is given only for heavy
equipment, not hand tools or simple power tools. Equipment depreciation is not allowable as match. If
city or county workers operate the equipment while “on the clock”, no credit can be given for the man
hours they provide.
16) The city, county, or nonprofit facilitating the project should provide liability insurance for the volunteers
working the project.
17) Substantial changes to the SCIP project design or project budget must be approved by the Department of
Commerce. These should be submitted in writing to Commerce via mail or email.
18) Final reports for the SCIP project are due June 30, 2011. The SCIP project should be completed in full by
this date. Extensions are available upon written request and approval of the Department of Commerce
only.
19) Requests for Payment must include the Request for Payment Report and copies of all receipts and
invoices for which reimbursement is requested.
20) The Volunteer Record must be accurately maintained with the name of the volunteer, the skill they
utilized with corresponding wage rate, and the work hours they donated recorded for the day they
volunteered.

I hereby certify that I have read and been informed of the Small Community Improvement Program Guidelines.

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