2024 Eclipse Grant – Closed

Eligible areas: 26 Missouri counties within the 2024 total solar eclipse “Path of Totality” as determined by the Missouri Solar Eclipse Task Force and GreatAmericanEclipse.com. The counties are: Bollinger, Butler, Cape Girardeau, Carter, Dent, Douglas, Dunklin, Howell, Iron, Madison, Mississippi, New Madrid, Oregon, Ozark, Pemiscot, Perry, Reynolds, Ripley, Scott, Shannon, St. Francois, Ste. Genevieve, Stoddard, Texas, Washington, Wayne.

Eligible applicants: Nonprofit organizations, destination marketing organizations (DMOs), city and county governments.

Note for applicants: Applications will be reviewed in the order in which they are received. Submitting an application is not a guarantee of funding. The application period will close when funds are exhausted, or at 5 pm central time on November 30, 2023, whichever comes first. Due to limited funding for this grant, only one application per county may be funded. In the event multiple communities within the same county apply for funding, the order in which applications are received, the total number of applicants, available funding at the time of application, projected event attendance, and the application score will be considered in determining eligibility.

Total available funding pool: $250,000

Minimum grant award: $10,000

Maximum grant award: $100,000

Required community match: 50 percent of total budget; applicant must sign letter of attestation indicating the amount and source of local match

Funds allocated: Until available funding is exhausted or application deadline

Important Dates:

• Application submission opens October 2, 2023
• Applications close at 5 pm central time on November 30, 2023, or when funds are exhausted, whichever comes first
• Notifications to awardees will be sent on or before December 31, 2023
• Disbursements begin in January 2024
• Summary of event(s) due back to MDT June 3, 2024

Eligible uses of grant funds

This grant covers eligible costs and expenses related to development and activation of 2024 total solar eclipse activities and events held between April 1, 2023, and April 8, 2023.

Grant funds may be used to cover costs associated with, but not limited to: venue rental and usage, event marketing and advertising, live entertainment, security, event staging, clean up, food vendors, volunteer support, non-alcoholic beverages, and audio/visual equipment. Grant funds cannot be used for staff salaries or to provide compensation to volunteers.

Administrative costs, such as printing, mailing and material purchases (paper, mailing supplies, etc.) may be covered by the grant, but shall not exceed 10 percent of the total grant amount.  

The Division of Tourism will accept “in-kind” match for this program. Only those expenses directly associated with the eclipse event will be allowed to count toward in-kind match, and the applicant organizations will be required to demonstrate how they arrived at the valuation for in-kind services.

For example, staff hours that regularly occur during an organization’s normal business day/functions cannot be counted as in-kind. Staff overtime or extra hours or volunteer hours worked specifically for the eclipse event and occurring between April 1-8, 2024, may be counted as in-kind.

If the applicant organization already owns, pays rent or leases the facility/location where the event will be located, that cannot be counted as in-kind. If the facility/location where the eclipse event is held is not owned, rented or leased by the applicant, and the property owner donates the facility/location, that can be counted as in-kind.

Application/Approval Procedure

Applications submitted to MDT will be reviewed and scored to determine the eligibility of the event based on criteria below.

• The estimated attendance for the event is 500 people or more.
• The event must feature educational components related to the eclipse, including but not limited to lectures, demonstrations, and activities that focus on the science of an eclipse.
• The applicant must provide a Missouri charter number and be in “good standing” with the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office.
• The applicant must be registered in the Missouri Buys system.
• The applicant must be enrolled in the federal E-Verify program or complete an attestation confirming that the applicant organization is staffed by volunteers and has no paid employees.

Additional elements that may improve the application

The following items will be considered in the application review process and may impact the level of funding available to the applicant.

• The event should draw attendees from more than 50 miles (the standard tourism industry definition of tourism).
• The applicant represents a community/event that is deemed to be on the center line of the path of totality or where totality lasts longer than three minutes.
• The applicant’s budget provides details on how the event will be marketed outside of the local community (examples of the markets and outlets where advertising will be placed).
• The event features programming for youth ages 18 and younger.

In the event an application fails to meet one of the above-posted criteria, but otherwise aligns with the objectives of eclipse grant funding, the Division of Tourism reserves the right to provide grant support to that event.

Contact:

Missouri Division of Tourism

301 West High Street, Suite 290

Jefferson City, MO 65102

Email: tourism@ded.mo.gov

Web: Industry.VisitMo.com