Benefits and Challenges of Different Funding Models Funding Source
Grant funding
Benefits
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Grants can serve as catalytic funding, while finding more sustainable options.
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There is potential for fast turnaround in funding, depending on the grant funder.
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Reimbursement from health insurers
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Applications and grants often can be submitted and managed by existing park and recreation staff. There are often multiple philanthropic funders that support adult physical activity classes. Reimbursement from health insurers brings in non-traditional funding revenue and can diversify the program’s budget. Reimbursements from health insurers can provide park and recreation agencies additional flexible revenue. Once contracts are established, it can be a sustainable source of funding for classes. If managed by an external organization, processing insurance claims takes minimal time.
4 | 2021 National Recreation and Park Association
Challenges
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Grant funding restricts the use of money. Depending on the funder, this can create a challenge to cover the full costs of the classes.
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Funding depends on grant cycles. Reapplying each grant cycle does not offer sustainable financing for the long term or allow longterm planning.
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Depending on the funder, grants can be a small amount of money.
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Grant management can be time consuming and take staff away from programmatic work. It can take a long time to negotiate contracts with a health insurer.
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Working with health insurers requires specialized training and resources to manage claims and meet compliance requirements.
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Contracting and processing claims can be administratively burdensome for the agency overseeing the contract.
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Participants in classes will have different health insurers and park and recreation agencies will need to contract with all of them to receive reimbursement.
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It might not be beneficial to contract one-onone, depending on the reimbursement rate and the number of clients.
