OVERVIEW

The 134 PAC’s goal is to support and strengthen county party organizations in The 134 and other rural counties in Texas.  In part we do this through providing grants of financial support to county parties.

We are looking for county parties to support that are thinking creatively and  are willing to try new ideas and ways of growing their local parties.  We also are looking to support county parties that are partnering with other counties in coalitions in their  region to grow the Democratic vote.  This includes things like working with candidates and parties in neighboring counties on a common project, or adopting a neighboring county that has no county party or few volunteers and supporters.

 
ELIGIBILITY

All county parties within The 134 area are eligible to apply for grant awards.  Additionally, any rural county party outside of The 134 is also eligible.  In determining eligibility for counties outside The 134, “Rural” is defined as any county in Texas with a population density less than 500 people per square mile according to the most recent United States Census.  Excluded counties are Dallas, Harris, Tarrant, Bexar, Travis, Collin, Denton, Fort Bend, Galveston, Rockwall, El Paso, Montgomery, Williamson and Hidalgo counties.

  
GRANT TYPES

The 134 PAC awards two types of support grants:  (1) Candidate Support, and (2) Voter Turnout Support.

1. Candidate Support.  This grant is awarded for the support of a county party that has at least one Democratic candidate running at the County or Precinct level.  These grants are not made directly to a candidate or campaign and are not to replace or supplement candidate/campaign fundraising.  Grants are made directly to the county party applicant for a specific project(s) a county wishes to do in support of its candidate(s).

 
In determining whether a county should be awarded a grant, the PAC will consider the following non-exclusive criteria.  An application should address as many of these criteria and answer as many of these questions as possible, along with any other relevant information.

 
1.    Strength and stability of the local party organization (county chair, precinct chairs, key                supporters and volunteers)
2.    Volunteer capacity to make the project successful.
3.    Competitiveness of the race.  (A race is considered competitive for grant purposes if in               recent election history it has had 25% or better Democratic vote in the precinct or county.)
4.    Is the candidate an incumbent?
5.    Is the seat a historically Democratic seat we need to hold?
6.    Length of candidate residency in the precinct, or county.
7.    Have they run for office before?  What was the outcome?
8.    Have they held office before?  How long ago and what was the office?
9.    How well known are they in the community?
10.    How strong is their campaign?
11.    Who is the opposition? How strong are they?
12.    Is it an open position or is there an incumbent?
13.    How long has it been since a Democrat ran in the county or in that race?
14.    How much money have they raised so far?
15.    Is the county or other groups providing financial or other types of support?
16.    Who are the candidate’s key supporters?
17.    How involved is the candidate in their community outside of politics?
18.    Are there local issues the candidate will be able to exploit?
19.    What is the potential impact on driving voter turnout for up ballot races?

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2. Voter Turnout Support. This type of grant is awarded to county parties to help fund and support well planned and organized efforts to turnout targeted Democratic voters for early voting, mail in or absentee voting, or on election day.   In determining whether a county should be awarded a grant, the PAC will consider the following non-exclusive criteria.  An application should address as many of these criteria and questions as possible, along with any other relevant information.

1.    Strength and stability of local party organization.
2.    Volunteer capacity to make the project successful.
3.    Upward historic trend in Democratic Vote in primary or general election.
4.    Demonstrated need to reverse downward historic trend in Democratic vote in primary or          general election.
5.    Amount of local funds raised or available for turnout efforts.
6.    Previous turnout effort plans and results, if any.
7.    Involvement in targeted Democratic voter registration efforts and tracking of newly                     registered voters
8.    Previous efforts to contact registered non-voting Democrats.
9.    Impact of turnout in the county on District and Statewide races.(Up ballot impact).
10.    What is the specific, targeted goal for turnout.
11.    Who is the target audience of voters?
12.    How will voters be targeted, contacted?
13.    What will be the frequency of contact?
14.    What is the plan for following up with contacts on election day?
15.    Whether anyone will be hired to run the turnout project.
16.    How will impact of project on turnout be measured? (To determine number of targeted             voters who actually vote per dollar spent?)

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APPLICATION PROCESS

Applications must be submitted in writing and emailed to admin@the134pac.org in either Word or PDF format on 8½  x 11 page size. There is no formal application form, but  applicants are required to submit a detailed, written proposal describing the project, how much you are requesting, what the money will be used for, a written budget for use of the funds along with any supporting documents, pictures or any other information you believe will be helpful to the Advisory Board in considering the request. The application must also contain a resolution of the County Executive Committee supporting the application.

 
The PAC may request more information including in person or virtual meetings with  the applicants, candidates or other persons necessary to evaluate the request. An application will not be submitted to the Advisory Board until all requested information or interviews has been provided.  Once the application is complete, PAC leadership will present each application to the advisory board for consideration.   Applications will be considered on a first come first serve basis. As resources are limited, county parties are encouraged to submit no more than one application in an election cycle, although multiple applications are not prohibited and will be considered in the order received. The decision of the Advisory Board as to support and the amount and nature of support will be final.  The applicant will be notified in writing whether their application has been granted or denied.  Awards of grants will include terms and conditions setting out any requirements for the award appropriate to the circumstances.  These may include such things as terms of payment, progress reports, tracking of data or results, sharing of information, a final report, required matching funds etc.  Any award is conditioned on agreement to these terms.

 
Payment of grant funds will be made as funds are available after a formal decision has been reached by the Advisory Board and after signing of the grant award terms letter by applicant.  A favorable award decision to a candidate or campaign does not create or grant the applicant a property or contract right in that award or its payment.  Awards or payments made by the PAC are non-negotiable and cannot be passed through for direct funding to a candidate, or for any other purpose other than that submitted in the application, and approved by the Advisory Board. Any conditions for an award and reporting requirements to The 134 PAC will be set out in the terms of the grant award letter. A grant award does not create any contract or property rights or any sort of contract for payment of an award between an applicant and The 134 PAC, The 134 PAC LLC or any of their members, officers, advisory board members, employees agents, or volunteers. Up until payment has been made and received by the applicant, the PAC reserves the exclusive right within its discretion to postpone or withdraw support or payment for any reason

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION

The grant application period runs from May 1, 2022 through This is 5:00 p.m. on Friday October 21, 2022. The award of  grants is dependent on the amount of funds available. Once funds have been exhausted the PAC may accept applications but reserves the right to notify the applicant that no funds are currently available and the application will not be processed until  additional funds are available.  The earlier applications are submitted during an election cycle the greater the chances that funds will be available for an award.  Applications will be processed and reviewed in the order they are received.