NonProfit NewsPod: SMUD Shine Awards. What They Are, Why Apply and Pre-Application Support.

Jeff Holden: [00:00:00] Welcome to this Nonprofit Podcast News Pod, where we amplify the voices of nonprofit leaders making a difference in their communities. This one's a little bit different. I'm joined by Kevin Burdick of SMUD to share some information about the Shine Awards. Kevin Burdick, welcome to this Nonprofit Podcast News Pod.

Kevin Burdick: Thanks for having me, Jeff. Really excited to be back. 

Jeff Holden: You are the sustainable community partnership specialist at SMUD, or the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, and we're gonna discuss a very important program to the nonprofit community, and that is the SMUD Shine Awards program. I know you are now into your tenth cohort with the program, and while we would mis- make that assumption over the period of time, boy, everybody knows about this, the fact is they don't.

So let's tell them a little bit about it. Could you give us a [00:01:00] high-level overview of what the Shine Awards really are? 

Kevin Burdick: Yeah. Totally. And, and first I wanna say thanks for having us on again. For SMUD, something that really stuck out to us about, uh, nine years ago was Sacramento unfortunately was falling behind in a lot of reports around economic development, prosperity, things that we don't wanna see, and then also was falling behind in our air quality across, uh, the, across the United States.

And so as your not-for-profit, community-owned el- electric utility, we wanted to find some programs that can help our community, you know, kinda catch up and make things right. So the Shine Awards program is one of these programs that allows us to make sure that our nonprofit community isn't left behind in this clean energy vision that we talk about and the zero carbon plan.

So we provide project-based funding on an annual basis, uh, to local nonprofits. Uh, could be a s- a small all-volunteer run organization, or it could be those organizations that are very large and robust, but they still need assistance with, you know, their facilities. They pay a SMUD bill, uh, or maybe they [00:02:00] can help us get the word out about clean energy to their community as trusted messengers.

Really, it's a awesome opportunity, happens every year during this time, with applications coming open this summer, where organizations can apply for a competitive funding program to get some real investment and really help, uh, all the amazing work that they do. 

Jeff Holden: And we're gonna have a little bit more information as we get into that open registration period, which takes place, I believe, starting in June and ends at the end of July, correct?

Kevin Burdick: Yeah. Yeah, so June, uh, one to July 31 is our kinda general application timeline, but we host all sorts of resource workshops, uh, so nonprofits don't go into the application blindly. We'll literally provide them the answers. We'll show them all the questions that we're asking, why we're asking those questions.

And truly so these organizations, you know, aside from all the amazing work that they do, they're not- Spending all their time on this application, we can really kinda lay it out for them so that they also know what, what things SMUD cares about and why we, we continue to push forward with this program. So it really is to show them, uh, that we're here to [00:03:00] help and, uh, hopefully get some really creative and awesome applications when the application closes on July 31st.

Jeff Holden: And that's the interest in having this start in May and getting some of that messaging out, because you do have all these opportunities to learn more about not only the application process, but even the qualification. Do I fit? Is this something that works for me? Can I transfer this program into a possibility of a grant?

Is there a way that I can get that done? That's taking place pre-application, correct? 

Kevin Burdick: Yeah. Yeah. So we, again, we wanna talk about the program guidelines. Of course, we post this stuff on our website and our social platforms, but oftentimes we wanna just be able to provide a conversation with whether it's the executive director, uh, might be a grant writer, or it might just be the board president who's a volunteer and volunteering their time.

We'll do, uh, these webinar-based programs where we go through the entire, you know, from start to finish, this is how a, a project is successful. We'll share with them some examples of previous projects as well, so that they can kinda get an idea of what types of projects have been successful. We offer out some [00:04:00] Q&A, some brainstorming.

Oftentimes we kind of have an aha moment with an organization and they're like, "Oh my gosh, I should... Yeah, of course, we'll apply for this and we'll figure this out." We'll also provide them some resources and things that SMUD publishes and SMUD's able to do so that they can help ideate and figure out what types of projects are successful.

Because the last thing we want is them to, you know, of course, use their valuable time to go through the, the motions and apply for a project that is something we wouldn't fund. That's the last thing we wanna do. So really a lot of communication ahead of time before the application opens so that they know we're here to help.

Jeff Holden: And let's address some of those things while we're talking about it because those are some of the questions that are going to come up. There is a geographical limitation on who can apply. What does that look like? 

Kevin Burdick: Yeah. So with Shine, we just wanna make sure that all of the project deliverables that an organization is asking us for remain in our service territory.

So SMUD, we service all of Sacramento County, so we wanna make sure that the, uh, nonprofit project that they're proposing is happening within the county as well. There are some... This does allow for some organizations [00:05:00] that do service delivery outside of Sacramento County, maybe they're in West Sacramento, maybe they're in Stockton.

As long as they do the delivery of the project in Sacramento County, they're eligible to apply. 

Jeff Holden: And see, that's great to hear because I know of some organizations that do have activity and/or projects in Sacramento County. Of course, they're Yolo, El Dorado, wherever they may happen to be, Placer. And the amounts of the Shine awards are f-from small to pretty significant, if I'm not mistaken, up to $100,000?

Kevin Burdick: Yeah, that's correct. So, uh, the highest amount is $100,000. The lowest is 5,000, so really everything in between. The only thing that changes, we do allow-- we do require a match, some portion of a match in order for the project to be successful. So the organization might match some labor or salaries, or they might have a program that they wanna match with their budget.

They g- most of the times, there are really creative ways to make this really simple, but yeah, it'll go all the way from $5,000 up to $100,000 with the goal of the project being finished in one calendar year. So whether [00:06:00] that's... Sometimes projects takes as short as four months, uh, sometimes they take a full 12 months to deliver.

Jeff Holden: I know I didn't have this on the questions, but I'll bet you have an example or two of projects that were successful that you could relate to and say something like this. 

Kevin Burdick: Yeah. One example that I love, we had an organization, they're based in South Sac, called Daughters of Zion Enterprise. They're, uh, right off, uh, Highway 99 and, and 44th Avenue.

They're a small coat closet, a small food bank as well, and they came to us just saying, "Hey, I've heard about this Shine program. We don't know how we fit." We met with them. We identified that they are a warehouse. They do amazing food distributions. We sent a contractor out to their facility to identify some, really some low-lift options to improve their energy efficiency in their building.

Uh, we gave them a proposal of what that looked like. They turned that proposal into an application. It ended up saving them, I wanna say, about $2,400 of their, over their annual energy bill that they're paying to SMUD, so [00:07:00] remove those savings. It allowed them to reinvest those dollars back into the great work that they're doing, and it ended up increasing their capacity to serve people by 500 new families for each quarter of...

And this was a project from last year. So we had this, you know, again, this organization that had no idea how they would be a fit for Shine. They came to one of our workshops. We kind of really walked with them to figure out some energy-saving opportunities, and they're saving money on their SMUD bill.

They're reinvesting those dollars back into the community and ending up servicing more people, you know, where wallets are much more tighter today, you know, and, and the services that they provide are so vital. So just for us to be a part of that story is so special. 

Jeff Holden: What a great example, too, and that's in, in the small sense.

That's a, a small organization. The significance of that as it escalates into bigger projects and bigger organizations only gives that much more capacity and support into the community. So it really is A huge deal for some of these organizations. They get the benefit of one of these awards. Mm-hmm. 

Kevin Burdick: Oh, yeah.

And, [00:08:00] you know, we also allow for organizations to come back as a Shine partner, so they can apply one year. Let's say they're successful, they realize that they wanna now focus on, you know, something else that fits the Shine purview, and so they can kind of come back, uh, as a Shine awardee, uh, over multiple years if they want.

Of course, we wanna make sure that it's a, a, a different project than the first one, right? We don't wanna upgrade their HVAC if they've already done that. So it's just... it's an amazing opportunity to really work with us and, and we're truly a partner and, and we'll help them figure out ways that they can be successful.

Jeff Holden: Can you give us a, a bit of the scope of what's taking place pre-application and registration window opening that would be some of the coursework or some of the activities that you're hosting for the nonprofits who are interested in learning a little bit more about it? 

Kevin Burdick: Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, right now we're in the process of hosting these informational webinars, and we do a little bit of a slideshow to show, you know, of course, we want you to know about all of the dates that we talked about.

You know, the application opens [00:09:00] on June 1 and closes on July 31. Here are the categories of the type of funding that we provide. Here's the exact dollar figures that we're talking about. Uh, but then, like I mentioned, we, we share a lot of examples of successful projects so that people know exactly like, "Okay, I can see how...

I've seen that organization do that before. So good to know it was a Shine project and, and I can figure out how to, how we work with that." And we'll also share what resources are available at SMUD, and we'll send a follow-up email. We'll send all the resources to them so that they can kinda start that pre-work.

You know, if their organization has a facility and maybe wanna identify some cost-saving measures or some opportunities to electrify their building, convert them from a gas source to an electric source, we help them. We'll kind of get them in the, in the queue so that, uh, one of our trusted advisors can get in touch with them and, and really provide that proposal that I mentioned earlier with the Daughters of Zion example.

Separately, you know, with any grant application, really the pre-work is kind of identifying what are those costs. So what, you know, what are you gonna apply for, for Shine? What are you asking us to pay [00:10:00] for? And how does that work with your budget, what you're applying for, what you're matching? So really, that's kind of the pre-work, but we're...

During the application window, we're also helping with those items as well. 

Jeff Holden: In terms of the funding, it's not unlimited, I'm sure. Is, is there a cap on it? Is there a, a number that you set each year? How do you determine what the maximum amount of funding is gonna be? 

Kevin Burdick: Yeah, it stays, uh, relatively similar. So I'll use kinda the last two years of Shine, uh, as an example.

I think they paint a good picture. This year in 2026, we announced 25 nonprofit recipients for $524,000 in funding. Obviously- Oh ... a very significant amount, which is just, you know, incredible testament to the leadership here at SMUD that have allowed us to run this program so successfully for so long. And then last year in 2025, it was only, it was 21 nonprofits, so a little bit lower, but it was $532,000.

So the number of nonprofits typically changes. Uh, the funding amount stays around that 524,000, $530,000 threshold, [00:11:00] but it really just depends on the applications we receive. We might receive more inquiries for $100,000 award versus, you know, there's sometimes where we get smaller inquiries, right, for a 5,000 to $10,000 award.

So really the number of nonprofits is really what changes the most. 

Jeff Holden: Sure. And that'll just dictate the number of people that play in that pool of half a million dollars, let's say. 

Kevin Burdick: Yeah, exactly. We, of course, look at our entire, you know, our service area, the Sacramento County map, and make sure that are we investing in all areas of Sacramento?

Are we investing in the areas that really need a little bit more help? Um, we see a lot of service providers in, you know, certain parts of Sacramento, so are we really spreading the love? So there's a lot of different ways that we make sure that we're being as equitable as possible during this process. I mean, it makes the, the process a little stressful, but, uh, really fun to make sure that we're being as impactful as possible.

Jeff Holden: Which leads me to the next question. You teased it up perfectly, is how are the decisions made on who gets what? 

Kevin Burdick: Uh, I just throw the papers in the air and pick one. No. I'm kidding. And whoever falls. You know, [00:12:00] we, we have... What's really special is this is an effort that is, has a lot of attention from a lot of folks here at SMUD.

One thing I love about working at SMUD, we just have some incredibly talented and, and very smart individuals who work here. And look, I'm not a subject matter expert on an HVAC, but we have people who are. And so we have close to f- between 15 and 20 folks here at SMUD who are on the kinda the review committee that really help us read through each application, make sure that the information being provided is, uh, in fact true, that it's impactful, and that it has a good connection to that clean energy vision I talked about earlier.

And then we have a s- you know, kind of a standard scoring rubric. We try to look at every application every which way we can. And then ultimately, you know, once we review them, it start, it starts to shake out how those applications are formed and w- and where we can kinda put the dollars towards. And of course, like I said, we wanna make sure- That using, we have a resource priority map that shows all the issues facing Sacramento.

Uh, it's available on our website. It's a free resource. And so we [00:13:00] kinda l- layer out how do these awards look in comparison to that map? Are we making sure that we are being as equitable as possible? So it's a very long process. You know, the review process for us is about five months, and we c- just 'cause we wanna make sure we're making the right decisions for our customers and our community.

Jeff Holden: And the other part of this is i- it's not like there's an overwhelming number of thousands of applications that you get. I think last year you said it was maybe only 105, 110-ish, something like that? Yeah. 

Kevin Burdick: Uh, we, we get about 100, 104 last year, or this most previous year. 

Jeff Holden: Which is amazing to think, boy, there's a lot of opportunity if you're considering application process or applying for one of the grants.

My gosh, g- get in, because your, your odds are really good that you could be awarded, you know, something to support your project. 

Kevin Burdick: Yeah. Yeah, you know, w- with Sacramento, the number of nonprofits really fluctuates, that, that I hear all the time. But what's really consistent for us is Shine has been here, we're going on our 10th year, we are always [00:14:00] here.

And even if, if an organization applies, and let's say they put a-- forward an application that's just something that doesn't really quite fit Shine, or it's just not quite, y- you know, following the clean energy vision, we'll still meet with the organization if they get the, you know, the unfortunate news that they're, that they weren't selected.

We'll still meet with you to say, "Hey, here's what, you know, our reviewers were saying. Here are some things you missed. Let's figure out how next year at this time we get yourself a, a really competitive application in." You know, 'cause as much as I'd love to say yes to everybody, we just, we just can't. You know, ultimately, we wanna make sure that our applications are, you know, competitive.

They're something that we look at and we're like, "Dang, we have to fund this." So it's nice to know when we have those competitive applications come in, but of course, we can't pick every one. But those ones that we don't, we will meet with them to figure out, like, what's your next step? How do we also make sure that your community isn't left behind in this effort even though we didn't select you as a Shine awardee?

There's still other opportunities to talk about clean energy and, and also make a competitive application [00:15:00] the following year. 

Jeff Holden: And even help them, help them maximize the efficiency of their existing operation, whatever it may be. Whatever it may be, that's right. Yeah, I love that about the organization, and that, again, feeds right into the next question.

You may not be fluent in English, but you have the capacity to support other languages as well for those who maybe think, "Oh boy, I just don't know it. It's, it's maybe beyond the scope of my comprehension for the language." No, that's not true. 

Kevin Burdick: Yeah. Yeah, we put every... Our application's available in up to eight languages, including English, and then we have translators as well, so...

And, and then also what's great about s- if you go to smud.org anyways and just toggle the language button on the top right, we have 15 languages available. But all of our printed materials, we put it in eight languages, and so we just wanna make sure it's as accessible as possible, that we're not leaving anybody behind.

Jeff Holden: Anything that you'd like to add before we close? And I'll, I'll... Before we do that, too, I wanna make sure we address where to go, what that website is, and we will [00:16:00] put that in the show notes. Where is it that they should go, Kevin? 

Kevin Burdick: Yeah, just smud.org/shine. Even if you just maybe Google Shine Awards for SMUD, you'll find it, but smud.org/shine is that link for you.

Jeff Holden: And now is the time to get in front of it before the application window opens up, so that you can learn about what might be right for your organization and how to go about the process, get in front of some of those courses and classes and things that you can learn even from other organizations that have gone through the process and successfully been awarded.

Kevin Burdick: Yeah, we really want, you know, to see some really competitive applications. We also really encourage organizations to team up with each other and collaborate on an application. That just makes it a lot more tantalizing for us when these organizations are, are communicating with each other, when they're applying together.

That happened last year for the first time, so we're excited to see that continue to grow. 

Jeff Holden: We push that through the program, our program as well, to find out who people are collaborating with. It's so important. And a lot of the grants, funding grants are coming across now, they wanna see collaboration. Who else are you working with and really engaging the entire ecosystem for that [00:17:00] particular cause and mission?

So I, I love what, what you guys are doing with this program. Are there any closing comments before we, uh, before we wrap? 

Kevin Burdick: Yeah, totally. I first wanna say something that I jotted down my notes is, so last year we saw an significant increase in the number of first-time Shine applicants. So, you know, in theory, the number kinda should go down every year that the program exists.

We should start to see fewer first-time applicants. But last year we saw an increase, and I fully wanted to give you some credit too, Jeff, for helping us get the word out about this program so that more organizations are aware of it, and then hopefully more organizations apply. But I would just say, too, for anybody listening, like this is just the time to see the program.

Of course, when a, you see a deadline date, right, the applications close July 31st, you're like, "Ah, I'm gonna wait till July 27th or 26th." Now is the time to talk. Like, now is the time we're happy to help, we're-- we can provide you resources, or we can show you some answers a little [00:18:00] bit on, on some of our webinars, you know, and really just try to be as collaborative as possible.

But we just don't wanna see anybody, you know, open up the application on July 31st and be like, "Ah, well, I guess we didn't put our best foot forward." So this is really the time to, to talk to us. 

Jeff Holden: Yeah, my suggestion to everybody, and hopefully there will be a lot more people who are now familiar with the awards, this is not, "I'll pull an all-nighter and make it happen."

Do not, do not put it off. If you're interested, get started early, learn early, and in fact, now is the time to get your head around it so that you can get that application done early and not have to worry about it at the 11th hour. 

Kevin Burdick: Yeah, that's right. And, and that's easy to say, right? You know, it's, uh, it's, it's May right now- I think I've done that a million times where I'm like, "I'll get to it," and then you blink and wow, it's already August.

So, but yeah, the, the amount of time that we see, you know, organizations really put in the work and come to our workshops, generally those, uh, organizations seem to be pretty successful in the application phase. 

Jeff Holden: Well, Kevin, thank you for what you and SMUD do. [00:19:00] Uh, I, I just love what SMUD, a community-owned, not-for-profit utility does in making significant contributions to the very nonprofits that we all need and you serve.

So these Shine Awards are really a great benefit. I hope everybody pays attention. If they've been thinking about ways to get some support to increase capacity, this is just another avenue that maybe they didn't think about, and it's just around the corner. We're a little bit ahead of it, and now's the time to be thinking about.

So thank you. Thank you for the program. 

Kevin Burdick: Thanks for having me. Really 

Jeff Holden: appreciate it. SMUD Sacramento Utility District Shine Awards. You can find the link to the awards in the show notes as well. Thanks for listening. If you like our program, please subscribe, give us a positive review, and share with someone you know.

This nonprofit podcast news pod is a production of Hear Me Now [00:20:00] Studio.