As part of its mission of promoting the use of GIS in its member states, MAGIC has provided funding for numerous efforts over the past several years. Because there has been revenue generated from past conferences, and as a non-profit entity, the group feels that it must continue with this practice.

The group has also struggled with an appropriate way to provide this funding. In the past some items were standing items, such as support for State conferences and travel funding for a representative to the NSGIC conference. Other efforts have been funded when a project has been proposed, and seen as beneficial for the region.

The goal of this project is to formalize a grant process through MAGIC that would hopefully open up opportunities for a broader range of project to be funded, or partially funded by MAGIC.

The outcomes of this process are as follows:

1. Determine what level of funding to make available for grants in a given 2 year period.
2. Define what type of project(s) and entities would be eligible for funding through MAGIC.
3. Define the schedule for the process.
4. Determine if there needs to be a distribution policy to ensure funds are allocated across all MAGIC States.
5. Determine if there is to be a cap to the funds allocated to one project.
6. Set grant requirements. ie, should there be matching funds, one time project, return/use of grant funded materials, etc.
7. Develop the criteria by which grant selections would be made.
8. Set a committee that would review submitted grants.