Cottage Grove Economic Development Authority hears report

Meeting Tuesday, May 10 at 7:30 a.m., the Cottage Grove Economic Development Authority (EDA) heard about DARTS, an area non-profit dedicated to helping seniors.

The acronym DARTS stands for Dakota Area Resources and Transportation for Seniors, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping seniors in the area. The full name was shortened to the acronym in 2008.

Presenting on the DARTS Annual Report with other agenda business was Cottage Grove economic development director Gretchen Larson, who took some time to highlight key aspects. First though, there was DARTS itself. What was—or is—it exactly? Larson had the quick summary.

“We met with DARTS,” Larson said. “They submitted their annual report to the city. They had 554 Onsite Services, and those are where they go to the single-family homes and help with snow removal or put grab bars in your shower,” she said, adding that the record of DARTS was “darn good.”

Among details for the DARTS Annual Report were a total of 1,714 people served, 6,700 volunteer Hours from 643 volunteers (dividing out to just over 10 per volunteer on average), and the pie chart report for revenues and expenditures overall.

“Their revenues exceeded their expenditures,” Larson noted, saying this showed they were operating in an efficient manner. With total operating revenue of $2,136,308 and total operating expenditures of $2,059,984, DARTS had a positive balance of $76,324 after the year 2021.

Of the revenues, 17 percent was tied to General and Administrative,’ 22 percent was marked Service Coordination and Caregiving,’ 19 percent was marked Home Services, 15 percent was tied to Transportation, 24 percent was marked for Undesignated Contributions, and three percent was designated for Learning Buddies. Of total operating expenditures for DART, nine percent had gone to Fundraising, 13 percent to General and Administrative costs, 25 percent went for Service Coordination and Caregiving,’ 29 percent for Home Services, 20 percent for Transportation, and five percent for Learning Buddies.

“We are going to be meeting with them again in a few months,” Larson said of the non-profit, “just to kind of check back in.”

As to the other details of the May 10 EDA meeting, check back next week. Returning to DARTS for a moment though, these are some of the services the organiza-

Image courtesy CottageGroveMN Youtube Channel.

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Image from Cottage Grove EDA Presentation broadcast via the CottageGroveMN Youtube Channel.

The Cottage Grove Economic Development Authority (EDA) heard the DARTS Annual Report at its May 10 meeting. DARTS is an organization dedicated to helping seniors, with more information at https://dartsconnects.org.