On July 18, 2008, Etsy announced the Etsy Team Grant winners for July in this Storque article.

The original article contained this paragraph:

The So-Cal Bench Project Team will receive a grant to organize their artisan fair to benefit New Direction, Inc, a local non-profit in the Southern California community. The event takes place on August 9, 2008, from 9:30am-3pm in Culver City, California. For more information, visit the SoCal Bench Project website.

The Socal Bench Project team leader was notified by Etsy they would not be receiving their promised grant on August 6, only three days before the event.
The article has now been edited and this is the current version:

UPDATE 8/8/08: Unfortunately, we are no longer able to offer a grant to the So-Cal Bench Project Team at this time. The reality is that there are protocols we must follow. In this case, deadlines for submitting required materials were not met by the applying party and we were not able to process the payment. We wish all involved the very best of luck with this event , and encourage any and all to reapply next month.

Please go support this worthy cause on August 9, 2008, from 9:30am-3pm in Culver City, California. For more information, visit the SoCal Bench Project website.

The Etsy Team Coordinator has also commented in the Storque article comments:

sarawearsskirts says:

We love the opportunity to support Etsy Teams through the Team Grants program. Since we award several Grants each month, it is very important that Teams submit all the necessary information by the deadlines given when receiving a grant.
Unfortunately, we did not receive the information we needed in time to fulfill this grant. This change has been reflected in the article above.

If you have questions about this process or a grant, please contact me at teams@etsy.com.

Etsy claims the team did not send in their documents by the due dates, and that is why the grant was withdrawn. The leader of the Socal Bench Project team says in her blog that they did meet every deadline, and the documents were sent on time.

We know for sure that we emailed a copy of the proofs to you by the due date of July 24th; and subsequently the receipts by July 31st (though that may have been received on Aug 1st by you as we are on the west coast and it was sent after your office hours.). In addition to that, we never received any further communication from Etsy after we sent our information to you. We also did not receive any email last week regarding the status of the grant. Perhaps there was a problem with email?

This appears to be an issue of time zones and of unclear due dates. Etsy only said the documents had to be sent “by July 24th”. The Socal Bench Project team interpreted that to mean by midnight (local time, which is Pacific time in this case), while Etsy now says the deadline is the end of the business day, in the Eastern U.S. time zone. Those specifics were apparently not stated to the Team until after the deadline was allegedly “missed”.

This communication problem has resulted in the team losing it’s grant which was going to benefit New Directions, a non-profit organization that provides services for homeless veterans.
The Socal Bench Project is also part of the biggest street team on Etsy (CCCOE), and has done much work to promote Etsy and the handmade pledge.
After some public outcry on the Etsy Storque article and the team leader’s blog, Etsy admin Matt has announced that Etsy will donate $250 directly to New Directions.

matt says:

In recognition of a worthy cause, Etsy today donated $250 directly to the New Directions charity
(http://www.ndvets.com/ ). The SoCal Bench Project Etsy Team is holding an event this weekend to
support veterans through this organization.

Etsy previously announced that the SoCal Bench Project Etsy team would receive a $200 grant to help offset the printing costs associated with this event. The Grant was not ultimately funded because deadlines were missed. We apologize for the poor timing of these announcements.

Etsy Grants is a new program designed to help Etsy Teams hold events and promote their shops
and Etsy. It’s important that Etsy diligently adhere to the rules and deadlines associated with the Grants Program so that we can be responsible stewards of our funds and so that we can offer monies in a timely way.

We understand that our communication around this specific Grant could have been better. And, while we remain committed to enforcing the rules and deadlines associated with the Grants Program, we don’t want the New Directions charity to miss out on this opportunity to positively interact with Etsy sellers and Etsy.

To avoid this type of confusion in the future, Team Grant winners will now be announced
after the Grant funds have been submitted to the Team.

Thank you.