Grant Program Information:
Annually the Community Foundation distributes approximately $350,000 through the General Operating and Program Support Grant Cycle. In fiscal year 2011, the General Operating and Program Support Grant Cycle distributed over 60 grants with an average grant size of $5,000.
How to Apply:
The deadline for the application is January 15th (or if the 15th falls on a weekend or holiday, the next business day) at 5:00pm. In the interest of fairness, this deadline is taken very seriously and proposals received at any time after the deadline will not be considered. There are no exceptions to this policy. Organizations whose applications are late or incomplete may reapply the following year.
The new online application requires you to create an account using your email address and a password. This will allow access to your grant application at a later time to complete a saved application that has not been submitted; or to see past submitted grant applications. (Note: only online applications will be listed).
The Community Foundation will no longer accept paper applications for its Community Grants process. Applications will be available online on 11/1.
If you have questions about the online grants application process, email Amanda Akers or call her at 253.383.5622.
NOTE: The Community Foundation is now accepting requests for multi-year funding. This is the second year to implement multi-year funding and we anticipate only awarding a few multi-year grants.
Review Process:
All fully completed applications that are received by the deadline undergo an assessment by staff and the Vibrant Community Grants Committee appointed by the Board of Directors. Sitting on this committee are both members of the Board and other volunteers of the Community Foundation. The Grants Committee submits its recommendations to the Board of Directors for final approval.
Notification:
Organizations will be notified on their grant status by April 30.
Evaluation:
The Community Foundation has changed the way we evaluate our grants by emphasizing collaboration, partnerships and deepening relationships by increasing convening and conversation opportunities. Therefore, the Community Foundation uses the following strategies to evaluate the effectiveness of our grants:
· Site visits – used to assess progress and understand successes and challenges of grants receive by individual agencies
· Roundtable dialogues – used to assess progress of grant focus goals and to build, deepen and grow relationships
· Year-end reports – used to assess data already collected by organizations to deepen our understanding of the issues that affect the community
NOTE: Organizations that receive a Vibrant Community grant are strongly encouraged to participate in all evaluation strategies of the Community Foundation.
