Over the last couple of years, the Community Foundation has worked to revamp our grantmaking to align with our “Let’s Rise!” Vision Plan and make our giving as fair, equitable, and impactful as possible. Our Rising Together Grants offer general operating support to local nonprofits via five pillars – Connected Community, Everyone’s Economy, Lifelong Learning, Inspiring Places, and Healthy Mind & Body. These signature grants are funded through the Paul Clarke Endowment and the Community Impact Fund.
2024 marks the first year of a new application for each of the pillars. This application focuses on assessing the health of organizations. From financial wellness to staff evaluations to board diversity, a healthy organization is better positioned to serve the community while also being able to sustain its own operations. Each pillar has its own review committee made up of community members who evaluate applications and make funding recommendations to the CFGFW board. Connected Community was the first pillar to use the new application and evaluation. The 2024 Connected Community application opened on February 1, closed on March 1, and the review committee met on March 28 to discuss their evaluations and make their recommendations.
The Everyone’s Economy application is currently open. The deadline is 11:59 p.m. on May 1. Applicants can expect a decision within 60 days of the deadline. Apply online!