The Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne (CFGFW) surprised five local nonprofit organizations this week with $5,000 general operating grants, recognizing their significant growth and improvement through the Foundation’s grantmaking process.
These surprise awards honor one “most improved” organization in each of the Foundation’s five funding pillars of the Let’s Rise! Vision Plan: Healthy Mind & Body, Lifelong Learning, Connected Community, Everyone’s Economy, and Inspiring Places.
The recipients are:
• Healthy Mind & Body: Crossroad Child & Family Services, Inc.
• Lifelong Learning: Alive Community Outreach
• Connected Community: Northeast Indiana Public Radio (WBOI)
• Everyone’s Economy: Fort Wayne Clubhouse, Inc. d/b/a The Carriage House
• Inspiring Places: Heartland Sings Inc.
In 2023, CFGFW restructured its grantmaking to align with the pillars of the Let’s Rise! Vision Plan, with the goal of creating broader community impact and ensuring more equitable access to funding opportunities. In 2024, the Foundation implemented several key changes to its grant application and review process, including the introduction of an eligibility quiz, new questions focused on organizational health, and the use of a standardized evaluation rubric.
The publicly available rubric included in the Rising Together Grant Guidelines evaluates applicants based on governance practices, human resources practices, programs, and financial and fundraising sustainability. With two years of data now available, the Foundation has been able to track progress over time and identify organizations that have made meaningful improvements in their scores. Across all five pillars, the greatest area of improvement was in finance and fundraising, signaling stronger long-term sustainability among participating nonprofits.
“These grants are a way for us to celebrate growth,” said Angela Stanley, Director of Impact at the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne. “We’ve seen nonprofits take our feedback seriously and strengthen their operations.”
CFGFW’s grant review process is built on collaboration, fairness, and subject expertise. TheFoundation operates one Strategic Grants Committee for each of its five funding pillars, alongwith a Grants Advisory Committee. Each committee includes four to six members, at least one of whom is a subject matter expert (SME).
This structure allows committees to review applications from organizations working in similar areas, rather than comparing nonprofits from unrelated fields. The focused approach promotes more consistent and equitable evaluations, while SMEs ensure that funding decisions are informed by professional insight and lived experience.
“Our committee structure helps ensure that every application is reviewed with both care and context,” said Alison Gerardot, Chief Impact Officer. “It’s not just about awarding dollars, it’s about supporting organizations on a path toward long-term strength and impact.”
The Community Foundation plans to continue using data from its grant evaluation rubric to guide improvements to its grantmaking process and to recognize nonprofit growth in future cycles.
Access more information about Rising Together Grants and the evaluation rubric on our website.