Deadline: 28-Feb-21
Applications are now open for Community Foundation for Mason County Grant Program. The Community Foundation for Mason County (CFMC), they’re dedicated to giving voice and resources to programs with the potential to create lasting, positive change for the community.
Through grantmaking, they partner with area organizations, supporting projects that reflect the needs and diversity of the region, and serve donors’ shared desire to enhance the quality of life for people in Mason County, now and far into the future.
Areas of Focus
- Arts.
- Encourage quality arts programming benefiting a diverse audience.
- Support arts education and programs for youth.
- Improve access to cultural programs, especially for children and youth.
- Promote financial stability and organizational development for arts organizations.
- Community Development / Urban Revitalization.
- Support community development projects which enhance the downtown and lakeshore areas.
- Support capital projects if they have county-wide impact and benefit.
- Support capital renovation projects only if they provide new and expanded programming.
- Support civic improvement and economic development efforts.
- Support programs that will enhance the perception and image of the community.
- Education.
- Promote educational opportunities through post-secondary scholarships.
- Environment.
- Environmental education for all age levels.
- Promotion of comprehensive community planning, priorities, and strategies.
- Support for balanced and innovative land-use planning.
- Support for projects to protect and restore green spaces, shorelines, dune areas and wildlife habitat, water quality, and air quality.
- Health and Human Services.
- Promote healthy lifestyles through education and prevention programming.
- Improve access to quality health care for all residents.
- Promote health programs and projects that increase the quality of health care available in Mason County.
- Support programs that encourage families to become self-sufficient.
- Meeting the Needs of Children Ages 0 – 5.
- Promote responsible parenting through outreach services and education programs, including the special needs of at-risk parents and teen pregnancy prevention programming.
- Promote good health and protection for infants and toddlers.
- Promote quality child care choices for young children.
- Emerging Community Needs.
The Foundation recognizes that standard grant-making categories do not always encompass all community needs. The Distribution Committee and focused grant committees will, to the extent appropriate and possible, accommodate other requests that address important or emerging community issues.
Criteria
They give grants to 501(c)(3) organizations, churches, schools, agencies and governmental units serving the greater Mason County area.
- Qualities of the best grant proposals:
- Collaborative, comprehensive, and sustainable.
- Designed to prevent problems, rather than simply addressing the effects of problems.
- Provide start-up or seed funding for innovative projects.
- Leverage grant dollars to bring in additional funds; have multiple sources of funding.
- The strongest proposals are submitted by organizations that have:
- Adequate staff/organizational capacity to achieve the proposed goal.
- Sound fiscal policy and responsible financial management.
- Staff and board of directors reflective of the organization’s audience.
- Ability to measure the impact of grant money and report the results.
- Proven record of cooperating with other organizations.
- Capacity to understand and explain how the project will relate to other area services/organizations.
- A broad base of community support.
Application Process
- Registration: Choose a login name and password to create your user account in Submittable. Whenever possible, utilize a general email, rather than an email tied to an individual within your organization.
- Grant Application: The last step of the process is the submission of your detailed proposal, or grant application, for review by their volunteer Grant Review Committees and staff members. All final decisions are made by their Board of Trustees.
- Final Grant Report: If your program is supported by a grant, you will be required to submit a final grant report to share the impact of your project.
For more information, visit https://mason-foundation.org/grants/applying-for-a-grant/