Deadline: 4-Sep-20
The Community Foundation for Monterey County is pleased to announce its Small grant program.
The Community Foundation for Monterey County’s strategic plan embraces a countywide vision of Healthy, Safe and Vibrant Communities.
Scope & Characteristics
- Limited size and scope programs
- Serve specific community or neighborhood
- Smaller organizations
- First-time Community Impact applicants
Program Areas
Community Development: The Foundation support community-building activities that engage individuals and communities to lead efforts that create opportunities for local problem solving. They support strategies to enhance community environments so that all residents have safe, welcoming and accessible places and spaces to live, work and play; and they invest in activities that increase opportunities for the economic security and advancement of young adults and low-income residents.
Funding Priorities:
- Community organizing and leadership development that engages people in addressing issues of mutual concern and
- leading positive change in their community (e.g., organize residents to address neighborhood concerns, training for
- emerging leaders)
- Community revitalization to make public spaces accessible, family-friendly and safe (e.g., community gardens,
- development of bike/walking trails, community emergency preparedness, collaboration and joint use agreements with
- schools and other public buildings/spaces, etc.)
- Immigrant and basic adult literacy services to help people access information they need to fully participate in their communities, workplace and 21st-century commerce (e.g., citizenship classes, language acquisition, family financial management, digital literacy, etc.)
- Employment readiness, skills training and other employment resources that increase access to living-wage jobs (e.g.,
- summer jobs for youth, career counseling, job search and interviewing skills)
Arts & Culture & Historic Preservation: The Foundation foster activities and programs that broaden, diversify and deepen participation in quality artistic experiences, especially among youth, multicultural and other new audiences. The Foundation fund activities that preserve and celebrate Monterey County’s rich and diverse history.
Funding Priorities:
- youth (e.g., art appreciation programs, youth mentorship, artistic training and performance opportunities
- Efforts to reach new and under served audiences with relevant, high-quality, artistic experiences (e.g., targeted marketing and outreach efforts, strategic initiatives for audience development, programming to attract new audiences, development of bilingual and bi-cultural programs)
- Community-building programs that use the arts to promote cultural expression, build community pride and bridge cultural divides (e.g., community art projects, multicultural programming)
- Efforts to preserve, restore and interpret historic places, structures and artifacts that are significant to Monterey County’s history (e.g., interpretation plans, structural assessments, archival enhancements)
- Educational programs that cultivate interest, understanding and pride in the history and cultures of region (e.g., historic curriculum enhancements, school field trip destinations)
Environment & Animal Welfare: The Foundation supports programs that educate and involve local residents in protecting and preserving the natural resources and sustaining healthy ecosystems; and they invest in animal welfare programs that promote the responsible and humane treatment of companion animals.
Funding Priorities:
- Environmental education and hands-on experiences for youth that inspire responsible stewardship of the natural resources (e.g., food systems, watershed, energy use, biodiversity and inter-dependence, climate change, etc.)
- Activities that help sustain healthy ecosystems and other efforts to ensure a healthy Monterey County for current and
- future generations (e.g., habitat restoration, efficient energy use, recycling, park/beach clean-ups, etc.)
- Prevention programs that address pet overpopulation, abuse, neglect and homelessness
- Programs that support vulnerable people (e.g., seniors, disabled) in keeping their companion animals at home
Funding Information
- Grant Amount: $5,000–$15,000
Eligibility Criteria
- Community Impact grants are open to 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations and public agencies serving Monterey County residents.
- All requested funding must directly benefit residents of Monterey County.
- All organizations applying for a grant must be current on reporting obligations for past CFMC grants.
- In general, an organization is eligible to receive only one Community Impact grant per calendar year. Only one application per grant cycle will be considered. Your application should focus on one program area, for example, Children & Youth Development OR Environmental & Animal Welfare, not both. Only one Community Impact grant per organization will be awarded each calendar year, unless the grant is for a multi-organization collaborative project.
Exclusions
Grant funds cannot be used for the following types of activities:
- Activities that are non-secular or promote a religious doctrine
- Academic research
- Fundraising campaigns or fundraising events
- Funding to K-12 schools and public agencies that would supplant tax-supported, mandated services or for the acquisition or renovation of equipment and facilities
- Creation of, or addition to, an endowment fund
- Payment of debt or legal settlements
- Political or partisan purposes
- Expenses incurred prior to the grant award date
- Same purpose as an Opportunity, Organizational Development or Stanton grant in the same calendar year
For more information, visit https://www.cfmco.org/nonprofits/grants/community-impact/
