Deadline: 12-Oct-20
The Jewish Community Foundation is accepting Letters of Intent to help support Jewish organizations in Greater Phoenix facing extraordinary needs due to the pandemic.
Each year, contributions from hundreds of donors enable the Jewish Community Foundation to award grants to a variety of organizations making a difference in Greater Phoenix and Israel.
In light of COVID-19 and the ongoing impact on non-profits and the communities they serve, 2021 grants will be limited to the Greater Phoenix community.
Grants are supported by three unique endowments:
- Fund for Jewish Philanthropy
- Field of Interest Funds
- Jewish Women’s Endowment Fund.
Funding Areas
The Jewish Community Foundation will consider letters of intent in the following categories:
- COVID-19 Grants:
- Jewish 501c3 organizations that help the most vulnerable in the community satisfy their most basic needs, including access to food and medical services, and payment for utilities and housing.
- The foundation is also focused on the stability of local Jewish 501c3 organizations that are challenged by the pandemic’s economic effects. Fundraising, programs, events, and ordinary revenue streams have been disrupted.
- Program Grants:
- New programs designed to address unmet needs in the Jewish community, or which offer a unique approach to enhancing the Jewish community.
- Innovative one-time programs that offer the Jewish community both immediate benefits and the potential for long-term enrichment (exhibits, community-wide events, feasibility study).
- Program expansion for well-established programs will be considered if the request reflects a significant new component to the project.
- The enhancement and continuation of successful community programs. Such programs must fill a need or service gap in the community.
- Organizational capacity building, defined as improving the overall performance, effectiveness, and financial sustainability of local Jewish organizations, to better deliver its mission.
- Funding Priorities:
- Jewish learning – formal and informal education experiences for people of all ages
- Outreach – engagement of the broader Jewish community
- Interfaith responses to community needs or issues, designed to strengthen community relations and foster collaboration
- Social service needs, including but not limited to health and welfare
- Strengthening and increasing exposure to Jewish art and culture
- Research projects that improve the quality of Jewish life
- Resettlement aid and assistance services to Jewish refugees.
Funding Information
- The typical grant award ranges from $2,500 – $20,000.
- Grants above $20,000 may occasionally be awarded, but larger allocations generally are reserved for programs that will become an ongoing part of an organization’s work.
What the Foundation does not fund?
- Organizations that are not recognized as registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit entities
- Multi-year grant requests
- General operating support, except for COVID-19 response grants
- Capital, endowment, ongoing or other fundraising campaigns
- Scholarships
- Equipment purchase to replace or upgrade equipment for an existing program/service/office
- Donor, staff, or volunteer recognition events
- Grants to individuals
- Projects in their entirety
- Proposals from organizations that do not follow application procedures
- Renewed support to past grantees that have not met reporting requirements.
How to Apply
- Step 1- Letter of Intent
- Any organization applying for a grant must first submit a Letter of Intent (LOI) via the Foundation’s online portal, following the Foundation’s instructions. The LOI is an informational proposal that allows the Foundation to determine basic eligibility and compliance with our funding priorities.
- To be eligible for consideration during the 2021 grant cycle, your LOI must be received no later than October 12, 2020.
- Regular program grant LOIs, and must be submitted via the Foundation’s online portal.
- Step Two: Submission of Full Application
- If the Foundation approves your LOI, your organization will be invited to submit a full grant application. Because the demand for Foundation support often exceeds our available grant dollars, an invitation to submit a full grant application does not guarantee that JCF will award funding.
For more information, visit https://jcfphoenix.org/grantmaking/how-to-apply/