READY Grants to Grow is making $9 million available for projects that will build individual, organizational and/or community capacity to help the region’s most underserved areas and populations create positive change.
Donor Name: Appalachian Regional Commission
State: Selected States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 11/01/2024
Size of the Grant: $50,000 to $500,000
Grant Duration: 3 Years
Details:
READY Grants to Grow is the latest offering from READY Appalachia, ARC’s capacity-building initiative offering no-cost training and funding access to nonprofits, local development districts (LDDs), local governments and community foundations serving the region. This new funding opportunity aims to make even more resources available to a wider range of community and economic development organizations.
To be selected, organizations must propose projects that strengthen underserved communities and economies in the Appalachian Region, and/or demonstrate low capacity themselves. Proposed projects must address one or more of the following:
Projects must help build:
- Individual capacity, including staff training or professional development;
- Organizational capacity, including internal strategic planning or expanding services; and/or
- Community capacity, including launching a community-led planning process or hiring a planning contractor.
Types of Grants
- Implementation Grants
- The Appalachian Regional Commission has made available approximately $9 million in FY24 funding for this program and will award implementation grants ranging from $100,000–$500,000 for projects within the congressionally-defined Appalachian Region. The funding is provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act). ARC encourages low-capacity organizations to request funding, as well as joint applications from a collaborative of partnering organizations. Additionally, organizations that may serve in an intermediary role and contribute to broad-scale capacity development of other entities may apply.
- The period of performance for an implementation grant under this funding announcement may be up to three years (36 months) if warranted by the size and scope of the project. Applicants should determine the time period necessary to meet the objectives of their projects.
- Eligible activities may include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Securing a financial accounting system and hiring skilled staff in response to weaknesses flagged by an internal audit.
- Sharing proven best practices in effective leadership and organizational health strategies with a cohort of organizations via mentorship and coaching programs.
- Launching a rebranding and awareness campaign to promote findings of a program evaluation in order to generate sustainability and increased program participation.
- Hiring a volunteer recruitment and training coordinator with the goal of building capacity to serve more clients.
- Planning Grants
- In addition to implementation grants, planning grants in amounts up to $100,000 each are available to assist communities and regions in the Appalachian Region to develop plans and strategies for capacity building. The period of performance for planning grants may be up to 18 months if warranted by the scope of the project.
- Planning grants will provide support to grantees to explore activities that could be implemented within their organization or community and to develop a plan to execute a capacity-building strategy. Activities may include but are not limited to the following:
- Developing a strategic plan for strengthening partnerships/coalitions/consortia with the overarching goal of building capacity to serve more community members and leverage existing resources.
- Conducting an organizational needs assessment to identify the current gaps and challenges within an organization, community, or region.
- Conducting an evaluation of a program’s outcomes to demonstrate impact in the community and sustainability with future funders.
- Developing a volunteer recruitment, retention, and training program.
Geographical Areas
Projects must serve and benefit a portion of the Appalachian Region as defined by the Appalachian Regional Development Act (ARDA) of 1965, as amended. The Appalachian Region includes certain counties in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and all of West Virginia. If projects extend beyond the Appalachian Region as defined by the ARDA of 1965, only the portion that is within the Region is eligible for ARC funding.
Eligibility Criteria
Organizations serving any of the following groups in Appalachian Region are strongly encouraged to apply:
- Distressed counties and census tracts
- Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities priority communities
- Rural Partners Network Community Networks communities
- Historically underserved and marginalized populations.
For more information, visit ARC.
