Greater Toledo Community Foundation is inviting applicants for its Community Builder Grant program.
Donor Name: Greater Toledo Community Foundation
States: Michigan and Ohio
Counties: Selected Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline (mm/dd/yyyy): 01/15/2022
Size of the Grant: Up to $25,000
Greater Toledo Community Foundation is a public charitable organization created by citizens of their community to enrich the quality of life for individuals and families in their service area. The Foundation serves northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan with a particular emphasis on the greater Toledo area. Grants from the Community Builder grant program support a variety of services in the fields of education, social services, physical and mental health, neighborhood and urban affairs, natural resources, and the arts. Emphasis is placed on programs that will: Create safe, positive living environments; Enable families to develop the skills/resources needed to support and nurture each member; and Foster the development of responsible young people who are capable of achieving their fullest potential.
The Community Builder grant program offers grants of up to $25,000 in the following three categories:
- Provide seed money for new, innovative programming that addresses unmet community needs.
- Expand successful programming in order to reach unique audiences.
- Provide capacity building benefits to existing nonprofit organizations.
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligible requests can focus on one or more of the three categories above.
- Grants will only be awarded to nonprofit, charitable organizations which have been designated as having tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Service code.
- Applications must propose to provide services benefitting residents of northwest Ohio or southeast Michigan.
Grant Review Criteria
Competitive grant proposals will address the following:
- Promote coordination, cooperation and sharing among organizations.
- Applications which propose deep partnerships among organizations will receive high priority consideration.
- Demonstrate a clear understanding of other organizations providing similar services in the immediate geographic area and represent an unduplicated opportunity to meet a significant community need.
- Demonstrate a clear understanding of relevant community planning efforts and how the proposed program may correspond to and advance those plans.
- Encourage more efficient use of community resources.
- Test or demonstrate new approaches and techniques in the solution of community problems.
- Propose a specific program rather than general operating support for the organization.
- Include a thoughtful, reasonable plan for obtaining continuing financial support once Foundation funds are expended.
- Propose to generate matching funds, thus leveraging additional support.
The Foundation usually will not make grants from its Community Impact program to:
- Support the general operating budget or budget deficit of established organizations.
- Annual campaigns.
- Capital campaigns or building projects.
- Exclusively purchase equipment, such as computer hardware/software, phones, motor vehicles, etc.
- Produce films, videos, television programs, and the like.
- Support sectarian activities of religious organizations.
Grant Review Criteria
Competitive grant proposals will address the following:
- Promote coordination, cooperation and sharing among organizations.
- Applications which propose deep partnerships among organizations will receive high priority consideration.
- Demonstrate a clear understanding of other organizations providing similar services in the immediate geographic area and represent an unduplicated opportunity to meet a significant community need.
- Demonstrate a clear understanding of relevant community planning efforts and how the proposed program may correspond to and advance those plans.
- Encourage more efficient use of community resources.
- Test or demonstrate new approaches and techniques in the solution of community problems.
- Propose a specific program rather than general operating support for the organization.
- Include a thoughtful, reasonable plan for obtaining continuing financial support once Foundation funds are expended.
- Propose to generate matching funds, thus leveraging additional support.
In the area of capacity building, the foundation is specifically interested in requests that illustrate how funding
will advance the applicant organization to a higher level of operational, programmatic, financial or
organizational sophistication. Proposals that promote continuous improvement strategies aimed at increasing
sustainability and impact will be prioritized. The following activities are eligible for consideration through the
capacity building category:
- Evaluation:
- Funds may be requested to support costs associated with a high-quality, third party assessment designed to ascertain a program’s impact or increase the effectiveness of an organization’s internal process.
- Business Planning:
- Funds may be requested to support costs associated with a high-quality consultant to evaluate the organization’s fee structure, staffing configuration and other business practices and create a business plan designed to increase efficiency and sustainability. Funding to support regularly occurring organizational expenses like strategic planning processes will not be a high priority.
- Leadership Development:
- Funds may be requested for agency leadership or board members to attend training opportunities. In this category, a high priority will be placed on joint-training sessions that incorporate leadership from multiple organizations. Recurring professional development opportunities like attendance at annual conferences are not eligible for consideration.
For more information visit Community Builder Grants.
