The Pinellas Community Foundation is accepting letters of intent for its Operating Grants to support both human services and arts & culture organizations operating in Pinellas County.
Donor Name: Pinellas Community Foundation
State: Florida
County: Pinellas County (FL)
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 08/17/2023
Size of the Grant: Up to $25,000
Details:
Grantmaking Tracks
- Human/Direct Community Services
- Your organizations fits in this category if its programming focuses on resolving individual and community needs, or bettering the community, through direct services. Examples include food banks, nonprofit behavioral health providers, free health clinics, and literacy programming.
- Arts & Culture
- Your organization fits in this category if its programming focuses on encouraging clients to create original works of creative expression, fostering an appreciation of the arts locally, or helping educate audiences on specific types of creative works. Examples include museums, arts education programming, nonprofit performing arts venues, and arts alliances.
Funding Information
Operating Grants funding request amounts will be based upon organizational operating budget size which serves Pinellas County and is not inclusive of major one-time or non-routine capital expenditures.
- Organizations with budgets of less than $500,000 may seek up to $15,000.
- Organizations with budgets between $500,000 to $2,500,000 may seek up to $20,000.
- Organizations with budgets greater than $2,500,000 may seek up to $25,000.
If your organization is awarded a grant, it will receive the same amount during both years. For example, if you are awarded $15,000, you will receive $15,000 in year one and $15,000 in year two.
Eligibility Criteria
You are eligible to apply for an operating grant if your organization:
- Has 501(c)(3) public charity status under the code of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and has had such status for one calendar year at the time of application
- Has a physical presence in Pinellas County
- Will only spend funds within Pinellas County
- Fits within the focus areas identified by the PCF Board of Governors
- Is a direct service provider
- Has been operational AND providing direct services/programs for at least 1 year prior to application
If your organization operates an arts & culture festival as part of its programming, your organization must have a year-round presence in the community, have the arts as its primary purpose, spend the majority of its budget on arts activities, hire professional artists, and include education and outreach programs. PCF does not intend to fund arts organizations’ whose primary programming is a singular event or festival.
Hospitals, schools and school-affiliated groups (including colleges, universities, and booster clubs), vocal and musical ensembles, animal welfare organizations, houses of worship, governments, continuing care retirement communities, private foundations, and grantmaking foundations are ineligible to apply, regardless of tax status. If your organization files a Form 990-PF, it is ineligible to apply.
Review Criteria
For direct community service nonprofits, Letters of Intent will be evaluated by the strength of organizational programming and outcomes. For arts & culture organizations, Letters of Intent will be evaluated by a clearly defined audience for programming and the strength of the outreach to that audience.
Full proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
- Clear Story
- PCF uses a unique storytelling application to better understand who is served by your organization and how you can help. Grant wants to make sure you understand your clients’ challenges, and your organization’s role in helping.
- Need
- Your request for funds must be a reasonable solution to the problem you identify in your story, and you should have data or research to show that your improvement is a natural fit to address the need.
- Solution
- Strong leadership, clear and measurable outcomes, and a coherent plan for your proposed project are all crucial elements to a good application.
- Financials
- It wants to be sure that all proposed projects are financially sound. Strong applications will have a reasonable, cost-sensitive budget with achievable outcomes that display all sources of funding. If there are budget variances, they should be explained.
For more information, visit Pinellas Community Foundation.
