The Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts (CFWM) is seeking applications for its 2026 Flexible Funding to support nonprofits that benefit the region.
Donor Name: Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts
State: Massachusetts
County: Franklin County (MA), Hampden County (MA)
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 09/08/2025
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
Flexible Funding grants provide general operating support to local organizations aligned with strategic focus areas.
Focus Areas
The aim is to fund organizations working to increase equity and opportunity while demonstrating a strong mission in the following areas:
- Racial Justice: Recognizing the urgent need to address systematic racism, they are seeking applications from organizations whose primary mission and activities are dedicated to this cause.
- Accessible and more affordable post-secondary education and training: Education and skills training are critical components for individuals seeking economic mobility. They are seeking applications from organizations that provide access to learning opportunities for post-secondary learners, including trade, vocational, and skills-based programs. This grant opportunity aims to support efforts in equipping individuals with the tools and knowledge necessary to meaningfully access the workforce.
- A strong start for all children: From birth to age five, children develop more rapidly than at any other time in their lives. A strong start for children helps to set the foundation for their future success, health, and well-being. They seek to fund nonprofit organizations that that provide early childhood education and care as a core part of their mission, professional development for early childhood education providers, and direct cohort-based support related to parenting knowledge and skills. This grant opportunity is intended to strengthen the bandwidth, skills, and resiliency of those who provide care to children before kindergarten.
- A vibrant local arts and creativity ecosystem: Art and creativity bring people together, create community dialogue, and inspire imaginative approaches to community challenges. ValleyCreates aims to support a vibrant arts and creativity sector that is interconnected, collaborative, and actively engages the full and diverse community with programs and artistic expression opportunities. They encourage organizations whose primary mission and purpose revolve around creating and/or presenting cultural activities in the arts to apply. This grant opportunity is intended to support your efforts in promoting creativity and fostering community engagement. ValleyCreates specifically prioritizes organizations with an operating budget of less than $500,000 to create a more inclusive ecosystem.
The organizations serving Franklin County with a focus on family economic resiliency. This includes:
- Food security: This funding opportunity is intended to support organizations that increase food security in Franklin County.
- Housing security: They seek to fund organizations that provide and expand housing security in Franklin County.
- Basic service needs: For organizations that increase access to basic service needs such as health, transportation, and other human services.
Funding Information
- CFWM plans to award a minimum of $3.4 million in total.
- Grants of up to $30,000 are available.
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligible organizations must have IRS designated 501(c)(3) status or an existing fiscal sponsorship.
- Organizations should be located and/or actively serving residents in Franklin, Hampden and/or Hampshire counties. If you also have locations outside of the region, you must demonstrate local presence through indicators such as having locally based staff, regional offices, or programs exclusively serving our region’s residents.
Additional eligibility criteria includes:
An operating budget less than $10 million. Organizations with operating budgets larger than $10 million are not eligible. There is a strong preference for organizations with an operating budget of less than $5 million.
Funding cannot support the following:
- Endowments or capital campaigns
- Sectarian or religious organizations unless as a fiscal sponsor for a broad community benefit
- Institutions of higher education—including for scholarships
- Academic research
- K-12 schools—public, private, or charter schools
- Organizations whose mission is to support municipalities/government agencies such as friends of libraries or school districts
- Start-ups or organizations that do not have a year of financial data as of September 1, 2025.
For more information, visit CFWM.
