Montana Community Foundation and Montana State University Extension are offering Community Heart & Soul to help rural communities across the state build community and take action on what matters most to them.
Donor Name: Montana Community Foundation
State: Montana
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 03/20/2026
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: 2 Years
Details:
Community Heart & Soul is a resident-driven process that engages the entire town to identify what they love most about their community, what future they want for it, and how to achieve it. This program has been developed and implemented in over a hundred communities across the country.
Benefits of Community Heart & Soul
- Pride and confidence grow in the community
- Volunteerism increases and new leaders emerge
- Residents feel more connected to one another
- Investment in economic and community development projects
- Local governments better understand what matters to residents
- Community endowment funds grow.
3-6 communities will be selected for “Getting Started,” a series of exploratory conversations and activities to determine if Community Heart & Soul is the right approach and if your town is ready. After completing the “Getting Started” series, 1-3 communities will be selected for the entire Community Heart & Soul process which will occur over a two-year period.
This will include:
- Community Support: Montana Community Heart & Soul Coaches will support communities throughout the entire process. Coaches will provide capacity-building training and facilitation for program coordinators and resident-led teams who steer the process.
- Community Grants: Communities will receive a $2,500 grant for a community-based exploratory coordinator to organize “Getting Started” activities and a $500 grant for Getting Started expenses. Then, selected communities will receive a $20,000 grant to implement the entire Community Heart & Soul process; funds will support a community-based project coordinator and activities during the two year period.
- Community Match: Communities selected to participate in “Getting Started” will be required to provide a $500 match. Then, communities selected to launch the entire Community Heart & Soul process will be required to provide a $10,000 match over the two-year period.
Eligibility Criteria
- The process can be initiated by residents, community-based organizations, or local governments. The official applicant must be a nonprofit or unit of local government, or there must be a fiscal sponsor that meets these qualifications.
- Community Heart & Soul is designed for rural communities with populations under 30,000.
For more information, visit MCF.
