The Fetzer Fund supports spiritually-sourced solutions to social problems and challenges in Kalamazoo County.
Donor Name: Kalamazoo Community Foundation
State: Michigan
County: Kalamazoo County (MI)
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 12/15/2023
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: 1 Year
Details:
The Fetzer Fund, a component fund at the Kalamazoo Community Foundation, was created to support work that applies the wisdom contained in the faith-based and spiritual traditions towards the challenges currently confronting the community, such as, but not limited to, the environment, justice, inclusion and health.
Through a Request For Proposal (RFP) process, the Fetzer Institute Team will identify and support work by 501(c)3 organizations occurring in Kalamazoo County that is aligned with the vision of spiritually sourced solutions to social problems and challenges. This includes but is not limited to the work of religious and faith communities and organizations. In addition to providing support, the Fetzer Institute Team’s goals are to:
- Learn from and with those conducting this work, and
- Help those working in this space to connect with each other and create mutually supportive networks.
Objectives
- Normalize faith and spiritually-based interventions as crucial and necessary components for addressing social challenges within the Kalamazoo community,
- Learn from current practices and efforts to more fully understand what is effective and where barriers may exist to advancing faith-based and spiritual solutions, and
- Create a Learning Community through which participants will be supported personally and organizationally in deepening their relationships with themselves, with each other and with the community more broadly. Learning Community participants will be either the project director or the senior executive of each organization.
Funding Information
Grant awards are for up to $30,000 plus an additional $5,000 stipend to support participation in the Learning Community. An additional communications and storytelling capacity building toolkit and training will also be included. Grants are for one year.
Eligibility Criteria
Grant support is for programmatic work and the administrative and staffing functions to accomplish programmatic work. Eligible applicants must be:
- 501(c)3 nonprofits or eligible to operate under the oversight of a fiscal agent
- Based in Kalamazoo County
Criteria
The categories below will be used by the Fetzer Institute Team to seek evidence of alignment. Even though applicants might not meet every criterion below, applicants are encouraged to apply if they are able to demonstrate some or all of the following:
- Spiritually-Sourced
- Has an articulated, faith-based or spiritually relevant mission and infuses this into its work.
- May be grounded in one particular religious, faith-based or spiritual tradition but demonstrates respect for others’ and/or actively engages other traditions/paths.
- Reflects faith-based or spiritual values in the organizational culture and applies this spiritual grounding to the life of its employees and organizational culture.
- Commitment to a vision for comprehensive flourishing for all people and the planet.
- Systems-Oriented
- Approach includes a focus on systemic change.
- Looks beyond the organization’s own work, sector, field or community.
- Connects and coordinates goals, actions or ideas across organizations, groups and sectors.
- Creates actionable solutions that enrich a larger network.
- Brings visibility around systemic challenges and/or opportunities into the forefront of public awareness.
- Collaborative
- Priority will be given to organizations and projects that are partnerships and/or collaborations. Additional evidence of collaborative efforts includes:
- Commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
- Energy for and/or evidence of networking.
- Collaborates well and sets aside self-interest.
- Priority will be given to organizations and projects that are partnerships and/or collaborations. Additional evidence of collaborative efforts includes:
- Capacity
- Sufficient organizational capacity to successfully implement the proposed work, including staffing and administrative capacity.
- Commitment and capacity for one executive or program lead to participate in the Learning Community.
For more information, visit KCF.
