GrantStation Insider - February 22, 2018

Volume XVII | Issue 7

National | Regional | Federal | PathFinder | Online Education

 

National Funding
Opportunities Throughout the U.S.

Support for Children's Bereavement Programs
National Alliance for Grieving Children: Grief Reach

The goal of Grief Reach, administered by the National Alliance for Grieving Children with funding from the New York Life Foundation, is to provide support for children's bereavement programs in order to expand their reach to underserved youth populations. In 2018, Grief Reach is offering the following two programs: Community Expansion Grants, ranging from $15,000 to $100,000, fund program expansion to include bereaved children and teens not currently served by existing services. Capacity Building Grants of $10,000 help nonprofit organizations to secure the professional assistance necessary to enhance organizational capacity and address issues of organizational development and effectiveness. Applications for Cycle 1 will be accepted from March 5 through April 5, 2018; applications for Cycle 2 will be accepted from June 28 through July 26, 2018. Visit the National Alliance for Grieving Children’s website to learn more about each grant program.

Nonprofits Leveraging Technology for Social Good Funded
Fast Forward Accelerator

Fast Forward invests in entrepreneurs who are using technology to accelerate social impact by scaling organizations that combine the best tech with sustainable nonprofit business models. The Fast Forward Accelerator program takes place in San Francisco, CA, each summer. Participating nonprofit organizations receive a $25,000 grant, 13 weeks of training, and connections to high-caliber mentors. Applying organizations must be nonprofits leveraging technology to address problems in arts and culture, education, environment, food and agriculture, health, human rights, poverty alleviation, economic development, or public service and civic engagement. The application deadline is April 1, 2018. Visit the Fast Forward website to learn more about the program and to submit an online application.

Grants Strengthen Wildlife Adaptation to Climate Change
Wildlife Conservation Society: Climate Adaptation Fund

The Wildlife Conservation Society's Climate Adaptation Fund supports projects that implement effective interventions for wildlife adaptation to climate change. Grants of $50,000 to $250,000 are provided to nonprofit conservation organizations for applied, on-the-ground projects focused on implementing priority conservation actions for climate adaptation at a landscape scale. In 2018, the Fund is inviting applications for projects that implement joint mitigation and adaptation approaches, in addition to the continuing priority to support wildlife adaptation projects in both urban and rural landscapes. The Fund prioritizes projects that manage dynamic ecological processes, landscape functionality, and species assemblages, rather than those aimed at maintaining historic conditions or individual species. Grants are provided to U.S.-based nonprofit conservation organizations for projects within the 50 states and six U.S. territories. Pre-proposal application forms are due April 6, 2018. Visit the Wildlife Conservation Society’s website to download the Request for Proposals.

Grassroots Organizing in Communities of Color Supported
Emergent Fund

The Emergent Fund was established after the 2016 election to help move quick resources to communities that were and continue to be under attack by federal policies and priorities – immigrants, women, Muslim and Arab-American communities, Black people, LGBTQ communities, and all people of color. The Fund focuses on grassroots organizing and power building in communities of color who are facing injustice based on racial, ethnic, religious, and other forms of discrimination. Grants are considered for the following: efforts that support emergent strategies that help communities respond to rapidly changing conditions, including resisting new or amplified threats and building power to move a proactive agenda; and efforts seeking long-term social justice and economic justice in a political and social climate that seeks to dismantle such efforts. The Fund will make grants on a rolling basis throughout 2018. Visit the Fund’s website to submit an online application.

 

 

Regional Funding
Opportunities for Specific Areas

Funds for Health Organizations in the Upper Midwest
Medica Foundation

The Medica Foundation, an affiliate of Medica Health Plans, provides funding to nonprofit organizations and government agencies within the company’s service area in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and western Wisconsin. The Foundation offers grants in the following funding areas: The Behavioral Health category supports programs focused on a continuum of care that provide intensive, person-centered, and multidisciplinary services. The application deadline is April 6, 2018. The Early Childhood Health category supports programs that focus on developing healthy families to foster optimal growth and development of young children. The application deadline is May 11, 2018. The Nonprofit Core Mission category supports the health-related programming of nonprofit organizations located outside of the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Applications will be accepted from June 1 through August 24, 2018. Visit the Foundation’s website to learn more about the giving guidelines and application process for each funding area.

Grants Work to Eliminate the Abuse and Neglect of Alaskan Children
Alaska Children’s Trust: Community Based Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Grants

The mission of Alaska Children’s Trust (ACT) is to improve the status of children in Alaska by generating funds and committing resources to eliminate child abuse and neglect. Nonprofit organizations throughout Alaska working to prevent child abuse and neglect are invited to apply for Community Based Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Grants. Support will be provided in the following focus areas: primary prevention of child abuse and neglect programs, advocacy and community building, and positive social norming. These Tier 1 Grants range up to $10,000. The application deadline is March 16, 2018. Visit the ACT website to download the Community Investment Guidelines and submit an online application.

Capacity Building Support for Massachusetts Healthcare Initiatives
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation: Catalyst Fund

The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation seeks to expand access to healthcare for low-income and vulnerable residents of Massachusetts. The Foundation’s Catalyst Fund provides one-year non-renewable grants of up to $5,000 to help community-based organizations strengthen their capacity to expand access to healthcare in Massachusetts. Examples of supported activities include hiring a grantwriter or fundraising consultant, technology enhancements, medical equipment and training, cost of hosting community meetings, professional development, production of outreach materials, and strategic planning activities. Grants are provided to community health centers, community-based organizations, and social service organizations, even those for which health is not a core activity or emphasis as long as a compelling connection to health or healthcare is demonstrated as a focus of the proposed work. Applications may be submitted throughout the year. Visit the Foundation’s website to download the Catalyst Fund Grant Guidelines and submit an online application.

Programs Promoting a Sustainable Future for Montana Funded
High Stakes Foundation

The High Stakes Foundation supports visionary people and organizations that are leading and implementing changes that create a sustainable future for Montana. The Foundation’s areas of grantmaking interest include the following: The Climate Change category focuses on creating climate change solutions in Montana, as well as enhancing food security and reduced water and energy consumption. The Economic Development and Social Justice category focuses on promoting a just, equitable, and sustainable society; creating a vibrant democracy with an informed, involved citizenry; expanding opportunity by increasing entrepreneurship; and promoting economic development to create living wage jobs for Montanans. The Leadership category focuses on encouraging leadership for the next generation of Montanans. In addition, the Foundation’s Special Initiative supports organizations that are doing community organizing, strategy, and education about the negative effects of coal being exported to China through the rail systems that run through Montana. The grant application deadlines are April 1 and September 1, 2018. Visit the Foundation’s website to learn more about the grant application procedures.

 

 

Federal Funding
Opportunities from the U.S. Government

Funds Available to Assist Homeless Youth and Young Parents
Administration for Children and Families

The Transitional Living Program and Maternity Group Homes initiative supports strategies for successful transition to sustainable living for runaway and homeless youth, or pregnant and parenting youth and their dependent children. The application deadline is April 5, 2018. 

Program Helps Individuals Save for Retirement
Department of Health and Human Services

The Pension Counseling and Information Projects program seeks to help individuals understand and exercise their pension rights and to empower them to make informed choices for a secure retirement. The application deadline is April 16, 2018.

 

 

PathFinder: Featured Resource
A library of quality resources designed to help you develop your career path as a grants professional.
 

The People’s Sector: A Look at Nonprofit Gains and Losses
When measuring the robustness of the U.S. economy, we often use indicators such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to shed some light on year over year changes. How can we measure the financial health of the nonprofit sector? The Urban Institute’s tool, entitled “The People’s Sector: A Look at Nonprofit Gains and Losses,” provides some insight. This tool enables users to explore how nonprofits have changed financially in certain American cities and states over time. Results can be sorted by type of nonprofit, city, state, and years.

 

 

Upcoming Online Education Trainings
Live Webinars

Unless otherwise noted, all Online Education Trainings are webinars,
are 90 minutes in duration, and are scheduled to begin at 2 PM Eastern Time.

How to Craft a Proposal to a Foundation
Proposal writing is the skill most sought after by savvy nonprofit staff members. On the one hand, writing a grant proposal is quite simple and follows a basic formula. However, submitting a proposal may be your only chance to put the case for funding your organization in front of a foundation, so you want to be sure to do it right. In this webinar, Judith Margolin provides invaluable tips on developing a compelling proposal narrative, what your proposal package should include, how to let your funder take the lead, and advice on writing and submission techniques that get your proposal noticed by foundation decision makers. This webinar is intended for the novice proposal writer. This webinar will be held on Thursday, March 1, 2018.

Online Workshop: Simple Spreadsheets - Your Hairiest Nonprofit Spreadsheets Made Simple
Ever feel like you're swimming upstream in data? Need to make sense of spreadsheets, but not sure where to start? Have a gut feeling that you're not getting the most out of spreadsheet programs like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets? Then this webinar is for you! In this session, Ann K. Emery will focus on little-known spreadsheet secrets that can save you time. We'll cover beginner, intermediate, and advanced number-crunching skills from lookup to pivot tables. By the end of this hands-on-webinar, you'll be armed and ready to merge data from multiple sheets and files into a single master spreadsheet; organize your spreadsheets by adding filters and freezing panes; clean and recode messy data to get it ready for analysis; run basic descriptive statistics and frequencies; and explore your data more fully through pivot tables. We'll look at several different types of datasets together. This webinar will be held on Thursday, March 8, 2018. View a sample video at www.annkemery.com/excel to see Ann's teaching style in action.

Logic Models: More Than Just Extra Work!
Logic models are not a passing fad. If you need to create a logic model for your program, but don't know where to start, this webinar is for you! Using the Measuring Program Outcomes: A Practical Approach from the United Way of America, Alice Ruhnke will demonstrate why logic models are critical for program planning and evaluation. During this webinar, you will learn how to create and use a logic model to help you improve services and your impact on your community. Executive directors, program managers, and grantwriters from a broad range of nonprofit organizations will benefit from this 90-minute presentation. The webinar will be held on Thursday, March 15, 2018.

 


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Editor: Julie Kaufman
Contributing Writer: Kevin Peters
Contributing Writer: Ashlyn Simmons

National Funding Opportunities
Support for Children’s Bereavement Programs
Nonprofits Leveraging Technology for Social Good Funded
Grants Strengthen Wildlife Adaptation to Climate Change
Grassroots Organizing in Communities of Color Supported

Regional Funding Opportunities
Funds for Health Organizations in the Upper Midwest
Grants Work to Eliminate the Abuse and Neglect of Alaskan Children
Capacity Building Support for Massachusetts Healthcare Initiatives
Programs Promoting a Sustainable Future for Montana Funded

Federal Funding
Funds Available to Assist Homeless Youth and Young Parents
Program Helps Individuals Save for Retirement