GrantStation Insider: October 28, 2021

COVID-19 | National | Regional | Federal | PathFinder | Online Education | Announcements | Subscribe

COVID-19 Related Funding
Opportunities related to the COVID-19 pandemic

Current COVID-19 funding opportunities are available on our website.

National Funding
Opportunities throughout the U.S.

Support for Recovery Programs for Veterans
Disabled Veterans National Foundation: Capacity Building Grants
The Disabled Veterans National Foundation provides critically needed support to disabled and at-risk veterans who leave the military wounded, physically or psychologically, after defending our safety and our freedom. The Foundation's Capacity Building Grants program is intended for nonprofit organizations throughout the country that offer support to veterans and disabled veterans alike. These grants of up to $25,000 are awarded to organizations that are addressing the mental and physical recovery of veterans in unique ways. Service dogs, equine therapy, yoga, art therapy, and recreational therapy are just a few of the innovative programs that the Foundation supports. The current deadline for letters of intent is December 31, 2021; invited applications will be due February 28, 2022. Visit the Foundation's website to review the Capacity Building Grants program guidelines.

Movement-Building Work Funded
Life Comes From It
Life Comes From It is a grantmaking circle that supports grassroots movement-building work for restorative justice, transformative justice, indigenous peacemaking, and land-based healing. Grants of up to $25,000 are provided to nonprofit organizations that offer approaches to address violence and repair harm that are rooted in community solutions. The focus is on investing in leaders of color doing movement-building work based on lived experience and relationships. Two categories of grants are offered: Individual Projects and Networks, Convenings, and Collaborations. Letters of introduction may be submitted at any time and will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Visit the Life Comes From It website to review examples of funded projects and to learn more about the application process.

Collaborative Grants Promote Liberal Arts Degrees
Teagle Foundation: Transfer Pathways to the Liberal Arts
The Transfer Pathways to the Liberal Arts initiative, sponsored by the Teagle Foundation and the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, will support partnerships between public two-year and private four-year colleges to facilitate transfer and completion of the baccalaureate in the liberal arts. This grant program aims to bring the lifelong benefits of a liberal arts education to students who historically have been excluded from higher education—including low-income students, first-generation students, students of color, and immigrant students—who depend on community college as their gateway to higher education. Grants of up to $25,000 for planning and up to $350,000 for implementation will be considered. Priority will be given to projects that involve multiple four-year independent colleges coming together with community college partners to develop statewide, regional, or consortial approaches to promote transfer in the liberal arts. Proposals are reviewed three times per year; the upcoming deadline for concept papers is December 1, 2021. The request for proposals may be downloaded from the Teagle Foundation's website.

Educational Garden Projects Supported
KidsGardening.org: Youth Garden Grants
KidsGardening.org, a national nonprofit dedicated to providing inspiration to parents and educators who are gardening with children, awards Youth Garden Grants to support school and youth educational garden projects that enhance the quality of life for students and their communities. Any nonprofit organization, school, or youth program in the U.S. or U.S. territories planning a new garden program or expanding an established one that serves at least 15 youth between the ages of three and 18 is eligible to apply. Forty winners will receive award packages valued at $1,050 each. In addition, ten winners will receive the $1,050 award package plus additional prizes. The selection of winners is based on demonstrated program impact and sustainability. The application deadline is December 17, 2021. Visit the KidsGardening website to access application guidelines and forms.

Regional Funding
Opportunities for specific geographic areas

Funds for Organizations in Company Communities
CSX Community Investment Program
The CSX Community Investment Program supports nonprofit organizations that serve the communities where the company is located, primarily in the Eastern, Southern, and Midwest regions of the United States. The main focus is on Pride in Service Grants for organizations that honor and support veterans, active military, first responders, or their families. In addition, Community Service Grants support local and regional organizations that serve the needs of communities in which the company operates. CSX also offers volunteer support and in-kind donations of transportation services and railroad equipment and materials. Applications are reviewed throughout the year. Visit the CSX website to learn more about the Community Investment Program and the application procedure.

Grants Address Local Issues in North Carolina
Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation: Community Progress Fund
The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation is dedicated to improving the quality of life for all North Carolinians. The Foundation's Community Progress Fund is designed to provide an infusion of short-term funding at the right moment to build on existing momentum to help move an issue or an organization forward. The goal is to award a significant portion of grants to nonprofit organizations that are run by and primarily serve people of color. Preference is given to areas of the state with limited philanthropic resources. Grants will range from $20,000 to $30,000 per year for one or two years. The application deadline is December 6, 2021. Details about the Community Progress Fund are available on the Foundation's website.

Support for Programs to Enhance the Lives of Arizonans
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona Corporate Philanthropy Program
The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona Corporate Philanthropy Program offers funding to strengthen and support organizations whose programs benefit the community and help create a healthier Arizona. Grants are provided to nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, government agencies, as well as religious organizations with a nonsectarian program. Funding priorities include the following issues: critical health concerns, the social determinants of health, business and civic engagement, and arts and culture. Requests for funding and sponsorship support may be submitted throughout the year. Visit the company's website to submit an online application.

Program Advances Renewable Energy Initiatives in the Southeast
The Oak Hill Fund: Climate Change and Renewable Energy Program
The Oak Hill Fund was established to promote the well-being of mankind through effective and inspiring grantmaking. The Fund's Climate Change and Renewable Energy Program supports nonprofit organizations in the southeastern United States, with emphasis on Virginia, that engage in stimulating a more robust market for renewable energy, specifically solar and wind. Specific areas of interest include 1) educating policymakers, the general public, businesses, and other key constituencies to advance renewable energy and energy efficiency opportunities; 2) projects that install solar or wind power on extremely low- to middle-income households and multi-family residences, including rentals; and 3) creative financing models for solar and wind power installations. A limited number of requests to defend against harmful fossil and nuclear fuel projects will be considered. Letters of inquiry are reviewed throughout the year. Visit the Oak Hill Fund's website to submit a letter of inquiry for the Climate Change and Renewable Energy Program.

Federal Funding
Opportunities from the U.S. government

Historic Preservation Efforts Supported
National Park Service
The Save America's Treasures grant program helps preserve nationally significant historic properties and collections that convey the nation's rich heritage to future generations. The program has separate applications for preservation projects (for properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places for national significance or listed as a National Historic Landmark) and for projects involving collections (including artifacts, museum collections, documents, sculptures, and other works of art). The application deadline is December 14, 2021.

Funds Available to Improve Rural Healthcare
Department of Health and Human Services
The Rural Residency Planning and Development Program seeks to improve healthcare in rural areas by supporting the development of new, accredited, and sustainable rural residency programs in family medicine, internal medicine, preventive medicine, psychiatry, general surgery, and obstetrics and gynecology. This program seeks to address the physician workforce shortages and challenges faced by rural communities. Startup funding is available to create new rural residency programs that will ultimately be sustainable long-term through viable and stable funding mechanisms, such as Medicare, Medicaid, and other public or private funding sources. The application deadline is December 20, 2021.

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

2021 ARNOVA Conference
Are you looking to get up to speed on the latest nonprofit sector research? If so, you may want to attend this year's Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) conference. Held both online and in Atlanta, GA, this conference is designed to create a public conversation on, as well as opportunities for presenting research about, pressing issues and vital opportunities facing the voluntary or nonprofit sector. This three-day event will be held from November 18 to 20, 2021.

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.

FREE: Tour of the GrantStation Website
Curious to know exactly what resources are at your fingertips when you enter the GrantStation website? Join Jeremy Smith, Director of Communications Technology, and Kerry Glauser, Research Specialist, for a quick tour of the GrantStation website. Jeremy will demonstrate all of the GrantStation features including how to best use the searchable databases of private funders, how to navigate government funding sources, and how to set up and use your personal dashboard. This quick overview is a great way for current Members to ensure that they are getting the most out of their Membership, and for potential Members to see GrantStation in action! The webinar will be held on Tuesday, November 2, 2021.

The Power of Social Enterprise
Are you looking to diversify your revenue stream? Would you like to increase organizational sustainability by creating recurring, predictable revenue streams for general operating expenses? In this 90-minute training Stephanie Sample, Founder and CEO of Sample Consulting Studio, will introduce social enterprise for nonprofits. She will walk you through the process of identifying organizational assets, strategically selecting an asset to monetize, and developing a business plan around your core competencies. Topics covered will include how to identify and monetize your organizational assets, examples of successful nonprofits with social enterprises, components of a social enterprise business plan, how your social enterprise impacts your nonprofit mission, and tax repercussions for nonprofit organizations who generate revenue through social enterprise. You will walk away with a list of your organization's monetizable assets, examples of nonprofits that create their own revenue, examples of nonprofits that launched social enterprises in the pandemic, a format for starting the conversation about social enterprise at your organization, and inspiration and insight into potential revenue streams. The webinar will be held on Tuesday, November 9, 2021.

Inside the Grantmaker's Black Box
You know that feeling on deadline day, when you finally push the SUBMIT button and say goodbye to your lovingly-crafted, mission-critical grant proposal as it disappears—vanishing entirely for weeks, sometimes months, sometimes even forever—while you wait to find out whether it's going to be funded or not. That space between "submit" on one side . . . and "notification" on the other . . . is what we call the Grantmaker's Black Box. That's where all the work goes on for the grantmaking team: the program officer, reviewers, decision-makers. That's where everything happens to decide which proposals are awarded—and which aren't. In this eye-opening session, you'll join veteran grants officer Maryn Boess for a unique journey into the heart of the Grantmaker's Black Box as we venture into one grantmaker's funding process. Together we’ll take a high-level flyover of her own organization's recent grantmaking round on the way to awarding a total of $600,000. Maryn gives you a rare insider's view of the real world of the final grant decision-making process—something fewer than 2% of all grant professionals ever get to see. Along the way you'll track the proposals through the eight key "checkpoints" of the grant decision process so you can observe exactly what happened at every step of the way; eavesdrop on conversations with proposers and review team members; see the team's mistakes and near-misses, challenges, and celebrations, what was surprisingly easy, and what really came hard in the final decision-making; and experience plenty of surprises, aha!s and hmms as Maryn shares stories about real life inside this particular Grantmaker's Black Box—with new insights you can carry home and put to work immediately on behalf of your own nonprofit and community. The webinar will be held on Wednesday, November 10, 2021.

GrantStation Announcements
The latest updates from GrantStation

Building the Machine for Grantseeking
As you start finding grant opportunities, you want your applications to sail through your office and into the funder's hands. But there are logistics to figure out. When do you need the board to approve a proposal? Or an award? How will you recognize those awards? When does your accountant need to be involved? How will you keep track of all of this? Our website has a guide for Members that answers these questions and more so that you can create clear policies for your grants program. Then your process for applying for grants and receiving awards can be a well-oiled machine!

This is part of the revamped Build guide for Members. It walks you through the steps for creating a grants program from top to bottom. If you have questions, please contact us.

Funding Alerts
More funding opportunities are featured on the GrantStation homepage. Click here to see the grantmakers spotlighted this week!

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