What We Fund
Grants are aimed at developing the capacities of community foundations as strong and effective vehicles for local philanthropy and local development. They can be used to support a range of institutional development activities, particularly in the key areas of grantmaking, local fundraising / endowment building, and management, structure and governance. Eligible activities include:
- Obtaining external technical assistance from national, regional or, occasionally, international consultants;
- Internal capacity development in areas such as governance, fundraising, grantmaking, strategic planning, self-assessment, evaluation of impact, etc;
- Peer exchanges or other national or regional convenings of community foundations and other local philanthropic institutions;
- International study visits;
- Development and sharing of innovative community foundation practices or learning tools which can be shared broadly within the local philanthropic sector.
Grant money from the Fund can also be used to leverage local resources or to raise the profile of individual community foundations, but only in as part of a larger, institutional development application. In most circumstances, the community foundation would be expected to raise matching funds locally, at a ratio to be determined on a case-by-case basis, according to the context for local philanthropy and the level of development of the applicant. Examples of this might include:
- Seed funding for grantmaking (either for new grantmakers or for more developed community foundations wishing to pilot a new approach);
- Matched funding for a local fundraising / endowment campaign (at a ratio of between 1:1 to 1:4);
Please note that the grants programme has been recently revised: applicants need no longer apply for different types of grants for different kinds of activities (except for Conference and International Meeting Scholarships). These can now all be incorporated into a single application.
Conference and International Meeting Scholarships
A limited number of small grants (up to $5,000) are available for participation in conferences or other networking opportunities. Priority will be given to current or former grantees of the Global Fund for Community Foundations. There is no deadline for such applications. Potential applicants should submit a one-page letter of intent outlining the details of the international meeting and their funding request.
Grants will not be awarded for:
- The direct implementation or delivery of community-based projects;
- Re-granting purposes only;
- Operational costs which do not facilitate institutional development;
- Activities that have already taken place;
