Community Grants: A Welcoming Process

Nonprofit organizations now have one wide-open door to apply for grants from The Community Foundation. In late 2022, we announced Community Grants, a reenvisioning of the Foundation’s grantmaking designed to give nonprofits the gift of time.

Organizations are invited to come to the Foundation with a complete picture of funding needs. Staff match the requests to committees for review instead of requiring multiple applications.

Organizations only prepare one application and one budget, file one report, and share the story of a whole program instead of a piece of the puzzle, saving them time and resources and enabling stronger relationships. This is helpful for organizations of all sizes but can provide extra benefit for organizations operating with a lean staff or a staff of volunteers.

In addition to the changes to the application process, the Community Grants program introduced a more flexible grantmaking culture into our process, expanding on efforts already underway to award more of what nonprofits wish to see, operating funding, and more flexibility in when and how to apply and report on progress. We wanted our grantmaking to be more effective and afford opportunities for lived engagement. We wanted to better support nonprofit organizations beyond the check and give them space to do more and do it better. We evaluated best practices, talked to nonprofit partners and donors, and explored internal challenges and opportunities around our grantmaking to take giant leaps forward toward a truly grantee-centric experience.

The conversation wasn’t new, and progress was intentional and strategic over years of time. Following an analysis of The Foundation’s historical grantmaking in 2015, Board and Grants Committee members had much to say about the direction of grantmaking.

“The ultimate question is how do you make responsible and effective grants? We strive to be good stewards of the funds entrusted to us to make a difference. This may be traditional granting and offering pro-active grants, where the Foundation sets out specific goals and opportunities.” said Mike Lunsford during that 2015 review. Mike served on the Foundation’s Grants Committee from 1999 through 2015 and on the Board of Directors for six years until 2015.

Under the guidance of the Board and in response to the analysis, the 2016-2021 strategic plan guided intentional efforts to revise and update the former competitive grants program to be more fair and equitable for nonprofit applicants in small steps, especially those applying for operations funding.

“The ultimate question is how do you make responsible and effective grants? We strive to be good stewards of the funds entrusted to us to make a difference.”

“We have to decide if we are granting to just be repetitive or for operating that is impactful. We need to look more at merit than history,” said Linda Gregory in that same 2015 review. Linda also served on the Foundation’s Grants Committee (2013-2022) and the Board of Directors (2015-2020).

Efforts for a more fair and equitable grantmaking process included relationship building between Foundation staff and nonprofit organizations. It also led to the introduction of a letter of intent to apply, resulting in earlier due diligence and the ability to link applicants to complementary programs of the Foundation, including a sponsorship program and a donor advisor engagement program. Committee education and efforts to develop a more diverse committee also emerged. Education focused on the importance of operating funding and how nonprofits look when they are high performing versus those in starvation cycles.

During this same time, a national movement toward trust-based philanthropic practices emerged. Trust-based philanthropy practices are rooted in the belief that nonprofit organizations know how to meet their missions best. As funding organizations, we can best meet the community’s needs by creating relationships, listening and learning, and partnering with nonprofit organizations that do good work with a non-prescriptive lens. Considering flexible operating support for trusted nonprofit partners allows for a more significant impact with flexibility and trust at the forefront. Considering the building blocks already laid and the information learned, the Foundation determined the need for an official grantmaking philosophy – a mission, vision, and values statement that would drive our grantmaking throughout the next strategic plan.

Working closely with the Board of Directors, the Grants Committee, professional consultants, and other key informants, the Foundation developed a Picture, Purpose, and Practice Statement to clearly express the vision and goals for grantmaking. We picture resilient nonprofits creating lasting positive change in our community, and we support and partner with nonprofits contributing to what our community needs. The Board reviewed and approved this statement, guiding how staff operationalized the new grantmaking model.

Subsequently, a new Board-approved strategic plan, launched in 2022, challenged The Community Foundation staff to improve our grantmaking in response to the Picture, Purpose, and Practice Statement and enhance the philosophy to show support to nonprofits beyond traditional grantmaking.

To meet the Board-approved grantmaking Picture, Purpose, and Practice Statement, The Community Foundation staff and consultants designed a process model and the needed key instruments of change. These were the initial giant leaps necessary to move to a more relationship and flexibility-based grantmaking process, to embrace a flexible culture across all grant programs that puts supporting nonprofits and building relationships. The new model was introduced to partners, including Board and committee members as well as grantees, throughout 2022 for feedback, recommendations, challenges, and opportunities. The official new grantmaking model and key instruments of change launched in the first quarter of 2023 with a promise for continued improvement throughout the 2022-2026 strategic plan.

“Nonprofit organizations have a lot to give in this community,” said John Anderson, who has served on the Foundation’s Grants Committee since 2020 and joined the Board of Directors in 2022. “It’s important that the Foundation build relationships on mutual learning and engagement. This will increase efficiencies in our grantmaking process for everyone involved. We can embrace the opportunity to do more for Delaware County.”