Current Funding Priorities - 2012
The Board of Trustees of The Wyomissing Foundation has determined that the Foundation's Priority for the next three to five years is to encourage economic development in the core of Berks County. While other grants will be entertained, a significant portion of the organization's assets will be focused on this effort.
The Foundation has a long history of granting funds to health and human services and educational institutions. For the year 2012, the Foundation will utilize the services and expertise of the United Way of Berks County to vet grant requests in these areas. If you are pursuing a grant that falls in this category, see the section marked Education/Health/Human Resources Grants.
The Wyomissing Foundation will still entertain grants in the arts and environment. The guidelines and process for application for this caetgory are marked as the Traditional Grants section.
Education/Health and Human Resources Grants
Administered by United Way of Berks County
Background
The Wyomissing Foundation (WF) has established a grant pool in 2012 to be available for grants to local nonprofit organizations to support programs that address significant critical community issues. The Foundation has established a contractual relationship with United Way of Berks County (UW) to provide administrative support to the Foundation's staff and Board in awarding these grants. Full responsibility for final grant decisions and payment of grants, however, will remain with the Foundation.
Special Grants Program Purpose
Many individuals and families in Berks County continue to face challenging economic related circumstances, as unemployment remains high, safety net programs are stretched thin, access to health care remains limited and costly and basic living costs and expenses continue to rise. Additionally, many nonprofit health and human service organizations are finding that traditional and reliable revenue sources are shrinking, with public funding at all levels significantly jeopardized. Given that many of these changing conditions may be long-term and structural in nature, nonprofit organizations are facing the need to redesign or develop new programs, as well as make organizational changes to increase their capacity to operate efficiently and effectively.
WF intends to provide grants that assist nonprofit organizations in fulfilling their missions and responding to critical community issues, even under these challenging circumstances. Because the nature of those challenges is so diverse, the following is not a definitive list of potential grant uses, but illustrative of the variety of grants that might be considered under this program in 2012:
- Funding to sustain a current program to meet increased or changing community needs
- Funding to expand a current program only if it directly impacts individuals suffering from the results of the recession
- Funding to stabilize or restructure an organization that has experienced significant government funding reductions or loss
- Funding to implement organizational development strategies to increase revenue, reduce operating expenses or increase effectiveness
- Funding to support organizational capacity issues of two or more organizations, through joint ventures, shared services, collaborations or mergers.
Any grants provided under this program, however, must demonstrate their ability to create sustainable improvement and not simply respond to a short term gap in funding availability.
General Grant Guidelines
All Special Grants must adhere to the Foundation's general guidelines:
- Organizations must be 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations providing education, health and human services to residents in Berks County
- The requesting organization must provide programs or services that meet a critical community need for which documented evidence can be provided
- The organization must serve an underserved population
- The organization must be able to develop and report measurable indicators of how the grant will improve the community or organizational issue being addressed
- Most grants are awarded for a one-year period, although multi-year grants are provided occasionally
- Typically only one grant is made to an organization in a 12-month period
- The Wyomissing Foundation should not be the only funding source for an organization or program
- The Foundation does generally not fund operating support on a sustainable basis
Additionally, proposals will not be considered if they include:
- Requests for endowments
- Funding for individuals, social or fraternal organizations, or profit-making organizations
- Requests to purchase tickets, tables, advertisements or sponsorships or provide funding for parties, conferences, fairs or festivals
Grant Making Procedures
The following will guide the grant making process in 2012:
- An organization interested in seeking a grant through this program should first discuss their interest with United Way staff to determine availability of funds and appropriateness of the request
- Any initial contacts with Foundation staff will be referred to United Way
- If requested, the interested organization must submit a two-page Letter of Intent that describes the community issue to be addressed, a description of the proposed programmatic or organizational response and the amount of funding being requested from the Foundation
- All Letters of Intent received will be reviewed by United Way staff for consistency with the Foundation's general grant making guidelines and the parameters of this Special Grant Program
- After review by United Way staff, and in consultation with Foundation staff, the request may be approved for further consideration. If so, a detailed grant proposal must be submitted. The specific information to be provided, and the specific format for the proposal will be communicated and United Way staff will assist the applying organization to ensure the proposal's completeness.
- Submitted grant proposals will be fully evaluated by United Way staff, with final recommendations for funding to be reviewed with Foundation staff before submission to the Foundation Board for action.
Timeline
Grant requests may be initiated at any time during the year by contacting United Way staff or submitting a Letter of Intent. However, Foundation grants are awarded only at the Board's quarterly meetings.
In order to be considered at these meetings, grant proposals should be submitted according to the following schedule:
Draft Proposal: Final Proposal:
December 21, 2011 January 11, 2012
March 22, 2012 April 12, 2012
June 14, 2012 July 5, 2012
September 12, 2012 October 3, 2012
Proposals may be held over until a later quarterly meeting if deemed not complete and ready for final consideration by the Board at that time.
To contact Unit-ed Way of Berks County call Patricia Giles, Sr. V.P. of Community Impact at 610-685-4567. Email -
patgiles@uwberks.org
Traditional Grant Guidelines
The Wyomissing Foundation's grant making considers support for well managed non-profit organizations who address significant critical community issues.
