Community Grants – Soon to Be Available for Local Nonprofits

The Community Foundation of South Puget Sound (CFSPS) will soon launch its 2023 grants cycle. Their grants program aims to strengthen our communities through broad, diverse, and flexible funding. Grants support a wide range of nonprofit organizations contributing to the region’s overall social, health, and environmental well-being across a broad range of focus areas.

Are you Eligible?

• Organizations must demonstrate basic organizational capacity, including reasonable financial health and governance practices, including a minimum of 3 board members.  
• Organizations must acknowledge 100% of Community Grant funds will be used in Mason, Lewis, and/or Thurston County.

Grant Cycle Timeline

There will be two information sessions that will take place on Friday June 23rd. The first session will run from 10:00am – 10:45am and will be specifically for those new to the Foundation Grants or the philanthropic space. The second session will run from 11:00am – 12:00pm and will share about the upcoming grants cycle and award details, do a walk through of the grant application and talk about the online grants portal that you will use to complete the process. The full timeline will be listed below.

• June 23: New Grantee and Community Grants Information Session
• July 5: Application Opens
• August 9: Application Closes at 11:59 pm
• August-September: Due Diligence and Committee Reviews
• October 2023: Award Notifications and awards are distributed

Noteworthy Changes

Most grants will be unrestricted
Unrestricted funding means the grant is at the discretion of the nonprofit organization to spend as they see fit. Unrestricted funding helps give nonprofits the freedom to learn, adapt, and take risks. It is critical in supporting an organization’s sustainability and effectiveness.

Most grant awards will be $5,000 or less
For the past several years, the average grant size has been approximately $4,500. Many organizations have had the experience of applying for a grant of $10,000 and then receiving $5,000 or even $2,500. This change is an attempt to be more explicit about an existing practice. As a community foundation the CFSPS seeks to fund a broad range of organizations that contribute to the social, health, and environmental well-being of our communities.

A simpler, less burdensome application
A shorter grant application will reduce the time spent on this process for both applicants and grant evaluators, so that the time and effort put into the application is relative to the amount received.

Clearer evaluation process and criteria
The staff at the CFSPS are also working on developing a clearer scoring process to guide their volunteer Grants Committee members. Making funding decisions with limited resources is never easy. They are working to be as clear as possible—with themselves and nonprofits—about what criteria they are using to make those decisions.

Program Objectives

In reviewing grant proposals, the Community Foundation prioritizes the following:

• Impact: They support organizations contributing to individual and community well-being across a variety of focus areas including arts and culture, community and civic engagement, environment, animal welfare, health and wellness, basic needs, and economic opportunity.
• Geography: They fund organizations that primarily work in their service area or fill unmet needs within their service area.
• Accountability: They seek to fund services that are designed appropriately for the communities they serve and prioritize organizations that meaningfully engage the voices, perspectives, and expertise of their program participants.
• Community Partnerships: They prioritize organizations that carry out their work in coordination with local community partners.
• Equity: They support nonprofits serving all populations and seek to prioritize populations and communities with unequal access to resources and opportunities.

Further Assistance

The CFSPS has friendly and knowledgeable staff that is happy to assist with any questions regarding Community Grants. For swift assistance, please get in touch with the following staff members, depending on your needs.

• ‍Questions about Community Grants? Email Janece Levien, Director of Community Programs,
• ‍Questions about the online grant platform? Email Melissa Rosscup, Programs Coordinator.