Community Grants Program
The following is a list of frequently asked questions relating to the Community Grants Program. Please click on any of the relative questions and an underlying answer will appear. If you can not find the answer you're looking for, do not hesitate to call.
- Who decides which grant applications to fund?
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The Board of Trustees of the Foundation is responsible for review and evaluation of all the applications we receive. The Foundation’s staff supports the work of the committee but has no direct input on grantmaking decisions.
- What kind of things do you fund?
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We make grants to 501(c)(3) organizations. Anything that would qualify with the IRS as a charitable project - spanning the fields of health, human services, education, arts and culture, civic projects, conservation and preservation and the environment - could be considered eligible for a grant.
- How large are your grants?
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Chelan, Douglas and Okanogan counties are diverse in size and in the needs of the many communities we serve. In an effort to impact as many citizens as possible, the Trustees have chosen to place priority on Regional Impact Grants that are limited to $5,000. Future plans include larger grants, specific to captial and endowment projects.
- Can I just call and ask for an application? When are the deadlines?
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Applications are available on our grants page to download in word or pdf format. Please feel free to call for guidelines at any time. Regional Impact Grant deadlines are December 31 and May 15. The Methow Valley Fund deadline is January 15 and the Waterville Community Fund is December 1. Decisions are made within 120 days, allowing time for site visits, proposal review and deliberation.
- If a nonprofit has an endowment with CFNCW, will it affect our chances to receive a grant?
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No. Having an endowment with CFNCW has no bearing when it comes to receiving a grant. If you have an endowment with us but your organization needs a grant, go ahead and apply if you wish. You will be on even footing with all our other applicants.
- Do you make grants to capital campaigns?
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Currently, the Trustees have chosen to suspend grants for capital campaigns. We hope to open the Capital Grants Program in the near future. The Regional Impact Grants will, however, consider funding some particular item — a piece of special equipment, for example — up to $5,000.
- Do you fund salaries and operating expenses?
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Yes, CFNCW allows requests for general operating expenses.
- Do you give any multi-year grants?
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Legally, we can. However, the Trustees have decide to suspend multi-year grants at this time.
- Does the number of people who will be affected by a grant matter?
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Yes, but not always. It is certainly something that the Committee considers but our efforts to get a good “bang for the buck” are measured qualitatively as well as quantitatively.
- Should we have a professional grant writer prepare our application?
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It’s not necessary. We have a simple application and those who read them are more interested in the reality of the need and the quality of the plan for addressing it than in the elegance of the grant request language. It’s ok to use a grant writer it’s just not necessary.
- Is your grantmaking strictly responsive to requests you receive or do you undertake initiatives?
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For the most part, our grantmaking is reactive. We believe that a strong community must have all the elements of arts, conservation, education, basic need programs, animal welfare and public facilities. To determine one area of funding over another to be most important defeats that philosophy. We review data surrounding needs and expect our nonprofit applicants to be able to adequately address their role in fulfilling a need in the community, not duplicating services and providing value for the programs they provide.
- Why do you make grants outside North Central Washington?
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Some of our donors have charitable interests beyond the boundaries of North Central Washington. For example, they may care about supporting their out-of-state college or university. Grants from unrestricted and field-of-interest funds, over which the Board has complete discretion within the criteria established when the fund began, only benefit programs in NCW. Donor advised funds and designated funds established by members of our community may serve institutions located beyond our borders.
- Do you award grants to the geographic location where your donations come from?
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When a fund is established, if the donor asks that distributions from the fund go to a certain geographic area, that’s where those grant dollars go - forever. Otherwise, it is our general belief that the needs of our community do not end or begin at a county/city line and that the needs of our neighbors are our own. Interestingly, more and more we see the same non-profits - no matter where their office may be - serving needs that span North Central Washington so it is not the issue it might once have been.
- Our grant request last year was turned down. Why?
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Please remember that it is discouraging to have to say “no” to good people doing important work. Applications are usually not turned down because they are “bad” applications. Occasionally, an application will fall outside the bounds of our guidelines and the Committee will find itself unable to help. (Please read the guidelines carefully before you invest the time and energy in making an application.) But generally it is a case of the competition being very tough. It is an annual occurance to recieve far more in requests than our grant budget allows us to provide in grants.
