COMPETITIVE GRANTMAKING

The Associates Board Community Grants Program application is closed. Grants were announced in December, 2024. You can find the full list of grants here.

FY25 Impact Grants

Below is our 2025 Impact Grants Request for Proposal, reflecting our new Five-Year Grantmaking Strategy. Read the Impact Grants Evaluation Executive Summary.

2025 Impact Grants Request for Proposals

Funding Priorities
The Foundation for Delaware County (the Foundation) is pleased to announce the 2025 Impact Grants competitive grantmaking cycle.

While we make some grants from donor-advised funds as well as restricted and specialized funds, the grants awarded through this competitive grant process will advance the Foundation’s mission to ensure an equitable, vibrant future for Delaware County by promoting generosity, inspiring participation and partnership across our communities, and improving the quality of life for all.

For the 2025 Impact Grants cycle, the Foundation will consider awarding grant funds to organizations that address several of the Social Determinants of Health including community and economic development, health, hospice and homecare, housing, and youth development. These priorities reflect changes made by our board following a five-year evaluation of our Impact Grants.

Foundation Impact Grants Funding Priorities for 2025

Cancer Survivors

The Foundation will consider awarding grants to organizations that provide education and supportive services to assist cancer survivors living in Delaware County. Unfortunately, multi-year grants are not available for this funding priority.

Community and Economic Development

The Foundation will consider awarding strategic investment grants to enhance community and economic development strategies in Delaware County. This could include arts and culture initiatives that catalyze community and economic development.

Health

Behavioral Health: the Foundation will consider awarding grants to organizations providing education, prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, supportive services, or advocacy to assist families and children living in Delaware County experiencing mental health and substance use disorders in Delaware County.

Children’s Health and Nutrition: the Foundation will consider awarding grants that support efforts to expand and improve services for low-income children and their families living in Delaware County, including advocacy efforts, primary preventive care, lead screening, asthma treatment, immunizations, oral care, nutrition, vision care, and developmental services.

Food Security: the Foundation will consider awarding grants to organizations that strengthen the emergency food safety net in Delaware County by enhancing food availability, quality, variety, and/or cultural appropriateness, and by coordinating emergency food services.

Maternity and Prenatal/Postnatal Care: the Foundation will consider awarding grants that expand quality services to vulnerable mothers and infants living in Delaware County, including early entry into prenatal care, routine prenatal and postpartum care, pregnancy spacing, supportive services, and advocacy efforts that decrease maternal mortality and infant mortality/morbidity and increase early childhood growth and development.

Preventive Healthcare: the Foundation will consider awarding grants to organizations that improve, expand, or advocate for preventive healthcare services for low-income and vulnerable children living in Delaware County.

Hospice and Home Healthcare

The Foundation will consider awarding grants to organizations providing hospice and home healthcare services for people who are low-income who have disabilities, and vulnerable seniors in Delaware County. Unfortunately, multi-year grants are not available for this funding priority.

Housing

The Foundation will consider awarding strategic investment grants to support advocacy efforts, initiatives, and projects that increase access to or the supply of safe, adequate, and affordable housing for Delaware County residents.

Youth Development

Education

Early Childhood Education and Development: the Foundation will consider awarding grants to support early childhood programs that promote and advocate for early development (formally and informally) from birth to age six.

Elementary and Middle School: the Foundation will consider awarding grants to support programs and initiatives that provide academic support to elementary and middle school-age students. This effort can include out-of-school-time (OST) academic programs.

Vocational and Job Training: the Foundation will consider awarding grants to organizations that help prepare youth for further education and successful careers. This effort can include specific classes offered to learners to train for a job or career.

Youth Development. The Foundation will consider awarding grants to support advocacy efforts, initiatives, interventions, and collaborations that enhance protective factors and reduce risk factors, promote positive outcomes, and prepare young people to reach their full potential.

APPLICATION GUIDELINES

Eligible organizations may apply for funding under any of the Foundation’s funding priorities outlined above, selecting one area that aligns most closely with their mission and proposed activities. The application should demonstrate outcomes within at least one of the following types of outcomes:

Eligible organizations may submit a single application for one of the grant types listed below to support their efforts in advancing the Foundation’s funding priorities outlined above. Each organization may apply for a single year or for a multi-year period.

Grant preference will be given to agencies that:

• Are located in Delaware County.
• Have completed their organization’s GuideStar (Platinum level Seal of Transparency preferred) profile
• Have a strong and proven record of collaborating with other entities serving the residents of Delaware County.
• Have a demonstrated commitment to diversity and cultural competency in staff and board composition, including employing bilingual staff where existing and potential clients are non-English speakers.
• Have embedded or are in the process of embedding a trauma-informed care approach to services and programs.
• Can provide evidence of a commitment to capacity building and succession planning where appropriate.
• Address the most vulnerable populations’ needs, including families living in poverty, immigrants, non-English speakers, and minority-led organizations.

Timeline:

Application Opens – January 2, 2025
Application Due – February 6, 2025
Meetings and Site Visits (Virtual and On-Site) – March 10, 2025 – March 21, 2025
Please note that not being selected for a meeting or site visit does not mean your
organization will not receive a grant.
Award Announcements – April 25, 2025

Eligibility Criteria:

Who Can Apply:

• Tax-exempt organizations under any part of section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code
• Grassroots organizations, collaboratives, or coalitions may apply under the auspices of a tax-exempt fiscal sponsor.
• All grant proceeds must be used to provide programs and services in and for Delaware County residents.

Note: Applicant organizations must comply with local, state, and federal regulations.

You can find a list of the 2024 Impact Grants awards here. Please sign up for the Foundation’s e-newsletter to stay up to date on all opportunities and connect with us on Facebook, X, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube @delcofdn.

Office hours for questions about the RFP: Wednesday, December 11, 2024, from 1:00 – 2:30 p.m.
Please use this link to join office hours. You do not need to register.