Are you ready to vote for the Fund for Women and Girls 2020 grantee partners?
In this extraordinary year, we’ve designed a collaborative and innovative grants process, which remains true to the reasons so many of us became members. And we are excited to share it with you now!
The core of what we do – the careful evaluation and selection of the finalists by the Grants Committee, and voting by the voting members – will be very similar to the past, albeit on a faster schedule to reflect the community’s urgent needs.
But the front end – the application process and the initial review – will be a little different this year. In order to promote greater collaboration and efficiency, four of the most active grantmaking funds under the Princeton Area Community Foundation umbrella will come together to use a common application process and guidelines. This provides a vastly simpler process for nonprofits who, via one application, are eligible for consideration by the Fund for Women and Girls, the Bunbury Fund, The Community Impact Fund, and the Relief & Recovery Fund.
Applicants will be able to seek three types of funding:
● Neighborhood Needs grants for small nonprofits seeking less than $5,000
● Organizational Capacity Building grants for organizations focused on systemic, longer-term governance and infrastructure enhancements.
● Continuing Relief and Unrestricted Operating Support, for services that meet basic needs stemming from the pandemic, and unrestricted operating support that benefits existing programs, or new program approaches in response to the pandemic.
After an initial eligibility screening by the Community Foundation staff, a multi-disciplinary team – including a Fund for Women and Girls representative – will refer applications in the Fund’s focus areas to our Grants Committee for careful deliberation and selection of our finalists. As in past years, members will receive short summaries of the finalists and their needs. Voting members will vote online for our winners, who will be announced at an online celebration on Dec. 3, 2020.
So….to summarize: What is changing? We are moving faster to get money to nonprofits by using a unified application and guidelines. Covid-19 will prevent the site visits many of you enjoy, but we will be collaborating with other funds in the Community Foundation family in new ways. We will be voting and celebrating online and may need to edit the process as the pandemic unfolds.
But we will always stay true to what is NOT changing: our dedication to the women and children in our community; our focus areas; our very hardworking Grants Committee; our voting members choosing the winning grantee partners.
So….while those of us on the Grants Committee get ready to select our finalists we hope that you GET READY TO VOTE!!
