Featured Grant Opportunity: Erie Community Foundation Shaping Tomorrow Grant
The Erie Community Foundation is offering the Shaping Tomorrow grant to support collaborative and multi-year efforts to address critical community needs. This is a great opportunity for non-profits located in Erie County, PA!
We’re including basic information on the grant below. Be sure to visit the Erie Community Foundation Shaping Tomorrow Grant page for full details and access to the grant application.
Program Overview: Grants may be awarded for efforts that address any of the eight Erie Vital Signs topic areas including: Cultural Vitality, Community & Civic Engagement, The Economy, Regional Cooperation, Health, Environment, Education and Brain Gain. It is important to note, however, that the three priority areas for funding in 2014 are Health, Education and The Economy. Applicants are likely to be most competitive by applying for funding for a project that is responsive to one of the identified priority areas.
The focus areas under the Health topic area are Adult Health, Child Health, and Diabetes. The focus of Child Health is K-6 overweight and obesity. Based on the Vital Sign indicators, the Foundation may have some interest in overweight and obesity outcomes for 7-12 as well. Under Adult Health, physical activity and overweight/obesity are among many indicators the Foundation intends to follow.
The focus areas under the Education topic area are: Educational Attainment, PSSA Results, Graduation Rates, Educational Spending, Early Childhood Education Program Participation, and Early Childhood Education Risk Factor Surveillance.
The focus areas under the Economy topic area are: Business Community, Employment, Wages, Median Household Income, Homeownership, Per Capita Income, Poverty, Self-Sufficiency, Visitor and Tourism Impact, and Cost of Living.
Award: Total grant awards are up to $300,000 each.
Who Can Apply: Non-profits located in Erie County, PA who service a target population with the majority of the population located in Erie County, PA.
When is the Deadline?: There are two grant deadlines this year, 2/14/2014 and 8/27/2014.
How much work is involved in the application?: Quite a bit. As can be expected when a funder is offering a grant that will potentially fund a large award, this is a thorough grant application that requires fully detailed explanations of all aspects of your project. The upcoming February deadline is very close and may not be realistic for potential applicants who haven’t started working on an application yet, but the August deadline allows for plenty of time to put together a competitive proposal.
Project plans should be collaborative and may be multi-year. Consider Erie County, PA-based organizations with which you might partner on your application. Think about how they can contribute to your project or how your project might build on their existing efforts to serve Erie County residents within your chosen topic area.
We’ll continue to add more great featured grant opportunities to the Insight Blog. If you would like more information on Insight’s grant writing, editing, or research services, please contact us by phone at 716-474-0981, email info@insightgrants.com, or fill out our online contact form.
