Mission

We are a public foundation created to serve southern communities and organizations seeking social, economic, and environmental justice by providing them with financial resources, opportunities for technical assistance and training, and access to systems of information and power. 

Purpose

Develop and nurture grassroots community-based leaders and organizers. Build the capacity of their organizations. Strengthen rural communities and people. Develop equitable peer relationships, which support real transformation toward a just society.

Our Values

Using a grassroots perspective, we believe that culture is the essence of its people and should be valued, shared and preserved in the process. 

We must build our strength and unity by incorporating standards of integrity, respect, love, diversity, quality and interconnectedness.

Please note over the next four years SPF will focus on three primary issue areas in its grantmaking: Education Reform; Immigration Rights; and Voter Engagement

The Discretionary Fund

Existing grantee partners as well as organizations new to SPF may apply for funding. All applicants should fall within the scope of the SPF mission and guidelines: grassroots community organizing for economic, social and environmental justice, in rural communities in the South.

Discretionary support includes (not limited to) grants for capacity building, community organizing events and/or activities, and voter engagement activities. There are three primary funding areas within discretionary

• General Discretionary: funds in this category will typically be used to support community organizing activities or small projects that fit within SPF guidelines and will lend its self to creating change within SPF funding region.
• Technical Assistance: The funds awarded in this category will support the capacity building needs of your organization or your constituency. These activities could include (but are not limited to) strategic planning, organizational development, trainings for your base and/or constituency and small technology upgrades.
• Travel Assistance: This category includes (but again, not limited to) travel to and participation in conferences and actions of civic engagement.

Discretionary fund resources are limited. Organizations may submit a maximum of two requests per year for a total reward of $3,500 per year.  

NOTE: To view the other grant priority areas for the Daniel Foundation of Alabama, please follow these links:

• Health Grants
• Education & Youth Grants
• Community Needs Grants

Daniel Foundation of Alabama: Arts, Culture and Community Asset Grants

Arts, Culture and Community Assets

The Daniel Foundation recognizes that a thriving arts community contributes immeasurably to the quality of life in Birmingham and Alabama. Furthermore, the availability of arts and cultural offerings weave together our diverse population in important ways. We also believe that preservation of our unique historical, natural and cultural resources in Alabama is an important piece of this cultural backdrop.

We understand that our arts providers need both physical spaces and ongoing operational support to provide the stability and sustenance that they are uniquely positioned to provide. Regarding operating support, we specifically seek to assist arts organizations in achieving financial sustainability – preference for operating grants is therefore given to organizations that show strategies focused on this goal.

Our priorities:

• Operational support for arts organizations, particularly those with orartsganizational sustainability strategies.
• Capital needs for arts organization, with preference given to organizations that the Foundation has supported in the past
• Community heritage, culture and historic preservation
• Projects that preserve greenspace and increase access to nature

Vision

A strong community that nurtures and supports all its families and children with access to opportunity, enrichment, and achievement.

Values

We encourage creativity and collaboration while expecting excellence in ourselves and others.

Our Approach

The work of the Foundation extends beyond grantmaking. We want to be partners in learning not just in funding and are invested in the success and effectiveness of the organizations that are supported. The Foundation staff often provides technical assistance on management and program issues and connects grantees with potential partners and collaborators and helps identify sources of additional support. We also work collaboratively with other grantmakers on important community issues and use our resources and collective voices for solutions.

Grantmaking Focus and Priorities

A healthy and educated community is the foundation’s priority and strategic commitment. In addition to grantmaking, we support the work of the Bold Goals Coalition of Central Alabama and seek partners who share common interests for collaboration and advocacy allowing for greater impact.

Community Health – Good nutrition, quality health care and positive emotional environments are vital to the health and well- being of children and adults. Many families in the Birmingham area lack access to healthy and affordable food and adequate health services. The foundation supports programs that:

• Expand and improve access to health care and healthy and affordable food for vulnerable populations.
• Encourage healthy behavior, improved mental and physical health and promote wellness and preventive measures.

Education – Opportunity and success are dependent on a quality education and all students need opportunities to prepare them to succeed in school and work. The foundation’s resources are targeted to underserved students to improve academic performance, graduation rate and job readiness.

• Promote school readiness and quality early childhood education
• Ensure students have reading and math grade level skills
• Provide youth development programs that offer mentoring and tutoring

Other focus areas include:

• Responding to community needs by providing basic human services for at risk children and adults living in poverty or with disabilities.
• Improving the community by providing families with safe places to live, exercise and play.
• Bringing arts and cultural activities to all people to enrich lives, build community and fuel a prosperous creative economy.

Types of Support

In some cases, we will consider general operating support grants for programs that match the foundation’s priority focus areas. We also make a limited number of multi-year and capital grants to organizations that can demonstrate broad community impact in one of our focus areas.

If you are considering applying for a multi-year or capital grant, we strongly encourage you to have a conversation with the Executive Director before submitting your application.

Guidelines

Grants from National Trust Preservation Funds (NTPF) are intended to encourage preservation at the local level by supporting on-going preservation work and by providing seed money for preservation projects. These grants help stimulate public discussion, enable local groups to gain the technical expertise needed for preservation projects, introduce the public to preservation concepts and techniques, and encourage financial participation by the private sector.

A small grant at the right time can go a long way and is often the catalyst that inspires a community to take action on a preservation project. Grants generally start at $2,500 and range up to $5,000. The selection process is very competitive.

Eligible Activities

National Trust Preservation Fund grants are awarded for planning activities and education efforts focused on preservation. Grant funds can be used to launch new initiatives or to provide additional support to on-going efforts.

Planning: Supporting existing staff (nonprofit applicants only) or obtaining professional expertise in areas such as architecture, archaeology, engineering, preservation planning, land-use planning, and law. Eligible planning activities include, but are not limited to:

• Hiring a preservation architect or landscape architect, or funding existing staff with expertise in these areas, to produce a historic structure report or historic landscape master plan.
• Hiring a preservation planner, or funding existing staff with expertise in this area, to produce design guidelines for a historic district.
• Hiring a real estate development consultant, or funding existing staff with expertise in this area, to produce an economic feasibility study for the reuse of a threatened structure.
• Sponsoring a community forum to develop a shared vision for the future of a historic neighborhood.
• Organizational capacity building activities such as hiring fundraising consultants, conducting board training, etc.

Education and Outreach: Support for preservation education activities aimed at the public. The National Trust is particularly interested in programs aimed at reaching new audiences. Funding will be provided to projects that employ innovative techniques and formats aimed at introducing new audiences to the preservation movement, whether that be through education programming or conference sessions.

About Us

The Walker Area Community Foundation is a permanent endowment that will forever help support the charitable needs of our community and improve the quality of life for the people of Walker County and the surrounding area. 

The Foundation is organized as a nonprofit corporation [public 501(c)(3)] under the laws of the State of Alabama and is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors of civic leaders selected for their demonstrative awareness of the educational, cultural, civic, public and other charitable needs of the Walker County area. 

What does the Walker Area Community Foundation do? 

• Awards creative, visionary and sensitive grants that address the evolving needs of our nonprofit organizations.
• Leverages and multiplies local giving with outside sources of assistance 
• Demonstrates community leadership by providing seed funding for the initiation of new, innovative, or missing services and aspects of a healthy, whole, and fulfilling community
• Engages the next generations in philanthropy through Project Connect and Project Community and being a partner of Youth Leadership Walker County
• Connects and convenes local organizations with other resources to help cultivate informative and collaborative relationships 
• Supports donors’ planned giving options, providing benefits to the community and financial and tax benefits to the donor(s)

Areas Of Focus

• Arts & Humanities
• Children & Youth
• Education
• Elder Care
• Environment
• Health & Medicine
• Recreation
• Social Welfare

NOTE:  Round 1 applications are due March 3, 2023. Select applicants will be invited to join the second- and third round RFPs.

Background

The national housing shortage continues to make headlines. Estimates on the number of homes needed to close the gap run in the millions. But one thing is clear: without a stable, affordable place to call home, it’s impossible to thrive.

In an effort to scale needed housing solutions, Enterprise and the Wells Fargo Foundation have teamed up to launch a new $20 million competition. The Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge will identify and propel implementation-ready innovations that transform current practices and reimagine access to affordable homes.

Eligible applicants will compete for individual grants of $1 million, $2 million and $3 million to scale ideas that lay the groundwork for system-wide change. Winners also will receive two years of technical assistance to turn their ideas into real-world programs.

Focus Areas

The Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge aims to meet the nation’s affordable housing challenges across Native, rural, suburban, Tribal and urban communities.

Proposals must encompass one or more of three focus areas:

Construction

• Construction innovations must introduce transformative practices, processes or new materials that will create construction efficiency, streamline supply chains, bolster climate resiliency, or reduce building costs.
• Construction approaches can include but are not limited to:
  • Creation and use of innovative, environmentally sustainable materials 
  • Streamlining the construction supply chain (e.g., materials production, purchasing, delivery, assembly) 
  • Innovative development in the affordable housing construction workforce to accelerate production 
  • New economies of scale through efficiencies in building design
• Construction technologies can include but are not limited to deployment of enhanced building practices and new building technologies.

Financing

• Financing innovations must introduce new tools or strategies to transform or offer alternatives to current practices, broadening access to capital, unlocking or leveraging financial resources, and creating a more equitable housing market for renters and homebuyers.
• Financing approaches can include but are not limited to:
  • New investment strategies
  • New funding sources to support acquisition, development, or building operations
  • New financing mechanisms for acquisition, construction, or permanent financing
  • Improved efficiencies in financing and underwriting
  • Risk mitigation through new investment approaches
  • New credit enhancement strategies
  • Unique ownership structures
  • New approaches that reduce the cost of capital
• Financing technologies can include but are not limited to deployment of technology that accelerates the financing process, development of tools that reduce timelines for approval, and development of tools that facilitate efficient, equitable access to capital.

Access and Resident Support

• Access and Resident Support innovations must introduce new processes or models that improve the housing experience for residents, such as housing access, choice, and stability, advancing fair housing, promoting personal agency and creating pathways for upward mobility.
• Access and Resident Support approaches can include but are not limited to:
  • New models that increase housing choice for renters and homebuyers, such as:
    • Improved housing search process
    • Expanding acceptance of renter subsidies
    • Ensuring equitable access to capital to support homeownership
    • Identifying and addressing discrimination or differential treatment against protected classes
  • Services that connect residents with resources to support upward mobility
• Access and Resident Support technologies can include but are not limited to development and deployment of technology to improve access to housing options, resident experience and resident housing stability.

Innovations across all three focus areas must demonstrate how they center racial equity and, where applicable, integrate environmental sustainability.

NOTE: To begin, you must first register. Once you have completed our registration, you will be directed to a screen to register your organization, or request access to become a grant administrator. Applications for approval as a grants administrator (pre-proposal deadline) must be received 7 days before a deadline (full proposal deadlines).

Purpose

Since it was founded nearly 60 years ago, Turner Industries has grown to be one of the nation’s leading heavy industrial contractors. Founder Bert S. Turner (now deceased) and his wife, Sue, and their children have taken an interest from the very beginning in steadily investing charitable dollars back into the communities in which the company works. As the company has grown in size and number of locations across the country, so have the number of recipients the company has been able to assist. Turner Industries benefits workforce development and community improvement as it relates to health and education.

The Turner Industries Fund at the Baton Rouge Area Foundation invites you to apply for grant funding for your organization through this process. The Fund committee meets on a semi-annual basis to review grant requests and will look forward to reviewing your submission.

Values

Organizations eligible for funding should have values consistent with those of Turner Industries:

• A top priority of everyone is to honor commitments, both personally and professionally. 
• The workplace atmosphere is one of openness and fairness where everyone communicates directly and honestly, and is governed by the same rules.
• A goal of everyone is to grow, personally and professionally, and to contribute to the achievement of the organization.
• The importance of innovation is recognized and peak performers are rewarded.
• The value of excellence in produce quality, customer service and financial performance is stressed.

Why the Appalachian Landscapes Protection Fund?

Accelerating and unprecedented climate change is the greatest challenge of our time, posing equal threats to nature and people.

Our forests are a critical support to help adapt to and mitigate climate change. The Appalachian Mountain region, stretching 1,500 miles from Alabama to Canada, includes massive stores of forest carbon, absorbing 1 million tons of air pollution each year. 

This vast region – the world’s largest temperate broadleaf forest – is an essential resilient refuge for plants and animals, particularly as the climate changes. Tens of millions of people call this region home, relying on its forests and waters for their health and well-being. (Read OSI's report that highlights the critical role of land protection in mitigating carbon pollution.)

Yet the Appalachian forest faces significant threats from encroaching development, poor management, and mineral and energy extraction.

To ensure that this region continues to support plants, animals, and people, OSI launched the Appalachian Landscapes Protection Fund, an $18 million effort that provides capital grants to protect 50,000 acres in key focus areas along the Appalachian Range. To complement land protection efforts, OSI’s Climate Catalyst Program works in partnership with states, local communities, Tribes, land trusts, and other not-for-profit organizations to reduce climate risks for communities disproportionately affected by flooding and other climate-induced threats.

This Fund builds on the success of OSI's Resilient Landscapes Initiative (2013 - 2020), which advanced the use of Climate Resilience Science in land protection. Climate resilience remains a priority in this new fund, along with a new emphasis on forests’ ability to store atmospheric carbon and on community equity and inclusion.

Capital Grant Focus Areas

The Fund awards capital grants for land protection in portions of:

• the Cradle of Southern Appalachia (Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama),
• the the Kittatinny (New Jersey and Pennsylvania),
• Western/Central Pennsylvania and,
• the Northern Appalachians (Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont).

Please note that during the current funding cycle, we are only accepting proposals for projects in the Cradle of Southern Appalachia, Western/Central Pennsylvania, and the Northern Appalachians focus areas.

Building Capacity to Increase Older Adult Access to Benefits

AARP Foundation has specific objectives to achieve outcomes for older adults with low income. These objectives focus on increasing income and decreasing expenditures, primarily through gainful employment, securing benefits, and accessing refunds and credits. Our work prioritizes equitable strategies and services that address systemic barriers, racial and ethnic disparities, and other biases that perpetuate economic instability.

Capacity building grants offer up to $50,000 to support direct service organizations in their efforts to work more efficiently and effectively with and for older adults. These grants are intended to aid organizational development at a structural level. Capacity Building grants are not intended to pay for general operating expenses or existing programs and services. These projects should instead focus on enhancing, optimizing or streamlining resources, processes, or programs to better assist eligible older adults with enrollment in multiple benefits during and beyond the grant cycle. Proposals must demonstrate that the expanded capacity is sustainable (financially and operationally) beyond the project lifecycle.

Capacity building support offered through this RFA is limited to organizational planning, implementation or evaluation of projects that focus on enhancing, optimizing or streamlining resources, processes or programs to better assist eligible older adults with enrollment in multiple benefits during and beyond the grant cycle.

Projects in the following categories are eligible:

• Planning
• Partnership/Relationship Development
• Operations
• Technology