Albertsons Companies Foundation funds organizations that strengthen the neighborhoods we serve. We support nonprofit organizations whose mission is aligned with our priority areas:

• Health and Human Services
• Hunger
• Youth and Education
• Veterans
• Supporting Diversity and Inclusion of All Abilities

Outside of a specific RFP, a first-time funded organization will typically receive a grant of $1,000 to $5,000. Once we have some history with an organization, we will entertain a request at a higher value.

Mission

It is our mission to support our customers, colleagues and communities by helping them achieve their aspirations and helping their communities thrive. This shapes our work as a responsible corporate citizen. We deliver high-impact funding and initiatives that support people, businesses and non-profit partners so that together, we can make a meaningful difference in the world.

Charitable Contributions

Our goal with financial contributions from BOK Financial and the BOKF Foundation is to enhance the quality of life and economic wellbeing in the communities where BOK Financial operates and where our employees work and live including Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. Our charitable contributions are focused on four pillars of giving: United Way, economic development, education and basic needs

Our long-term strategic plan guides all contributions to assure maximum impact in the community and to develop mutually beneficial relationships with our nonprofit partner agencies. BOK financial contributions are budgeted on an annual calendar basis. We accept online charitable contribution/grant applications throughout the year.

Pillars of giving

Basic Needs

We provide volunteer and financial support to organizations serving the most vulnerable members of our community. Our efforts largely focus on organizations providing direct services addressing such issues as poverty, hunger, healthcare, housing and safety.

Education

An equitable, robust educational system drives long-term community growth. We support local nonprofits whose primary mission is promoting basic education, including public school foundations, early childhood education, financial literacy, and institutions of higher education.

Economic Development

Actions that raise the standard of living and economic health of our communities make them better places to live and work. We provide support to local chambers of commerce; nonprofits focused on workforce development, job training, etc.; and public/private partnerships investing in our communities.

Making community possible

At U.S. Bank, we are dedicated to supporting our communities through responsive and humbled actions focused on addressing racial and economic inequities and creating lasting change in our communities. Through our Community Possible Grant Program, we are partnering with organizations that focus on economic and workforce advancement, safe and affordable housing and communities connected through arts and culture.

The U.S. Bank Foundation is committed to making Community Possible through Work, Home and Play. We advance this work through collaborative grant making to bring equitable and lasting change through our focus on sustainable, high-impact funding with 501c3 nonprofit partners.

Home

Children and families are better positioned to thrive and succeed in a home that is safe and permanent. Access to sustainable low-income housing is increasingly challenging for low- to moderate-income families. In response, our giving supports efforts that connect individuals and families with sustainable housing opportunities.

Access to safe, affordable energy-efficient housing

We provide financial support to assist people in developing stability in their lives through access to safe, sustainable and accessible homes. Examples of grant support include:

• Organizations that preserve, rehabilitate, renovate or construct affordable housing developments for low- and moderate-income families, individuals, seniors, veterans, and special-needs populations
• Organizations that provide transitional housing as a direct stepping stone to permanent housing
• Organizations that focus on veterans housing and homeownership
• Construction of green homes for low- and moderate-income communities
• Clean energy retrofit programs for low- and moderate-income housing developments
• Organizations that provide access to renewable energy
• Improving waste management systems to include recycling and composting programs

Homeownership education

Owning and maintaining a home requires significant financial knowledge, tools and resources. We support programs that assist low- and moderate-income homebuyers and existing homeowners. Examples of grant support include:

• Homebuyer education
• Pre- and post-purchase counseling and coaching
• Homeownership-retention programs designed to provide foreclosure counseling

Work

We know that a strong small business environment and an educated workforce ensure the prosperity of our communities and reduce the expanding wealth gap for communities of color. We provide grant support to programs and organizations that help small businesses thrive, allow people to succeed in the workforce, provide pathways to higher education and gain greater financial literacy.

Investing in the workforce

We fund organizations that provide training for small business development, as well as programs that support individuals across all skill and experience levels, to ensure they have the capability to gain employment that supports individuals and their families. Examples of grant support include:

• Small business technical assistance programs
• Job skills, career readiness training programs with comprehensive placement services for low- and moderate-income individuals entering or reentering the labor force

Providing pathways for educational success

• To address the growing requirements for post-secondary education in securing competitive jobs in the workplace, we support:
• Organizations and programs that help low- and moderate-income and at-risk middle and high school students prepare for post-secondary education at a community college, university, trade or technical school and career readiness
• Programs and initiatives at post-secondary institutions that support access to career and educational opportunities for low- and moderate-income and diverse students

Teaching financial well-being for work and life

Financial well-being is not only critical for financial stability, it’s crucial in helping individuals be successful in the workplace. Examples of grant support include programs that positively impact:

• K-12 and college student financial literacy
• Adult and workforce financial literacy
• Senior financial fraud prevention
• Military service member and veteran financial literacy

Supporting the green economy through workforce development

The green economy is fast becoming an area of opportunity for workforce development programs. Funding support includes:

• Reskilling or retraining for jobs in renewable or clean energy
• Building and maintaining infrastructure to support renewable energy, including EV charging stations and bike/transportation programs

Play

Play brings joy, and it’s just as necessary for adults as it is for kids. But in low-income areas there are often limited spaces for play and fewer people attending arts and cultural events. That’s why we invest in community programming that supports ways for children and adults to play and create.

Access to artistic and cultural programming and arts education

Our investments ensure economic vitality and accessibility to the arts in local communities, as well as support for arts education. Examples of grant support include:

• Programs that provide access to cultural activities, visual and performing arts, zoos and aquariums and botanic gardens for individuals and families living in underserved communities
• Funding for local arts organizations that enhance the economic vitality of the community
• Programs that provide funding for arts-focused nonprofit organizations that bring visual and performing arts programming to low- and moderate-income K-12 schools and youth centers

Supporting learning through play

Many young people across the country do not have the resources or access to enjoy the benefits of active play. Supporting active play-based programs and projects for K-12 students located in or serving low- and moderate-income communities fosters innovation, creativity, and collaboration and impacts the overall vitality of the communities we serve. Funding support includes:

• Support for organizations that build or expand access to active play spaces and places that help K-12 students learn through play and improves the health, safety and unification of neighborhoods in low- and moderate-income communities
• Programs that focus on using active play to help young people develop cognitive, social and emotional learning skills to become vibrant and productive citizens in low- and moderate-income communities

Outdoor places to play

Environmental stewardship enhances and improves the livability of our communities. Supporting efforts to preserve, protect and enhance outdoor spaces is now part of our Play pillar of giving. Funding support includes:

• Cleanup efforts in community spaces, including (but not limited to) beaches, rivers, and streams
• Protecting green spaces within the community, including planting trees, mangroves and seagrass
• Programs that support community, native and/or pollinator gardens, including community composting

NOTE: The Foundation is focusing it's remaining grantmaking for 2021 on covid-19 funding.

Our Mission

Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust supports organizations that enrich health, well-being, and opportunity for the people of Maricopa County, Arizona. The Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust makes grants that continue Virginia Piper’s commitment to improving the quality of life in Maricopa County through programs that support healthcare and medical research, children, older adults, arts & culture, education and religious organizations. 

Piper Trust works side-by-side with nonprofit organizations as a partner, helping them to identify problems, build expertise, find solutions, and become continually stronger and more effective. The Trust strives to be a vital part of Maricopa County—not only as a source of leadership and financial support, but as a neighbor sharing a lasting stake in the county’s future.

The Piper Trust’s grantmaking focuses on Virginia Galvin Piper’s commitment to improving the quality of life for residents of Maricopa County. Reflecting Mrs. Piper’s own grantmaking, the Trust awards grants in six core program areas. 

Arts & Culture

Piper Trust’s Commitment

Arts and cultural experiences create a vibrant Maricopa County

• Literature, performance, visual arts, and other cultural experiences enrich our quality of life.
• A lively arts and culture scene can provide Maricopa County with much-needed economic stimulus.
• Children’s participation in arts and culture facilitates communication ability, critical reasoning, and social aptitude.

Our Approach and What We Fund

• Improved Business and Financial Operations:
• Organizational planning in business, marketing, and fundraising strengthens arts and culture organizations and improves sustainability.
• Computers, specialized software, and upgraded technology, such as installations of the comprehensive Tessitura software, are assets to help arts and culture nonprofits manage their operations, build audiences, and communicate with donors.
• Collaborations for Greater Effectiveness and Efficiencies
• Collaborative projects to build a distinctive arts and culture community in Maricopa County — emphasizing arts and culture as an engine of economic development and community asset.
• An example of a collaborative project is the Cultural Data Project (developed by The Pew Charitable Trusts).
• Revenue Generation, Cost Reduction and Mergers
• Redesigning business models and alternative structures may be opportunities to increase revenues and reduce costs.

Children

Piper Trust’s Commitment

All children in Maricopa County deserve a happy, healthy, and safe childhood 

• Nurturing families produce children who arrive at adulthood prepared to contribute to society.
• Coaching families and giving them help to nurture their children in the earliest years produces greater success than remedial aid to children and families later.
• Adolescents with family and community encouragement fare better than their peers in avoiding risky behaviors.

Our Approach and What We Fund

• Improved Parent and Caregiver Child-Rearing Know-How
• Teaching proper parenting, such as parent hotlines, classes for teen mothers and programs and assistance for dealing with difficult social and emotional stages in a child’s growth, pays off in greater numbers of thriving children.
• Family programs in the home and convenient places like libraries help children prepare for school and achieve academic success.
• For example, the Raising A Reader program successfully takes early-literacy training directly to families and children in apartment buildings.
• Special Trust Investment: The Arizona Parent Kit, given to new parents at birthing hospitals, is now administered by First Things First statewide.
• Assistance for Children without Resources or with Special Needs
• Children and families in crisis find help from food banks, crisis nurseries, domestic violence shelters, behavioral health programs, and transitional housing for families and youth.
• Vulnerable children get necessary aid addressing child abuse, living in poverty, and living with addicted parents.
• Children with disabilities and their families gain assistance from programs that remove social, emotional, and physical barriers to their growth and learning.
• Special Trust Investments: Vulnerable children benefit from the Adopt-A-Pool Fence project, the Back-to-School clothing program and the Child Abuse Prevention License Plate program.
• Enhanced Child Care Practices and Afterschool Care
• Early childhood educators and youth mentors find helpful instruction in learning care practices, safety training, and manuals.
• Afterschool facilities and activities at teen centers, as well as homeless youth hubs and mentoring programs, support youth and keep them engaged in productive activities.
• Integrated Early Childhood Policies and Practices
• Special Trust Investment: Planning for the BUILD Initiative, a project of the Early Childhood Funders’ Collaborative, will guide state efforts to prepare children for success.

Education

Piper Trust’s Commitment 

Learning results in opportunities and a higher quality of life 

• Formal and informal education helps us to understand ourselves, our world, and human potential.
• Learning begins at birth and the first three years of life are critical for a healthy, well-developed brain.
• Education and learning create economic opportunities, promote national competitiveness, and encourage active citizenship.

Our Approach and What We Fund

• Improved Early Learning Environments
• Advancing early learning practices, training and curricula, including standardized orientation for new teachers and accreditation for community-based preschools, enhances preschool education throughout Maricopa County.
• Teach for America Phoenix introduced the corps members in Maricopa County preschool classrooms.
• Special Trust Investment: Model programs for better early learning environments such as the Quality Preschool Curricula Project present attractive solutions to preschool education challenges.
• Academic Enhancements for Youth
• Tutoring and academic enrichment help school-age children overcome educational challenges and advance in school.
• Examples: Improving Chandler Area Neighborhoods gives children afterschool tutoring opportunities. Junior Achievement Arizona broadens perspectives. And The College Depot helps remove barriers for young people to transition to college.
• Remedial programs can help vulnerable students stay and succeed in school or work toward GEDs, advancing opportunities.
• Assistive learning aids can make learning easier for children with disabilities.
• Special Trust Investments: Collaborative projects such as Expect More Arizona and Science Foundation Arizona are broad community-based projects.
• Engagement of Older Adults in Learning
• Programs for older adults and people with disabilities can promote employment and second careers.
• The Gateway Community College Career Transition Center builds marketable skills. Lifelong learning opportunities offer active minds and engagement in the community.
• Programs for older adults to tutor and mentor school children offer academic benefits to the children and meaningful volunteer opportunities for themselves.
• Experience Corps and Your Experience Counts successfully bring older adult tutors into classrooms.

Healthcare & Medical Research

Piper Trust’s Commitment

Quality, accessible healthcare and disease prevention are essential for all residents

• Quality, accessible care is acutely important for Maricopa County residents at three critical stages–early childhood, adolescence, and later life.
• Limited access to preventive healthcare signals long-term problems with chronic diseases.

Personalized medicine, biosignatures and the promise of cost-effective healthcare

• Arizona has become a center for biomedical research and biomedical enterprises and attracts world-renowned clinical and research experts in biomedicine.
• The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University are at the center of international research focused on personalized medicine.

Our Approach and What We Fund

• Improve Facilities for Children, Adolescents and Older Adults
• Capital investments such as expanded children’s emergency rooms and neonatal intensive care units bring improved healthcare.
• Enhancing geriatric facilities directly advances the quality of healthcare for older adults.
• Better Trained Healthcare Workforce
• Integrating child development principles and practices into pediatric medicine magnifies the effectiveness of children’s healthcare.
• The model Healthy Steps program successfully teaches pediatric residents about childhood development requirements not taught in the typical medical curriculum.
• Training in geriatrics and end-of-life care expands perspectives beyond traditional medical models.
• Hospice of the Valley creates palliative medicine curricula for medical students, residents and the hospital care team.
• The Hartford Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence at ASU College of Nursing and Health Innovations trains a new generation of nurses to serve older adults.
• Increased Access to Basic Healthcare
• Uninsured and underinsured people and families require preventive and acute health services easily accessible to their neighborhoods and communities.
• Mobile medical vans and free-standing community health clinics serve this need.
• Mobile units like Mission of Mercy medical vans circulate in Maricopa County, and the Virginia G. Piper Medical and Dental Clinics at St. Vincent de Paul offer free medical services in areas of most need.
• Centers for Advancement in Personalized Medicine
• Special Trust Initiated Investments: Piper Trust has invested in building regional distinction in biosciences, particularly personalized medicine. The initiative includes support for the Center for Sustainable Health and the Virginia G. Piper Center for Personal Diagnostics (both within the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University). The Centers work to improve health outcomes at lower costs by sustaining health through the prevention and early detection of disease.

Older Adults

Piper Trust’s Commitment - Older adults in Maricopa County must have the chance to remain healthy, independent, and productive

• The continuum of older adults stretches from the Baby Boom Generation just entering traditional retirement age to frail older adults–all needing to stay vital and engaged as long as possible.
• Frail older adults and the many Boomers who face eventual frailty will benefit from improved disease prevention and the greater independence these improvements bring.
• The pioneering work we do now to help Boomers sort out new ways to live a productive later life will define aging for the generations that follow.

Our Approach and What We Fund

• Disease and Disability Prevention
• Prevention programs that focus on proper nutrition, exercise, early screening for diseases, and appropriate medications promise to advance quality of life.
• Implementation of programs such as the statewide Falls Prevention Advisory Coalition and the Stanford Chronic Disease Self Management Program enhance health, safety and independence.
•  Assistance for Older Adults to Remain Independent
• Adoption of such national health models as BenefitsCheckUp, Matter of Balance, and intergenerational day care for children and older adults at Benevilla can establish the pattern by which older adults remain healthy and independent.
• Volunteer aid can help older adults remain at home and give respite to caregivers.
• Volunteerism, “Recareering” and Community Engagement
• Spaces and programs that promote civic engagement and nontraditional work benefit both older adults and their communities.
• Mesa United Way uses over-55 Vista and AmeriCorps workers and executive volunteers to fill important positions at nonprofit organizations in the East Valley.

Religious Organizations

Piper Trust’s Commitment - Our investment in faith-based programs for children, adolescents, and older adults reflects our founder’s own beliefs

• Piper Trust invites and supports projects from all faiths provided they focus on children, adolescents, and older adults.
• Grantmaking for religious organizations reflects Piper’s objectives and strategies in the Children, Older Adults, Education, and Healthcare program areas.

Our Approach and What We Fund

• Assessments of learning environments in faith-based preschools and quality improvement projects such as the Quality Preschool Curricula Project offer enhanced learning for young children.
• Housing alternatives for older adults such as the Beatitudes Campus Foundation for Senior Living and Jewish Family Children’s Services offer private care management for older adults.

Competitive Grantmaking

Piper Trust conducts rigorous competitive grantmaking. Program, evaluation, communication and finance staff work closely with potential grantees to ensure that projects are focused, meet the Trust’s funding guidelines and address longer term needs.

Our Vision

For more than 25 years, the Dakota Foundation has sought to combine business discipline and charitable intentions to solve social problems. With grants and program-related investments (PRIs) we take an investment approach: we want the total social return of our investments to be higher than the cost.

In doing so, we hope to foster organizations and activities that are both economically and environmentally sustainable. We help people invest in themselves to improve their economic condition and those of their families and communities. This mission stems from our values: self-reliance, personal responsibility, human dignity, equal opportunity, and the preservation of life and beauty on our earth.

General Rules of Thumb

The Dakota Foundation generally makes PRIs with non-profit groups whose programs empower people and increase their control over their own economic destinies. For more information about our PRIs, please see our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) .

The Dakota Foundation opposes unlawful or unfair discrimination in all its activities, and our resources are available to organizations that serve their constituencies without unlawful discrimination on the basis of race, color, creed, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, marital status or national origin. 

We support organizations that collaborate with other community groups to create bottoms up solutions to common issues. It is important to us that a project or program is sustainable, scalable, and that benchmarks and indicators are in place to ensure meaningful and measurable results. 

We value community. Our mission is to connect with our communities to support young minds, invest in our current and future workforce, create vibrant culture and vital communities, improve health and human services, and protect our natural resources.

Our Priorities

We focus our resources on the communities where we work and live. Our funds are for innovative projects and programs that create measurable impacts in our areas of emphasis.

The Foundation will consider requests from qualified organizations to support operating budgets and capital fund programs for the construction, refurbishment or purchase of buildings, structures, equipment or physical enhancements.

Education

Especially early childhood education initiatives and programs that support schools of higher learning with special interest in curricula and capital improvements in the study of business, political science, economics, engineering, and natural/physical sciences as they relate to the energy and industrial industries. 

Health and Human Services

Including initiatives and programs that help individuals and families struggling with daily living challenges, including hunger, poverty, domestic violence, homelessness, and disabilities.

Community, Civic, and Cultural Development

Programs and projects that focus on local, regional, or statewide economic and cultural development, including efforts that increase awareness of culture and the arts and encourage their growth, particularly for regions or populations that would otherwise be unable to participate.

Environment

programs that emphasize sustainability, preservation, environmental education, and stewardship of our land, water, and air with an emphasis on collaborative programs that strengthen ties between businesses and communities.

NOTE:

• The Elliott Family Foundation has no formal application deadline, but has adopted a yearly funding cycle that occurs in late Fall.
• All applicants are encouraged to submit proposals well in advance of, but no later than, mid-September for consideration within that calendar year

Mission

Established in 2003, the Harry C. & Deborah L. Elliott Family Foundation is the philanthropic arm of builder and developer Elliott Homes. The Foundation’s mission is to enhance the quality of human life in the communities it serves. To that end, we help patients gain access to life-saving emergency care at hospitals, women and children rebuild their lives with safe shelter, and college students reach their goals through multi-year scholarships, among other projects. The Foundation is governed by a Board of Directors that meets on a monthly basis.

Interests

Funding has traditionally gone to community health care projects, scholarships for higher education, housing the homeless, environmental preservation and conservation, and services for disadvantaged seniors. Areas in which the Board members have special knowledge or interest are also considered.

Introduction

Season for Sharing, the annual holiday campaign of The Arizona Republic, and azcentral.com, in partnership with the Gannett Foundation, Arizona Community Foundation and the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust, raises awareness and dollars for non-profit 501(c)3 agencies that help the Valley’s neediest.

Specific funding priorities

Grants will be made to organizations that match the criteria:

Children & Families

• Support of programs that focus on preventing child abuse, protecting children from abuse, finding permanent appropriate placements and providing support for children in the foster care system.
• Programs that offer access to free or low cost food including food banks and meal programs for children.
• Programs that help people receive emergency short term shelter and long term affordable housing.
• Programs that provide for short term emergency needs including personal care or hygiene items, clothing, rental or utility assistance or disaster relief.

Education

• Programs that support early childhood education and quality child care for disadvantaged populations.
• Programs that enhance and/or improve K-12 core curriculum including tutoring and academic afterschool programs.
• Programs that provide for school readiness (back to school clothing, supplies, school food programs).
• Programs that ensure that all students graduate from high school prepared to succeed in college or the workforce.
• Programs that support adult and family literacy programs.

Older Adults

• Programs and services for the elderly including supportive services, assisted living services, Alzheimer’s support, access to free or low cost in-home or congregate meal programs and nutrition assistance, and recreational services.

Funding request range

Average grant range is $7,500-$50,000. First-year grants will be no more than $7,500. No new grants for less than $7,500 will be considered. Please limit requests to increase grant amounts to no more than 50 percent higher than the last grant received.