Since its inception, the Foundation, which is still led by Lester T. Sunderland's descendants, has focused on supporting construction projects, awarding grants to nonprofits in the Kansas City region and other markets traditionally served by the Ash Grove Cement Company. 

 The Foundation prefers to make grants for construction and special interest projects rather than for annual operating expenses. 

Grants for planning, design, construction, renovation, repairs and restoration of facilities are considered. Areas of interest include higher education, youth serving agencies, health facilities, community buildings, museums, civic projects and energy efficient affordable housing projects sponsored by qualified tax-exempt organizations. 

Funding Areas

In recent grant cycles, the Board of Trustees has awarded the majority of grants in four broadly defined areas:

Health Care and Hospitals

A growing area of need in many of the communities the Foundation serves. In 2017, more than $2.9 million was awarded to hospitals and health-care groups to build and improve their facilities. 

Human Services

The Foundation awarded over $7 million to human service nonprofits in 2017, and the majority of grants in this area were awarded to groups that provide essential services to youth and families. Grantees included a range of youth-focused groups, including the Kansas 4-H Foundation, Kids TLC, Ronald McDonald House & Boys & Girls Clubs. 

Higher Education

In 2017, the Foundation awarded more than $10 million to over 45 educational organizations. Grantees included community colleges, private colleges, and public universities. 

Arts and Culture

NOTE:  The application deadline has been  extended to December 1, 2023.

About School-Based Healthcare Solutions Network (SBHSN).

Utilizing a unique framework of funding systems offered by the Department of Health and Human Services, managed care organizations, health insurers, and private donors, SBHSN promotes a system of care model (Coaching Model℠) offering a mix of evidenced-based intervention, prevention, and care coordination services to children in grades K-12. The Coaching Model aims to expand quality mental healthcare access on public school campuses and improve children's social, emotional, behavioral, family, and wellness outcomes.

School-Based Mental Health Implementation Grant

In response to the growing number of students who need mental health counseling, the School-Based Healthcare Solutions Network (SBHSN) is accepting applications from Local Education Agencies (LEA), Public and Private Universities, State and local Colleges, Charter School Management Companies, Public Schools, Charter Schools, and Non-Profit Organizations (501c3) to implement and expand mental health program services on local school campuses. Grantees will receive direct funding and reimbursement to support the following activities: 

• Expanding access to School-Based Social and Emotional Learning (SEL).
• Coordinating mental healthcare services with school administration and staff. 
• Delivering mental healthcare services and coordinating academic-support activities to students with a history of attendance, behavior, and poor academic performance.

FUNDING

5-Years, renewable based on meeting performance goals 5-year award ceiling is $5,500,000.

Mission

The Sherwood Foundation® promotes equity through social justice initiatives enhancing the quality of life in Nebraska.

Vision

We believe social justice is the proactive reinforcement of policies, practices, attitudes, and actions that all produce equitable power, access, opportunities, treatment, impacts, and outcomes for all.

Who We Fund

The Sherwood Foundation limits grants to organizations that are tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3), government entities, schools, or churches that are serving Nebraska. These organizations must be in good standing with the Internal Revenue Service. 

What We Fund

The Sherwood Foundation limits grants to nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations that predominately benefit those that are serving Nebraska and must address one of our categories:

Urban Community Partnerships

Our work in Nebraska’s urban communities focuses on family stability and child wellbeing with an overarching emphasis on community context. Using a two-generation approach, we are interested in the relationship between direct service provision and the greater systems that impact a community. Applicants are wise to cite specific research that influences a service model or approach to solving a community challenge.

Omaha Public Schools

Guidelines: 

• OPS employees must obtain approval from the District before submitting an application. 
• Applications lacking such documentation will not receive consideration.
• For assistance, please contact the OPS Grant Coordinator at 531.299.9653.

Greater Nebraska Initiatives

Through these grants, The Sherwood Foundation promotes equity and inclusion as pathways for creating the good life for all in Nebraska.  Core areas of work include child welfare, immigrant inclusion, housing, advocacy & civic engagement, leadership, and community infrastructure. Requests from communities outside of the Omaha and Lincoln metro areas are considered during standard grant cycles.

Early Childhood Education

The Sherwood Foundation supports early childhood education on a regional and national basis through The Buffett Early Childhood Fund.

What the Sherwood Foundation Values

 The Sherwood Foundation has strongly held values regarding civil liberties, equality and fairness with a particular focus on women and people oppressed because of their race, sexual orientation, and/or religion or lack-thereof.

• We respect that not all nonprofit organizations share the same values as the Foundation.
• We don’t ask nonprofits to change values for us or for funding.
• We do ask that nonprofits leaders respect our values and save everyone time and energy by not seeking funding if our organizational values aren’t aligned.

Equal rights.

We believe all humans are created equal. We work to eliminate government and social barriers to equality.

Access to civic life.

We are proud to live in a democracy and believe that the rights provided to individuals in the United States should be protected and the best way to protect those rights is to ensure equal access to the voting polls. 

Reproductive justice.

We support a woman’s right to self-determination about reproductive health choices. We expect our grantees serving women and girls to ensure access and education to all health care options, including abortion. 

Opportunity to thrive.

We believe a zip code should not determine the outcome of a life. We see how government institutions and laws have historically and do presently oppress and suppress opportunity, particularly for people of color but also other minority populations and women. We work with our community to undo systemic oppression and build systems that meet the needs of citizens and do not further oppress. We seek economic justice for our neighbors and the opportunity that lies therein.

Access to services.

We expect grantees to ensure that clients have access to services and that service providers work to remove barriers rather than create barriers to care and compassion. A service provider’s religious belief system should not be imposed upon those who seek their services, whether through proselytization, coercion, guilt, or an unspoken quid-pro-quo expectation to participate in faith-based classes or religious services.

Operating Grants

The Sherwood Foundation® believes that providing operating support can make all the difference to nonprofit organizations by providing flexible funding to cover the ongoing costs of day-to-day operations (administrative/overhead). This type of support can free nonprofits to become more strategic about how they address community issues, craft internal solutions to enhance effectiveness, and build organizational infrastructure.

NOTE: All applicants must be invited to apply for a grant from Bayer Fund. Invitation codes can be requested from the Bayer site in your community or through the Contact Us page.

Awareness. Education. Prevention.  These are three key tenets of Bayer Fund’s investments in health and wellness.  With a focus on cancer and cardiovascular disease, we provide resources to organizations dedicated to educating and/or providing services to patients, caregivers and at-risk populations.

Health & Wellness Grants

Programs that Bayer Fund will support include those that focus on patients and their families needing assistance with issues to managing cardiovascular disease and cancer. This includes education, disease awareness, and supportive services for these diseases. In areas related to cardiovascular disease, priority (though not exclusivity) will be given to charitable organizations that focus on programs and support for the African American community due to the high incidence rate of disease in this population.

Giving in this category will focus on support services such as education, disease awareness, and general access to care (e.g., housing for families traveling for cancer or heart care).

All funding requests and budgets must be for program activities and expenses that start after funding decisions are made. All programs must be completed within one year of the start date, except in limited situations where longer term programs have been agreed upon. Grant award amounts vary, depending on the size of the community, the type of programming, and the reach of the organization.

Supporting Historic Sacred Places

A program of Partners for Sacred Places in collaboration with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the National Fund for Sacred Places provides financial and technical support for community-serving historic houses of worship across America.

What We Offer

The National Fund for Sacred Places provides matching grants of $50,000 to $250,000 to congregations undertaking significant capital projects at historic houses of worship, along with wraparound services including training, technical assistance, and planning support.

What We’re Looking For

The National Fund for Sacred Places assesses applicant eligibility according to the core criteria shown below, while also striving to build a diverse participant pool that reflects a broad range of geographic, cultural, and religious identities.

Historic, Cultural, or Architectural Significance

We are looking for buildings that have historic, cultural, or architectural significance—and sites that have important and relevant stories to tell. Many of our participants are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the state register, or the local register. Your building does not have to be on one of these lists, but eligibility for one or more of these lists is a good benchmark for National Fund eligibility.

As part of the National Trust’s commitment to telling the full American story, we particularly encourage congregations to apply that illuminate a unique or overlooked aspect of American history and that expand our understanding of our shared national heritage. We encourage submissions related to historic sacred places of importance to historically and contemporaneously underrepresented communities including, but not limited to, women, immigrants, Asian Americans, Black Americans, Latinx Americans, Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, and LGBTQIA communities.

Successful applicants are able to demonstrate their place in history by answering questions such as:

• Does the building tell a story relevant to our history—either cultural or religious?
• Does the history highlight previously underrecognized communities, stories, or locations?
• How has the building served the community over time? Does the building have a great physical presence in its community due to its location or programming?
• Is the building the work of a notable architect? If so, is it a high-quality example of their body of work?
• Is the building an exceptional example of its architectural style or building technology?
• Does the building embody the congregation’s resilience over time?

Community-Serving Congregations

We are looking for congregations that are engaged in their communities and that are serving others. Engaged congregations operate and host programming that serves vulnerable, at-risk, and diverse populations; share space with non-affiliated groups and organizations (often at subsidized rates); work with other congregations, faith-based organizations, nonprofit organizations, and/or municipalities; and have a widespread reputation for being a welcoming center of community life.

Project Scope and Need

We fund historic preservation projects addressing urgent repair needs and/or life safety. We also fund projects that increase congregations’ ability to open their buildings to new populations or to serve greater numbers of people. All projects must adhere to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation, which is a universally accepted framework for doing work to older and historic properties.

We prioritize congregations/projects where there is a demonstrated need (meaning that the congregation cannot raise the funds alone) or where it is clear that our grant will have a catalytic effect (meaning that our grant is likely to lead to additional monies being contributed to the project).

Readiness

Once-in-a-generation capital projects require a great deal of planning. We are looking for applicants that understand their buildings’ needs and that are ready to undertake a capital campaign. National Fund congregations typically have a history of successful capital campaigns, which demonstrate an ability to raise significant funds and complete a project.

Successful congregations come to us with a realistic fundraising goal, which has been generated with the help of qualified preservation professionals and is not too far beyond the congregation’s fundraising capacity.

Healthy Congregations

The National Fund prioritizes healthy, stable congregations so that our investment is truly impactful and lasting. We look for the following, although this is not an exhaustive list of characteristics that indicate healthy congregations: tenured, well-respected clergy; capable lay leadership; stable or growing membership; financial strength and stability; support of the judicatory or governing body, if applicable; and a history of weathering any congregational conflict or trauma with resilience.

NOTE: The Sherwood Foundation will NOT have an open program and capital grant cycle in 2023. We will provide updates for future grant cycles as they become available.

Mission

The Sherwood Foundation® promotes equity through social justice initiatives enhancing the quality of life in Nebraska.

Vision

We believe social justice is the proactive reinforcement of policies, practices, attitudes, and actions that all produce equitable power, access, opportunities, treatment, impacts, and outcomes for all.

Who We Fund

The Sherwood Foundation® limits grants to organizations that are tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3), government entities, schools, or churches that are serving Nebraska. These organizations must be in good standing with the Internal Revenue Service. 

What We Fund

The Sherwood Foundation® limits grants to nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations that predominately benefit those that are serving Nebraska and must address one of our categories:

Urban Community Partnerships

Our work in Nebraska’s urban communities focuses on family stability and child wellbeing with an overarching emphasis on community context. Using a two-generation approach, we are interested in the relationship between direct service provision and the greater systems that impact a community. Applicants are wise to cite specific research that influences a service model or approach to solving a community challenge.

Omaha Public Schools

Guidelines: 

• OPS employees must obtain approval from the District before submitting an application. 
• Applications lacking such documentation will not receive consideration.
• For assistance, please contact the OPS Grant Coordinator at 402.557.2151.

Rural Community Partnerships

Through these grants, The Sherwood Foundation® promotes local capacity to address locally-identified priorities and thereby strengthen the common good we enjoy as fellow Nebraskans. Requests from communities outside of the Omaha and Lincoln metro areas are considered on an ongoing basis. 

The following priorities guide The Sherwood Foundation’s Rural Community Partnership grants:

• Community leadership development that helps local community members expand and deepen their skills and experiences to better serve their home community through learning and innovation.
• Community inclusion that is broad-based and intentionally developed to leverage the diverse skills and perspectives of community members in service to the benefits and responsibilities of community life.
• Community collaboration that aligns stakeholders and resources in order to strategically build upon and utilize locally-controlled assets.

Early Childhood Education

The Sherwood Foundation® supports early childhood education on a regional and national basis through The Buffett Early Childhood Fund

What the Sherwood Foundation Values

 The Sherwood Foundation has strongly held values regarding civil liberties, equality and fairness with a particular focus on women and people oppressed because of their race, sexual orientation, and/or religion or lack-thereof.

• We respect that not all nonprofit organizations share the same values as the Foundation.
• We don’t ask nonprofits to change values for us or for funding.
• We do ask that nonprofits leaders respect our values and save everyone time and energy by not seeking funding if our organizational values aren’t aligned.

Equal rights.

We believe all humans are created equal. We work to eliminate government and social barriers to equality.

Access to civic life.

We are proud to live in a democracy and believe that the rights provided to individuals in the United States should be protected and the best way to protect those rights is to ensure equal access to the voting polls. 

Reproductive justice.

We support a woman’s right to self-determination about reproductive health choices. We expect our grantees serving women and girls to ensure access and education to all health care options, including abortion. 

Opportunity to thrive.

We believe a zip code should not determine the outcome of a life. We see how government institutions and laws have historically and do presently oppress and suppress opportunity, particularly for people of color but also other minority populations and women. We work with our community to undo systemic oppression and build systems that meet the needs of citizens and do not further oppress. We seek economic justice for our neighbors and the opportunity that lies therein.

Access to services.

We expect grantees to ensure that clients have access to services and that service providers work to remove barriers rather than create barriers to care and compassion. A service provider’s religious belief system should not be imposed upon those who seek their services, whether through proselytization, coercion, guilt, or an unspoken quid-pro-quo expectation to participate in faith-based classes or religious services.

Wally and Barbara Weitz began the Weitz Family Foundation in 2000.

Since then over $50 million in awards have been granted to housing, arts, education and health organizations in Omaha, Nebraska.

We work with grassroots agencies and large institutions who demonstrate vision, integrity, creativity and passion. We appreciate the use of servant leaders, so those we work with will use practices that enrich the lives of individuals, build better organizations and create a more just and caring world.

The Weitz Family Foundation seeks to break the cycle of poverty in Omaha, NE by empowering individuals, agencies, and organizations to create a more equitable and peaceful society.

The foundation seeks to identify and address the institutional and systemic injustices and gaps which fuel poverty. We seek new ideas and innovations in social change to address the core issues.

Beloved Community Grant

We are committed to Omaha and love to support those organizations that make our community more just and equitable. The Beloved Community application invites nonprofits working in Omaha that are new (or new to us) to introduce themselves to the foundation and share how they are making a positive impact. Beloved Community proposals may request up to $20,000. This portfolio is where many of our most treasured community partners apply year after year for operating dollars. We focus on relief, recovery, and re-imagining life in Omaha.

Ms. Foundation for Women

The mission of the Ms. Foundation for Women is to build women’s collective power in the U.S. to advance equity and justice for all. We achieve our mission by investing in, and strengthening, the capacity of women-led movements to advance meaningful social, cultural and economic change in the lives of women. Ms. has six grantmaking initiatives, one of which is the Birth Justice Initiative.

Birth Justice Initiative

Our Birth Justice Initiative aims to:

• advance equitable birth outcomes and experiences;
• strengthen the capacity, organizational infrastructure, and financial stability of grassroots Black, Indigenous and women of color-led birth justice organizations; and
• expand the frame of birth justice to support intersectional movements and strategies that recognize the full spectrum of experiences and identities in birthing, parenting, and family building.

We believe that Black, Indigenous, and women of color (including trans women and non-binary people) are key experts and should be decision-makers in shaping policy and culture change around birth justice. By investing directly into organizations led by and for women and girls of color, we are ensuring that the movement to address racial based disparities in healthcare, including birth outcomes and experiences, is led by those who are impacted most. Strengthening the collective power of communities of color is critical to addressing the root causes of these disparities and advancing birth justice for all.

The U.S. has one of the highest maternal mortality rates of all developed nations and Black women die at three to four times the rate of white women in birth – one of the widest racial disparities in women’s health. Systemic racism, implicit bias, and anti-Blackness all contribute to the significant disparities in birth outcomes among Black, Indigenous and birthing people of color. Moreover, the spectrum of intersectional issues that comprise birth justice and the ability to have children and parent with dignity, are not only limited to the birth process.

As such, the Ms. Foundation’s Birth Justice Initiative invests in organizations who represent the full spectrum of birth experiences including–but not limited to–preconception health, mental health and wellness, infertility, abortion access and abortion care, comprehensive sex and sexuality education, non-racist culturally affirming and gender expansive healthcare, access to birth workers of color, access to lactation support and services, postpartum health and wellness, grief and loss care and support, and sexual assault prevention and survivor support services. Organizations supported collectively utilize a range of movement building strategies to advance birth justice—such as narrative change, policy and systems change, advocacy, leadership development, direct service among others. And finally, they work at the intersection of birth justice and other movements, such as disability justice, youth justice, LGBTQIA+ justice, environmental justice, economic justice, and criminal legal reform.

Funding

During this cycle, Ms. will provide one-time grants ranging from $50,000 to $100,000 to selected organizations not currently receiving funding from Ms.’ Birth Justice Initiative. The grant period will comprise two years.

Rooted in Evidence Grants

The Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition (GSCN) is pleased to release the Request for Proposals (RFP) for its third round of the Rooted in Evidence Food Bank Evaluation and Grant Program (herein referred to as “Rooted in Evidence”). Rooted in Evidence is an opportunity for selected food banks and their partners to enhance measurement and evaluation related to their programming. In addition, this program will provide funding for innovative and dynamic programming to improve the health and dietary quality of emergency food recipients. A highlight of this opportunity is to work in partnership with GSCN to conduct a robust evaluation of the grant activities in order to better understand the impact of funded projects and to create meaningful communication pieces. The overarching goal of this RFP is to strengthen the skills and competency of funded organizations to effectively evaluate the impact of their programming and share findings with their communities.

The Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition (GSCN) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Omaha, Nebraska, established in 1973 with a focus on research and evaluation related to healthy eating and active living, improving food security and healthy food access, promoting local food systems and applying a health equity lens across all initiatives. GSCN specializes in both process and outcome evaluation, including the development and implementation of quantitative (e.g., survey) and qualitative (e.g., interview, focus groups) approaches, measurement development, and statistical analysis. GSCN works collaboratively with partners to design feasible, yet rigorous, study designs, along with developing complementary high-quality reports and other communication deliverables. Through Rooted in Evidence, grantee food banks can expect to work collaboratively to design and implement a high-quality project and accompanying evaluation that will yield meaningful data and information to share with partners and leverage future funding.

What We Aim to Fund

Since the focus of Rooted in Evidence is to enhance evaluation and dissemination capacity, we anticipate that food banks will allocate dedicated staff time for communication and collaboration with GSCN through virtual trainings and technical assistance, data collection and management activities, and reporting. It is highly recommended that food bank applicants partner with a local researcher/evaluator/graduate student to assist in the development of their evaluation plans and to help with data collection efforts if their internal staff has limited experience with evaluation.

GSCN intends to fund innovative and dynamic programming and/or initiatives that seek to improve dietary quality among food pantry and food bank clients. Applicants should consider basing their proposal around evaluation efforts of a program that is either novel (i.e., not commonly done by food banks) or has an innovative twist. For example, while many food banks have BackPack programs, an innovative change to this program could be working with a new partner or taking a novel approach to delivery, such as working with a local Head Start to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to participants. Additionally, these approaches could include existing or new/adapted programming that may include various:

• Settings and distribution sites (e.g., home delivery models, mobile or other “pop-up” pantries, college campuses, schools, child care settings, traditional pantries, clinics, including FQHCs).
• Components or levels of the emergency food system (e.g., distribution, procurement, food environment, client interactions to target knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors to promote healthy eating).
• Target populations (e.g., children, adults, families, seniors, ethnic/racial minorities, new American/immigrant populations, college students, staff/volunteers, cancer survivors or other disease conditions, urban/rural).