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: We do not accept unsolicited letters of inquiry and do not have an open application process. If you have thoroughly reviewed the Foundation’s priorities and grantmaking activity on the website and you believe your organization is a good match for our mission, you can email our staff with a brief description of your work. 

Laird Norton Family Foundation

The Laird Norton Family Foundation (LNFF) is a private family foundation in Seattle, Washington, with a mission to honor and reflect the family’s shared values through giving and engage the family in philanthropy as a platform for strengthening family connections. 

Programs

Arts in Education

The goal of the Arts in Education program is to increase arts education and to improve pre-K through grade 12 student learning through the arts. Funding will be directed toward programs that seek to enhance students’ educational outcomes rather than to simply increase participation in, or appreciation for, the arts.

The Arts in Education program will consider funding programs that:

• Encourage the adoption and/or growth of arts integration within a public school or school district. We will prioritize programs that integrate the arts as a tool within greater, diverse curriculum content areas over arts enrichment or direct arts instruction programs.
• Advocate systemic change within schools, districts, or at the state level to encourage arts in education, and
• Utilize the arts as a tool to reduce the educational achievement gap.

Climate Change

Climate change poses a significant global threat, one which we are addressing by striving to ensure an equitable, resilient, habitable, and enjoyable world for current and future generations. While our work is focused on climate change, we believe in the value of ecosystems services and in the stability and resiliency of healthy natural systems. We also believe it is essential that the cost of externalities be incorporated into lifestyle, policy, and business considerations.

 We are focused on investing in regenerative biological systems that influence the carbon cycle (“biocarbon”) and reducing dependency on fossil fuels. We have chosen to focus our grantmaking on efforts to hasten the demise of coal and other fossil fuels and on work that increases the abilities of the forests, agricultural lands, and estuaries of the Pacific Northwest to sequester carbon.

Human Services

The goal of the Human Services program is to support, empower, uplift, and create opportunities for long-term success and a brighter future for unaccompanied youth and young adults (age 12-24) who are in crisis, have experienced trauma, or are aging out of the foster care system. We want to support these youth and young adults in their journey from surviving to thriving.

We will consider funding organizations or programs that provide support for youth/young adults suffering from trauma, mental illness, or addiction, with priority given to homeless youth and those impacted by the foster care system. While the full spectrum of services for youth in crisis is essential, we expect to do the bulk of our grantmaking in two areas:

• Prevention and early intervention work to keep young people from sleeping in unsafe situations — or at a minimum make that a very brief and one-time occurrence, and
• Support for long-term stability support services.

Watershed Stewardship

Watersheds have social, ecological, and economic significance. The goal of the Watershed Stewardship program is to create enabling conditions for long-term social and ecological health and resilience in places of importance to the Laird Norton Family. Currently, we prioritize work in Minnesota and Wisconsin as well as a few key watersheds in the Western United States, consistent with the Laird Norton family's priorities.

NOTE: We review applications monthly. At the close of the application process, it typically takes us at least 2 WEEKS to review and get back to you.

Our Mission

Our Foundation supports causes that impact our customers’ lives. Our stores provide the opportunity to mobilize funding and create awareness in our neighborhoods through our employees’ passion, partnerships with our vendors and the generous contributions by our customers.

Carefully directing contributions, we work in collaboration with local organizations and seek to improve the quality of life in the communities we serve. We take pride in ensuring that the vast majority of the funds we raise stays in local communities and reflects what is important to our customers and employees.

About Our Foundation

The Foundation is made up of 12 brands – we are registered as the Albertsons Companies Foundation and do business as each of the 12 brands listed here.

We actively seek out organizations that are working with the community and making an impact for our shoppers.

Grant Funding Guidelines for Portland*

*Portland includes the following areas: Portland, OR and SW Washington

The Albertsons Companies and Safeway Foundations funds organizations that strengthen the neighborhoods we serve. Please see below for our guidelines and other important information on our grants process.

Priorities

We support nonprofit organizations whose mission is aligned with our priority areas:

Health and Human Services

We believe that all people deserve access to essential human services and that the health of our community starts with the health of our neighbors. Therefore, we sponsor organizations that are engaged in medical research. We contribute to financing medical research programs that improve the lives of our neighbors, particularly those who traditionally have little or no access to care.

We focus, among other health-related causes, on Cancer Research and organizations that:

• Increase the number of patients enrolled in cancer trials
• Increase the number of patients who gained access to cancer preventative testing
• Increase the number of patients given access to alternative medicine for cancer

We believe that a cure will be found and that our careful allocation of funds will be a catalyst in the process.

Hunger

As one of the largest grocery retailers in North America, we find that supporting hunger relief programs is a natural fit for us. We’re proud to be one of the largest contributors to food banks and hunger-relief programs in the neighborhoods we serve.

In addition, we are proud supporters of Hunger Is, a proprietary program working to eradicate childhood hunger in America. With 1 in 5 children in America, in our neighborhoods, not knowing where their next meal will come from, it is a big problem and we are well positioned to create a ground swelling of support to ensure that no child will go hungry.

In partnership with the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF), Hunger Is raises awareness, engages volunteers and raises funds to support innovative and effective programs throughout the country focused on ensuring every child in America has access to a healthy breakfast.

We believe:

• Children in American are suffering. Our children. Hunger is robbing them of their childhood.
• For a child in America, possibilities should be limitless. We teach our children to aim high…to reach for the stars. The hopes for our future rest on our children’s shoulders; our continued prosperity becomes their responsibility.

Yet within the borders of our country, the limits of our cities, the blocks of our neighborhoods, the walls of our schools, a lack of nourishment is eroding our children’s potential.

That is not someone else’s problem. It is ours to solve. We can all do something to undo childhood hunger.

We will not let their opportunities to succeed be diminished by hunger. Empty stomachs will not determine who they will be and what they can accomplish.

Each and every one of us will take responsibility for the children who are hungry in our neighborhoods. They are our children. Yours and mine. They belong to us and we refuse to ignore a problem that has existed for so long in a country with so much bounty and excess.

Every boy and girl should be able to dream big and make those dreams a reality.

We will take ownership of hunger here. By investing our time, energy and resources, we can be part of the solution to end childhood hunger. We can fill bellies. Turn fear into hope. Opportunities to succeed will no longer be diminished by a problem that is within our power to solve.

We will do whatever it takes to assure that no child in America will ever have to say, “Hunger Is Me”.

Youth and Education

We believe that every student should have access to education that prepares them to succeed in school and life. We believe that investing in education creates a foundation for a better future for all of us. We support programs that encourage a child’s success in a safe environment and that foster learning in all subjects, including after-school activities as well as other interventions.

Our funding is specifically for K-12 education in schools and in out-of-school organizations that increase test scores, classroom performance and/or attendance.

Veterans

We are proud to recognize the enormous sacrifice made by our Veterans, especially those who are injured while defending the freedoms we all enjoy. We are specifically focused on recent Veterans for post-September 11th conflicts. We raise funds and focus our donations to organizations working in our neighborhoods to:

• Support Veterans as they gain access to civilian employment
• Provide access to health care and support groups for our Veterans and their families
• Support the families of fallen heroes

Working with national and community-based organizations to reach our neighbor Veterans, we believe that their sacrifice and service should be honored and we aim to ease the transition back into civilian life.

Supporting Diversity and Inclusion of All Abilities

We believe that all people should have equal opportunity to live a healthy and full life, regardless of ability.

Over the years we’ve supported many organizations that transform the lives of millions of people with a range of special needs including the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Easter Seals, Special Olympics, and a range of community-based employment and job coaching organizations focused on serving people with disabilities. We fund organizations that:

• Provide access for children to ability-specific camps
• Help individuals receive specialty services
• Give people employment training and help to gain employment
• Provide people with care and treatment

We continue to fund organizations that assist our neighbors to live healthier lives and reach their full potential, regardless of ability.

Amount

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

NOTE: The U.S. Bank Foundation utilizes an electronic Letter of Interest to identify organizations with unique and innovative programs that fit within our pillars of Work, Home and Play. U.S. Bank Foundation accepts applications by invitation only.

U.S. Bank Foundation

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. Established partners are annually invited to apply for a grant via an invitation from a Community Affairs Manager. New and emerging organizations bring balance to our grant making through our Letter of Interest (LOI) application, and we ensure funding is set aside each year to explore new opportunities.

Our Community Affairs and Foundation Team works closely with U.S. Bank regional leadership, Business Resource Groups and our National Community Advisory Committee to ensure that the prevailing needs of our communities are met in all communities we serve. Nonprofit organizations new to U.S. Bank Foundation are encouraged to submit a LOI at any time during the year.

Mission & Commitment to Our Communities

We believe all people deserve the opportunity to dream, believe and achieve.

The building blocks of vibrant communities – a stable job, a home to call your own and a community connected through culture, recreation and play – continue to be atthe heart of possibility for all of us. Through U.S. Bank’s Community Possible Platform, we are dedicated to supporting our communities through responsive and humbled actions focused on addressing racial and economic inequities and creating positive and transformative change in our communities.

Community Possible is designed to embrace thediversity in our communities. We consider grant requests without regard to race, ethnicity, color, sex, religion, age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, sexualorientation, gender identity and/or expression, disability, marital status, genetic information, veteran status or other factors that are protected by law.While the U.S. Bank Foundation generously funds many nonprofit organizations in our communities, it's impossible to fund every request. To make the most meaningful impact in ourlocal communities, we focus our grant giving to fund economic development tied to Work, Home and Play.

Community Possible Grant Program

We support organizations and programs that advance the following funding priorities, focusing on organizations that have an intentional approach to addressing immediate needs and systemic economic and racial barriers to success. As part of our commitment to a sustainable future, environmental stewardship is a consideration in each of our three focus areas:

Grant Categories

• Play: Arts, culture and places to play.
  • 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
• Work: Workforce education and economic prosperity.
  • 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
• Home: Neighborhood stability and revitalization.
  • 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

Types of Funding Requests

• Operating grants: An operating grant is given to cover an organization’s day-to-day, ongoing expenses, such as salaries, utilities, office supplies and more. We consider operating support requests from organizations where the entire mission of the organization fits a Community Possible grant focus area.
• Program or project grants: A program or project grant is given to support a specific, connected set of activities, with a beginning and an end, explicit objectives and a predetermined cost. We consider highly effective and innovative programs that meet our Community Possible grant focus areas.
• Capital grants: A capital grant is given to finance fixed assets. The U.S. Bank Foundation considers a small number of requests for capital support from organizations that meet all other funding criteria, whose entire mission statement fits a Community Possible grant focus area, and with which the Foundation has a funding history. All organizations requesting capital funding must also have a U.S. Bank employee on the board of directors. U.S. Bank does not fund more than 1% of the non-endowment total capital campaign fundraising goal. All capital grant requests are reviewed and approved by the national U.S. Bank Foundation Board or by the U.S. Bank Foundation President.

Factors of Consideration

Because the Foundation receives funding requests in excess to the annual grant program budget, we must decline support to worthy organizations and programs. We may decline support to organizations we have previously supported to expand community engagements. Support should not be expected to continue in perpetuity and declination does not reflect a negative appraisal of the organization or the value of its programs and service.

The following factors are among those the foundation will consider:

• Innovation and/or differentiation in our focus areas of Work, Home and Play
• Programming and services that advance positive community engagement efforts
• Demonstrated outcomes and impact
• Service delivery to low-and moderate-income, women and people of color
• Diversity in the management and governing board of the organization
• The financial health of the organization

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.

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.

We support high-quality educational programming by schools and nonprofit organizations that enable access to knowledge and information and empower students and teachers in communities around the nation, with a focus on furthering STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) education. Priority is given to programs that take place during the school day, but also includes after school and summer programs, technical training programs, and academic programs that enrich or supplement school programs.

The in-school educational programs we support target grades K-12 and under-served students (50%+ students qualify for free/reduced lunch) and take place during the school day. The after school and summer programs we support include those offered by youth development organizations that take place outside of the regular school day and provide students in grades K-12 with opportunities to enhance their skills and interests through exposure to STEM fields.

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/impact of the organization.

Liberty Mutual Foundation

Established in 2003, Liberty Mutual Foundation supports the communities in which Liberty Mutual employees live and work. In conjunction with our nonprofit partners, our common purpose is to invest in the expertise, leadership and financial strength of Liberty Mutual Insurance and our employees to advance security and build resiliency for people and communities in vulnerable situations. To further this purpose, we are launching Climate Resiliency as a new priority area of funding. Building on its efforts to strengthen communities, Liberty Mutual Foundation believes philanthropy can play an important role in increasing climate resiliency in vulnerable communities. These efforts can bridge the divide between mitigation and adaptation approaches to climate change. Philanthropy can support innovative solutions, scale-proven strategies, support nature-based climate solutions, strengthen grassroots efforts, and more.

Our grants help nonprofits that work to empower families and individuals who are struggling to thrive amid challenging situations. To that end, our grant-making priorities focus on organizations and programs in Greater Boston, Greater Puget Sound, and select counties of Washington State (defined below) to provide advanced security and resilience for people and communities. We seek to accomplish this through our three strategic goals by:

• Creating a safe and secure place
• Providing access to workforce and educational opportunity
• Creating climate resilient communities

Education RFP

The goal of the Liberty Mutual Foundation Education Initiative is to improve the educational achievement of underserved youth. Programs and services must expand educational opportunities for children and youth using vetted solutions developed with input from experienced staff, instructors, and educators. Furthermore, the Education Initiative will support educational programs at all grade levels that build on prior academic success. Programs and services must also highlight a path to postsecondary education and/or certified career training. The Liberty Mutual Foundation aims to achieve these goals by funding catalytic nonprofits to:

• Create programs and initiatives to accelerate learning, especially for students of color and students with disabilities who came into the pandemic with the fewest opportunities and have experienced the greatest learning loss. This includes programs serving early education and K-12 aimed at Social and Emotional Learning, mental health issues, individualized tutoring, and efforts to deepen and broaden access to learning.
• Expand academic opportunities for low-income and limited English-proficient (LEP) students by increasing instruction by bi-lingual educators and those with knowledge of cultural values. This funding will promote learning in out-of-school-time and during extended learning programs. It should increase programs that ensure a successful transition to high school, programs that emphasize and highlight the path to college success, and programs that offer early college learning.
• Implement programs that foster school readiness, as well as elementary and middle school programs that seek to prevent the achievement gap by employing results-based curricula and focusing on competency-based learning, literacy and/or numeracy.
• Support programs that create pathways for older youth and young adults ages 16 to 24 to re-engage with the educational system. This includes youth who have abandoned school prior to completion and youth who have attained a high school diploma/GED but have not progressed to higher education or training. 

Cultural Equipment

Museum shelving, stage lights, ceramic kilns—on their own they may not seem like much, but in the hands of King County’s incredible cultural organizations, they add up to a lot. Our Cultural Equipment grants support those critical needs.

What Cultural Equipment Funds

Cultural Equipment grants fund the purchase and installation of equipment that can be considered as fixed assets, including computer hardware. We award these grants in amounts ranging from a minimum of $1,000 to $10,000, and projects often receive partial funding.

Criteria

We fund all of our grants through a competitive process, carefully evaluating each application.

For this particular grant, we’ll look to see how well your project shows the following:

• Quality and qualifications: The reasoning behind your proposed equipment purchase, how carefully it has been planned, how it relates to your organization’s mission, and how central it is to the services your organization provides to King County residents and visitors.
• Equipment Priorities: Projects that provide opportunities for youth, historically marginalized communities or audiences outside of Seattle will be prioritized if all above criteria are met.
• Feasibility: Your ability to complete this project and take care of the equipment, demonstrated by the financial stability of your organization shown in your operating financial statements and the expertise of those who will select and maintain the equipment.
• Project impact: The impact of this specific equipment on your organization and its community, and how the community supports the project and will benefit from its use. We consider your audience in terms of geographic, cultural, ethnic, artistic, and/or heritage definitions. Frequency of use is a factor, and shared use by multiple groups is a plus, but only if it makes sense for all groups.

Applications from historically marginalized geographic areas and communities, and ADA projects will be prioritized if above criteria are met.

Public Benefit: Why It Matters

Every time a visitor to Washington State stays in a hotel, they pay a Lodging Tax—this is where our funding comes from, and our mission is to put it back into the community. As you work through your application, tell us exactly how your fellow King County residents will be able to enjoy and learn from your work. Here are some ways you can provide public benefit with equipment:

• Using the equipment we fund to create free performances, exhibitions, workshops, screenings, or readings, or to take care of collections that reflect all of King County’s residents.
• Use of the equipment in areas of suburban or rural King County, or by low-income, youth and senior groups, individuals with limited physical abilities, recent immigrants, or residents from minority races or ethnicities.
• Purchasing equipment that broadens your ability to reach individuals with disabilities or makes your programs or facility more accessible to them.
• Sharing the equipment you purchase with other cultural groups at no cost or low cost.

Our Story

In 1998, the Icicle Fund was established by Harriet Bullitt to support the work of six named partner organizations focused on protecting the environment, advancing the arts, and promoting the natural and cultural history of the Wenatchee River watershed. This work quickly expanded to include the North Central Washington region counties of Chelan, Okanogan, Douglas and Grant. At an early board meeting, Harriet told "The Parable of the Long Spoons", which conveys the caring and cooperative spirit with which she hoped the Fund would operate.

Now, as we look back at our work over the past 20 years, we are committed to a sense of place as central to the Icicle Fund’s mission. It is this belief that strong connections to the land and the communities in which we live are nurtured through artistic expression and imagination, an understanding of our past, and experience in and love for our natural landscapes and wildlife. 

Our collective focus on this mission has centered our work on three areas in which the Icicle Fund awards grants: Arts, Cultural and Natural History, and Environment. Integration of two or more of these areas can be very impactful.

The Icicle Fund is a 501(c)(3) supporting organization. As we look back at the past 20 years, and forward to the next 20, representatives of the six named partner organizations continue to hold the majority of seats on the Board of Directors and work collaboratively with each other and other organizations to carry out the Fund's mission. It is this collective impact that will allow our work to continue to care for and be shared by the partners and communities we serve for the next 20 years. We strive to make a positive difference in the quality and health of all life in North Central Washington. Our work is inspired by a vision of North Central Washington as a region where nature, the arts and the area’s natural and human history inspire an appreciation, understanding and stewardship of this special place.

The Icicle Fund: Project Specific Funding

The Icicle Fund awards grants to non-profit organizations who develop North Central Washington as a region where nature, the arts, and the area’s natural and human history encourage appreciation, understanding and stewardship of this special place.

This year, we have again adapted our grant programs to further deepen partnerships with organizations that serve North Central Washington communities. Last year highlighted the power of flexible funding in allowing nonprofits to deliver mission in innovative and impactful ways. Depending on organizational mission and service areas, unrestricted or project support is available this year.

Our goal is to empower organizations to do their most important work in the community, implementing not only the high-profile but also the hard-to-fund projects while building and maintaining high performing organizations. 

We acknowledge the need for intentional strategies to engage community organizations and members who have been historically under-served through our programs. As a result, the application process and our applicant support service have been changed. 

Funding Priorities

We value both young (“upstart”) and mature organizations that foster a collaborative atmosphere, deliver mission in innovative and impactful ways, and connects with our diverse North Central Washington community.

Collaborative

We fundamentally believe that by working together we can increase the impact of organizations across this region. When mutually beneficial, we encourage exploration of collaborative relationships with one or more of the six Icicle Fund lead partner organizations.

Impactful

We support nonprofits in doing their most important work in the community, implementing not only the high-profile but also the hard-to-fund projects while building and maintaining high performing organizations.

Connected

We believe that strong, thriving communities are created and maintained through engagement of all its members and value nonprofits that remove barriers for community members who have been historically under-served or under-represented.

Our Mission

The three areas in which we awards grants are Environment, the Arts, and Cultural and Natural History. Integration of two or more of these areas can be very powerful and is encouraged when relevant.

The Arts

The Icicle Fund envisions a culture where a diversity of the Arts is accessible and valued as a critical component of vibrant communities in North Central Washington.   

We Believe That

• The Arts nurture the human spirit, transform lives, and connect people to place
• The Arts build strong economies and cohesive communities across social, economic, and racial boundaries
• The Arts are fundamental to a well-rounded education and help all students to succeed in school and life
• Collaboration between community leaders, artists, schools, and businesses ensure sustainable, quality arts programs
• Everyone in NCW deserves access to, and engagement with, the Arts at levels similar to urban areas

Environment

Icicle Fund envisions a future where intact landscapes, representative of the biodiversity of the region, provide opportunities for all people to connect with the land and water through stewardship capacity and policies that inspire long-term commitment to place. 

Strategic Goals

• Enhance the capacity of the North Central Washington community to know and care for and to access the land and water
• Build partnerships to advocate for strong policies to support land and water conservation through a variety of approaches
• Collaborate to conserve priority areas that sustain natural systems and species, connect across habitat types, and protect the flow of ecological and socioeconomic services
• Increase resilience to the local effects of climate change, in particular for climate-vulnerable populations or communities, and
• Work collaboratively to utilize multiple funding sources and increasingly leverage the Icicle Fund investment in conservation 

Priority Landscapes Include

• Natural lands that sustain systems and species, connect habitat types, and ensure the flow of ecological and socioeconomic services
• Working farms, ranches, and forests that balance human use with habitat protection and contribute to landscape connectivity
• Recreational lands such as parks and trails that provide opportunities for people to experience the outdoors close to home
• Lands that increase our resilience to the impact of climate change

History

The Icicle Fund envisions a future where North Central Washington residents and visitors understand and appreciate our region’s cultural and natural historical past.