Best Wyandotte County Grants for Nonprofits in Kansas

Our Mission

The Community Foundation’s mission is to improve the quality of life in Greater Kansas City by increasing charitable giving, educating and connecting donors to community needs they care about, and leading on critical community issues.

Scholarships

We offer hundreds of different scholarships for students in and around Kansas City.

Pastor Otis L. Cobbins, Sr. Memorial Scholarship

The Pastor Otis L. Cobbins, Sr. Memorial Scholarship honors a young individual(s) who is furthering their education and exemplifies the attributes of Pastor Cobbins, Sr. These attributes include: honest; integrity; hard working; strong character; love of humanity; servant to community and family; trustworthy; and committed.

About Us

Our History

Since its founding, The H & R Block Foundation has been committed to assisting underserved individuals and improving the quality of all aspects of life. The Foundation supports nonprofit organizations that increase access to the arts, build stable neighborhoods, offer diverse learning opportunities, and expand access to services that respond to all individuals’ physical and emotional needs. The Foundation continues to support the H&R Block culture by aligning resources and leadership to create positive social change.

Grants

Community Impact

The H & R Block Foundation awards grants that help nonprofits improve or strengthen services, enhance operations, and achieve greater results. The Foundation’s grant strategy focuses on the following:

• Helping underserved individuals pursue and attain post-secondary education
• Improving the quality of life throughout neighborhoods in greater Kansas City
• Enhancing nonprofits’ operational efficiency and service delivery and strengthening major community assets and institutions

Since its inception, The H & R Block Foundation has invested over $84 million in various charitable organizations.

Grants FAQ

The Foundation’s areas of focus are:

• Arts & Culture
• Education
• Health & Human Service
• Neighborhood Revitalization

There are no fixed minimum or maximum amounts, though most grants do not exceed $150,000.  

The Foundation’s sister organization, the Marion and Henry Bloch Family Foundation makes single-year and multiyear grants that typically fall in the range of $150,000 to $500,000. Grants may be funded by either Foundation, as determined by Foundation staff.

Charlotte Street

What We Do

• Provide annual cash awards, project based grants, special commissions and specific travel opportunities to visual and generative performing artists
• Provide free studios and performance and exhibition spaces to theater, dance, music, film/video and visual artists for the creation and presentation of new work
• Facilitate venues and opportunities for public exposure to these exhibitions and performances, and facilitate artistic collaboration and exchange
• Plan and collaborate on behalf of Kansas City artists and the arts community with philanthropic, business and civic leaders
• Engage national philanthropic and cultural leaders with Kansas City artists and the arts community

Creative Confluence Fund: Individual Artists

ArtsKC, Charlotte Street, and the Hall Family Foundation are requesting proposals for individual artist-led projects, serving key geographic areas that represent a broad swath of art forms and engaging with a particular civic issue in the neighborhood.

Selected artists must provide accessible programming for communities in the geographic areas of the Historic Northeast, Eastside Kansas City, and Northeast Wyandotte County.

• 10 artists will receive grants of $50,000 over a 2-year project period.

The artist application will have a two-step process. First, artists will send an LOI (Letter of Interest), which will be uploaded as a one-page letter and up to 5 digital images. Secondly, the finalist pool will be invited to submit a full application and invited for a brief in-person interview with the selection committee. Following the selection committee interviews, the 10 artists will be selected.

Charlotte Street

What We Do

• Provide annual cash awards, project based grants, special commissions and specific travel opportunities to visual and generative performing artists
• Provide free studios and performance and exhibition spaces to theater, dance, music, film/video and visual artists for the creation and presentation of new work
• Facilitate venues and opportunities for public exposure to these exhibitions and performances, and facilitate artistic collaboration and exchange
• Plan and collaborate on behalf of Kansas City artists and the arts community with philanthropic, business and civic leaders
• Engage national philanthropic and cultural leaders with Kansas City artists and the arts community

Creative Confluence Fund: Strengthening Arts-Engaged Organizations

ArtsKC, Charlotte Street, and the Hall Family Foundation are requesting proposals for capacity-building support for art-focused, small organizations (annual budget at or below $500,000) located or serving key geographic areas that represent a broad swath of art forms, offering accessible programming to our community. 

Selected organizations will represent diverse artistic disciplines and forms of social engagement and must provide accessible programming for communities in the geographic areas of the Historic Northeast, Eastside Kansas City, and Northeast Wyandotte County.

• Fifteen arts-engaged organizations will receive $15,000 in unrestricted funding per year for two years.
• ArtsKC will provide capacity-building assessments, subject matter experts, and project implementation support (value of up to $10,000 per year per organization).
• Grantees will be expected to work with ArtsKC to carry out their capacity-building initiatives as well as share learnings with other awardees in a cohort model, which may include artist awardees as well.
• Documentation, evaluation, and/or presentations on projects will be required.

This project seeks to build organizations’ long-term viability, including growing community engagement, stabilizing finances and personnel, identifying and resolving organizational needs, strategic planning, developing evaluation metrics and competencies, or other identified priorities.