he Foundation makes every effort to assess the needs of the community and to prioritize those needs. Once the Walker Area Community Foundation receives an application, it will be reviewed initially to see that all required materials are included with the application. Organizations will be notified of any missing elements. Any application without an attached copy of a tax determination letter from the Internal Revenue Service showing the name of the organization, tax identification number, and the type of tax-exemption, will not be considered for funding.

Within two weeks after the meeting of the Board, agencies will be notified as to the outcome of their applications.

GUIDELINES FOR GRANT APPLICANTS

1) Grants may be made for the following charitable purposes:

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

2) No grants are made to or for:

• Individuals
• Religious Organizations for religious purposes
• Dinners, Balls or other Ticketed Events
• Political Purposes
• Lobbying Activities
• Replacement of Government Grants or Funding
• Endowments or Other Discretionary Pools

Requests from public school systems must come from the superintendent's office. If the request is for an individual school, it must be for a pilot project that, if successful, would be duplicated in other schools in the system.

Ordinarily, we do not make grants for:

• Operating expenses unless they are for the initial stages of a pilot project.
• Program expenses that occur on a regular basis. (e.g. annual workshop series, regularly needed medical equipment or patient care)
• Regularly supported activities of fundraising organizations.
  

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WHAT WE LOOK FOR

The Walker Area Community Foundation has limited funds with which to make grants since the request for qualified grants greatly exceeds the grant funds available. Applicants will not be funded on an ongoing annual basis unless the terms of the grant specifically provide for multi-year funding. In order to make the greatest impact with the funds available, we prefer requests that address a critical community need.

• Get at the root causes of a problem.
• Do not duplicate existing services unless they serve a population not already being served.
• Are pilot projects which, if successful, can be expanded to serve a wider population or be duplicated by other organizations.
• Involve collaboration and cooperation with other organizations and agencies
• Include an effective mechanism for measuring the impact of The Community Foundation’s investment.

We prefer requests for partial funding of projects rather than full support. Because we cannot provide ongoing support, plans for future funding are critical. We believe that sound and realistic financial planning must underlie any request.

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FREQUENCY OF APPLICATION

• Organizations that have received grants are advised to wait a year before submitting another request.
  
• Ordinarily, an organization receiving multi-year support may not apply for another grant until the final payment on the multi-year grant is made.
  
• Applicants who are not successful in receiving funds should wait at least one year to reapply, and should not reapply at that time unless the terms of the request have changed materially from the original request.
  

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DEADLINE

The Distribution Committee of the Board of Directors meets semi-annually in May and November to review grant applications and to make awards of grants. All grant requests must be submitted by April 1 and October 1 of each year. Any grant received after the application deadline may be held until the next meeting date.

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SUBMITTING YOUR APPLICATION

For more information, or to receive a grant application please contact us:

Carol Savage or Cristy Moody
Walker Area Community Foundation
Office Hours: 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
P.O. Box 171
Jasper, AL 35502-0171
Phone number: 205.302.0001
Fax Number: 205.302.0424
Email: wacf@walkerareafoundation.org

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