How to Apply

1. Determine your eligibility.

To receive a grant from the Community Foundation, your organization must be a nonprofit organization with a 501(c)(3) status.

Applications may also be accepted from governmental entities who have completed arrangements with a nonprofit fiscal sponsor.

2. Determine the grant program(s) you will apply to.

We encourage you to review the following when you are determining which grant opportunity to apply to:

Grant Opportunities Chart – This downloadable chart provides a general overview of funding opportunities at the Community Foundation and can help you narrow your search.

Grant Opportunities and Deadlines – This page provides an overview of the available grants and includes links to detailed pages for each grant opportunity. These pages contain grant applications and forms. We encourage you to review the grant guidelines, application and scoring tools to help you determine if your project matches the grant criteria.

3.  Request grant portal access.

Select one person to act as the grant administrator for the organization. The grant administrator will have access to the grant portal to submit online applications, check the status of applications, review grant histories and submit final reports.

To request a grant administrator, an organization leader (president, CEO, executive director or board president) must send an email to grants@gcrcf.org with the first and last name, title and email address of the appointed person. Within two business days, we will email both the grant administrator and the organizational leader with a username and password.

NOTE: Organizations will not have access to the online application portal until they have received this username and password.

4. Prepare your application and update your “Organization Snapshot.”

We encourage you to download the grant application packet and budget form and develop the application in a separate document before logging in to the grant portal. This will allow you to check spelling, grammar, and character counts, and will also allow you to develop the application without a web browser’s time limits. To find the grant application and budget forms, go to the Grant Opportunities and Deadlines page and select the fund you are applying to.

Please update your Organizational Snapshot before you begin the online application. Login here to update this information.

5. Login and complete the online grant application.

The online application portal is open one month before the grant deadline. To login, click here. You may also find the login in the upper right corner of the gcrcf.org website. For step-by-step instructions on logging in and completing the application process, view this Grant Application Tutorial slideshow.

NOTE: All deadlines are 4:30 p.m. Central Time. The time stamp on the application is based on Eastern Time, which is one hour later.

6. Please contact us if you have any questions.

If you are new to the grant application process or have questions, we encourage you to talk to a Program Officer. Our Program Officers can help determine which fund(s) you are eligible to apply for and are glad to discuss proposals before you submit them.

For the Program Support Grants and Linn County Grants, contact Sanjana Raghavan, Program Officer, at sanjana.raghavan@gcrcf.org or 319.200.2279.

For the Organization Support Grants and Rapid Response Grants, contact Casey Baustian, Program Officer at casey.baustian@gcrcf.org or 319.774.2378.

For the Endowment Challenge Grants, contact Rochelle Naylor, Senior Program Officer at rochelle.naylor@gcrcf.org or 319.774.2373.

For the Competitive Donor-Advised Funds and Girls with Goals Fund, contact: Dylan Cooley, Content and Information Officer at dylan.cooley@gcrcf.org or 319.774.2376.

For grant portal, award or report questions, contact: Bernadette Gladish, Grant Program Manager at bernadette.gladish@gcrcf.org or 319.774.2374.

NOTE:  If your application is determined by the Community Foundation to be ineligible – due to incompatible project timelines, not meeting the grant’s criteria or other related factors – you will be contacted to discuss withdrawing the application.  If an application is withdrawn, you may re-submit during a grant cycle later in the calendar year.