Madison Community Foundation is now accepting Community Impact LOIs

The Madison Community Foundation is now accepting letters of inquiry through Wednesday, July 15, for the Community Impact grantmaking program’s fall cycle. Letter of inquiry forms are available at www.madisoncommunityfoundation.org. If an organization is subsequently invited to apply with a full proposal, applications are due September 1, 2015.

Community Impact grants are chosen for their strength and potential for impact in these core areas: Arts, Children & Youth, Community Development, Elderly, Environment, Learning, and Organizational Capacity Building. Grants are made possible by endowments funded through MCF by the generosity and vision of individuals, families and organizations committed to impacting their communities for generations to come.

“Community Impact grants enrich the entire county—from parks to bike trails, schools to libraries, after-school programs to senior centers,” said Vice President of Community Impact Tom Linfield. “When communities thrive, people thrive.”

MCF’s grantmaking philosophy is to build on the community’s assets through capital, program and endowment grants. Capital grants support the construction, purchase and renovation of facilities, land acquisition, and occasionally the purchase of vehicles or equipment. Program grants support new programs or expansion of existing programs that have a track record of success. Endowment grants often come in the form of a matching grant and allow an organization to build its permanent financial assets in order to sustain programming and capital well into the future.

MCF is comprised of more than 1,000 individual funds with total assets of more than $161 million. In 2014, MCF distributed more than $10 million to charitable organizations throughout Dane County, across the United States, and worldwide. Of this amount, MCF awarded $1.3 million in competitive Community Impact grants. For more information on the Madison Community Foundation’s Community Impact grant program, including application materials for the September 1 deadline, frequently asked questions, lists of previous grants, and post-grant evaluations, please contact Tom Linfield, Grants Associate Allie Detert, or visit www.madisoncommunityfoundation.org.

Read more about MCF's Community Impact grantmaking program here.