The Kalamazoo Community Foundation's Community Outreach Grants program provides small community investments that address the Community Foundation's and/or the broader communities priorities. These grant requests are presented outside the responsive grantmaking process and may have an urgency that requires they be addressed prior to the next appropriate grantmaking cycle.
The most valuable aspect of the Community Outreach Grants program is that it gives the Kalamazoo Community Foundation the ability to quickly and flexibly respond to the needs of the community and the Community Foundation.
Community Outreach Grants typically range from $1,000 to $1,500 and have funded projects that:
Increase the capacity of an organization that serves Kalamazoo County. Capacity grants serve to stabilize and strengthen organizations as they continue to provide programs and services related to their mission. These grants may support activities like strategic planning, or work with experienced consultants, or organizational assessments.
Expand and organization's ability to reflect the changing needs their clients and/or the community, and continuously improve as an inclusive and relevant organization. These grants may support programs that assess and seek to increase the awareness and skills of staff, board members, or community stakeholders related to issues of diversity and inclusiveness.
Support mediation, crisis management or merger facilitation for nonprofit organizations experiencing problems that are urgent in nature and may need external expertise from experienced consultants.
Address an urgent issue of community importance that would generally receive support from the Community Foundation through other grantmaking programs. Urgent needs might include programmatic responses to community incidents that relate to the Community Foundation's community investment priorities.
Organizations recognized under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and other federally tax exempt entities—such as governmental units, educational institutions and faith-based organizations—located in the greater Kalamazoo area are eligible to apply for grants from the Kalamazoo Community Foundation. Organizations that have had tax-exempt status suspended by the Internal Revenue Service are not eligible to receive grants from the Community Foundation.
