• Grant Information

Grant Application Guidelines

The Kenosha Community Foundation supports programs that improve the general welfare and enhance the quality of life for residents of the greater Kenosha community.  In the awarding of grants from its unrestricted funds, the Kenosha Community Foundation strives to address the area’s evolving needs and social changes by considering grant applications that address community problems and opportunities in the areas of arts and culture, education, social services, and the preservation of resources including historical and cultural resources.

THE FOUNDATION WILL:

• Screen and give fair review to all applications submitted.
• Promptly send a copy of the Foundation’s application forms and requirements on request.
• When appropriate, help prospective grant applicants scale their proposals to fit available resources.
• Consider granting support to new charitable organizations and agencies that not only show promise for success, but also demonstrate sound management practices, clear goals relevant to community needs, and effective ways to achieve those goals.
• Provide funds to match other resources already gathered and offer challenge grants in order to stimulate support of a program by other funding sources.
• Grant support to established agencies that are either seeking to expand their services and develop new programs, or that are experiencing temporary financial difficulty.
• Make some grants payable over a number of years.
• Expect an explanation of the process that will be used to monitor or evaluate the impact or effect of the grant.
• Encourage grants that promote collaboration and reduce service duplication.
• Favor grants that apply the Foundation’s limited resources where they will make a significant difference in meeting an important community need.
• Favor innovative proposals that help people help themselves.

WHEN USING UNRESTRICTED FUNDS, THE FOUNDATION USUALLY WILL NOT:

• Repeat grants to the same project on an open-ended basis.
• Assume support of the regular operational expenses of a program except during the initial years of promising new ventures
• Contribute to endowment funds.
• Support sectarian (religious) programs.
• Make direct grants to individuals.
• Make grants for annual campaigns, debt retirement, emergency funding, or lobbying.
• Make grants outside the greater Kenosha area.

Consideration is given primarily to those organizations that are tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

The Kenosha Community Foundation does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, religion, sex, or national origin.  We expect grant applicants to hold similar standards.

Applicants are encouraged to discuss their project with Foundation staff, or submit a brief letter of intent describing the project for which funding is sought, prior to submitting a completed application, to find out if the idea is potentially fundable by the Foundation.

The Grants Committee meets periodically throughout the year.