Grant Guidelines

We give grants to 501(c)(3) organizations, churches, schools, agencies and governmental units serving the greater Oceana County area. Grant applications must be submitted electronically, via our GoApply system. Foundation staff and Grant Review Committee volunteers carefully review all applications. The Board of Trustees makes all final funding decisions.   We value your partnership and understand that multiple organizational funding needs may arise, therefore we have changed our grant guidelines to allow for more than one submission in a calendar year. If an organization presents two grant proposals in one calendar year, they should be for distinct programs. Proposals of up to $5,000 are accepted.  All grant recipients are subject to an evaluation after the project timeline has finished.

 

Check out our Spring 2024 Grant Catalog Look for your favorite organization or browse until you find a project you want to support. If you have a Donor Advised Fund, contact us and recommend a grant from the fund to make an impact. If you don’t have a Fund, you can give us a call to assist you in being a grantmaker!

  • Qualities of the best grant proposals:

    • Collaborative, comprehensive, and sustainable
    • Designed to prevent problems, rather than simply addressing the effects of problems
    • Provide start-up or seed funding for innovative projects
    • Leverage grant dollars to bring in additional funds; have multiple sources of funding

    The strongest proposals are submitted by organizations who have:

    • Adequate staff/organizational capacity to achieve the proposal goal
    • Sound fiscal policy and responsible financial management
    • Staff and board of directors reflective of the organization’s audience
    • Ability to measure the impact of grant money and report the results
    • Proven record of cooperating with other organizations
    • Capacity to understand and explain how the project will relate to other area services/organizations
    • Broad base of community support

    The Foundation does not usually award grants for:

    • Regular operating expenses
    • Vehicles
    • Special events and endowment campaigns
    • Religious programs that serve, or appear to serve, specific religious believers or require participants to practice or adhere to specific religious beliefs
    • Individuals

Applying for a Grant

All applications for grants must be submitted to us electronically, via our online application process, eGrant.

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Past Grant Awards

View a complete listing of our previous grant awards, including the organization, project, amount and grant fund.

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