Philadelphia County Grants for Nonprofits

The Foundation is dedicated to providing financial assistance to organizations committed to improving our world. Solutions to the problems of today's world still lie in the values of innovation, practicality, hard work, and compassion.

The Foundation considers applications for grants in the following areas:

• Education
• Social Service
• Health care
• Civic and cultural
• Environmental

The categories above are not intended to limit the interest of the Foundation from considering other worthwhile projects. In general, the Foundation guidelines are broad to give us flexibility in providing grants.

The majority of our grants are made in the U.S. However, like Dr. Scholl, we recognize the need for a global outlook. Non-U.S. grants are given to organizations where directors have knowledge of the grantee.

The W. W. Smith Charitable Trust is a private foundation established by William Wikoff Smith. The Trust is specifically focused on areas involving basic needs for food, clothing and shelter; supplementing higher education scholarship programs; supporting maritime education/maritime heritage preservation; and basic medical research primarily in Heart Disease, Cancer and AIDS.

Basic Needs

Meeting the challenges of the young and elderly through the direct provision of food, clothing and shelter is the priority of this program. It makes available basic necessities that are required to sustain life.

For more than thirty years, the Trust has funded projects and programs of non-profit organizations from Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties as well as the City of Camden, New Jersey.

The Trust assists organizations that deliver solid approaches to solving problems. In practical terms though, the depth and extent of the needs continue to be too large for the Charitable Trust to fund on its own. Consequently, the Trustees look to become partners with particular organizations that present opportunities to better serve certain projects.

The Trustees continue to concentrate Trust resources where the most need can be discerned and where government or private assistance has not been available. They look for evidence of innovative and smart approaches that address community problems.

The Trust has assisted a wide range of organizations that meet varied needs. For example, funds were supplied to purchase new warm winter coats for disadvantaged children in the Delaware Valley region. The cost of building materials and supplies to repair the homes of low-income families and the elderly living in substandard housing in Chester County, PA was covered. A nursing home was able to replace their aging walk-in refrigerator and freezer, which were beyond their useful life expectancy and in danger of complete breakdown. Numerous organizations and food cupboards that provide nutritious food choices and home cooked meals to low-income families, children and the elderly throughout the Delaware Valley were supported.

The aforementioned are but some recent examples of the W. W. Smith Charitable Trust’s efforts to help people in need. The Trustees realize that the staffs and volunteers of these organizations, who are providing these services, are the heroes.

The Trustees are pleased to help these dedicated, untiring individuals achieve their goals in making life a little better for children, their families, and the elderly.

Grant Guidelines

Purpose

The W. W. Smith Charitable Trust is a private foundation established by Mr. William Wikoff Smith with a mission to help organizations and individuals achieve their goals, hopes, and dreams. Through our Basic Needs program, we fund efforts to provide direct assistance to those in our community who are in need of food, clothing, or shelter. The Trust prioritizes requests that benefit disadvantaged and vulnerable children (school-aged) and older adults (ages 60 and older) who reside within the five-county Greater Philadelphia region (Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties) or the City of Camden, NJ. The Trust recognizes the variety of Basic Needs "safety net" efforts in the region. While we make ongoing investments in a number of longstanding partners and projects, the Trust maintains a continual learning posture and monitors trends to help us assess and adjust our grantmaking as needs and efforts evolve. As a result, we may temporarily or permanently shift resources to new partners and programs, and may reduce or cease funding prior ones. We encourage you to contact the Grant Administrator for a preliminary review of your planned request prior to applying. 

Funding Duration & Award Size

• Grants are awarded for a one (1) year term.
• Organizations that receive three (3) consecutive years of funding must then wait two (2) years before being eligible to reapply. We make this determination based on the calendar year of your notice of award.
• The minimum award is $5,000.
• There is no maximum award limit. Grants typically range from $10,000 to $40,000. Higher-dollar awards are possible for certain projects. Please contact the Grant Administrator when planning your grant request amount.

Direct Service Grants are available on a competitive basis for direct-service nonprofits serving high poverty and vulnerable populations in our Greater Philadelphia region.

Organizations seeking direct service grants should demonstrate a strong history of effective programs that serve on behalf of vulnerable populations, strong management practices, sound fiscal performance and strong leadership at the board and staff levels.

Successful applicants demonstrate non-profit best practices and are working to operationalize equity at all levels (Board, Operations, and Service Delivery). Applicant uses trauma informed, strength and racial equity-based policies and practices in program development and delivery. Applicant demonstrates results-oriented programming including a track record of successes and proven outcomes for low-income communities. Board and leadership demographics should reflect the communities being served.

Overview

Pennsylvania has two coastal areas: 112 miles of coastline along the Delaware Estuary and 77 miles of coastline along Lake Erie:

• Delaware Estuary – Lies within Bucks, Philadelphia and Delaware counties. The coastal zone also contains islands, marshes and shorelands of tributary streams that are tidally influenced. The combined facilities of the Delaware Estuary comprise the largest freshwater port in the world. 
• Lake Erie – Located within Erie County and includes the shorelines of major tributaries. The coastal zone also extends to the middle of the lake, to the boundary with Canada and inland an average of 1.4 miles. The Lake also contains Presque Isle Bay and is one of the state ports for international shipping. 

In order to safeguard these resources from future adverse impacts, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, acting through the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), developed a unified approach to act as trustee to conserve and maintain the natural resources of Pennsylvania’s coastal regions known as the Pennsylvania Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP). The CZMP was finalized and approved in September 1980, under the authority of the Federal Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) of 1972, through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Department of Commerce. DEP’s Compacts and Commissions Office manages the Coastal Resources Management (CRM) Program in the two defined coastal areas within Pennsylvania.

As a result of the adopted CZMP, annual grants are provided to DEP by the Office for Coastal Management (OCM), NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce.

Grant awards are used to implement the CRM Program and provide a grant-in-aid program if sufficient funds permit. Monies are dispersed to fund projects within the coastal zone and coastal non-point pollution boundaries, such as planning, design, engineering, education, outreach, construction, acquisition and research as authorized by Section 306A of the CZMA, as amended. 

Coastal Zone Focus Areas 

Program policies were developed to further the goals and objectives of the CRM Program: 

Primary Focus Areas 

• Coastal Hazard Areas: Includes Lake Erie bluff recession, shoreline erosion, wave action and coastal flooding, including flooding from projected sea level rise and storm surge.
• Fisheries Management: Involves activities supporting ecologically and economically important fisheries and their habitats.
• Wetlands: Involves the protection, enhancement, and creation of coastal wetlands to maintain benefits for wildlife habitat, flood control, water quality, water flow stabilization and environmental diversity (biodiversity).
• Public access for recreation: : Includes efforts to meet the public need for boating, fishing, birding, walking, picnicking, sightseeing and other recreational pursuits associated with waterfronts.
• Historic sites and structures: Preservation, restoration and enhancement of coastally significant historic sites and structures within the coastal zones.
• Port activities: Development and enhancement of coastal port infrastructure.
• Energy facilities siting: Proper siting of energy-producing facilities to protect fragile coastal ecosystems.
• Intergovernmental coordination: Includes intergovernmental efforts to protect Pennsylvania’s coastal resources, especially the quality of air and water.
• Public involvement: Increase awareness, provide information and create opportunities for public participation in a variety of coastal issues.
• Ocean resources/biodiversity:  Includes efforts directed toward the research, study, and/or management of non-native (invasive) aquatic or terrestrial plant and/or animal species.

Activities that protect coastal waters from nonpoint source pollution resulting from marinas and recreational boating, urban activities, hydro-modifications, agriculture and other nonpoint sources are eligible for funding.

Project Eligibility

CZ grants may be applied to a wide variety of studies, plans, designs, research, acquisition and construction projects pertaining to one or more of the established program policies, which guide the competitive selection process.

Examples of some typical project proposals are as follows: 

• Efforts to educate the public regarding issues of environmental protection, non-point source water pollution, protection of coastal resources or efforts to promote such action to the public. 
• Preparation or revision of local comprehensive plans, zoning ordinances, sub-division regulations and special ordinances containing provisions in support of CRM Program policies. 
• Plans, studies or other projects to improve port facilities and infrastructure, future use of coastal ports or providing public access for recreational use of docks, piers and wharves. 
• Improving resource management and environmental protection programs at the state or local level, including disseminating information or providing technical assistance to coastal communities and the public. 
• Plans, studies or projects that enhance economic development within the coastal zone, including activities to help economically revitalize under-used coastal and/or port facilities.
• Studies for interpretation and enhancement of coastal features and habitats and restoration and preservation of historic coastal sites and structures. 
• Land acquisition of coastal properties, including real estate appraisals, to improve or provide for public recreational access or open-space preservation.
• Preparation of designs, engineering plans and specifications for coastal recreational sites owned or legally controlled by a ‘government’ applicant. 
• Low-cost (defined by NOAA as no more than a total project cost of $400,000) construction projects for recreational access facilities or for rehabilitating significant historic buildings and structures located within the designated coastal zones. *Note: rehabilitation work on buildings and structures should be supported by a structural feasibility study, architectural assessment, engineering plans or similar planning products included as part of the application. If awarded, grantee must wait for NEPA approval from NOAA and notification from DEP. 

A $75,000 grant limit is generally imposed on any single project. Applicants with proposals requesting more than $75,000 in grant funding should discuss funding alternatives with CRMP staff before submitting an application.

Project Requirements

• Be environmentally sound and consistent with current state, regional, county and local ordinances and plans. 
• Obtain applicable federal, state and local permits and/or approvals for all construction projects before any construction may commence.
• Obtain concurrence of any municipal government whose approval is required for project implementation, via letter of support or resolution, if the applicant is a non-governmental agency.
• Benefit the public at large and may not be for the purpose of private gain, benefit or profits.
• Be made available and useful to all members of the general public; therefore cannot be for exclusive use of any particular group of persons.
• Be accessible to persons in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
• Be constructed on public property and open to the public.

Connelly Foundation Grant

Inspired by our Catholic heritage, the mission of the Connelly Foundation is to create access for those in need and opportunity for those with vision.

Since its founding in 1955, the Connelly Foundation has been a responsive and proactive grantmaking organization awarding grants to nonprofits in the Philadelphia area that demonstrate outstanding performance in meeting community needs.

Focus Areas

To achieve its mission to create access for those in need and opportunity for those with vision, the Connelly Foundation provides grants toward costs associated with programs, direct services, general operations, and capital projects to nonprofit organizations and institutions working in the following fields:

Education: Promoting Access to and Excellence in PreK-12 Catholic Education 

The Connelly Foundation is committed to helping Philadelphia-area Catholic schools thrive. The Foundation’s grantmaking and signature education initiatives prioritize: 

• Programs that support or improve the academic quality of local Catholic schools 
• Investments in talent that attract, develop, and retain high-quality teachers and leaders in schools and systems 
• Efforts for strategic improvement around enrollment growth and financial sustainability 
• Strategies to increase access to a high-quality Catholic education.

Human Services: Essential Needs and a Path to Stability

The Connelly Foundation’s Human Services grantmaking reflects the compassion of our Founders, John and Josephine Connelly, and their respect for human dignity. Inspired by our Catholic heritage, we seek to alleviate urgent, basic needs through access to food, emergency shelter, clothing, and critical home repair. We strive to create pathways to stability and independence through investments in youth and workforce development.

• Our Human Services Funding Priorities:
  • Basic Needs: Alleviating urgent needs through access to food, emergency shelter, clothing, and critical home repair
  • Investing in Youth: Supporting evidence-based or outcome-focused youth out-of-school time programs
  • Workforce development: Creating pathways to sustainable employment and stability through foundational skill building, entrepreneurship, and workforce development programs

Culture & Civic Life: Rewarding Destinations that Inspire 

In a region where civic and cultural opportunities abound, the primary focus of our "investment" in the arts is to support access and the development and delivery of educational programs.

Grants are awarded to organizations that strive to engage a broad audience and bridge cultural boundaries.  

The Foundation seeks to identify and support sites and projects that provide a deep appreciation of Philadelphia's rich heritage. 

Criteria 

• The degree to which the proposal directly addresses and furthers the Connelly Foundation’s objectives and goals .
• The significance of the problem or need addressed by the proposed program .
• The overall quality of the proposal and whether the organization has made a convincing case that funding to the organization will facilitate more effective and efficient service delivery to constituents
• The history and stability of the organization with regard to board, management, and financial support
• The organization’s track record, prior accomplishments and unique role in providing service to its specific constituencies
• The reasonableness of the prepared budget

Charitable Contributions

Costco Wholesale’s primary charitable efforts specifically focus on programs supporting children, education, and health and human services in the communities where we do business. Throughout the year we receive a large number of requests from nonprofit organizations striving to make a positive impact, and we are thankful to be able to provide support to a variety of organizations and causes. While we would like to respond favorably to all requests, understandably, the needs are far greater than our allocated resources and we are unable to accommodate them all.

Warehouse Donations:

Warehouse donations are handled at the warehouse level - please consult your local warehouse for up-to-date information regarding their donations contacts and review process.

Grant Applications

If the request is under consideration, you may be contacted by staff for any additional information needed. Applications are reviewed within 4-6 weeks, and decisions are made based on several factors, including: type of program; identified community need not otherwise available; indication that evidenced based data will establish measurable results of intended outcomes; community collaboration; broad base of financial support; project budget and operating expenses.

The W. W. Smith Charitable Trust is a private foundation established by Mr. William Wikoff Smith with a mission to help organizations and individuals achieve their goals, hopes, and dreams. Through the Medical Research program, the Trust makes grants funds available for eligible scientists to conduct basic research addressing Heart Disease, Cancer, or AIDS.

Medical

The Trust awards grants for basic medical research primarily related to heart disease, cancer, and AIDS. Funding is limited to nonprofit institutions such as universities, hospitals, and research centers located in the five-county Greater Philadelphia region (Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties) or the City of Camden, NJ. Scientists and research faculty with appointments at the aforementioned institutions are encouraged to apply through their associated institution.

The Trust identifies and funds research projects that are unique and meritorious. We invest in promising researchers having the potential to attract larger-scale awards (e.g., NIH, NSF, AHA) subsequent to Trust support.

Research proposals are peer reviewed by a medical advisory committee comprised of prominent scientists at institutions located outside our geographic funding area. These reviews help guide Trust funding towards projects capable of having a direct influence upon the fight against heart disease, cancer, and AIDS.

Forman Family Fund Grants

The Nessa Forman, David Forman, Eleanor and Solomon Forman Family Fund -- a Designated Fund of The Philadelphia Foundation -- supports Southeastern Pennsylvania nonprofits serving young people aged 11 to 18 offering in-school or out-of-school-time programs that address one of the following areas:

• Photography
• Architectural Drawing and Architecture
• Written Arts

Up to 10 grants of no more than $40,000 each will be awarded annually. The fund was established through the estate of Nessa R. Forman, former V.P. for Corporate Communications and Public Affairs at WHYY and former Arts and Leisure Editor of the Philadelphia Bulletin. She was a passionate advocate for arts education.

Types of Projects Funded

• Direct program expenses
• Staff time
• Materials and supplies
• Indirect expenses (up to 15% to total grant amount)
• Transportation, meals and field trips for participants

The Edna W. Andrade Fund -- a Donor Advised Fund of the Philadelphia Foundation -- is pleased to announce the availability of grants for local or national museums or nonprofit art organizations to benefit visual fine artists from Greater Philadelphia.

The fund was established through the estate of Edna Andrade. Edna Andrade was a leading Philadelphia teacher and artist who was associated with the Op Art movement of the 1960's.

Grants will be awarded in amounts ranging from $5,000 to $25,000. 

The purpose of the fund is to benefit visual fine artists from the Greater Philadelphia area by providing funds for the following:

• For grants to local or national museums or other charitable organizations that request funding for the purchase or commission of works of art by specific artists from the Greater Philadelphia area
• For grants to local or national museums for the funding of one-person exhibitions of specific artists from the Greater Philadelphia area
  • The Greater Philadelphia area is defined as Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties in Pennsylvania and Burlington, Camden, Gloucester and Mercer counties in New Jersey.
• For grants to nonprofit organizations as fiscal agents for individual artists or groups of artists from the Greater Philadelphia area who propose to start or are engaged in continuing educational, cultural, humanitarian or environmental projects.

Grants

Social impact organizations and leaders often need early investors and additional resources such as thought partnership to try new ways of tackling emerging or persistent problems. They need to be able to take risks, test hypotheses and challenge assumptions.

The Catalyst Fund is Barra’s core grantmaking program.

These grants provide early-stage dollars that enable an organization to test an idea that might not work—yet. Since 1963, we have provided this type of risk capital to nonprofits in the region that are aiming to test a new idea, assess the results, learn from them and share those lessons with others in an effort to advance knowledge and inspire transformative change that strengthens communities.

The Catalyst Fund provides grants that act as risk capital for early-stage, bold approaches that have the potential to result in outsized impact and thriving, equitable communities.

Our Areas of Interest

Our four areas of interest—Arts & Culture, Education, Health and Human Services—help us organize our grantmaking, but we recognize possible overlaps and resist making them rigid lines of work. These areas of interest collectively contribute to creating a stronger and more vibrant community. As such, all projects and initiatives supported by Barra should aim to improve the lives of under-resourced individuals, families and communities.

The Catalyst Fund

There are proven models and best practices that work. And then there are intractable and emerging problems that require a different approach, imagination and fresh, bold thinking.

The Catalyst Fund supports early-stage, novel approaches that have the potential to result in durable, transformative and equitable change, particularly in under-resourced communities.

These timely early-stage Catalyst Fund ideas should:

• Address a precisely defined and timely problem or opportunity
• Demonstrate a break from existing practice
• Be informed by the people most affected by the issue being addressed
• Create outsized impact for communities
• Have the potential to inspire deep change in a field, sector, region or system
• Address the needs of under-resourced communities and/or needs for a vibrant cultural sector in the Greater Philadelphia region
• Stem from a shift in underlying assumptions, often built upon new or emerging evidence or arguments; or, a shift in cultural/social awareness

Art and Change Grant

The Art and Change Grant (ACG) provides grants of up to $2,500 to fund art for social change projects by women, trans, and/or gender nonconforming artists and cultural producers living in Greater Philadelphia.

The grant is project-based and open to artists and cultural producers working in any medium, including traditional and nontraditional as well as multimedia and experimental forms.

Change Partner

Leeway believes art for social change work happens through relationships — working with others collaboratively, often in community. Because of this, we ask artists to submit an application together with a Change Partner that affirms your grounding in a community-based process. Change Partners cannot benefit financially from the grant.

A Change Partner is:

• someone the applicant has built a relationship with who is a member of the community that the project seeks to engage or in which it takes place; or
• a person, organization, or business that has a connection to the project in some form.

Eligible Change Partners can live within or beyond the Greater Philadelphia Area and may include mentors, editors, art spaces, theaters, nonprofit organizations, dance studios, radio stations, production companies, etc. – or anyone who can support the project.

Your Change Partner Form must be completed and signed by your Change Partner.

Art for Social Change: What We Mean

Leeway supports artists and cultural producers involved in art for social change that positively affects and engages communities and audiences. Creating social change must be integral to the ideas, beliefs, and goals that are woven throughout your art and your process of creating and sharing your art.

IMPACT OF ART WITH VISION

Art for social change is art with a vision and an intentional analysis. It is an artistic or creative cultural practice that may operate in traditional or nontraditional mediums, modes, or disciplines.

Art with a vision impacts people in many ways. It can:

• Raise consciousness
• Alter how we think about ourselves, our society, or our culture
• Create a vision of a more just world
• Be a tool or strategy for organizing and movement building
• Preserve or reclaim traditional cultural practices using your artistic practice as a form of resistance or empowerment
• Create space for expression and build a sense of community
• Challenge racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ageism, ableism, or other oppressions
• Question mainstream culture and beliefs
• Shift or transform the perception of power and/or privilege and the dynamics associated with justice, equality, and/or accountability
• Value healing justice practices focused on strengthening communities, not just individuals
• Engage and utilize a reciprocal process — where there is teaching and learning simultaneously and the consent for engagement is mutual, as is the benefit for yourself as an artist and the community you are engaging

Social Change Intent/Vision

We ask you to identify at least one but no more than three social change categories that best describe the intent or vision behind your project. There is no correct or incorrect way to choose; you should pick one that resonates with you as the core intent or vision of your work. You will have an opportunity to define further what that vision is for you in question 3 of the application.

• Cultural preservation/restoration
• Decarceration
• Demilitarization
• Disability justice
• Economic justice
• Environmental justice
• Feminism
• Housing justice
• Immigration justice
• Indigenous sovereignty
• LGBQA social movements
• Racial justice
• Transgender justice/gender self-determination

Our Mission

Quest for the Best® strives for a better tomorrow by providing funds and/or services to those who are committed to strengthening the common good of mankind.

The legal professionals of Quest for the Best® provide business and transactional legal services to organizations recognized as tax exempt under Section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code serving the disadvantaged and enhancing the quality of life in Pennsylvania.

We do not undertake litigation, criminal or intellectual property matters. Each request is reviewed individually, and Quest for the Best® reserves the right to determine if we will accept a matter after review of all facts provided.

Grantmaking Criteria

We consider requests for funding that meet the overall mission and goals of Quest for the Best.

These include initiatives that:

• Include plans for long-term sustainability
• Have secured co-funding
• Support specific programs, projects and equipment

Focus

We focus on the following areas: police and nurse training, education for underserved communities, funding for wildlife and environmental conservation, and humanitarianism, specifically clean water, homelessness, hunger, and support for those suffering through the opioid epidemic.

Community Partnership Award

The Mutual of America Foundation Community Partnership Award recognizes outstanding nonprofit organizations in the United States that have shown exemplary leadership by facilitating partnerships with public, private or social sector leaders who are working together as equal partners, not as donors and recipients, to build a cohesive community that serves as a model for collaborating with others for the greater good.

Each year, the Mutual of America Foundation sponsors a national competition in which hundreds of organizations demonstrate the value of their partnership to the communities they serve, their ability to be replicated by others and their capacity to stimulate new approaches to addressing significant social issues.

Six organizations are selected by an independent committee to receive the Community Partnership Award.

• The Thomas J. Moran Award is given to the national award-winning program and includes $100,000 and a documentary video about the program.
• The Frances R. Hesselbein Award is given to a partnership that is addressing social challenges in more than one community, or which demonstrates the potential to be replicated in other communities. This recipient receives $75,000.
• Four other organizations are named Honorable Mention recipients for their programs, and each receives $50,000.

Since its inception in 1996, the Community Partnership Award has recognized 262 partnerships from cities and towns across America. Like so many of our clients working in the nonprofit community, Mutual of America is dedicated to having a direct, positive impact on society.

Art Works

Founded in 2021 by Forman Arts Initiative and Philadelphia Foundation, Art Works is a joint $3 million grant program designed to support Philadelphia arts and cultural organizations and artists working in partnership with BIPOC and other underserved communities.

Art Works accepts applications from local cultural nonprofit (or fiscally sponsored) organizations with annual operating budgets between $250,000 and $5 million as well as individual artists with a commitment to incorporating community perspectives into their work.

• Four Philadelphia-based artists will be selected annually to receive two-year grants of $25,000 per year. Grants can be used freely by artists. Some artists may wish to use the grant to support the development of new work while others may use it to pay for living or studio expenses. Artists will be chosen based on how closely their work aligns with Art Works’ programmatic goals.
• Four community-based organizations will be selected annually to receive two-year, unrestricted grants ranging from $75,000-$150,000.  Organizations will be chosen based on how closely their work aligns with Art Works‘ programmatic goals.

In addition to the awarded funds, all grantees will have access to experiential professional development workshops and pro bono professional consulting services designed to provide strategic and tactical support on a range of topics including legal, marketing, communications, budgeting and finance, among others.

Art Works also provides grantees the opportunity to host co-operative education students from Drexel University to support programs and operations.

These placements, administered by Drexel’s Lenfest Center for Cultural Partnerships, are designed to provide students with meaningful work experience in the arts and culture sector. 

About the Foundation

Jesse W. Couch lived a life of zeal, honor, and dedication to the betterment of his community. The Couch family now humbly stewards the foundation he created to carry on his legacy of service for future generations. We believe that impact is best accomplished through partnerships with local organizations that know the people and communities they serve. We invest in and support efforts to protect the environment, further conservation and preservation initiatives, and save historical architecture that preserves community heritage. We also support initiatives that promote wellness and mental health and organizations seeking to provide and further education for all communities.

Annual Grant Focus

Each year, we seek to partner with and support non-profit organizations making an impact in the focus areas listed here. 

The focus area for this year is Wildlife Conservation. We believe it's our duty to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends. We envision a world where everyone works in harmony to protect what is important so that all life on this planet can thrive.

Leadership Grants

Leadership grants are available on a limited basis to increase measurable skills and racial diversity of pipelines for senior staff and board of nonprofits; and to strengthen the capacities of nonprofit leaders in the areas of governance, planning, civic engagement, board and staff development and diversity, equity and inclusion. Requests to support leadership transition and increase the diversity of senior staff leadership will also be considered.

Successful applicants will demonstrate organizational readiness and a level of commitment to leadership development and capacity building.

Impact Grants

Impact Program Grants are available on a competitive basis to nonprofits serving high-poverty and marginalized populations in Greater Philadelphia who can demonstrate that their work improves the lives of people served.

Applicants must present a strong history of direct service programming to high poverty and marginalized populations and have documented outcomes and evaluations data for at least one year of program service delivery.

Organizations seeking funding for pilot programs should demonstrate prior success in delivering outcomes-based initiatives and achieving desired outcomes for targeted populations.

Types of Projects Funded

Grants are restricted and will only support program-related activities. Successful applicants will deliver results-oriented programs with a track record of successes and proven outcomes for low-income and marginalized communities.

Advocacy Unrestricted Grants 

Advocacy Unrestricted Grants are available on a competitive basis for nonprofits that dedicate majority/ significant portion of their work to systems advocacy and community organizing efforts that seek to reform laws, policies, regulations, and institutional practices impacting marginalized and low-income communities in Greater Philadelphia.

Funds may be used for all mission-related activities including education, coalition building, capital campaigns, service delivery, operational costs, and lobbying and political activities (in accordance with IRS allowances for nonprofits).

Successful applicants have clearly defined the community benefitting from their efforts and are operationalizing equity at all levels of the organization including Board and operations, as well as in their advocacy/organizing strategy and tactics. Additionally, organizations can demonstrate operational excellence, long-term impact, and short-term outcomes; utilize creative strategies and tactics to achieve campaign victories; and have a track record of policy and system reform success in Greater Philadelphia.

Types of Projects Funded

Funds may be used for all mission-related activities including education, organizing, coalition building, contributions to capital campaigns and endowments and operational costs.

Goals

The Visionary Leadership Fund is a separate endowment managed by the Valentine Foundation. Created in 2005, this endowment provides a dedicated source of funding for leadership development for women executives and aspiring leaders in organizations that improve the lives of women and girls in the Greater Philadelphia region. The Fund for Visionary Leadership enhances these organizations and creates positive social change by making valuable leadership training accessible to those working in the non-profit sector with the goals of:

• Supporting the Effectiveness of Current Women Leaders
• Developing the Next Generation of Women Leaders
• Fostering a Community of Women Leaders

The Valentine Foundation envisions a society in which all women, and girls, and non-binary individuals thrive. We encourage submissions from women executive and aspiring leaders from groups that have historically been under-represented in leadership roles.

Our definition of “women and girls” includes anyone who is cis-gender or trans woman/girl, or non-binary.

The groups we focus on who have historically been under-represented in leadership roles include, but are not limited to, those who are Black, Indigenous, People of Color, LGBTQ+, and/or People with Disabilities.

Our grantmaking goal is to close the gender, racial, ethnic, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, and other equity gaps in non-profit leadership. We do this by actively funding the leadership development of as many current women executive and aspiring leaders from groups that have historically been under-represented in leadership roles as possible, within our means and mission.

Characteristics of Visionary Leadership

The Valentine Fund for Visionary Leadership is committed to advancing, encouraging, and developing visionary leadership skills in both aspiring and executive-level women nonprofit leaders. The Fund understands visionary leadership, apart from management and executive authority, to include the following characteristics:

• Demonstration of innovation and entrepreneurial vision: (Takes initiative, is not risk averse, seeks new solutions, partnerships, tries alternative approaches)
• Credibility: (Demonstrates knowledge of issues from the standpoint of content and policy. Demonstrates capacity for strategic synthesis of knowledge and practice).
• Demonstration of the capacity to influence others with or without the formal authority or title.
• Demonstration of the capacity to respect followers, promote their voices, and protect their interests.
• Exhibition of generosity: Shares knowledge, power, and resources in the interest of an aim.
• Demonstration of life decisions and actions consistent with a set of core values and ethics.
• Demonstration of effectiveness. Achievements, even if modest, that reflect intelligence, creativity, vision, advocacy, and a healthy balance of outrage and optimism.
• Ability to think expansively about long term challenges
• Seeks new solutions

Funding

A total grant pool of $40,000–$45,000 will be awarded to successful applicants.

Our grantmaking goal is to close the gender, racial, ethnic, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, and other equity gaps in non-profit leadership. We do this by actively funding the leadership development of as many current women executive and aspiring leaders from groups that have historically been under-represented in leadership roles as possible, within our means and mission.

Our definition of “women and girls” includes anyone who is cis-gender or trans woman/girl, or non-binary.

The groups we focus on who have historically been under-represented in leadership roles include, but are not limited to, those who are Black, Indigenous, People of Color, LGBTQ+, and/or People with Disabilities.

Please refer to FAQ for additional guidelines.

Mission

The Sarah Ralston Foundation supports and enhances the quality of life of vulnerable and underserved older adults residing in Philadelphia County.

Our Guiding Principles

The Sarah Ralston Foundation is led by nine guiding principles that direct all of its work.  The Foundation:

• Supports ideas, actions and deeds that facilitate our mission. 
• Understands, appreciates, and leverages community assets – creating synergies while addressing community needs.
• Practices, supports, and facilitates anti-ageist beliefs, principles, and actions.
• Recognizes the importance of relationships to the well-being of older adults.
• Seeks partnerships with significant potential impact including those organizations whose programs have shown impact and those organizations whose programs intend to have impact. 
• Practices, supports and facilitates diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-racist beliefs, principles, and actions.
• Seeks out grantee partners who are successfully serving vulnerable and underserved older adults with particular attention to BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) and other underrepresented populations.
• Seeks out organizations led by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) and other underrepresented persons as grantee partners.
• Embodies the principles of trust-based philanthropy to advance equity, shift power, engage the community, and build mutually accountable relationships.

General Operating Support Grants

General operating support funds a nonprofit organization’s mission rather than specific projects or programs. It provides the working capital needed to sustain day-to-day operations.

The General Operating Support Committee considers requests for general operating support grants typically between $5,000 and $50,000 annually for organizations serving vulnerable and underserved older adults residing in Philadelphia County. 

The Sarah Ralston Foundation invests in grantees’ missions rather than specific programs. General operating support allows partners to use the funds as they see fit to reach their goals.

Aging organizations know their stakeholders best, know their communities best, and know their needs the most. We respect that knowledge and seek to provide the flexible support that they need to pursue their missions.

 Independence Public Media Foundation

The Independence Public Media Foundation connects creators, industry experts, community organizations, and philanthropists to support community-driven media-making and storytelling. We’re committed to transforming the Greater Philadelphia region into a hub for community-owned media, redefining the role of community in philanthropy, and evolving to best meet the needs of the people we serve.

Community Voices Fund

Independence Public Media Foundation's (IPMF) Community Voices Fund supports creative, community-centered media and media-making across Greater Philadelphia.

Focus Areas

Your project must fit at least one of the following focus areas:

• Community-owned media and local storytelling
• Community-centered news and journalism
• Using archives for building community power
• Narrative shift and media for movement building

The Fund will center voices and leadership from communities targeted by white supremacy and state sanctioned violence.

Grant Awards

The Community Voices Fund will award one year grants in three different ranges, depending on the scope and needs of the work. These categories are meant to provide helpful guidance, but we will remain flexible as we review applications:

• The Star level ($20,000-$50,000) is typically geared toward new or smaller-scale projects, community engagement, or experimentation.
• The Constellation level ($50,000-$100,000) generally seeks to support larger-scale projects or collaborations that result in innovative content creation and stronger networks.
• The Galaxy level ($100,000-$150,000) will support established programs and projects to expand, evolve or deepen their work, particularly those that are focused on movement building.

We will award a total of $800,000 in grants. These are non-renewable one-year grants.

About Our Grants

Impact100 Philadelphia provides high-impact grants that support a nonprofit organization’s core mission. Our goal is to address unmet needs in the Philadelphia region and raise the profile of smaller nonprofit organizations. Impact100 grant funds may be spent on necessary infrastructure, staff salaries, primary programs or services, or other expenses that strengthen an organization and enhance its ability to do its core work. 

A central question in our application is Why now? We ask applicants why this juncture in particular is the time that a $100,000 grant will have a large impact on the organization.

Our Focus Areas are Arts & Culture, Education, Environment, Family, and Health & Wellness.

Arts and Culture:

Promote, develop, and enhance artistic expression and creative thinking through culturally diverse art or art education, utilizing varied media and art forms such as exhibitions, performances, or some other method.

Education:

Teach, inform and educate individuals or specific groups, addressing equitable access to create or advance future opportunities for children and/or adults on a wide range of issues and causes.

Environment:

Improve, preserve, and protect community public spaces or natural resources providing equitable access while promoting a just, safe, healthy and sustainable world.

Family:

Strengthen and enhance the lives of children, older adults, and all families to achieve a better life and a healthy, secure future.

Health & Wellness:

Empower wellness as a way to strengthen and improve the mental and physical well-being of communities and people of all ages.

Our Mission

The William Penn Foundation is committed to expanding access to resources and opportunities that promote a more vital and just city and region for all.

Arts and Culture Programming

WPF aims to support projects and programs that connect more Philadelphians to high-quality arts and culture experiences, reflect the cultural diversity of the region, and contribute to its vibrancy. We are most interested in prioritizing performances, exhibitions, and other arts and culture projects in which participants see themselves and their communities and experience joy, affirmation, and a sense of belonging.

We are requesting proposals for 1-3-year projects that will increase opportunities for people across the region to engage with a range of high-quality arts and culture experiences. This funding opportunity is for activities beginning in or after February next year and will focus on inclusive and equitable opportunities shaped by deep and enduring community relationships. Project teams will be deeply rooted in the community they seek to serve and have a history of inclusive and community-centered practices. After reviewing proposals, WPF will conduct site visits and gather additional information from a limited number of applicants.

Applicants that propose projects in partnership with other applicants will be considered on their individual merits. The Foundation recognizes that making significant progress on the objective is difficult and values partnerships that leverage complementary strengths, resources, and expertise for the mutual benefit of the applicants and their communities.

Objective

This specific Request for Proposals (RFP) was created to help organizations to advance the following objective:

• Provide access to arts and culture experiences that are intentionally designed to engage a community or audience.

Arts and culture programs, projects, and experiences can provide a wealth of benefits for individuals and communities. By participating in experiences and programming that are designed for them – whether performances, exhibitions, or hands-on opportunities to make art – we believe that people across the region will experience joy, beauty, and deeper appreciation for different cultures. To ensure more Philadelphians connect to arts and culture, we are supporting dynamic projects that seek to create culturally relevant and accessible ways for people across the region to engage with arts, culture, and their communities.

The Foundation recognizes there are many ways that organizations and communities can contribute to advancing this objective. A project may focus on any or multiple artistic disciplines and include a range of activities as long as those activities provide access to high-quality arts and culture experiences that center equity, inclusion, and the needs, interests, and experiences of its intended beneficiaries. Proposals may have a small geographic focus or may seek to provide programming on a citywide scale.

Funding

WPF has a total of $3 million available to advance this objective at this time. WPF values diverse approaches from various organizations and communities to address the objective. We aim to attract and fund a range of projects. There is no minimum or maximum amount of funding that projects may request but the most competitive proposals will likely be those with total grant requests under $600,000 (for 3 years). The grant amount requested should be proportionate with the scope of the project and the contribution that the project will make to the overall objective.

Circuit Trails

By 2035, add 75 miles to the Circuit Trails System.

Trails connect people to the outdoors and each other, positively impacting physical and mental health and well-being. They provide an option for non-motorized transportation, and they enhance economic development, making neighborhoods more attractive places to live and work. Trails make life better for the region’s residents.

Greater Philadelphia is home to the Circuit Trails, a regional network of hundreds of miles of multi-use trails that is growing in size each year. One of America’s largest trail networks, the Circuit currently includes more than 411 miles of trails, and the goal is to connect more than 850 miles across urban, suburban, and rural communities in nine counties in Pennsylvania and New Jersey by 2040.

Over the past 10 years, our grants have supported the addition of 100 miles of Circuit Trails. We’ve also supported the formation of an active, engaged, and cohesive Circuit Trails Coalition, comprised of nearly 65 nonprofit organizations, foundations, and agencies all working together to advance the completion of the network. It is their outreach, education, and advocacy that has led the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) to designate the Circuit Trails as the official transportation infrastructure in the region. The Coalition also works to ensure that equity concerns are fully incorporated in trail planning, development, and use.

In order to continue the success of the Circuit Trails, we are focusing on adding additional miles to the trail system.

We recognize that there are many ways that organizations and communities can contribute to the Circuit Trails. We are seeking to support projects and programs that organizations in Philadelphia believe will be most effective in making progress on the objective above.

We measure our progress on this objective via DVRPC’s tracking of Circuit Trail miles added annually.

Descendant and Family Stewardship Initiative Grant

Across the country, descendant communities and families are engaged in exciting and groundbreaking efforts to reclaim, rescue, and share overlooked stories and places of resilience, achievement, and perseverance. The impact of these efforts deserves admiration, resources, and partnership. Grants from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund's Descendant and Family Stewardship Initiative will empower and equip descendant-led and family-led organizations and projects to preserve, activate, and manage historic places. This initiative is a testament to our belief in the capacity of descendant communities and families to be full partners and leaders in the physical preservation, interpretative programming, management, and governance of historic places.

The Descendant and Family Stewardship Initiative is not just another grant funding opportunity. It's a unique, multi-year partnership and investment opportunity with one grant funding category – Stewardship Project. Powered by the Mellon Foundation's Humanities in Place, the Action Fund will award five grants and invest $200,000 per grantee, providing specialized consultation and best practices support for a period of two years.

Descendant and Family Stewardship Grants support project management, capacity-building, grantmaking, and convenings for place-based organizations. In collaboration and consultation with the Action Fund, the selected grantees will engage in the following activities during the two-year grant period as we work together to preserve American history and model new approaches in historic preservation:

• Completing a Stewardship Project needs assessment to inform the scope of work, the use of the grant funds, and define project milestones and deliverables.
• Receiving $200,000 in grant funds to develop a Stewardship Plan and launch the implementation of its recommendations.
• Promoting the partnership, process, and lessons learned for other stewarding organizations to replicate.
• Participating in convenings with initiative stakeholders to share best practices, build community, and advance the field.

The Stewardship Project's scope of work, for example, can include architectural and design services, strategic and fundraising planning, interpretation and program development, community engagement and audience development, staff support, limited capital and restoration, and other priorities established through the assessment process.

The Action Fund provides consultation to meet our grantees’ organizational needs and priorities. Our role as the grantor is to work hand in hand with our grantee partners through a collaborative process focused on asset management of heritage resources and holistic stewardship visioning and planning. Project partners will work as a team to achieve the grantee's short-term and long-term stewardship goals.

Help Define Descendant in Historic Preservation

Today, the preservation field has varying views on defining "descendant," though it is often used in connection to heritage sites associated with slavery, such as a plantation, burial ground, or jail. The Descendant and Family Stewardship Initiative is a collaborative effort that values the input of all stakeholders. Our work with grantees includes strategic collaboration across the historic preservation field to define “descendant” and establish more broadly-adopted language. For example, descendant communities can include a direct blood lineage or historical affiliation to a site of enslavement, like Virginia's Sharswood Plantation, or social movements in education and civil rights, such as Washington-Rosenwald Schools, Birmingham Foot Soldiers, and the Tulsa Race Massacre.

The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund is committed to understanding the different perspectives of descendant-led organizations and projects and seeks your help. Therefore, applicants for this grant can define “descendant” for themselves and make the case that their organization and project are descendant-led and family-led on the Letter of Intent (LOI) form. We deeply respect and value the unique perspectives and experiences that each organization brings to the table.

In addition to descendant-led, family-led describes organizations where family members with direct ties to a historic place help steward the site, such as a granddaughter advocating for Virginia's Anne Spencer House and Garden Museum, siblings volunteering at Philadelphia's John Coltrane Home, or a family saving a legacy farm. It may also include property owners of a historic residence or venue associated with Black history, actively supporting its preservation, public access, and interpretation.

BACKGROUND

The GSK IMPACT Awards program honors up to ten local nonprofit organizations in recognition of their exceptional achievements, overall excellence, and best practices in contributing to a healthier Greater Philadelphia Region. Individual Awards are $50,000 in urestricted funding. To be eligible, the minimum annual gross revenue for 501(c)(3) nonprofits is $100,000, the maximum is $5,000,000.

GSK is proud to continue its partnership with the Philadelphia Foundation to administer this awards program. The GSK IMPACT Awards is one of several charitable programs GSK offers in the United States as part of its commitment to building healthier communities and a healthy America.

CHALLENGE

Much of what influences our health happens outside the doctor's office – in our communities. Factors such as access to healthy foods and recreational spaces undeniably contribute to our health. Where we are born, raised, live and work matters to our health; yet too many individuals are living in communities that are hazardous to our health.

SOLUTION

The more we understand the connection between our health and our community, the more we can improve it. GSK is a global biopharma company with a purpose to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. GSK goes beyond discovering, developing and delivering new medicines and vaccines and addresses health challenges where they often start – in our communities.

PROCESS

GSK and the Philadelphia Foundation staff review nonprofit registrations and invite eligible organizations to complete the application process. We work together to select 15 finalists. Virtual site visits are managed and conducted by Philadelphia Foundation staff. A panel comprised of local community health experts and GSK representatives evaluate the finalist applications and site visit reports to select up to ten winners.

The Honorable Phyllis W. Beck Public Interest Law Fellowships

The Honorable Phyllis W. Beck Public Interest Law Fellowship program enables some of the best and brightest law school graduates to come to the Philadelphia area and obtain employment with a local organization that provides free legal services to the underserved.

About the Fellowship

Renamed in 2024 in honor of the former Chair of the Board of Directors of the Independence Foundation, the Honorable Phyllis W. Beck, the Public Interest Law Fellowships were originally established in 1996. Through the fellowship program, the Foundation funds the compensation and employment benefits for accomplished young lawyers who have decided to direct their considerable talents to public interest service.

Program Description

Fellows work for a sponsoring legal services organization serving the disadvantaged whose work has been funded previously by Independence Foundation. The Foundation requires that the focus of all Fellowship work be on direct representation of disadvantaged clients. The Foundation also assists the Fellows in repayment of their often substantial educational loans.

Project Development

Fellowship applicants must identify a sponsoring organization (must be a public interest law firm funded by the Independence Foundation - currently the Foundation funds these public interest law firms). Together with the sponsoring organization the applicant will develop the project. A potential sponsoring organization must be a civil legal services organization serving the disadvantaged and must have its principal office in Philadelphia, Delaware, Montgomery, Bucks, or Chester County, Pennsylvania. 

A project typically consists of a new substantive area of legal practice or type of legal service which is consistent with the sponsoring organization’s overall mission but in which the organization has generally not previously engaged. For example, an Independence Foundation Fellow at the Legal Clinic for the Disabled provided focused legal services to disabled men and women who were victims of caregiver, domestic or other abuse (a new area for them). In rare instances Fellowships are granted to support public interest law projects that do not involve developing a new area of practice but rather consist of the development of a new approach that more effectively, innovatively and comprehensively delivers a type of legal service the organization has previously attempted to provide. For example, an Independence Foundation Fellow at SeniorLAW Center expanded and improved on the organization’s ability to serve financially and physically abused senior citizens by delivering legal services to these clients in their own homes and by engaging in extensive community education to help these seniors avoid abusive situations.