Sierra County Grants for Nonprofits

Our vision is to cultivate a society that safeguards the world's natural resources, fosters flourishing opportunities for children and youth, ensures compassionate care for the afflicted and most vulnerable, and champions support for women. To pursue this vision, The Joseph & Vera Long Foundation extends financial support to non-profit organizations engaged in the communities of Northern California and Hawaii. 

Our primary approach is to invest in organizations that are dedicated to strengthening and supporting the community and committed to the responsible and effective use of the Foundation's assets. The Foundation periodically approves large, multi-year strategic grants focused on achieving a well-defined impact. These grants are made at the discretion of the Board of Trustees and may not be solicited. The Foundation also makes responsive grants that aim to meet the needs of the community.

Program Areas

Programs or projects must closely align with our priorities in one of the four program areas we support:

• The Environment
• Youth in Nature
• Youth Arts
• Maternal Health
• Healthy Aging

Program Goal

The goal of the Sustainable Forests and Communities Initiative is to promote the creation of environmentally and economically sustainable forest communities in the regions of the United States where the Weyerhaeuser Family's business interests originated. 

Program Guidelines

The Weyerhaeuser Family Foundation through its Sustainable Forests and Communities Initiative is interested in supporting organizations that work in forested landscapes to enhance the environment, the economy, and community. Implementation of integrated approaches in these areas that also enhance market valuation of forest ecosystem services is favored.

Program Priorities

The Foundation gives priority to projects that promote vibrant forest-based communities that address one or more of the following outcome areas:

• Environment
• Employing sustainable forest management, conservation, and ecological restoration.
• Economy
• Developing and encouraging enterprise-based sustainable economic activities.
• Community
• Use innovative social and locally-based business processes to meet agreed- upon environmental and economic sustainability goals.
• Forest Ecosystem Services
  • Use innovative business or policy models to better establish prices and markets for ecosystem services.
  • Forest ecosystem services can include, but are not restricted to, carbon sequestration, forests' role in the carbon, nutrient, and water cycles, providing habitat to support biodiversity, and providing aesthetic, educational, and other cultural services.

Projects of potential interest include the following examples:

• Creation of local market-based jobs for in-forest activities (such as sustainable forest management, forest restoration, or sustainable silviculture).
• Development of demand for certified wood and for products made with sustainably produced forest resources (e.g., wood, boughs, biomass, and mushrooms).
• Promoting sustainable forest management alternatives to conversion of private forested land to other uses.
• Creating value in forests and forest communities through developing, producing, and marketing new forest products or forest ecosystem services.
• Advancing community-wide long-term planning for monetizing the full range of forest values, including explicit valuation of and creation of markets for forest ecosystem services.

About

The Firedoll Foundation is a private family foundation founded by two unrepentant liberals from the 60's who still believe in the motto, "If you are not part of the solution, you're part of the problem." 

Focus Areas

We fund in five different focus areas: Community Development and Entrepreneurship, Immigrant Issues and Human Rights, Environmental Conservation, the Peace Process in the Middle East, and Survivors of Traumatic Brain Injury.

Community Development and Entrepreneurship

We believe that government has largely abdicated its responsibility in the area of community development. Although non-profit organizations should not be in the position of having to fill the gap, they are. Funders must step forward and provide them with support.

We focus our resources on supporting non-profits that work with vulnerable populations through safety-net services, reentry programs, entrepreneurship, and workforce development in Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

Immigrant Issues and Human Rights

Immigration is a continuing source of vitality and rejuvenation of American society. We reject the anti-immigrant hysteria that swept the United States in the 1990's, bringing with it the detention of thousands of immigrants.

We support projects that provide alternatives to detention and advocate on behalf of detained immigrants and asylum seekers. We are especially inclined to support organizations providing legal aid to immigrants in detention, facing deportation, and/or seeking asylum. We make grants to human rights projects on behalf of vulnerable populations whose basic rights are being sacrificed by repressive governmental or religious policies or for the sake of global economic interests.

The geographic focus for the immigration program area is Northern California, with an emphasis on Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

Environmental Conservation

We have a sense of urgency about the state of the planet and the web of life of which we are all a part. As a result, we support a variety of approaches to preserving the environment, including legal action, environmental justice advocacy, scientific inquiry, and direct action.

We are particularly interested in projects involving regional cooperation and those that combine conservation with environmentally sustainable development, giving local people a stake in conservation. In the Western United States we restrict our grantmaking to Northern California. We give grants on a range of issues from protection of old growth forests and rivers and the preservation of endangered species to pesticide reform and community action for clean air and water.

Summary

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Sacramento District California In-Lieu Fee Program provides a mitigation option that can be used by permittees to compensate for authorized impacts to aquatic resources. The Program covers the geographic area under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District within the State of California (Program Area).

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s (“NFWF”) Sacramento District California In-Lieu Fee Program (“ILF Program”) was established in October 2014 and approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (“USACE”), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the California State Water Resources Control Board, the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board, and the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board (each an “Agency” and collectively the “Agencies”) in accordance with the 2008 Compensatory Mitigation for Losses of Aquatic Resources Final Rule (33 CFR Parts 325 and 332; and 40 CFR Part 230) (the “2008 Rule”). 

The ILF Program offers permittees an in-lieu fee option to satisfy their compensatory mitigation obligations as determined by any of the Agencies, as applicable, for impacts to aquatic resources authorized under the Clean Water Act, the Rivers and Harbors Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act, and other applicable laws, in the “Program Area,” which covers the geographic area under the jurisdiction of the Sacramento District of the USACE within California. For reference, the overall Program Area is subdivided under the ILF Program into discrete geographies comprising 17 “Aquatic Resource Service Areas” and 12 “Vernal Pool Service Areas.” The ILF Program offers two types of Credits: 1) Vernal Pool Credits for authorized impacts to vernal pool wetlands; and 2) Aquatic Resource Credits for authorized impacts to wetlands (excluding vernal pools), other Waters of the United States, Waters of the State, and certain species.

As a result of Aquatic Resource Credit sales to date, NFWF has accumulated certain funds that may be made available to fund projects that establish, enhance, restore, or, in certain circumstances, preserve aquatic resources in an applicable Service Area (“ILF Projects”). NFWF is issuing this Notice of Funding Availability in order to solicit proposals for the implementation of eligible ILF Projects to be funded through the ILF Program.

Goals

To meet the facility needs of evolving or growing Catholic communities through construction, expansion, or renovation of critical facilities.

Summary

Catholic Extension funds the construction, expansion, or renovation of churches and facilities that enable the dynamic practice of faith and promote the experience of church community. In this category, Catholic Extension will consider the facility needs of a diocese, to help ensure that spaces are adequately-sized, safe, and that they meet the needs of the local populations. Catholic Extension will favor those projects where the communities have urgent facility needs, a convincing funding strategy and business plan, demonstrated strong local support for the proposed project, and evidence of their limited means to raise all of the funds themselves. Catholic Extension only supports active building and renovation projects and does not give funds to service debt on projects where work has been completed. Therefore, the ideal point at which Catholic Extension should be engaged for this funding is when a parish/organization is still actively raising funds and the project is within one year or less from starting.

Qualifying Funding Areas

Catholic Extension will consider funding minor and major facility requests only for the following types of facilities:

• Church Buildings - places that regularly celebrate the liturgy
• Community Space - places where a community can convene outside of the liturgy (i.e. parish halls and parish community centers)
• Program Space - facilities that provide religious education and other church ministries
• Residential Facilities for Ministers – modest housing for leaders in extremely under-resourced communities
• Temporary Structures - for faith communities in transition due to population changes, recent disaster, etc.

Minor Funding Requests

Catholic Extension will fund up to 100% of the following minor projects (under $5,000) only for the most under-resourced applicants:

• Repairs - periodic improvements that are necessary for a fully functioning space 
• Equipment/Small Furnishing Needs - audio equipment, chairs, other basic furnishings etc.

Major Funding Requests

Catholic Extension will consider funding a portion of a major building project’s (over $5,000) total budget, the amount of which is determined on a case-by-case basis. Funding amounts generally are not able to exceed $100,000. The following building projects will be considered for all applicants in Extension dioceses:

• Renovation - major enhancement or restoration of existing church building or facility space due to age, weather-related needs, updated safety-code requirements, or natural disasters
• Expansion - enlargement of a church building or facility space, necessitated by community growth
• New Church Construction - a new church building or facility space, justified by the needs of the community

Major funding requests will be offered in the form of a matching challenge. After presentation and approval of the request, funding strategy and church business plan, Catholic Extension will pledge a specific amount and lay out the matching challenge benchmarks and conditions. The matching challenge duration, funding amount and aggressiveness will be handled on a case-by-case basis. Such factors will be considered: parish financial capacity, fundraising to date, and the actual building project timeline. The qualifying matching dollars must be raised after the matching challenge approval date. Any fundraising and pledges made prior to the matching grant approval date will not count toward the matching challenge. However, these savings and funds will be noted as a demonstration of the project’s momentum and feasibility. If the intended recipient fails to raise matching dollars in the agreed upon period of time, the matching offer will be rescinded.

Catholic School Leadership Development Grant Program

The purpose of this initiative is to enable your diocese to develop and retain its Catholic school system’s most promising leaders.

Catholic Extension has engaged in a partnership with Loyola Marymount University’s Catholic School Leadership Academy to offer a graduate level virtual online Certificate in Catholic School Administration program to novice and prospective leaders in Catholic schools in your Extension Dioceses. Although leadership development is often identified as a strategic concern for Catholic Schools in Extension Dioceses, these schools often lack opportunities for professional development due to barriers of cost and distance. This agreement covers 80 percent of the cost of tuition, as well as funding for travel and accommodations for the introductory course on campus at Loyola Marymount University in late July 2023.

This unique and successful educational program professional development that is specific to the Catholic school administration context. The one-year (4 course/10 graduate level units) program is designed to address three major themes in Catholic school administration, mission effectiveness, operational management, and instructional leadership. All of the certificate coursework will count toward a Master of Arts in Catholic School Administration at LMU.

Students will be asked to commit a minimum of 2 years of service to a Catholic School in their diocese after they successfully complete the certificate program. Additionally, at the conclusion of the program students will be asked to apply their new skills by implementing a specific project that will enhance their local Catholic school in a strategic area identified by the principal. 

• Duration: 1 year
• Value to Participating Diocese: $14,120 per student, or $42,360 per group of 3 students

Desired Outcomes

• Building Leadership Capacity: Dioceses and individual Catholic schools can retain their most promising leaders and can eventually promote some to leadership positions or offer increased responsibilities in their current position.
• Knowledge and Skills Applications: Catholic school professional educators can apply the administrative knowledge and skills attained from the program to their current and future work as leaders, therefore strengthening their local Catholic school.

Purpose

The purpose of this initiative is to help ensure that dioceses will be able to grow their long-term financial capacity to fund the increasing cost of seminarian education. Seminarians are a blessing for our Church, but their education places a large financial burden on your diocese.

The Seminarian Endowment Challenge offers matching funds to dioceses for new or increased dollars they raise toward seminarian education endowments, serving as a fundraising stimulus for dioceses by enabling them to leverage this match in order to attract new or increased major gifts from donors in support of seminarian education.

In the first seven years of the Seminarian Endowment Challenge, participating dioceses have raised over $11.5 million in gifts toward seminarian education endowments. This is more than double the matching funds from Catholic Extension, and has created over $17.5 million in permanent endowments for seminarian education in 45 different dioceses.

The Seminarian Endowment Challenge will be offered in two forms:

First Time Participants

This program is open to dioceses who have not yet participated in the Seminarian Endowment Challenge. First time participants may request a challenge grant of up to $50,000, based on predetermined matching ratios set with each participant diocese. Dioceses are given one year to meet the fundraising goal that they establish with Catholic Extension at the beginning of the Challenge. 

Second Time Participants

This program is open to dioceses who have previously participated in the Seminarian Endowment Challenge. These dioceses can request another matching challenge of up to $25,000, with a minimum matching ratio of at least 1:2. Dioceses are given one year to meet the fundraising goal that they establish with Catholic Extension at the beginning of the Challenge.

See full details and terms here.

Spectrum Digital Education Grants

Spectrum supports nonprofit organizations that educate community members on the benefits of broadband and how to use it to improve their lives. We award grants across the country to help accomplish this goal. 

Spectrum is working to ensure that our neighbors have access to broadband internet and the educational resources needed to use it effectively in their daily lives. Research shows that not all Americans use broadband internet at home, including seniors, people with disabilities, and those with ethnically diverse backgrounds. A fundamental part of this initiative is our Spectrum Digital Education grant program.

The Spectrum Digital Education Grant Program Selection Committee will use the following criteria in evaluating completed, eligible applications:

• How is the program compelling, captivating or unique?
• To what extent does the program address community needs, with a focus on the digital divide?
• Does the program partner with the community or any government entities?
• Does the program support families or seniors in underrepresented urban and/or rural communities?
• Based on the proposed budget, is it financially feasible that the program will accomplish its goals at the conclusion of the one-year period?
• How does the program have a lasting, meaningful and tangible impact?
• Is there data to illustrate the program’s impact? Can the organization report those metrics to Spectrum?

Background & Purpose

The California Arts Council’s policies and practices prioritize racial equity and have a broad geographic reach into communities of all sizes and needs, and this includes providing critical services to artists and to the community at large. The CAC is committed to funding opportunities that support all of California’s creative ecosystem. Offering fellowship support to artists responds to the CAC’s Strategic Framework by directly supporting individuals who embody aesthetics, a key value of the CAC, recognizing all art forms and artistic traditions that enable full and meaningful creative expression.

Through a network of regionally-based Administering Organizations (AOs), the Individual Artists Fellowship (IAF) program will continue to recognize, uplift, and celebrate the excellence of California artists practicing any art form. In doing so, the CAC will showcase the centrality of artists’ leadership in guiding the evolution of our traditional and contemporary cultures.

Excellence, for purposes of this grant, is defined as an artist’s:

• Unique artistic vision
• Ongoing commitment to creative practice
• Engagement with and impact on the larger cultural ecosystem

This program will support artists at key moments in their careers, elevating their capacity for continued contribution to the field and our state. Fellowship grants support individual artistic practice through unrestricted funding. This program is intended to support a broad spectrum of artists working in all disciplines, from diverse geographies and communities of all sizes across the state of California.

Administering Organizations (AO)

The AOs will be responsible for the planning and implementation of the Individual Artist Fellowship program in their region, including but not limited to:

• Provide access and support for individual artists and culture bearers throughout the course of the application, award, and evaluation processes
• Engage in robust, culturally and discipline-specific engagement and outreach to ensure comprehensive geographic reach within the service area
• Convene fellows at least once over the course of the grant activity period to engage in networking and co learning
• Provide platforms including but not limited to virtual or print publications, exhibits, or performances to increase the visibility of the work of the fellows
• Engage in regular reporting to and collaboration with the CAC, including providing interim and final reports on program outcomes and findings.

Funding Structure

Administering Organizations will regrant fellowship awards to provide unrestricted funding in support of the fellows’ artistic practice. The following three tiers of funding are available. (Awards will be funded at the full dollar amount for each tier, partial awards will not be made):

CAC Emerging Artist Fellows - $5,000

Emerging artists are those in the beginning stages of making their work public and engaging the larger community in their practice. Individuals at this career stage may have had a few public showings of their work, but do not yet have ongoing resources or support.

CAC Established Artist Fellows - $10,000

Artists in the Established tier regularly make their work public and engage the larger community in their practice. Individuals in this tier can give multiple examples of artistic and/or cultural works that have made significant social impact.

CAC Legacy Artist Fellows - $50,000

Artists in the Legacy tier can point to a significant body of work, produced over a substantial period of time, that has engaged their communities and that has made significant social impact. Artists in this tier may be able to point to Emerging and Established Artists that they have mentored or otherwise positively influenced.

Each AO will make grants to a minimum of three fellows in each career tier. The total grant award is for $800,000.

AOs may use up to 20% of the grant award for administrative costs and costs associated with program design and implementation, including convening and publication and/or production costs to support visibility of fellows’ work.

AOs will regrant the remaining 80% of funds to individual artists and culture bearers in their region(s).

The Desert Fish Habitat Partnership

The Desert Fish Habitat Partnership (DFHP) seeks to address fish and habitat issues over a broad geographic area that encompasses the entirety of the Great Basin and Mohave deserts, and those por­tions of the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts that lie within the United States.

The benefits of aquatic habitat conservation extend beyond desert fishes to include humans and other animal and plant species.

Riparian habitats that depend on surface water not only support a significant number of terrestrial and avian species identified as priority conservation species in state wildlife action plans, but also function to store water that supplements groundwater recharge.

The declining status of so many desert fishes highlights the importance of preserving these aquatic habitats so that water is available not only for the native fish, but also for future generations of humans.

The Partnership plays an important role in conserving water in the West for future generations.

As one of 20 federally recognized National Fish Habitat Partnerships, DFHP is a collaborative effort between 11 western states, federal agencies, sovereign tribes, non-governmental organizations, and private conservation groups that seek to cooperatively conserve native desert fish species across their historic ranges by protecting, restoring, and enhancing aquatic ecosystems.  Project funding is made available to grantees annually through the National Fish Habitat Partnership (NFHP) Board.

Goals

• Protect healthy intact aquatic systems supporting native desert fish habitats.
• Prevent further degradation of impaired desert fish habitats
• Reverse declines in the quality and quantity of desert fish habitats to improve health and resiliency of desert fish and other aquatic species
• Increase the quality and quantity of desert fish habitats that support a broad natural diversity of desert aquatic species
• Contribute to the success of national efforts to protect and enhance aquatic habitats by participating in the National Fish Habitat Partnership (NFHP)

Three Conservation Priorities

• Integrate State Wildlife Action Plan priorities with the National Fish Habitat Action Plan strategies to include the following:
  • protect intact and healthy habitats
  • restore and maintain flow and water levels
  • restore connectivity, while protecting native populations at-risk from non-native encroachment
  • remediate and minimize sediments and excessive input of nutrients to habitats supporting species at-risk
• Implement on-the-ground projects that focus actions to protect the most under-served, imperiled desert fish species identified in state wildlife action plans to enhance their conservation status and prevent their extirpation and extinction.
• Prioritize projects to conserve and restore habitat for the most under-served, imperiled desert fish species.

Available Funding

The America’s Conservation Enhancement Act authorizes an appropriation of $7.2 million in NFHP funds for FY2024 projects. However, the exact amount of funding available to DFHP varies annually and is not known at this time. Typical funding per project is within the range of $5k-$50k; however, proposals requesting over $50k are still welcome and considered.

Reliable, Equitable, and Accessible Charging for Multi-family Housing 2.0 

The purpose of this solicitation is to demonstrate replicable and scalable business and technology models for large-scale deployment of EV charging infrastructure capable of maximizing access and EV travel for MFH residents. Proposed projects must include charger installations that will benefit and be used by MFH residents within disadvantaged communities, low-income communities, or a combination of both and applicants are encouraged to pursue installations for affordable housing.

Purpose

The California Energy Commission’s (CEC’s) Clean Transportation Program announces the availability of up to $20,000,000 in grant funds for projects that will increase electric vehicle (EV) charging access for multi-family housing (MFH) residents. The solicitation also aims to enable greater EV adoption among MFH residents. For the purpose of this solicitation, MFH is defined as residential properties with multiple dwelling units and excludes single-family dwellings (detached), duplexes, triplexes, townhomes, and mobile homes.

The purpose of this solicitation is to demonstrate replicable and scalable business and technology models for large-scale deployment of EV charging infrastructure capable of maximizing access and EV travel for MFH residents. Proposed projects must include charger installations that will benefit and be used by MFH residents within disadvantaged communities, low-income communities, or a combination of both (see Definitions of Key Words, Section V.A.), and Applicants are encouraged to pursue installations for affordable housing. Proposed projects must address the following:

• Reliable and replicable charging installations for MFH building types that have characteristics that may challenge onsite installations, such as properties with shared onsite parking, properties with assigned parking spaces for residents, or properties with limited or no onsite parking, and properties that may pose installation challenges due to size or configuration.
• Outreach to MFH residents, particularly MFH within disadvantaged communities and low-income communities, and the residents of affordable housing units, that will explain the benefits of having accessible chargers and provide relevant consumer information on charging and on EVs, including available vehicles and total cost of ownership.
• Charger installations and business models that will maximize accessibility and ease of use, and minimize EV charging costs for MFH residents, with either onsite charging or charging stations located in close proximity to MFH properties.
• Other support and maintenance services that will ensure reliability.

The California Department of Housing and Community Development (Department or HCD) is pleased to announce the release of this Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for approximately $35 million in federal funds for the HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME).

This HOME NOFA provides funding for housing project activities and housing program activities in “non-entitlement jurisdictions” (listed in Appendix A), which are jurisdictions and unincorporated areas that do not receive HOME funding directly from HUD. These HOME funds will be used to benefit residents of nonentitlement jurisdictions and are specifically designed to assist low-income households by providing affordable housing. All eligible HOME activities must benefit low-income renters, homebuyers, or homeowners.

These funds may be used in conjunction with other local, state, and federal rental housing programs to assist the same units in the proposed Project development, not to exceed the HOME Program maximum per-unit subsidy limits and the actual development cost of the unit.

PurposeThe purpose of the LN Program is to support organizations within California’s Inland Region that serve multiple counties with equity priority factors located in areas at moderate to high risk of disaster. Nonprofits throughout the Inland Region can work independently or subgrant with local nonprofits to provide disaster training and resources to diverse populations disproportionately impacted by emergencies.  DescriptionThe purpose of the LN Program is to support organizations within California’s Inland Region that serve multiple counties with equity priority factors located in areas at moderate to high risk of disaster. Nonprofits throughout the Inland Region can work independently or subgrant with local nonprofits to provide disaster training and resources to diverse populations disproportionately impacted by emergencies. This work is intended to increase their communities’ disaster preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation capabilities