A local community foundation is offering a new $500 award this year for a project to protect, manage, sustain or create awareness of a healthy environment in the Chilkat Valley.
The $500 grant will be offered through the Chilkat Valley Community Foundation’s new Chilkat Valley Environmental Fund.
Foundation co-chair Crystal Badgley said the fund was created this year by a group of donors interested in environmental issues. “Right now it is a small fund and it is also brand new, so we don’t have anything to give from it except a donor gave $500 to be re-granted from that fund,” Badgley said.
The foundation’s seventh grantmaking cycle opened July 30 and closes Sept. 30. More than $13,000 is available for grants this year.
Badgley said this year the grant application includes a section asking whether receiving partial funding will help applicants, as the organization has received complaints that partial funding has put nonprofits in awkward positions.
“Because more requests come in than we are actually able to grant, a lot of times the people don’t get the entire amount they asked for,” she said.
Applications are being accepted for three categories: operating support grants, new program and special projects grants and capital grants. Categories include specific criteria and directions, so Badgley urged applicants to read materials closely.
Operating support grants are for sustainable organizations in amounts not to exceed 10 percent of the organization’s secured cash annual budget. New program and special project grants are for endeavors not undertaken on an annual basis; a grant requesting $1,000 or more requires a 100 percent match by the applying organization. Capital grant applicants receive extra scoring points if they have applied for grants from another foundation.
In addition to the $500 environmental grant, Kingfisher Consulting LLC is offering a $600 “mini-tech” grant for a project that incorporates some aspect of technology.
Visit http://www.chilkatvalleycf.org for a grant application.