2021 Funding Opportunities and Workshops for Nonprofits Announced

Local Community Foundations Announce 2021 Funding Opportunities and Workshops for Nonprofits

New Haven, CT (February 10, 2021) - The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven (The Community Foundation) and its partner in philanthropy the Valley Community Foundation (VCF) announce the opening of several grant application processes and capacity building workshops for nonprofits in 2021. Grantseekers providing services in Greater New Haven and the lower Naugatuck Valley are encouraged to visit The Community Foundation’s website at cfgnh.org and VCF’s website at valleyfoundation.org for eligibility requirements, a grantseeker webinar, application deadlines, online grant applications, and dates for upcoming capacity building workshops.

With The Community Foundation’s introduction earlier this year of Stepping Forward, a three-year $26 million commitment to address the impact of COVID-19 and to advance racial equity in the region, significant resources have been added to its traditional grantmaking programs and new grant programs have also been created. As in the past several grant processes are implemented jointly by The Community Foundation and VCF. Most notably is the Responsive Grants Process for General Operating Support. The responsive grants process offers single and multi-year grants for general operating support; the application deadline is February 25 by 5:00 p.m.

A new joint grant program for 2021 is Racial Equity + Creative Healing through the Arts. This program has a rolling application deadline and offers support for projects that break down racism, provide opportunities for collective mourning, comfort and healing and support distanced creative development for youth. Grants range between $5,000 - $20,000 per-year for up to two years and are offered to arts organizations or organizations with a history of arts programming.

In addition to these funding opportunities, both foundations are offering resources through the Consultant Support Program for short-term capacity-building consultancy. This program has a rolling application deadline. More grant funding is available for event sponsorships, small and community grants, and grants for nonprofit animal shelters.

Both foundations also have funds dedicated to addressing needs related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Community Foundation’s Greater New Haven COVID-19 Community Fund created in partnership with the United Way of Greater New Haven in 2020 is offering three opportunities for grantseekers to apply in 2021; grants range between $15,000 - $50,000.The first round of grantmaking starts Feb. 8 with a grant application deadline of February 26. The following two rounds of grantmaking open March 8 and April 5 with deadlines to submit applications by March 26 and April 23, respectively. VCF’s Valley Community Covid-19 Response and Recovery Fund was created by the Valley Community Foundation in concert with the Valley United Way, Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce, and the Valley Council for Health & Human Services. It offers grants from $1,000 to $5,000 through a rolling application process; grant applicants must provide services in at least one of the five towns served by VCF (Ansonia, Derby, Seymour, Shelton, and Oxford).

About The Community Foundation

The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven in Connecticut is one of the oldest and largest community foundations in the U.S. and was established in 1928 as the permanent charitable endowment for New Haven and its surrounding communities of: Ansonia, Bethany, Branford, Cheshire, Derby, East Haven, Guilford, Hamden, Madison, Milford, North Branford, North Haven, Orange, Oxford, Seymour, Shelton, Wallingford, West Haven, and Woodbridge. In 2020, The Foundation began implementing a 5-year strategic plan and enacted new mission and vision statements toward expanding opportunity and equity in Greater New Haven. Its mission is to inspire, support, inform, listen to and collaborate with the people and organizations of Greater New Haven to build an ever more connected, inclusive, equitable and philanthropic community. Visit cfgnh.org for more information; follow The Community Foundation @cfgnh on Facebook and Twitter.

About the Valley Community Foundation

Established in 2004, the Valley Community Foundation (VCF) distributes $1.6 million in grants each year to support the local nonprofit sector and the people it serves. VCF works in strong partnership with The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven (TCF), to promote philanthropy in Ansonia, Derby, Oxford, Seymour and Shelton and receives a majority of its discretionary funding as a result of The Gates Fund and other preference funds at TCF that benefit the Valley. To learn how your gifts of cash, life insurance, appreciated stocks, bonds, real estate, and other assets can help to support the quality of life in the Valley, please visit the website at www.valleyfoundation.org or contact VCF President Sharon Closius at 203-751-9162.