The Community Impact Grant is a program of the Southwest Florida Community Foundation. The funding for this program comes from Field of Interest funds. Donors and philanthropists establish Field of Interest funds to address their desires and intentions for Southwest Florida, including Hendry, Glades, Charlotte, Collier, and Lee counties. This grant program reflects the intent of donors who have entrusted their money to the Foundation. Foundation leaders recognize there are other important issues not funded by this program.
The Southwest Florida Community Foundation 2019-2020 Community Impact Grant season opens with a call for idea, projects, and programs–both established and new—that are designed to increase the quality of life in sustainable and equitable ways for Southwest Floridians.
Based on the available Field of Interest funds, Community Impact Grants provide funding in the following areas:
In addition to the funding areas above, the Southwest Florida Community Foundation seeks projects and programs that assist in the following, more focused, areas:
You may request up to, but not more than, $50,000 for your proposed project/program. The Field of Interest funds vary in amount and may be less than $50,000.
Projects/programs will be considered based on the following priorities:
Below is a description of this year’s Community Impact Grant process.
The letter of idea (LOI) round is open between June 3rd and July 31st. Awards will be announced, and funding disseminated in January 2020. This is not intended to be a lengthy request for proposal (RFP). It is important that you thoroughly answer the questions in the applications. Please do not include the traditional elements of an RFP in your response, if it is not specifically requested. It is a snapshot of your program/project idea. The criteria for a well-written LOI are,
Please note: The letter of idea is not a ‘letter’, but a series of questions asked through our online application portal. Supplemental materials beyond the LOI requirements will not be reviewed unless specifically requested by Foundation staff.
Please note, awards will not be announced until January 2020. Please keep this in mind as you plan your application that you will need to plan for implementation 6 months after grant application is submitted.
If your LOI is advanced to the next round, you will be invited to participate in the Compassionate Shark Tank: CIG Pitch Day on Thursday, December 5th, 2019. Shark Tank participants have 3 minutes to share their idea with the shark tank panel, which includes community stakeholders from across the region. The panel has 10 minutes to ask questions of you about your idea.
Your effectiveness will be measured by your ability to address each of the LOI elements in your presentation and Q&A session as well as respond to any additional questions from the panel.
If your idea advances beyond the Compassionate Shark Tank, you may be asked to respond to a request for more information (RFMI). If we need more information, you will be informed after the Pitch Day is over. The RFMI is a set of questions in which you elaborate more on specific aspects of the proposed project or program. The questions are often generated from the conversations that occur during CIG Pitch Day.
Grant awards will be announced January 2020.
Please email mailto:[email protected] or call 239-274-5900
The 2019-2020 Community Impact Guidelines were last updated on June 7, 2019.