Seeking Funding from a Community Foundation
Seeking Funding from a Community Foundation
April 29, 2010
The first community foundation was created in Cleveland, Ohio in 1914. Now, there are community foundations, large and small, across the country. For a map of community foundations nationwide, click here. In recent years, some larger foundations have undertaken initiatives to "seed" the development of community foundations in order to expand and strengthen local philanthropy.
Many public radio and television stations receive funding from their local community foundation. Often, this funding comes through donor-advised funds. In some cases, stations receive discretionary funds awarded through competitive grant processes.
How can your station secure funds from your local community foundation or expand funds you are already getting?
- Investigate any and all competitive grant programs offered by your community foundation. Some, like the Baltimore Community Foundation or the Maine Community Foundation, offer numerous competitive funding programs. Some of these grant programs will clearly not fit, but others may.
- Explore whether your community foundation will share information about your organization and its work with its donors. Some foundations, like the Community Foundation of Sarasota County in Florida, explicitly solicit information from grantseekers that they then share with their donors.
- Find out which foundation donors are also on your membership list. Have someone at your station screen the list of foundation donors, which is usually available in the foundation's annual report or on its website, and record which donors are already giving to your station. Foundation donors may not necessarily increase their giving to your station, but it's certainly an indication that they have assets.
- Look for options to seek one-time grants. Some stations have had success securing funding for one-time projects from community foundations that do not otherwise support media. One-time projects like capacity-building equipment, may be attractive to community foundations if they clearly expand the station's service to that community.
- Explore underwriting. At the Public Media Development and Marketing Conference a few years ago, a representative of the California Community Foundation encouraged stations to approach community foundations for underwriting support, even if they do not otherwise support media. Why? Because they need to keep their visibility up in front of current and potential donors and public media reaches the right audience.
