General Fund Call for Proposals 2021
Appalachian Community Fund
2021 General Fund Request for Proposals
Based on feedback from those who applied last year, we are going to continue with our simplified application process. New grantees only have to respond to two questions. Recent grantees just need to submit your contact information and make sure your final reports have been completed. All awards will be for general operating expenses.
As in the past, your grassroot funder is making grants up to $3,000 and with a preference to organizations with budgets of $250,000 or less.
Please send your information to grants@appalachiancommunityfund.org by April 30, 2021
Subject Line: “ORGANIZATION NAME General Fund Application”.
The board will be making decisions the first two weeks of June.
Grant awards will go out before the end of June.
Apply Today
Recent Grantees
If you have received a grant from ACF in the past three years, and you have completed your last final report, you do not need to return an application. Just provide us with the following information.
- Organization Name and EIN Number
- Contact person, phone number, email, and mailing address.
- If you are using a fiscal agent, please provide all the above for them as well.
- Year of last grant
Recent Grantees, if you need to complete the final report survey, follow this link.
New Grantees
Provide us with the following information.
- Organization Name and EIN Number
- Contact person, phone number, email, and mailing address.
- If you are using a fiscal agent, please provide all the above for them as well.
Answer the following two questions. Please limit your response to one page.
- Please tell us how your organization incorporates ACF values into your work. How does your organization see its work as part of a larger movement for social change?
- Describe the most pressing issues or problems that the community your organization serves is facing that your work will address.
New grantees should go over our funding criteria for guidance.
FUNDING CRITERIA
ACF provides grants to community-based organizations working for social, economic, racial, and environmental justice in Central Appalachia.We look to fund organizations that have developed a realistic plan for creating social change and prioritize work that utilizes organizing and education as strategies to achieve this end. We invite projects that are startup in nature.We fund organizations working to:
- End racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, ageism, and ableism
- Promote non-violent communities
- Build organizations that are fair, inclusive, and democratic
We do not fund:
- Profit-making organizations
- Electoral lobbying for initiatives or public office
- Individual efforts
- Major capital projects
- Social services organizations (unless they demonstrate some analysis and strategies intended to challenge the systems that lead to the problem)
Organizations wishing to apply must:
- Work in the Appalachian counties of Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, and/or West Virginia. For organizations based outside the region, the proposal must include a specific work plan for the Appalachian portion of the work
- Have their 501(c)(3) tax exempt status or a fiscal sponsor that is a 501(c)(3) organization
- Be community-led, community-driven, and community-based
- Strive for change at a systemic level, instead of or in addition to one person at a time
- Demonstrate an understanding of forms of oppression, especially racism
- Have strong local community leadership representative of and accountable to the organization’s constituency
