CFDA#
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Funder Type
Private Foundation
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IT Classification
B - Readily funds technology as part of an award
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Authority
Fairfield County's Community Foundation
Summary
The foundation promotes the growth of philanthropy by helping donors achieve their philanthropic goals. The foundation:
- serves as a leader, catalyst and resource for philanthropy;
- creates and manages charitable funds; and
- identifies and addresses community needs through initiatives, partnerships and strategic grantmaking.
Nonprofits seeking a competitive grant from the Community Foundation must match one of their five result areas. The overarching result is a vital and inclusive Fairfield County where every individual thrives. Listed below are the five long term results The Foundation seeks and the strategies within those results where they will focus their fundraising, grantmaking and community leadership work.
All Fairfield County youth thrive by age 25. This long term result is supported by the following strategies:
Increase educational opportunities for underserved populations
- academically prepare young people to enter the workforce
- reduce the achievement gap
- increase high school persistence and high school graduation rates Increase youth employment opportunities
Increase youth employment opportunities
- increase access to opportunities that prepare youth for success in the workforce Promote youth development
Promote youth development
- integrate positive youth development best practices into youth programming
All Fairfield County women and girls are economically secure, healthy and safe. This long term result is supported by the following strategies:
Improve education & employment prospects for women and girls
- academically prepare underserved women and girls for college success
- strengthen ESL (English as a Second Language and/or basic literacy skills
- support pathways to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) and other non-traditional careers
- increase financial education/literacy skills
- promote job skills training that leads to family sustaining careers
- increase access to entrepreneurship opportunities, apprenticeships and internships Improve life skills in women and girls
Improve life skills in women and girls
- increase resiliency in girls
- strengthen negotiation and self-advocacy skills Promote leadership development for women and girls
Promote leadership development for women and girls
- increase access to mentoring and networking opportunities
- strengthen confidence and self-esteem in girls Increase behavioral health care for women and girls
Increase behavioral health care for women and girls
- increase access to affordable and effective mental health services regardless of ability to pay
- reduce usage of emergency services Increase reproductive health services for women and girls
Increase reproductive health services for women and girls
- increase access to affordable care for low-income women
- increase access to reproductive health education Increase safety for women and girls
Increase safety for women and girls
- promote systems to prevent and respond to sexual assault on college campuses
- increase access to services that reduce, prevent and/or respond to Intimate Partner Violence
- reduce financial abuse
All Fairfield County households are economically secure. This long term result is supported by the following strategies:
Increase employment opportunity
- prepare individuals to attain and retain employment, especially employment that pays a living wage
- eliminate disparities in employment opportunity Promote housing solutions
Promote housing solutions
- increase the availability of affordable housing
- move individuals from homelessness to housing stability
- prevent low- income families from becoming homeless
- help individuals and families attain and/or retain a home that they own Increase financial security
Increase financial security
- increase the financial security of low and moderate-income individuals and families Increase affordable, effective community-based health, mental health and supportive services
Increase affordable, effective community-based health, mental health and supportive services
- make health and mental health available within school settings
- ensure that health and mental health services are accessible regardless of the ability to pay
- stabilize and assist vulnerable individuals and families
Arts and culture for everyone in Fairfield County. This long term result is supported by the following strategies:
Increase access to arts and culture
- increase access to arts and culture
- increase relevance of arts and culture for the community Increase arts education that prepares everyone for life success
Increase arts education that prepares everyone for life success
- increase the engagement of underserved young people in the arts
- increase publicly supported arts education for young people and access to high quality arts education as a core subject for college and career readiness
- increase arts education for all
- increase education opportunities for artists Increase programmatic and operational capacity of the arts and culture sector
Increase programmatic and operational capacity of the arts and culture sector
- increase organizational capacity of arts organizations
- increase artistic and cultural networks & collaboration
- foster conditions where artists and arts organizations have freedom to innovate and take creative risk
Fairfield County benefits from an effective nonprofit sector. This long term result is supported by the following strategies:
Increase organizational capacity and sustainability of the nonprofit sector
- increase educational opportunities for nonprofit staff and volunteers
- provide technical assistance to increase efficiency and effectiveness
- strengthen program planning, measurement, and accountability of nonprofit organizations
- strengthen financial planning, management and resource development of nonprofit organizations Promote leadership development within the nonprofit sector
Promote leadership development within the nonprofit sector
- increase leadership competencies of executive and emerging leaders
- strengthen leadership capability of nonprofit board members Increase collaboration among nonprofits
Increase the collaboration among nonprofits
- support collective impact approach to address community needs
- serve as a regional convener of leaders to promote shared learning
- promote and disseminate research on community needs and promising practices
- foster conditions for strategic alliances to best serve the community
- promote the use of shared measures for organizational and system-level accountability
History of Funding
Giving for FY23 included $3,300,000 to 151 nonprofits. Award breakdowns and recipients can be viewed at: https://fccfoundation.org/our-grants/
Additional Information
The Foundation awards three types of competitive grants to Fairfield County nonprofits
PROGRAM SUPPORT GRANTS: These grants are awarded for specific programs and services that contribute to one of their five result areas, and their corresponding strategies. The Community Foundation prioritizes requests from organizations that are results oriented and have capacity to measure/evaluate the impact of their work. Performance measures for program support requests focus on the impact of that program on the clients/customers served by the program.
CAPACITY BUILDING SUPPORT GRANTS: Primarily for nonprofits previously funded by Fairfield County's Community Foundation whose work aligns with their five result areas. These grants are awarded to support specific projects intended to strengthen high-impact and/or high-potential Fairfield County nonprofits so they can achieve their goals more effectively and sustainability. Examples of capacity building requests include strategic planning support, performance measurement, executive transition planning, financial assessment and scenario planning, technology development, staff development, and board development. Performance measures for capacity building grantees focus on the impact of that project on the organization and its internal customers (staff, board, etc.).
GENERAL OPERATING SUPPORT GRANTS: General operating support grants are by invitation only. They are reserved for highly effective organizations that are critical to the achievement of one or more of our five result areas. Only nonprofits that have been previously funded by Fairfield County's Community Foundation and have a proven track record of effectiveness and impact will be considered for this type of support. If you are interested in being considered for a general operating support grant, please contact your Program Director during an open Letter of Inquiry period.
THE FUND FOR WOMEN & GIRLS SMALL GRANTS: Nonprofits seeking a small grant must demonstrate how they are helping Fairfield County women and live economically secure, healthy and safe lives. Small grants are specifically for initiatives that prioritize women and girls and meet their unique needs. Small grants are intended to support programs, projects, events that are educational in nature and capacity building requests. Small grants are offered year-round and the turnaround is quicker than our traditional grant process. Through the small grants we aim to increase access to funding for organizations that may not meet the requirements of our rigorous competitive grant process and strengthen the capacity of smaller, developing organizations.
The Foundation does not consider requests for capital campaigns or capital projects. The Foundation will not consider requests for a specific individual. The Foundation will not consider requests for any of the following:
- deficit financing
- annual appeal
- fundraising event
- open space purchase
- for-profit, parochial, charter, private, or individual public schools
- or nonprofit endowment