Capacity-Building Mini-Grant Opportunity

The Capacity-Building Mini-Grant Opportunity, offered by the Colorado Springs Health Foundation, focuses on enhancing organizational skills and effectiveness in health services. Grants up to $5,000 are available for discreet projects that align with their funding areas, including healthcare access and suicide prevention. This initiative aims to strengthen local organizations in El Paso and Teller Counties, promoting healthier communities through improved capacity and skill-building efforts.

Background
Colorado Springs Health Foundation understands that health outcomes (length of life and quality of life) are influenced by multiple factors. These factors include clinical care, health behaviors, social and economic determinants and the physical environment. This is termed a “population health framework” or “population health model.” To learn more about it and how our community stacks up against other Colorado counties, check out the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s County Health Rankings and Roadmaps.
Funding Focus Areas
Colorado Springs Health Foundation has identified six funding focus areas. These areas align with the Foundation’s mission, community need, community and stakeholder input, and the population health framework described above.
Transitional or affordable housing
*Healthcare access includes care for physical, mental, oral and/or substance use disorder-related concerns, and initiatives to address the healthcare workforce shortage.
CSHF defines capacity-building work as discreet projects that help an organization acquire or strengthen organizational skills, strategies, systems and/or structures. They often involve the use of an outside expert consultant.
Colorado Springs Health Foundation makes grants to target immediate health care needs and encourage healthy living in El Paso and Teller Counties, Colorado. The Foundation acknowledges that organizations addressing the health and well-being of our community need to invest in their own capacities, competencies and skills in order to do this important work well.
As such, Colorado Springs Health Foundation is offering an additional capacity-building funding opportunity – one that is smaller, more responsive (faster decisions) and lower barrier (shorter application).
As always, the request must fit one of our funding focus areas and serve the El Paso and/or Teller County region.
We are interested in discreet projects that enhance staff/volunteer skills and competencies toward greater organizational effectiveness and impact.
Funding
Mini-grant requests may not exceed $5,000. Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis. Grant award decisions are expected within one month of the application’s submission.
Examples of Capacity-Building Initiatives
Planning (strategic, operational, succession, funds development, communications etc.)
Impact Assessment (e.g. program evaluation)
One-time or infrequent volunteer or staff training, e.g. board governance training, leadership coaching, etc.)

Eligibility

Applicant organizations must be one of the following:Tax-exempt (501(c)3)Operating under the fiscal agency of a tax-exempt organizationTax-supported like a school or local/state governmentApplicant organizations must serve either El Paso and/or Teller Counties, Colorado.The request must fit one of our five funding focus areas An organization with a current, open general operating, program/project or capital grant award may submit another general operating, program/project or capital grant request only after it has spent down its current general operating, program/project or capital grant, submitted its final grant report and the report has been approved. An organization may be awarded no more than two capacity-building grant awards in a given calendar year.

Ineligibility

For CSHF, capacity-building funding may not be used for ongoing operating expenses or capital projects.An organization may submit no more than one general operating, program/project or capital grant request per calendar year assuming it has no current general operating, program/project or capital grant open.Colorado Springs Health Foundation does not support:For-profit organizations
Individuals
Requests for annual appeals, membership drives, fundraising events, political candidates or lobbying efforts
Requests from re-granting organizations for their own grantmaking activities. Note, this does not apply to collaborative funding efforts among funders.