Compass Society Grantmaking of Community Foundation of Greater Huntsville

The Compass Society Grantmaking, part of the Community Foundation of Greater Huntsville, aims to foster high-impact, collaborative projects that enhance the community's quality of life. Grants of $50,000 will support innovative initiatives across various focus areas, including arts, education, and health. Priority is given to projects demonstrating significant community collaboration and visionary goals. This funding opportunity invites organizations to partner and create sustainable changes for the Greater Huntsville area.

Compass Society Grant Description
Created to “Map the Future” the Compass Society brings the region’s spirit of innovation to generosity and serves as a catalyst for Greater Huntsville’s future. Compass Society funding supports high-impact, collaborative, and visionary projects that span the Community Foundation’s Quality of Life Framework. Grants of $50,000 will be awarded to nonprofit organizations serving the Greater Huntsville area – Jackson, Limestone, Madison, Marshall, and Morgan Counties. Exact allocations will be determined based on funding and projects.
Through the power of generosity, the Compass Society implements collaborative, visionary projects that have a significant and sustainable impact across many areas of our community's quality of life. Visionary doesn't just mean something new, but rather it is the future-focused opportunity to create a community you want for your children and your grandchildren. These proposals require organizations in our community to work together to achieve something greater than any one organization could achieve alone, no matter how great the work they are doing.
Focus Area: The work of the Community Foundation of Greater Huntsville stretches across eight areas in the Quality of Life Framework, which are defined below.
ARTS & CULTURE: Enriches the community through arts, culture, and lifestyle experiencesBASIC NEEDS: Provides food, clothing, shelter, and other basic necessitiesECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY: Equips individuals and organizations through training, creating employment opportunities, and promoting growth of the entrepreneurial ecosystemEDUCATION: Invests in early childhood development, K-12 students, college and career readiness, post-secondary education, and lifelong learningENVIRONMENT: Stewards our community’s natural resourcesHEALTH & WELLNESS: Addresses physical and mental health and wellnessNEIGHBORHOODS & COMMUNITIES: Strengthens entire neighborhoods or communities through a holistic approachRECREATION: Engages in experiences that refresh the mind, body and spirit
Compass Society grant objectives include grant applications that are high-impact, collaborative, visionary, and span the Community Foundation’s Quality of Life Framework.
Funding Priority: Priority will be given to projects that meet the following criteria:

• High-impact: Affect a large number of people through scalable, ripple-effect transformation

Collaborative: Involve three or more partners that may or may not all be nonprofits. The organization applying must meet the Eligible Recipient qualifications below.
Span the focus areas in the Quality of Life Framework: Impact three or more of the focus areas listed above
Visionary: Create innovative, future-focused projects or programs

Eligibility

Eligible Recipients: All grants from this Fund must be made for charitable, religious, scientific, literary, or educational purposes to any organization that is described Code Section 170(c)(2), 501(c)(3), 2055(a)(2) or 2522(a)(2) (except for private foundations as defined by Code Section 509(a)) ("qualified organization").Qualified organizations also include schools, religious institutions, or government agencies located in the Greater Huntsville area.Eligible Expenses:

• Program costs for new and/or existing programs

Reasonable staff and/or volunteer time and training associated with the implementation of the program/projectGeographic Focus: Greater Huntsville, Alabama (Jackson, Limestone, Madison, Marshall, and Morgan counties)

Ineligibility

Funding will not be provided by the Compass Society for general operating support.Ineligible Expenses:
Organizations not organized as “qualified organizations” as defined in Eligible Recipients section aboveGrants to individualsDebt reductionEndowment campaignsFundraising events or galasAnnual campaignsMembership drivesConference expensesPolitical activities intended to influence legislation, carry on propaganda, influence the outcome of any specific public election, favor one or more specific political party or candidate, or otherwise carry out lobbying activities