Maryland Tough Baltimore Strong Key Bridge Fund

Overview

Baltimore Community Foundation

Our Mission

Inspire donors to achieve their charitable goals from generation to generation and to improve the quality of life in the Baltimore region through grantmaking, enlightened civic leadership and strategic investments.

Our Vision

Baltimore boasts a growing economy where all have the opportunity to thrive. Our action agenda organizes grants, initiatives and advocacy around this vision.

Maryland Tough Baltimore Strong Key Bridge Fund

The Baltimore Community Foundation is honored and humbled to put its relationships and expertise to use to raise and deploy philanthropic grants in response to the collapse of the Key Bridge on March 26 over the near and long term. In an effort to avoid being duplicative of government assistance programs and recognizing its ability to move more swiftly to provide relief, BCF will prioritize grantmaking opportunities in the following areas:

* Port Workers and Their Families
* BCF will identify and vet at least three cash assistance partners to provide cash assistance to port workers directly affected by disruption at the port. 
* This focus will complement and align with the State and local leadership’s desire to keep these front-line workers engaged and close to whole financially as the authorities and business community work to fully open the port over the next several weeks.
* Recognizing that some of these cash assistance partners will not have 501c3 designation, BCF plans to institute expenditure responsibility grants (grants for non-501c3 institutions that demand diligence and reporting requirements).
* BCF will issue clear guidelines to help these institutions stay in compliance and to provide quality assurance for donors. 
* Only cash assistance organizations will be eligible for grants dedicated to port workers from the Maryland Tough Baltimore Strong the Key Bridge Fund.
* First Responders and Their Families
* BCF will invite grant proposals from community organizations that are providing effective relief and response services and programs to the dedicated first responders working at the bridge collapse site. 
* First responders include members of the U.S. Coast Guard, tugboat operators, caregivers to seafarers and shipmen, and others directly supporting the command efforts for search and clearance of the channel.
* Surrounding Communities
* BCF will invite grant proposals from community-based organizations to fund charitable response efforts and initiatives addressing the needs of affected communities and the ecosystem of support in those areas. 
* Affected communities include neighborhoods or entities that face direct and tangible effects of the Bridge collapse. 
* In this category, BCF is especially interested in the communities of Dundalk, Edgemere, Essex in Baltimore County and Key Bridge contiguous areas in northern Anne Arundel County and Baltimore City.

Eligibility

_You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website._

* BCF MTBS Key Bridge Fund Grants are for organizations only.
* Organizations (or their fiscal agents) serving Baltimore and Key Bridge adjacent communities that qualify as public charities under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, serving the Baltimore area that do not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, national origin, color, physical handicap, gender or sexual orientation. 
* Non-501(c)(3) organizations that have the ability to separately and accurately account for the use of funds directed towards charitable activities only, and do not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, national origin, color, physical handicap, gender or sexual orientation.