Medina Foundation Grants

Overview

_NOTE: Please note: Given the Foundation's recent decision to sunset within the next few years, we are currently prioritizing LOIs only from our existing grantees.
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About

The Medina Foundation is a private family foundation working to improve lives by funding human service organizations that provide direct support to Puget Sound residents.

We support organizations across our 14 county funding region that are addressing a wide range of human services.

Since our founding in 1947, we have granted over $115 million in grant dollars resulting in countless services and programs that help make lives better.

Funding Areas

The Medina Foundation funds in the following focus areas:

Positive Pathways for Youth: Helping youth achieve positive outcomes.

We support organizations that:

* Ensure that young people’s basic needs such as safe, stable housing are met
* Mentor, tutor, and support youth as they find their own voice, achieve their own goals, and build new skills
* Support transition points through school, from early education through postsecondary, including job training

Stabilization for Families and Individuals: Ensuring basic needs are met.

We support organizations that:

* Alleviate hunger, primarily through larger food distribution networks or rural food banks that are also a hub of additional services
* Prevent homelessness or quickly stabilize people who are experiencing homelessness
* Offer programs that prevent or reduce the effects of domestic violence, sexual assault, trauma, and abuse

Economic Opportunities: Helping people secure employment, increase income, and build assets.

We support organizations that:

* Offer job training and entrepreneurship opportunities
* Teach skills and assist with obtaining credentials needed for career advancement
* Provide financial education

What Makes a Strong Proposal

The Medina Foundation considers many qualities of an organization when reviewing proposals.

We look for organizations that are addressing critical community needs, engaging in strategic planning to meet well-mapped programmatic and financial goals, and seeing positive results through their programs. We believe organizations that are driven by strong leadership, through a diverse and engaged board and a dedicated executive director and staff, have a high likelihood of success.

Grant amounts awarded reflect both the needs of the nonprofit and the Foundation's desire to see the presence of other support. Generally, this means no more than 10% of an operating or capital budget. We do consider making exceptions for innovative start-ups. Since grant sizes vary widely, please review the grants list to see the size and types of grants that we have recently awarded. The Foundation’s median grant size is around $20,000 - $25,000.

Eligibility

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

* The Foundation makes grants to organizations qualified under Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3) and classified as public charities (not private foundations) under Section 509(a). 
* Geographic Funding Region: The Medina Foundation funds in the following fourteen Greater Puget Sound counties of Washington State:

* Clallam, Grays Harbor,  Island, Jefferson, King, Kitsap, Mason, Pacific, Pierce, San Juan, Skagit, Snohomish, Thurston, Whatcom

* The Foundation funds general operating expenses, program costs, capital requests and start-up projects. No one type of support is given priority.

Ineligibility

* No grants are made to environmental, arts, healthcare-related or political programs, or to religious institutions for religious purposes.