Rick Steves Europe Fund – Capacity Grants

Rick Steves Europe Fund – Capacity Grants

Funder: Rick Steves' Europe

Geographic Scope: Snohomish County, WA

Award Amount: Maximum $5,000 per grant

Focus Areas: Enable Snohomish County nonprofits to invest in infrastructure to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their fundraising, finances, leadership, and sustainability. The committee is interested in funding small grassroots organizations who have traditionally been overlooked by grant opportunities in the past.

Eligible Applicants

• Snohomish County nonprofits
• Priority: Organizations with budgets of less than $1,000,000 will be prioritized
• Priority: BIPOC, refugee, immigrant, migrant nonprofit leaders and nonprofit leaders with lived experience are encouraged to apply

What Will Be Funded

One-time capacity building expenditure (or, if ongoing expense, strong statement of how it will be funded in the future). For example, grants could support:
• Technology, marketing, or business infrastructure
• Volunteer management systems
• Fundraising software or planning
• Data evaluation and collection
• Websites, computer networks, or database development
• Internal systems: accounting and human resources
• Training for new systems (i.e., IT, database)
• Capital expenditures

What Will NOT Be Funded

• Consultants
• Strategic planning
• New staff positions
• Retreats

Program Philosophy

Rick Steves' Europe understands that many nonprofits focus their resources on supporting their direct service programs, but believes that with strong and well-supported back offices, nonprofits can increase their capacity to serve the community. The goal is to help organizations work better.

Contact

Email: Musu@cf-sc.org

Timeline (2026)

• Opens: July 17, 2026
• Closes: August 7, 2026
• Notification: September 2, 2026