SCCF: Impact Grants

The Steuben County Community Foundation's Impact Grants aim to foster innovative, collaborative, and sustainable projects that improve community welfare. By supporting nonprofit organizations, these grants encourage creative partnerships and long-term funding strategies. To qualify, projects must demonstrate community buy-in through a required local match and outline plans for future funding beyond a three-year period. This initiative not only empowers local nonprofits but also enhances the community's capacity for growth and resilience.

Brighter Tomorrows
The Steuben County Community Foundation plays a unique role in making this community the best it can be for the people who call it home.
Steuben County Community Foundation offers grants to nonprofit organizations to support their critical work in creating brighter tomorrows for our community. Our grants are made possible by the generosity of our donors, who are passionate about these fields of interest.
Grant Guidelines
The terms innovative, collaborative, and sustainable were chosen because they are interconnected. Projects involving partnerships with other organizations encourage creative problem solving, engage new perspectives, and help with the development of sustainable strategies. Impact Grant proposals will be evaluated as follows:

• Innovative:

Is this a new idea, solution, and partnership? Does it represent a fundamental change in a program, possibly to align with emerging solutions that are gaining traction in an industry?
Collaboration:
How do you work with clients/recipients to build your program? (i.e. engage your stakeholders)How do you share resources and ideas with another organization(s) for a common project?Nonprofits headquartered outside of Steuben County must identify a local partner organization.Nonprofits with an annual operating budget of more than $500,000 are strongly encouraged to collaborate with a smaller Steuben County organization and vice versa
Sustainable:
All Impact Grants require a local match of 25% to demonstrate community buy-in. This monetary (not in-kind) match must be documented each year before grant funds will be released.What is the plan for future funding beyond the Impact Grant’s 3 year period? Will it be built into an organization’s budget or earn revenue in future years? How will it help your nonprofit gain attention of local donors who will support future years of this project?