Spencer Community Good Grants Program

The Spencer Community Good Grants Program, administered by the Community Foundation Alliance, supports diverse charitable initiatives within Spencer County. Open year-round, this program encourages funding requests from eligible nonprofit organizations and governmental agencies, with grants available at various levels, including requests up to $10,000.

NOTE: Requests of $10,000 or more - please contact the Community Foundation before beginning your application.
Overview
From the beginning, the Alliance was designed to be a regional structure serving counties throughout southwestern Indiana.
Alliance organizers believed that the regional structure would allow centralized, cost-effective administration and governance of the organization. Alliance leadership also believed that the best organization would serve willing partners. Rather than creating a separate charitable non-profit corporation, a county could choose to join the Alliance by becoming an affiliate, through the creation of a named Foundation fund to serve its community.
Under the Alliance by-laws, each county affiliate is, therefore, a “county services committee,” but is known locally as the “[Name of County] Community Foundation.”
The Alliance Board of Directors is the legal entity responsible for all aspects of Alliance oversight and operation: governance, policymaking, legal requirements, financial stewardship, and strategic plans for the Alliance as a whole.
Each affiliate has a volunteer County Advisory Board whose role and efforts are focused on asset development, learning about the community’s charitable needs and nonprofits working to meet them, and awarding grants and scholarships. The first 2 counties to organize their own County Advisory Boards were Posey and Vanderburgh, both of which held their first meetings in June 1992. In the next year, the Daviess, Perry, and Gibson County Community Foundations were formed. Spencer and Knox counties formed Foundations in 1996, followed by Warrick and Pike in 1998.
All recommendations made by the County Advisory Boards must be presented to the Alliance Board for final approval. At least one County Advisory Board member from each affiliate serves as a county representative on the Alliance Board of Directors.
Today, the Community Foundation Alliance holds more than 1,200 named funds established by individuals, families, businesses, civic groups, and agencies to improve the quality of life in their local communities, with charitable assets over $100 million. During fiscal year 2019, grants and scholarships awarded from all Alliance funds to benefit the programs, projects, and people in the nine affiliate counties totaled $3,323,968.
The Spencer County Community Foundation’s Community Good Grants Program supports a variety of charitable purposes in Spencer County. This grant program is open year-round and will accept funding requests at any time.
Distributing charitable funds is a vital part of our mission. Through the charitable funds established by our donors, the Foundation awards grants to charitable organizations throughout Spencer County.
We serve Spencer County, offering people a variety of ways to achieve their goals for this community through charitable giving.
Program Areas Considered For Funding:

• Arts and Culture
• Community Development
• Education
• Health
• Human Services
• Other Civic Endeavors (Environment, Recreation, and Youth Development)
• Funding:
• The grant cycle is open year-round and encompasses four different request levels:
• Level 1 – Requests of $500 or less
• Level 2 – Requests of $501 – $2,500
• Level 3 – Requests of $2,501 – $9,999
• Level 4 – Requests of $10,000 or more (Please contact the Community Foundation before beginning your application.)
• The grants committee will make its recommendations on funding to the board of directors of the Community Foundation Alliance.

Eligibility

The Community Foundation welcomes funding requests from nonprofit organizations that are deemed tax-exempt under sections 501(c)(3) and 509(a) of the Internal Revenue Code and from governmental agencies serving the county. Funding requests from nonprofit organizations not classified as a 501(c)(3) public charity may be considered provided the project is charitable and supports a community need. In some cases, organizations without the 501(c)(3) designation may be required to obtain a fiscal sponsor.Non-charitable organizations applying for a grant under the auspices of a verified 501(c)(3) public charity acting as a fiscal sponsor are required to provide a written statement signed by the fiscal sponsor’s board president confirming agreement to receive grant monies if awarded and to oversee the proposed program/project.

Ineligibility

Program Areas Not Considered For Funding:Religious organizations for religious purposes
Annual appeals or membership contributions
Travel requests for groups or individuals such as bands, sports teams, or classesNo lobbying or soliciting of grants committee members or board members will be permitted.