Wilson Foundation: Engage Grant

Wilson Foundation: Engage Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Huey and Angelina Wilson Foundation
Last Updated: August 17, 2025

Summary

The Wilson Foundation's Engage Grant aims to foster collaboration within the community, addressing critical needs through cooperative approaches. By enhancing financial stability, healthcare utilization, and successful reintegration for those returning from incarceration, the Foundation emphasizes long-term outcomes over short-term fixes. This shift in grant processes prioritizes collective efforts and seeks to build human capital, ensuring that support is directed towards sustainable solutions to systemic issues faced by vulnerable populations.

Overview

Engage As the needs of our community change, the Foundation is shifting our grant processes to encourage more cooperation and less competition, more focus on outcomes and not outputs, and opportunities for listening, sharing, and moving forward together. The Foundation will build human capital by bringing together knowledge, experience, and expertise in cooperative efforts to support people and places. The Foundation will serve as a champion for collaboration focused on helping meet basic human needs through real-issue, systemic root-cause outcomes, rather than short-term symptoms. Engage Goals Financial StabilityIncrease financial resiliency and long-term stability for ALICE familiesHealthcare UtilizationIncrease primary healthcare utilization for ALICE familiesSuccessful ReentryIncrease successful reintegration for people returning home from incarceration The Foundation has defined the types of projects we are interested in funding to address each of these goals. Explore more here.

Eligibility

We've imported the main document for this grant to give you an overview. You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website.

Application Details

Engage Grant Program Guidelines
As the needs of our community change, the Foundation is shifting our grant processes to encourage more cooperation and
less competition, more focus on outcomes and not outputs, and opportunities for listening, sharing, and moving forward
together. The Foundation will build human capital by bringing together knowledge, experience, and expertise in
cooperative efforts to support people and places. The Foundation will serve as a champion for collaboration focused on
helping meet basic human needs through real-issue, systemic root-cause outcomes, rather than short-term symptoms.
At the center of the work of Huey and Angelina Wilson Foundation is a desire that those most in need have the education,
skills, and resources to achieve their full potential.
We believe that our work can best be achieved through four pillars:
• Equip – Greater Baton Rouge nonprofits operate effectively and demonstrate impact
• Engage – Build and sustain commitment for ALICE, impoverished, and justice-involved populations
• Empower – Support revitalization of North Baton Rouge and generate new opportunities for families so that
residents can thrive
• Excellence – Operate as a premier foundation
The Engage pillar has three distinct long-term goals:
• Increased financial resiliency and long-term stability
• Increased primary healthcare utilization
• Increased successful reentry
REGIONAL FOCUS
The Foundation supports communities throughout the 10-parish Capital Region and recognizes that resources and
opportunities are not equally dispersed among the 10 parishes.
1. Ascension 6. Pointe Coupee
2. East Baton Rouge 7. St. Helena
3. East Feliciana 8. St. James
4. Iberville 9. West Baton Rouge
5. Livingston 10. West Feliciana
ALICE FOCUS
ALICE stands for Asset-Limited, Income-Constrained, Employed. ALICE earns just above the Federal Poverty Level but less
than what it costs to make ends meet. These struggling households are forced to make impossible choices each day. In
2022, 19 percent of Louisiana households were below the Federal Poverty Level, and 30 percent were ALICE; together, 50
percent of Louisiana households struggle to survive in today’s economy. In general, a family of four would need to earn
about $81,000 to afford the ALICE survival budget, and Louisiana’s median household income is $58,000. Learn more at
unitedforalice.org. Partners will be asked to demonstrate that clients served through this program have incomes below
the ALICE Survival Budget Threshold and/or are formerly incarcerated.
RESULTS FOCUS
At Huey and Angelina Wilson Foundation, we view grant applications in terms of the ways in which your efforts help our
community members achieve success. We are less focused on your specific activities, the order in which they occur, or who
is doing them. They are important as the input, but they are the means, not the end. We want to know who or what will be
different as a result of your efforts - the results for those you serve.
Huey and Angelina Wilson Foundation | Engage Grant Guidelines Page 1 of 5

OUR APPROACH
Huey and Angelina Wilson Foundation will make three types of investments within the Engage pillar: Direct Service
(program support), Capacity & Collaboration Building, and Systems Change.
1. Direct Service (Program Support): Projects selected for direct service investments will answer the question: what
positive gains will occur for individual participants or communities? Projects include new or existing programs
that work directly with ALICE and impoverished households and incarcerated or formerly incarcerated individuals.
2. Capacity & Collaborations: Projects selected for capacity and collaborations investments will answer the
questions: how will your organization and/or other organizations work differently? What will this enable you
and/or them to do better? How will collaboration improve effectiveness or efficiency while improving results
for impacted individuals? Projects include efforts that strengthen the existing capacity and/or collaboration of
organizations to achieve results.
3. Systems Change: Projects selected for systems change investments will answer the question: how will your work
inform change on a macro-level, including influencing policy or changing service provider practices? Projects
include awareness efforts, research, and advocacy efforts that lead to positive changes by state and local
lawmakers and administrative agencies.
RESULTS-FOCUSED APPLICATIONS
The Foundation has identified key programs to support within five streams of work: Financial Stability, Healthcare
Utilization, Successful Reentry, Capacity & Collaboration Building, and Systems Change.
Financial Stability
Nearly one-third of residents in the Capital Area are considered liquid-asset poor, according to data from Prosperity
Now. Partners aiming to increase financial resiliency will focus on methods to increase financial resilience and stability.
This strategy of the Foundation was informed by the Asset Funders Network’s brief Achieving Financial Resilience in the
Face of Financial Setbacks. Programs of particular interest to the Foundation provide interventions to bridge financial
setbacks, in the form of buffers, borrowing, benefits, and backstops.
Buffers Benefits
• Financial Education • Navigation
• Financial Coaching • Screenings
• Increased Savings • Registrations
• Individual Development Accounts • Emergency Assistance
• Workforce Training • Guaranteed Income
Borrowing Backstops
• Credit Building • Insurance Literacy
• High-Interest Loan Avoidance • Insurance Navigation
• Debt Reduction • Insurance Screenings
• Revolving Loan Funds
As a result of services, a person can fully meet current and ongoing financial obligations, feels secure in their financial
future, and is able to make choices that allow enjoyment in life.
Huey and Angelina Wilson Foundation | Engage Grant Guidelines Page 2 of 5

Healthcare Utilization
Twenty percent of Capital Area residents are in poor or fair health, according to County Health Rankings. Partners aiming to
increase healthcare utilization by families below the ALICE threshold will focus on connecting families to care. The
Foundation’s strategy was informed by Barriers to Care Landscape Analysis for the Capital Area Region conducted by the
Louisiana Public Health Institute. These connections to care can be direct healthcare management or addressing various
barriers to access to care.
Chronic Disease Management Financial Barriers Geographic & Transportation Barriers
• Addiction • Benefits Enrollment • Consumer Digital Literacy
• Cancer • Insurance Literacy • School- or Community-Based Health
• Diabetes • Medical Debt Relief Center Expansion
• Heart Disease • Telehealth Expansion
• HIV/AIDS • Telehealth Infrastructure
• Hypertension
Healthcare Data Mental Health Access Workforce Shortages
• Community Health Needs • CCBHC Implementation • Community Health Worker
Assessments and Implementation • Co-Occurring Disorders Expansions
• Healthcare Information Exchanges • Suicide Prevention • Staff Extender Models
• Staff Extender Models • Workforce Pipeline
As a result of services, a person can fully meet current and ongoing healthcare needs, feels secure in their health status,
and is able to make choices that allow enjoyment in life.
Successful Reentry
One in three individuals returning home from a Louisiana prison or jail will return to prison within three years of his or her
exit, according to the Louisiana Department of Corrections. Partners aiming to decrease the recidivism rate will focus on
building out the continuum of care for the formerly incarcerated that reduces barriers to reintegration, including, but not
limited to, education, job readiness, life and soft skills, parenting skills, family reunification, faith-based support,
mentoring, employment, housing, and health services. This strategy has been informed by ongoing work in the prison
reentry space, Louisiana’s Justice Reinvestment Initiative, and the Louisiana Prisoner Reentry Initiative.
Reentry Supports Employer Engagement
• Education • Job Matching
• Employment • Staff Training
• Faith-Based Support • Tax Incentives
• Family Reunification • Workforce Skill Development & Training
• Health Services
• Housing Community Engagement
• Job Readiness • Advocacy
• Life/Soft Skills • Awareness Campaigns
• Mentoring • Convenings
• Parenting Supports • Education
• Volunteer Mentorship
As a result of services, a person can fully meet current and ongoing needs, feels secure in their reentry status, and is able to
make choices that allow enjoyment in life.
Huey and Angelina Wilson Foundation | Engage Grant Guidelines Page 3 of 5

Capacity & Collaborations
The Greater Baton Rouge area has many nonprofits that are on the right track to impact the liquid-asset poor, healthcare
disconnected, and formerly incarcerated, but lack the resources, partners, and practices to be high performers. The
Foundation looks to support change agents to increase their capacity, quality, and collaboration to create strong networks
of care. This collaboration is intended to increase the efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability of participating
organizations while increasing services for families. Capacity & Collaborations Partners may be focused on any of the
three topics: Financial Stability, Healthcare Utilization, or Recidivism Reduction.
Partners will select one of the following types of capacity or collaboration on which to focus:
• Collaboration - working closely with multiple entities through formalized working agreements, sharing resources
to deliver more or better programs, or to realize efficiency
• Coordination of services - acting as the formal coordinator of several organizations working on services to
strengthen or expand a continuum of care
• Impact measurement and evaluation - integrating methods to define, achieve, track, verify, improve and
communicate clear gains for those served
• New infrastructure usage - acquire a new computer system, software or other needs to enhance performance or
safety
• Professional Development/Training - to improve service delivery
• Program Improvement - adopting best practices that will lead to better outcomes
Partners will demonstrate how this project will:
• Decrease Waiting Lists
• Increase Data Sharing
• Increase Outreach
• Increase Referrals
• Increase Resource Sharing
Systems Change
Policies and practices of local and state agencies have created ineffectiveness, inequity, and unnecessary barriers for the
formerly incarcerated, impoverished and/or ALICE families. Partners aiming to effect systems change will do so by building
public awareness and creating policy and practice changes at the state and local levels. Partners may be focused on any of
the three topics: Financial Stability, Healthcare Utilization, or Recidivism Reduction.
Partners selected to focus on systems change will implement:
• Advocacy
• Awareness Campaign
• Best Practice Pilot Programs
• Community Forums
• Convenings
• Education
• Policy and/or Practice Change
• Success Stories
• Technology Solutions
Huey and Angelina Wilson Foundation | Engage Grant Guidelines Page 4 of 5

OUR OPERATING PRINCIPLES
We define ourselves as investors and are interested in creating the highest possible levels of human gain for the grant
dollars we have available. Given this focus, the Huey and Angelina Wilson Foundation reviews each proposal with respect
to available funds and responses to three overarching questions:
1. What will be the results from this project and how will we know when those results have been achieved?
Results are defined as the positive changes in behaviors and/or conditions in stakeholders that will be achieved
through the project.
2. How likely is it that the results can be achieved?
Our assessment will be based on factors such as past result successes of the organization and its programs,
validity of the proposed program approach, organizational capability and key personnel leading the project.
3. Is this the best possible use of Foundation funds given other opportunities before us?
We consider the cost relative to the gain, looking for projects that increase collaboration, quality and systemic
change, and opportunities for replication to other organizations and parishes. When reviewing proposals, we will
look at the use of all monies going into a project or program not just dollars contributed by the Foundation, as
well as the sustainability of the work.
In making investment determinations, the Huey and Angelina Wilson Foundation will look for projects with the following
characteristics:
• Projects designed to produce and verify specific changes in systems, organizations and participants that directly
contribute to the Foundation results we seek in the respective focus areas;
• Projects that can be effectively implemented and ultimately continued without our funding;
• Projects that are replicable and can be shared with other organizations looking to produce similar results; and
• Projects that use evidence-based practices and strategies and/or offer clear results.
The projects supported by Engage should be long-term in nature, and the Foundation will make three-year investments.
Partners will be expected to report on progress and participate in learning sessions twice per year. Opportunities for
additional support will be provided to partners who make meaningful progress toward the Engage results.
Huey and Angelina Wilson Foundation | Engage Grant Guidelines Page 5 of 5