Women’s Giving Circle of Harford County (WGC) Grant

The Women’s Giving Circle of Harford County (WGC) Grant provides financial support to nonprofit organizations focused on women, children, and families in Harford County. Grants of up to $5,000 are awarded for specific projects or activities that directly benefit these groups. Eligible organizations must be 501(c)(3) tax-exempt entities, and funds cannot be used for general operating expenses or sectarian purposes. Applications must include detailed project proposals and prior grant reports if applicable.

The Women’s Giving Circle of Harford County (WGC) grant program assists a wide range of nonprofit organizations’ programs/projects/activities directly benefitting women, children, and/or families in Harford County.
The purpose of the program is to provide a one-year grant of up to $5,000 each to nonprofit organizations to complete a specific program/project/activity that provides services in Harford County, Maryland. Grant funds may be used for direct costs related to a specific program/project/activity, such as but not limited to, personnel responsible for implementing a project, equipment, materials, supplies, that are necessary for the program/project/activity and administration of the specific program/project/activity (not the organization as a whole).
WGC shall fund defined activities proposed by an organization, and not its general operating expenses (including, but not limited to salaries, rent, etc.). Successful applications are those for which an organization has proposed to do something specific with the requested funds. If the proposed program/project/activity needs staff to support that specific goal, personnel costs may be considered in the context of the application. However, if the request is to support the salary of a staff person to do the routine work of the organization and/or assists the organization in meeting its payroll and/or other general administrative expenses, those requests would not qualify, and would score poorly.
Examples
Nonprofit X currently offers GED classes, but there is a months’ long waiting list. X proposes to staff a new cohort of classes and submits an application asking for funding for training workbooks, snacks for sessions, and to cover the per hour cost of a staff person to teach the new cohort. The staff person is currently paid by the hour for teaching existing classes, but there is no funding in X’s budget to cover the additional hours needed to staff a new cohort. In this example, the proposed salary costs support a specific activity and may generally be considered.
Nonprofit Y lost grant funding from another source and is seeking new sources of revenue. Y applies for a WGC grant for salary in order to backfill the deficit in its administrative budget. No particular activity is proposed beyond the routine work of the nonprofit. Because the salary request does not support a specific activity, the application will not receive a favorable review since the request is for the administrative support of the organization.

Eligibility

Applicant must be a tax-exempt nonprofit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code providing services in Harford County. Proof of tax-exempt status will be required as part of the application by submitting the organization’s 501(c)(3) determination letter from the Internal Revenue Service and status will be confirmed prior to awarding funds. Additional documentation may be requested if the organization’s tax-exempt status cannot be determined.
Only complete applications submitted in accordance with the instructions will be reviewed.
Grant requests are for one year only.
Grant funds must be used to execute a specific program/project/activity that provides services in Harford County.
Grant requests must be for a specific program/project/activity that directly supports women, children, and/or families.An applicant for this year that received a grant in the previous year must complete and submit a grant report (either the final or an interim report, depending on the status of the project) of previous years' activities to be eligible to apply in the current grant cycle.If an applicant was awarded a grant from the WGC for the three previous consecutive years, the organization must take one year off before applying for another WGC grant.Eligible applicants awarded a grant from WGC may only use the grant funds for the charitable purposes as stated in the application and approved by WGC.

Ineligibility

Grant funds may not be used solely for ongoing general operating expenses of the nonprofit organization and may not be used to supplant other funding.
Grant funds may not be used for sectarian religious purposes, or for faith-based programs not of direct benefit to the broader community.