The Competitive Grantmaking Process
The Community Foundation follows a grantmaking process designed to closely align our grantees’ work with our mission, vision and values. Our rigorous process ensures that our donors’ dollars are directed to local nonprofit organizations that share our high standards of integrity — and impact.
For grant-seekers, we recommend attending one of the Community Foundation’s annual Grant-Seeker Sessions, where members of the Community Impact team will walk agencies through key milestones in our competitive process:
- Delray Beach: December 5, 2023 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Delray Beach Public Library, 100 W Atlantic Avenue, Delray Beach, FL 33444
- Stuart: December 6, 2023 from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at the Children’s Services Council of Martin County, 101 SE Central Pkwy., Stuart, FL 34994
- West Palm Beach: December 11, 2023 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Mandel Public Library of West Palm Beach, 411 Clematis Street, WPB, FL 33401
- Virtual (Zoom): December 12, 2023 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Zoom link will be emailed to all registered attendees in advance
- Belle Glade: December 13, 2023 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Student ACES Center, 915 S. Main Street, Belle Glade, FL 33430
Click here to register for a 2023 Grant-Seeker Session
The first phase in the process is submitting a Letter of Inquiry, also known as an LOI, that summarizes your project and outlines the challenge you seek to solve.
Once LOIs are reviewed by the Community Impact team, your agency may be invited back to the second phase: submitting a full proposal, which includes details on how you will approach your work, the staffing involved, the budgets, the projected outcomes, etc.
Once full proposals are accepted, the Community Impact team will move to phase three: conducting site visits to your organization. The visits — which are conducted in person or virtually — are an opportunity to clarify aspects of your project, provide additional details, tour our staff or Community Impact Committee members around your facility, etc.
Organizations that submit a summer program proposal may be requested to participate in a virtual site visit.
The Community Impact Committee — made up of Board of Directors members as well as a slew of community volunteers — reviews all grant applications and recommendations submitted by the Community Impact team. The committee ultimately approves the slate of competitive grantees year over year in this phase. The committee recommends the slate of competitive grants each year to the full Board of Directors, which gives final approval.
As the final step, grants are awarded to nonprofit organizations twice a year: Summer program awards are distributed in April; all other awards are distributed in June.
Throughout the lifecycle of the grant, the Community Impact team will make regular contact or visits with grantees to communicate on the success of the project. Per the terms of the grant, grantees are required to give periodic progress reports. When appropriate, the Community Foundation requests stories of success from the projects to share with donors.
Our timeline for nonprofits with year-round or summer programs is as follows:
December 1, 2023 | Letter of Intent (LOI) opens |
January 5, 2024 | Letter of Intent (LOI) due at 5 p.m. |
February 9, 2024 | Full Proposals invited |
Mid-February | Summer Request calls |
March 1, 2024 | Full Proposals due at 5 p.m. |
March 27, 2024 | Summer Program award notices |
March – early April 2024 | Site Visits (Full Proposal invitees) |
May 31, 2024 | Full Proposal award notice |
June 3 – 21, 2024 | Measurement calls w/ Program Officers |
July 1, 2024 | Grant period begins |
The Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, age, sexual orientation, or national origin. Applicants for grants from the Community Foundation must hold similar standards. Competitive grant applications from organizations known to have discriminatory policies will not be considered.
