Funding Opportunities

Sequoia Hospital's Catholic Healthcare West Community Grants Program will provide grants of up to $25,000 and will fund projects in three areas: Childhood Obesity, Healthy Aging, and Diabetes Education and Prevention. Applicants must be affiliated with a non-profit organization and should contact marie.violet@chw.edu for application instructions and letter of intent template. Application Deadline: letter of intent due on Friday, August 22, 2008.

The Draper Richards Foundation provides selected social entrepreneurs with funding of $100,000 annually for three years. The funds are specifically and solely for entrepreneurs starting new non-profit organizations. Application deadline: ongoing. For more information, visit: http://draperrichards.org/process/index.html.

Hasbro Children’s Fund supports programs which provide terminal and seriously ill children respite and access to play, educational programs for children at risk, and basics for children in need . 2008 Grant Making Guidelines and Letter of Inquiry will be posted on May 1, 2008.

The Mattel Children's Foundation new Domestic Grants Program seeks applications from organizations that serve children in communities within the U.S. that address a locally defined need.  Priority is given to programs that align with Mattel's philanthropic priorities: health, education, and girl's empowerment. Grants range from $5,000 to $20,000. Application Deadline: check website for information on 2008 cycle.

GrantsAlert helps nonprofits, especially those involved in education, to find funding sources, grantwriters, and other grant assistance.

The Nellie Mae Education Foundation provides grants and technical assistance to programs that concentrate on academic enrichment, college planning, advising, preparation, and retention support for low-income, under-served students in grades 5 through 14, and adult learners. Following a comprehensive assessment, the Foundation funds only programs that are aligned with the strategies within each of these program initiatives: adult literacy, college prep, minority high achievement, and out-of-school programs. Application deadline: ongoing. For more information, visit http://www.nmefdn.org/grants/initiatives.htm?id=1.

Goldman Sachs Foundation's grantmaking interests include advancing high academic achievement at public and alternative schools, fostering partnerships to improve education, and developing future entrepreneurs and global leaders. Visit www.gs.com for their grantmaking guidelines.

SchoolGrants provides a one-stop website for people to find out about grant opportunities relating to children in preschool through grade 12. Visit www.schoolgrants.org to find tips on grantwriting, a list of grant opportunities available to public and private nonprofit schools nationwide, and other grantwriting resources.

Credit Suisse First Boston provides financial support to organizations sponsoring community-based, after-school education programs. Local grantees include youth programs in San Francisco and Palo Alto. Letters of inquiry for grants may be submitted year-round. Visit www.csfb.com for more information.

Events & News

The Finance Project Offers Funding Tips
On its website, The Finance Project offers monthly funding tips for youth programs that discuss various financy strategies to help programs finance and sustain their work.
http://www.financeproject.org/special/irc/monthlyFundingTips.cfm

Senate Passes Lobbying Reform
On Wednesday, April 3, 2006 the U.S. Senate passed the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2006 (S.2349), a lobbying reform that preserves the constitutional right of individuals to contact their elected representatives about issues that matter to them. Alliance for Justice, the advocacy organization that has been pushing this bill through the Senate and now through the U.S. House of Representatives, helped not only minimize the impact this bill would have had on nonprofits that engage in grassroots lobbying, but also contributed to disregarding the Inhofe amendments, which would have added a jail sentence to the punishment of any nonprofit official – and nonprofits only – found to have illegally used federal funds to lobby. The bill (House package H.R. 4975) is now in five different House Committees for hearings and mark-ups on the provisions relevant to each of them.

Governor Schwarzenegger has signed into law SB 1262 accompanied by a message encouraging the Legislature to re-visit the bill if it turns out to impose unnecessary burdens on nonprofits.

Ongoing Resources

The California Department of Education is offering interested parties the opportunity to search for available, education-related funding by fiscal year, type, status, topic, keyword(s), or any combination, within the CDE Funding database.

Earn It! Keep it! Save it! is a program offered by the United Way of the Bay Area. The program prepares tax returns for free for individuals and families that earn less that $39,000. Additionally, San Mateo County residents could be eligible to claim substantial refunds, up to $4,536, from a little-known tax credit.  
Call 1-800-358-8832 to find the nearest free tax preparation site.
http://www.uwba.org/eks/index.php

10 Tips for Affirming Diversity and Supporting Equity in New After School Programs
As after school services are quickly expanding, California Tomorrow has developed this accessible set of tips as starting points for new programs and sites. The guidelines will help services build diversity and equity into their work from the beginning, and establish approaches for effectively serving all children and families.
For more information or to order copies of the 2-page tip sheet, please contact Amy Scharf at 510-496-0220 ext 325 or amys@californiatomorrow.org.

Media-Smart Youth: Eat, Think, and Be Active! This is a Web-based health promotion program that intends to help adolescents, ages 11 to 13, become aware of how media may influence the choices they make, as well as to think critically about their nutrition and how they spend their time.
Designed by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development with input from youth-serving organizations from 10 pilot test sites in the District of Columbia, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, and South Carolina, the program consists of 10 lessons and a major project based on four key areas: 1) media awareness, 2) media production, 3) nutrition, and 4) physical activity.
The facilitator's curriculum guide includes a videotape or DVD featuring a program summary and tips, as well as youth-focused videotape segments for use in summarizing key concepts for each lesson.
The Media-Smart Youth Program can be found at http://www.nichd.nih.gov/msy

Guide to Federal Resources for Youth Development. Published by America's Promise, a collaborative network conformed by communities, organizations, businesses, and individuals that support youth development, this guide provides information on more than 100 available federal programs and funds, including programs from the U.S. Department of Justice. Such programs are cross-referenced to five promises regarded as crucial to effective youth development.
The 'Guide to Federal Resources for Youth Development' is available online.

Grantwriting 102: Tips from Successful Grantwriters. In April 2006, GuideStar.org published various guidelines on how to write a grant proposal. From following donors' specific requirements and instructions to keeping constantly in touch with them, to what should be included when writing the proposal and more can all be found at: http://www.guidestar.org/news/features/grantwriting102.jsp

Scoop Up Those Elusive Grant Dollars The best things in life are free, that's true. But a few extra dollars in your pocket sure makes things a whole lot easier. That's where Jim Quick comes in. He says the odds are not in your favor when you write a grant proposal-because so many organizations apply, fewer than 5 percent of submitted proposals get funded-but there are several tricks that can increase your odds of snagging the loot. "Grants are not charity, but investments," he says. And Quick offers ten tips for grantseekers, and some good news: "K-12 funding is going up, up, up." http://www.edutopia.org/money-thats-what-i-want

The Nonprofit Integrity Act (SB 1262) is changing the way that not-for-profit organizations are preparing for 2005 and beyond. The Attorney General's office is still responding to questions of implementation and recently clarified a question that has been asked repeatedly in our seminars. According to Belinda Johns with the Attorney General's office, grant writers fall within the definition of fundraising counsel. This means that contracted grant writers must register with the Attorney General ten days before they write the grant, they cannot work for non-registered charities, they must hae a written contract, there are required provisions that must be in the contract, and there are other various provisions regarding misrepresentation of mission and use of money. http://caag.state.ca.us/charities/publications/nonprofit_integrity_act_nov04.pdf
http://www.caninsurance.com/resources/sb1262_summary.shtml

AED Center for Youth Development and Policy Research runs both the "Promising Practices in Afterschool (PPAS)" listserv, a virtual community that shares and exchanges of information about after-school programs, and the PPAS website.  Periodically, the AED Center posts a Snap Poll on this website and based on the responses, compiles a list of useful resources to assist you and your programs. The poll helps to track youth outcomes in after-school programs. For more information, visit www.afterschool.org

Charity Advantage provides nonprofit organizations with several technology solutions, including software and hardware donations, website development, and website marketing. For more information, visit http://www.charityadvantage.com/index.asp

The Stanford Alumni Consulting Team (ACT) was founded by two Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni in 1987 to enable alumni volunteers to provide pro-bono management consulting services to the nonprofit community. The program is part of the Stanford Graduate School of Business Alumni Association and the school's Center for Social Innovation. For more information about ACT, visit https://alumni.gsb.stanford.edu/act/about/index.html

Santa Clara University has a new online listing for nonprofit jobs, volunteer positions and internships. To view this listing, visit: http://www.scu.edu/business/graduate-careers/resources/links/index.cfm
For more information call Nancy Myrback at (408) 554- 4422.

Electronic filing of Form 990 can reduce errors and omissions to less than one percent. It is an important step toward improving the image of nonprofit accountability. Now, nonprofits and professional preparers can use the free IRS-approved website, http://efile.form990.org , The site allows nonprofits to calculate totals, check for missing items and errors, import attachments from Excel, create a PDF to post to GuideStar or your website, and has free electronic filing with the IRS.
Also see: http://www.ombwatch.org/article/articleview/2795/1/337

Show Me the Money: Tips & Resources for Successful Grant Writing
Many educators have found that outside funding, in the form of grants, allows them to provide their students with educational experiences and materials their own districts can't afford. Learn how they get those grants -- and how you can get one too. Included: Practical tips to help first-time grant writers get the grants they need. For writing tips, visit: http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/profdev/profdev039.shtml

Community Access Ticket Service provides thousands of free tickets for arts and cultural events to clients of Bay Area nonprofit service agencies. Attend a free orientation to learn about eligibility; how to request tickets; what tickets are available; and why CATS is determined to get your clients out and about. For more information, contact Maura Friedman at (415) 543-1400 or maura@communitytickets.org.

PG&E's CARE Program provides discounted rates for low-income households and housing facilities. The Qualified Nonprofit Group Living Facilities Program provides discounts for group living facilities, homeless shelters, hospices and women's shelters.

The Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools provides fundraising tips for federal grantseekers. These technical assistance documents are designed to provide basic grant application information, helpful tips, and suggestions in a clear, user-friendly manner.

GuideStar's Newsletter is packed full of information and opinions on current issues affecting the nonprofit sector, such as nonprofit compensation and the effect of gender, organization type, and location on nonprofit salaries.  To sign up for the e-newsletter, visit: http://www.guidestar.org/news/newsletter/index.jsp.

Professional Development Series: Mentoring Youth Work Professionals
Important ingredients for obtaining quality youth development programs includes staff recruitment, training and development.  For these reasons, it becomes imperative to create strong mentoring programs -- not just for youth -- but for youth workers as well. Want to learn why?  Read the latest Professional Development Series from the National Youth Development Learning Network, an initiative of the National Collaboration for Youth/National Human Services Assembly to learn more.  http://www.nydic.org/nydic/documents/Prof_Series_ENews3.pdf

Resources for Capacity Building
Organizations looking to build their capacity to provide services can use the Philanthropic Capacity-Building Resources (PCBR) database to identify foundations that support such efforts. A free resource developed by the Human Interaction Research Institute, the PCBR database contains information on 318 capacity-building programs being operated by U.S. foundations. The database includes a description of each program, the types of activities supported (e.g., governance, staff development, fund development), contact information, and more. Users can run twelve different types of reports to obtain the information they need e.g., by type of grant available, by type of foundation), or users can scan all 318 programs. http://www.humaninteract.org/reports/pcbrdatabase.asp

The Harvard Family Research Project provides a variety of useful out-of-school time resources and publications. Recent briefs include Moving Beyond the Barriers: Attracting and Sustaining Youth Participation in Out-of-School Time Programs and Understanding and Measuring Attendance in Out-of-School Time Programs. The website also includes resources in other areas, such as home visiting, early childhood education, professional development, and family-school partnerships.

The After-School Initiative’s Toolkit for Evaluating Positive Youth Development contains a number of evaluation question sets that staff of an afterschool program may find useful to assess youth outcomes. Because after-school programs’ goals and activities are often unique, the toolkit is not intended to provide all the evaluation questions program staff would need to demonstrate success. Instead, it provides question sets to measure outcomes common to many after-school programs aimed at promoting positive youth development. The toolkit is a resource of The Colorado Trust’s After-School Initiative (ASI). This 5-year (2000-2005), $11 million After-School Initiative serves children in fourth through ninth grades through programs that promote positive youth development.

cMarket.com offers online fundraising auctions for nonprofit organizations. Nonprofits can create, extend, market, and manage auctions online. Interested organizations can schedule a demo.

The National Youth Development Information Center offers tool kits for community-based organizations that provide information on research supporting the need for school-CBO partnerships; successful strategies for creating and sustaining partnerships; and checklists and tools.

The Nonprofit Open Source Initiative provides free primer for nonprofits on open source software.

Afterschool.gov is a one-stop resource for publications, links, tools, and information on federal funding sources.

Grants.gov allows organizations to electronically find and apply for competitive Federal Grants. Find grant opportunities and resources, and apply for Federal grants online at www.grants.gov.

Fundsnetservices.com lists some of the latest funding announcements and opportunities. Find resources for grant writing and fundraising techniques as well.

Get a free technology toolkit for nonprofits with helpful information and resources to help your organization, among other things, establish a computer network, implement virus protection and perform data backups. Find this CD and other donated or discounted technology products at TechSoup.org.

The National Center for Mental Health in Schools has available tools and resources related to "Sustaining School-Community Partnerships to Enhance Outcomes for Children and Youth." Go to http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/ to download the guidebook (look for the guidebook under "Guidebooks and Continuing Education").

The "24-7 Line Project" offers a toll-free help line for children and youth in Santa Clara County. Callers are connected to appropriate service providers. Call (888) 247-7717 to be added as a resource, and for more information, contact Belinda Hernandez at (650) 724-7788.

The Volunteer Legal Services Program offers free legal assistance to Bay Area nonprofits, including help with specific legal projects, long-term partnerships with law firms, and workshops. For more information, contact Haydee Alfonso at (415) 782-8914 or halfonso@sfbar.org.

The Promising Practices in Afterschool (PPAS) Listserv brings together the worlds of youth development, school-age care, and education. On the PPAS web site, www.afterschool.org, you can search for promising practices and share your own good work with others to help build the field of afterschool.

A Guide to Successful Public-Private Partnerships for Youth Programs
This guide provides practical information on creating and maintaining public-private partnerships to improve and expand youth programs and initiatives in communities and states. The full report is available online at : http://financeproject.org/publications/PublicPrivate_PM.pdf

Creating Dedicated Local and State Revenue Sources for Youth Programs. This brief outlines strategies to create dedicated local and state revenue sources for youth programs, provides guidance and information on the capacity, funding, and community support required for these strategies, and profiles these strategies at work in different states and communities. This publication is available at: http://financeproject.org/publications/DLR_PM.pdf

A Guide to Federal Sources for Youth Programs
This guide provides policy makers, program developers and others with critical information about federal funding sources to support and sustain youth programs and initiatives . This publication is available at: http://financeproject.org/publications/findingfunding_PM.pdf

Investing in the Sustainability of Youth Programs: An Assessment Tool for Funders
This brief and accompanying assessment tool is intended to help foundation leaders address the challenges of sustaining youth programs. The brief begins with a framework for thinking about sustainability, introduces an assessment tool funders can use to support sustainability in their grantmaking, and concludes with guidance on how to use and adapt this tool for particular purposes.  Visit http://www.financeproject.org/Publications/FundersTool.pdf to access this tool.

Financing Strategies for Youth Programs
This guide is intended to assist policymakers, community leaders and program developers by outlining an array of approaches to finance youth programs and initiatives.  It presents general principles to guide the selection of financing strategies, as well as considerations to help state and local leaders develop financing plans that closely align with their program goals, available resources and political and economic environments. This brief is available at: http://financeproject.org/publications/Thinkingbroadly_PM.pdf

The Afterschool Investments Project provides technical assistance to Child Care and Development Fund grantees and other state and local leaders supporting afterschool efforts.

State Afterschool Profiles
Provides a snapshot of the state of "afterschool" in every state as well as an opportunity to compare afterschool activities across the country. Profiles highlight key data and descriptions of the afterschool landscape, which includes a range of out-of-school time programming that can occur before and after school, on weekends, and during summer months. http://nccic.acf.hhs.gov/afterschool/statep.html . 

Financing Workforce Development Programs for Youth Transitioning Out of Foster Care
This brief explores six financing strategies that can support workforce development programs and services for youth currently in or transitioning from foster care.  The brief describes strategies for maximizing workforce development and child welfare resources; accessing community development resources; connecting with education resources; building partnerships with employers; and improving coordination across systems.  To access this publication, visit: http://www.financeproject.org/publications/Workforce_SB.pdf

Financing Entrepreneurship Programs for Youth Transitioning Out of Foster Care
The brief highlights seven strategies that program developers and community leaders can employ to support entrepreneurship opportunities for youth currently in or transitioning from care.  To access this publication, visit: http://www.financeproject.org/publications/Entrepreneurship_SB.pdf

Financing Asset-Building and Financial Education Programs for Youth Transitioning Out of Foster Care
This brief describes five financing strategies that policymakers, program developers, and community leaders can pursue to support asset-building and financial education programs for youth in foster care.  For each strategy, the brief includes funding sources, players, examples of how asset-building and financial education programs have used these resources, and considerations for implementation.  To access this publication, visit: http://www.financeproject.org/publications/FinLitAssetBuild_SB.pdf

A Guide to Federal Sources for Child Traumatic Stress and Other Trauma-Focused Initiatives
This guide is designed to provide policy makers and Child Traumatic Stress program developers with critical information about the range of federal funding sources that are currently available and have the potential to support initiatives that develop, implement, and disseminate child trauma interventions.  To access this publication, visit: http://www.financeproject.org/publications/FundingGuideCTSRev.pdf

Financing Strategies for Child Traumatic Stress Initiatives
This brief presents a conceptual framework for financing Child Traumatic Stress initiatives' work and a set of approaches that initiative leaders can implement to provide comprehensive and coordinated trauma supports and services. It presents general principles to guide the selection of financing strategies and outlines an array of approaches to finance interventions for traumatized children and adolescents.  To access this publication, visit: http://www.financeproject.org/publications/ThinkingBroadlyCTS.pdf .