The Partnership for Better Health board and staff team recently completed a new strategic plan, using the lenses of health justice, health equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging to strengthen our work and connect further with the region we serve. One of our priorities in the coming year is to strengthen our grantmaking and organizational practices, to better align with these principles.

We are committed to building an equitable, just, and inclusive community investment process and to supporting our local nonprofit community. To accomplish this, we will be modifying our upcoming August 1 and December 1 grantmaking cycles to allow time to reaffirm funding priorities, gather feedback from local partners, residents, and grantees, and improve our application and reporting processes.

While funding new grants will be on hold until December 1, we have developed a streamlined grants process to renew existing eligible grants and mini-grants for the remainder of 2023.

  1. Prior mini-grant and regular grant recipients that are eligible for 2nd or 3rd years of funding will be able to apply through a simplified renewal process. If you are eligible for a mini- or regular renewal grant for our August 1, 2023 or December 1, 2023 deadlines, you will receive an email from our staff with additional information about the streamlined application process closer to that deadline.
  2. Our August 1, 2023 grant deadline will be closed to any new grant funding ideas and requests (except for renewal grants referred to in #1).
  3. Our December 1, 2023 grant deadline will be partially open for new grants up to $10,000, new mini-grants or Spark of Change grants up to $5,000, and any remaining renewal grants referred to in #1.
  4. We anticipate announcing the new grantmaking process in early 2024.
  5. For our March 1, 2024 deadline, new grant applications will be accepted under the new grantmaking process.
  6. Throughout the coming months, the Partnership for Better Health will monitor emerging and urgent community needs. If you become aware of a particularly pressing need that may not be on our radar, please do not hesitate to be in touch.

We look forward to continuing to connect with you as we prepare to announce our new grantmaking and streamlined reporting processes in early 2024.

We are excited about what a more equitable and inclusive grants process could mean for our local nonprofits and the communities we serve. We remain grateful for all our partners do to improve the health of our region.

Visit our grants page for updates and to access the online Grants Management System.

If you are unsure how this plan affects your organization, feel free to reach out to your primary grants contact at the foundation (Carol, Gail, Marcellus or Becca) for a conversation.