ECF is pleased to announce significant changes in their grants process for 2012 designed to increase their responsiveness to area nonprofits while maximizing the impact of their philanthropic investments.
Beginning in January 2012, ECF will offer two distinct competitive grantmaking processes, Helping Today and Shaping Tomorrow.
Helping Today Grants
Helping Today grants quickly respond to the Basic Needs of local nonprofits and generate innovative projects, simply called Great Ideas.
Helping Today grants will be reviewed by a panel of volunteers and awarded every two months with the opportunitiy for urgent grant requests to be processed even faster! Online application processes have been simplified to aid grantseekers in making requests more efficiently.
Shaping Tomorrow Grants
Shaping Tomorrow grants address systemic and priority issues as identified by Erie Vital Signs, a community-wide key indicator project. Shaping Tomorrow grants will be reviewed by a panel of volunteers and awarded twice a year to focus on more complex solutions to community needs.
Applications begin with an online Letter of Intent (LOI). Once a LOI is accepted, Program Officers will work closely with Shaping Tomorrow applicants to provide feedback and support as they prepare a full proposal. Nonprofits interested in submitting a Shaping Tomorrow LOI are encouraged to visit the Erie Vital Signs website to review topic areas, and important sections entitled Key Indicators and What Works.