General Operating Support
In 2009-2010, more than $8.2 million was awarded in one-year and multi-year responsive new grants to local organizations offering a large variety of programs ranging from home buyer education and financial assistance, providing housing for the elderly and daycare services for families in need, educating the public about environmental concerns, offering arts and cultural opportunities and providing food and shelter. Nearly half of these grants provided general operating support in a time of increased demand for services and decreases in funding.
The Community Foundation offers multiple funding opportunities that require nonprofits to participate in a competitive application process throughout the year. The largest of the competitive funding cycles is known as the responsive new grants process. Distributions from permanent unrestricted and preference funds make grants under this category possible.
Many of the grant applicants requesting funding through the responsive new grants process reported that 2010 was a much more difficult year for them than 2009. Issue areas particularly hard hit were youth programs, the arts and health organizations. Many faced a significant financial challenge over the last three years due to unfunded state mandates, reduced and delayed revenue as a result of state funding changes and the transition from contracts to fee-for-service or attendance based agreements. Health organizations felt the effect of state cost cuts and had funding changes in areas such as Medicaid wavers (15-25% revenue reduction), reduced Medicaid reimbursement rates and reduction in grants for special programs.
The responsive new grants process offers two main types of funding: general operating support (GOS) which is given to further the general mission and work of an organization and project support, which is awarded for a specific purpose or project or capital expenditures. The Community Foundation encouraged GOS grants in 2010, as it did in 2009, for key, effective organizations in the community, including those poised to make the next step in their organizational development.
"An increasing focus has been to award GOS grants because they are the most flexible source of funding in these difficult economic times," says Dr. Penny Canny, Senior Vice President Grantmaking & Strategy.
Indeed, providing GOS is an important component in The Community Foundation’s strategy to support and strengthen nonprofits serving the Greater New Haven area. GOS grants support nonprofits in their leadership, evaluation, and sound management. Several grants that were awarded helped to provide planning and staffing for a more stable funding base, including those made to the Online Journalism Project and Long Wharf Theatre, as well as, to support strategic planning that help organizations move to the next stage of their development.
2010 multi-year GOS grant recipients were asked to participate in an organizational assessment using the Core Capacity Assessment Tool (CCAT), a 146-online survey that measures effectiveness in leadership, adaptability, management and technical capacities. The nonprofits will take the CCAT in 2011 and again 3 years later to measure changes and/or improvements in organizational effectiveness. The results of the survey will be used, in part, to inform The Community Foundation’s work to provide capacity building to local nonprofits.
The Community Foundation continued to fund project support grants in 2010 as well. For example, $264,000 was awarded to projects identified as socially innovative by volunteer community reviewers, who, along with staff, review incoming grant applications for the responsive new grants cycle. The Foundation's Board of Directors votes to approve funding for grant requests. Organizations receiving funding for projects that reviewers considered to be socially innovative include: Ability Beyond Disability, Corporation for Supportive Housing, Massaro Farm, St Martin dePorres, Data Haven and Youth Rights Media (YRM). YRM builds youth power and leadership by engaging young people in video media production and community organizing to affect change within themselves and their communities. View YRM's documentary, 'Lost in Transition' ,that explores the experiences of students on the margins of our education system.
Another new project to receive funding in 2010 was the Connecticut Veterans Legal Center, a first time grant recipient. The Center received a $60,000 multi-year grant to provide legal assistance to low-income veterans from the region, particularly for female service women who are experiencing homelessness or mental illness.
“It is gratifying when we are able to keep veterans in their home, or help them get benefits, but the hardest part of the work has been seeing how many more veterans go without legal help they need,” says Margaret Middleton, the Center’s Executive Director. “We are really grateful for the support from The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. Thanks to them we’ll be able to help even more of Connecticut’s veterans build the stable lives they want and deserve to have.”
View all responsive new grant recipients for 2010.