Frequently Asked Questions
The most common questions about The Community Foundation's early response to COVID-19, including information about the Greater New Haven COVID-19 Community Fund.
About The Community Foundation's Response to COVID-19
What is The Community Foundation doing to help Greater New Haven through the COVID-19 crisis?
Since mid-March 2020, The Community Foundation has completely re-focused our efforts and our resources to face the dramatic new challenges spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic. We are in touch every day with the nonprofit agencies that are on the frontlines of the COVID-19 battle. See some of the stories of compassion and perseverance that are emerging from their work.
The Foundation is accelerating and allowing the repurposing of grants from
monies already budgeted to help our grantees address the impacts of COVID-19. These efforts will total more than $6 Million over the first and second quarters of 2020. They include: nearly $1 Million distributed on March 27 in accelerated responsive grants by The Foundation, and its affilliate, the Valley Community Foundation, that would have otherwise been released in the last quarter of the year. Pending 2020 general operating support grant applications are being fast-tracked so that as much as $2 Million in awards will be made in early May rather than late July. Additionally, recipients of approximately $400,000 in current multi-year project and program grants can repurpose them for general operating support, if needed. And, The Foundation is working to accelerate $3 Million in designated grants, including
$1 Million in April. Small Grants are now refocused to assist for COVID-19 and sponsorships can be repurposed for general operating support. The Foundation created a web page of other funding and assistance resources for nonprofits here.
The Community Foundation in partnership with United Way of Greater New Haven launched on March 20, 2020 the Greater New Haven COVID-19 Community Fund to get resources quickly to nonprofit agencies serving Greater New Haven’s residents, particularly those most disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. The first round of grants focused on agencies providing frontline healthcare and basic needs services and was distributed on April 3 to 28 organizations - amounting to $600,900 for providers of: food ($92,500), health ($240,000), housing ($105,000), social services ($143,400), and utilities ($20,000). Going forward, grants will be made from the Fund on a rolling basis and priorities may shift as needs evolve.
