Frequently Asked Questions: Safety-net Enhancement Initiative

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Application Process

• Grant Application Cover Sheet (DOC)
• Sample Budget Form (DOC)

The Health Team invites you to submit a letter of inquiry for your proposed project, or, in the case of the Safety-net Enhancement Initiative, a response to our request for proposals.

Click here for Safety-net Enhancement Initiative request-for-proposal requirements.

Letter of inquiry requirements

A complete letter of inquiry application consists of a grant application cover sheet, a cover letter signed by the CEO of the organization, a five-page letter of inquiry narrative, a sample budget form and a reference list. The grant application cover sheet and sample budget form are located in the Resources box in the upper right-hand corner of this page.

We will consider your submission once all five parts of the application have been received by The Kresge Foundation. When your complete application package has been received, you will be notified by the Kresge Foundation.

The link to the Apply Online page is found in the purple bar at the top of this page. Before you begin your letter of inquiry, it is often helpful to review the information provided on the pages titled Health Program and Our Values Criteria. 

All letters of inquiry will be evaluated in terms of our values criteria. Please explain how you are addressing our values as you answer the questions listed below. No one value or subset of values carries disproportionate weight. Rather, it is the collective influence of multiple values exemplified by your organization and your project that interests us most.

Writing your letter of inquiry

The letter of inquiry narratives should not exceed five type-written pages and should contain the following:

• Briefly describe your organization, its mission and the role it plays in the community or field it serves.
• If applicable, provide a brief description and background information about the community that will be the focus of your efforts.
• Describe your overall request and relevance of the proposed project or program for the Kresge Health Program (Healthy Environments, Caring Communities or Emerging and Promising Practices) to improve health outcomes among vulnerable populations.
• State your project’s main objective, site and plan to be accomplished. 
• Provide an explanation, if appropriate, of the fundraising or business plan for the project, including how it will be sustained following Kresge funding.
• Who will be the key partners, if any, in the project, and what type of collaboration/specific role is planned?

For those applying for a Health Clinic Opportunity Fund grant, please answer the two additional questions below. Your total page count for the proposal narrative should not exceed six type-written pages.

• Tell us about your governance structure, including how clients receiving services participate in decisions involving your operations and any partnerships that assist in the delivery of services.
• Describe your operational strengths and accomplishments as well as your organizational challenges and how they relate to your current and/or anticipated client population. Have you addressed these challenges in the past? How? What resources, if any, are you currently using to manage them?

Additional attachments:

1. Kresge Foundation grant application cover sheet.
2. A cover letter addressed to the Kresge Health Team signed by the CEO of the organization.
3. A detailed budget with all expenditures related to this grant request; include any in-kind contributions and their respective sources and give a brief summary and rationale for each line-item expenditure. (Budget may include up to 20 percent indirect costs.)
4. A list of three to four reference agencies, along with the contact information of a representative of the agency who can offer insights into the services you provide to clients in your community.

Next steps

You will be sent two e-mail acknowledgements when we have received your letter of inquiry application package. Once a full review of these materials is complete – usually within four weeks – you will be notified whether your letter received a favorable or unfavorable response.

If your letter of inquiry receives a favorable response, you will be asked to submit a full proposal. In it, we may ask for additional information and related supporting materials. In the correspondence requesting a full proposal, we also will give you the name and contact information for the Health Team member assigned to your project, as well as a due date for submitting a full proposal and the date the team plans to take your proposal before our Board of Trustees.

Safety-net enhancement initiative request-for-proposal requirements

A complete request-for-proposal application package for the Safety-net Enhancement Initiative planning grant consists of a grant application cover sheet, a cover letter signed by the CEO of the lead agency, a 15-page proposal narrative addressing the discussion questions below, a budget, an audit for the lead agency, and the lead agency’s board of directors’ names and affiliations. The grant application cover sheet is located in the Resources box in the upper right-hand corner of this page.

Please submit your response to our request for proposals using our online application process. When your complete proposal package has been received, you will be notified by the Kresge Foundation.

The link to the Apply Online page is found in the purple bar at the top of this page. Please scroll down the Apply Online page to the “Creating an online application account” section. Here you will find directions for submitting your materials online. Before you begin your application package, it is often helpful to review the information provided on the pages titled Health Program and Our Values Criteria.

Writing your proposal narrative

Please address the information requested below in your proposal narrative, in no more than 15 typewritten pages.

Information on the lead or partnership agency

• Provide descriptive background information on the lead agency – the community health center, safety-net hospital, local health department, primary-care association, or other agency – that will be responsible for organizing and conducting the planning process. 
• Provide examples of previous successful planning efforts in your community, including the types of partners, relationships, and outcomes that resulted from the work.
• List the partnering agencies that will be involved in the initial planning process, and include a brief description of their roles and expected, non-monetary contributions to the planning effort. 
• Identify any additional agencies that will be engaged in the planning process.

Information on the planning focus:

• Describe the community and/or population that will be the focus of your planning efforts. 
• What are the potential population-based health issues that may be identified, addressed and/or impacted as a result of your planning activities?  
• What are your ultimate goals for this planning effort?
• How will this planning effort address or take into account the social and environmental factors affecting health in your community?
• Describe the processes, products, timelines and deliverables that will be involved during the nine-month planning process. How will you structure the workflow during the planning process?
• How will you engage the community and/or population that will be the focus of your proposed project in your planning process? What do you hope to gain from their engagement?

Information on contextual issues:

• Describe the contextual issues (assets, challenges and opportunities) that might affect or influence your planning work. What value would this planning effort bring to your local community, your partners and/or others?
• What existing population-based activities or initiatives are currently underway in your community that might adversely or favorably affect your efforts?  

Information on leverage opportunities:

• Explain how the planning activities associated with this initiative have the potential to advance current health-related efforts in your community.  How will you engage other funders in supporting your planning and future implementation?
• What resources – monetary or in-kind – will be contributed by your current list of partners?

Attachments:

• Budget – specify the expenses (not to exceed $75,000) that will be associated with the planning process, and include a brief statement of justification for each line item.
• Lead agency audit.
• Lead agency’s board of directors’ names and affiliations.

The link to the Apply Online page is found in the purple bar at the top of this page. Please scroll down the Apply Online page to the “Creating an online application account” for complete directions.

Next steps

You will receive two e-mail acknowledgements when we receive your full proposal. Once your proposal has been reviewed, a program officer may contact you for further information. Grant award announcements will be made in January 2010.

Watch the Program Updates section of the Kresge Web site to learn about online, pre-proposal information sessions, which will be scheduled this fall.

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If you have questions, e-mail our Grants Inquiry Coordinator or call 248-643-9630.

Emerging and Promising Practices

• Glossary of Terms
• Grant Application Cover Sheet (DOC)
• Sample Budget Form (DOC)

Through Emerging and Promising Practices, we seek to support innovative, cross-sector, interdisciplinary methods that address the cumulative impacts of social and environmental factors disproportionately affecting at-risk communities. We also aim to advance the creation of new knowledge regarding the conditions – social and environmental – that lead to health disparities. Projects that advance both theory and practice are of interest as well.

Primary emphasis is placed upon cross-sector or multi-field projects, such as those positioned at the intersection of environmental sustainability and health care; medical-legal partnerships; food systems and health; community design and development, including transportation and the built environment; mental health and public health; and climate change and health. The work in this area is purposely not narrowly defined so as to invite the broadest array of new and emerging project proposals.

Our funding process

Single year and multi-year funding of up to three years is available. The maximum, annual award is $250,000.  Grantseekers interested in multi-year awards must secure matching funds after the first year with Kresge providing a two-to-one match. Those awarded one-year planning grants for a particular project must demonstrate they have secured other funding prior to applying for additional support.

Letters of inquiry are accepted on an ongoing basis. Links to the Application Process and Apply Online pages are located in the purple bar at the top of this page.

If you have questions, e-mail our Grants Inquiry Coordinator or call 248-643-9630.

Caring Communities

• Glossary of Terms
• Grant Application Cover Sheet (DOC)
• Sample Budget Form (DOC)

Caring Communities supports safety-net institutions and those providing prevention, primary, acute, and chronic care to underserved populations in rural and urban settings. Funding is awarded through the following three grant opportunities:

Health Clinic Opportunity Fund
Safety-net Enhancement Initiative
Safety-net Facility Improvement

Health Clinic Opportunity Fund

Launched in July 2009, this is a two-year, national grant program developed in direct response to the rapid increase in the number of people losing their jobs and health insurance as a result of the economic crisis. Grants ranging from $75,000 to $150,000 per year for a maximum of two years will be provided to build the operational capacity of charitable health clinics, public-health clinics, and those designated as federally qualified health center look-alikes. Please note: Federally qualified health centers are not eligible to apply.

We will fund up to 20 projects per year. Grant awards may be used to support staffing, recruitment and retention of health-care service providers; consulting services such as training, management, business processing and fundraising; strategic planning, community health assessments, outreach and marketing; business and/or operational assessments and program evaluation; and basic operational expenses, such as supplies, materials and equipment.

Priority will be given to projects that leverage existing resources, create more effective operating systems, improve efficiencies, and expand and maintain access to health services for vulnerable populations.

There will be two rounds of funding, each supporting up to 10 grantees during each grant period. Letters of inquiry submitted online constitute the application process.

Round 1:	Letters of inquiry are due September 4, 2009 First grant awards announced December 2009
Round 2:	Letters of inquiry are due March 1, 2010 Second grant awards announced September 2010

Please visit the Application Process page located in the purple bar at the top of this page for complete information, including letter of inquiry requirements, and to apply online.

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Safety-net Enhancement Initiative

This initiative is designed to reduce disparities and improve the health outcomes of low-income children and adults by enhancing collaboration among the agencies and institutions providing health and social supports in their communities. This is a four-year initiative consisting of two parts: (1) a program planning and design phase and (2) a demonstration phase.

October 27 Pre-proposal Information Session View Webinar Archive > View Webinar PowerPoint > Frequently Asked Questions >

A maximum of 15 grants will be awarded of up to $75,000 each for the first phase of the initiative, the nine-month program planning and design phase. Seven to 10 of the planning grant recipients will then be competitively selected to receive a second grant of up to $750,000 each for a three-year period. This will fund the demonstration of their proposed projects. At the conclusion of the three-year period, a comprehensive evaluation of the new models and approaches demonstrated by the projects will be conducted and the results will be made public. It is hoped that these new models will help to influence the future direction of health-care delivery in low-income and underserved areas.

Competitive applicants will propose projects that foster strategic partnerships between community-health centers and one or more anchor institutions, such as a public health system, public health department or school system – all in order to positively affect population health in their communities. We define community-health centers as organizations that provide primary-care services to low-income patients, including those designated federally qualified health centers, health center look-alikes, public health clinics, school-based health centers, nurse-managed clinics, and voluntary free clinics, among others.

Building more effective medical models – those that increase access and health-care delivery – while important, are no longer enough. We believe many community-health conditions are socially determined and must be addressed if we are to effectively construct a true and lasting health-care safety net. It is widely acknowledged, for example, that low-income children and adults experience a disproportionate incidence of preventable diseases. For this reason, competitive applicants will propose not only approaches that strengthen connections between existing providers but also forge new partnerships that will enable them to prevent disease by responding to the precipitating social determinants that affect the health status of vulnerable populations.

Unlike other Health Team grant opportunities, we are asking Safety-net Enhancement Initiative applicants to respond to our request for full proposals rather than submit a letter of inquiry, as is our standard practice.

For complete information regarding the request-for-proposal process and to apply online, visit the Application Process page located in the purple bar at the top of this page.

The deadline for applying for phase one – a program planning and design grant – is November 16, 2009. Grant award announcements will be made in January 2010.

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Safety-net Facility Improvements

This grant opportunity extends Kresge’s long history of awarding challenge grants to organizations conducting capital campaigns for new building construction and facility renovation. In addition to facilities-capital challenge grants, we are increasing our investment in community-based health centers through a variety of funding methods, including program-related investments or below market rate loans.

Clinics that are expanding and/or improving their physical infrastructure in order to increase accessibility, availability, and the quality of services provided to disadvantaged, uninsured and under-insured populations are typically competitive applicants. Anchor organizations that assume a leadership role in facilitating meaningful and relevant community change by strengthening the safety-net or improving their ability to respond to priority community health issues are encouraged to apply. Consideration also is given to projects that are environmentally sustainable and adopt the Green Guide for Health Care.

Letters of inquiry are accepted on an ongoing basis.

To apply for facilities capital, visit the challenge grant page for complete information, including letter of inquiry requirements, and to apply online.

To apply for funding other than a challenge grant, visit the Application Process page located in the purple bar at the top of this page for complete information, including letter of inquiry requirements, and to apply online.

If you have questions, e-mail our Grants Inquiry Coordinator or call 248-643-9630.

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Healthy Environments

• Glossary of Terms
• Grant Application Cover Sheet (DOC)
• Sample Budget Form (DOC)

Healthy Environments aims to improve the health and well being of vulnerable children from low-income families by making the places they live, learn and play safe and supportive of overall good health. Funding priorities are clean air, safe and healthy housing and schools, and safe, accessible, and inviting outdoor play spaces – all advanced with community engagement, citizen leadership and cross-sector alliances.

We recognize the serious impediments to good health that at-risk children face simply because of where they live, attend school, and attempt to play. The air they breathe – both indoors and out, at home and at school – is frequently contaminated or polluted because their neighborhoods are often situated near smokestacks, major transportation thoroughfares and other pollution-generators. Their homes are more likely to contain higher levels of lead, dust, mold and pests because the structures tend to be older. And, particularly in urban areas, their parks and playgrounds are often considered unsafe due to high levels of crime, violence and intimidation. These social conditions inhibit outdoor physical activity which can, in turn, contribute to adverse health outcomes.

How we work

Healthy Environments supports regional and statewide efforts to improve the health outcomes of vulnerable children and their families by funding highly promising, evidence-based projects and programs that have the potential to achieve broad change through replication or increased scale. Projects should also demonstrate and document how environmental hazards are reduced or prevented.

We recognize that true change can only be accomplished with genuine community engagement and leadership supported by research and advocacy. We also understand that to achieve enduring change, regulatory agencies must become partners; their role in monitoring abuses, conducting investigations and formulating policy is essential.

Our funding process

We seek to support discrete projects that can be completed in one to three years and require limited, well-defined levels of funding. Projects should be responsive to the needs of vulnerable populations, engage the community, demonstrate leadership and innovation, and utilize an evidence-based approach. Interested applicants are invited to submit online a letter of inquiry application.

The size and duration of awards will vary based upon the nature and scope of proposed projects. Grantseekers may request funds ranging from $100,000 to $750,000 for project periods of up to three years. Organizations also may also choose to apply for a one-year strategic planning grant.

Letters of inquiry are accepted on an ongoing basis. Links to the Application Process and Apply Online pages are located in the purple bar at the top of this page.

If you have questions, e-mail our Grants Inquiry Coordinator or call 248-643-9630.

Health Program

Fostering healthy and safe communities for adults and children living in underserved urban and rural areas is a priority of The Kresge Foundation.

We seek to promote the physical health and well-being of low-income and vulnerable populations by improving the environmental and social conditions affecting them and their communities. We also work to increase both access and quality of their health-care services, and advance the field through new knowledge and promising practices.

In response to the economic crisis, we are making available a new grant
opportunity – the Health Clinic Opportunity Fund, which is designed to bridge, build, and sustain the operations of high-performing community health centers serving diverse and vulnerable populations.

Our programmatic approach

The Health Team funds evidence-based work and innovation developed at the local, state, or national levels in the following three areas:

• Healthy Environments: Supporting efforts that create healthy and safe spaces for children and families
• Caring Communities: Strengthening partnerships and practices to achieve better health-care outcomes
• Emerging and Promising Practices in Health: Stimulating innovative connections across sectors to improve the well-being of vulnerable populations. (See Glossary of Terms, located in the Resources box in the upper-right-hand corner of this page for Kresge’s definition of “vulnerable populations” and other relevant terms.)

Healthy Environments supports strategies that engage communities in the promotion of healthy surroundings for children and families. Support is directed to issues such as air quality, safety, and eliminating exposure to hazardous environmental conditions in homes, schools and neighborhoods. Work is concentrated in three areas:

• Protecting children from exposure to air pollution and other environmental hazards
• Promoting healthy homes, schools, and neighborhoods, including the Kresge Foundation’s Getting the Lead Out Initiative, a two-year, national effort to advance the elimination of lead poisoning among vulnerable children
• Making outdoor places safe for children through support of collaborative efforts to protect children from violence or fear of violence.

For more information and to apply online with a letter of inquiry, visit the Healthy Environments page.

Caring Communities supports safety-net institutions and those providing health services to underserved populations in high-need rural and urban settings. The three grant opportunities in this area are:

• Health Clinic Opportunity Fund – a national grant program developed in response to the economic crisis to help charitably funded clinics, public health clinics, and those designated federally qualified health center look-alikes sustain or increase their capacity to meet growing demand for their services. Application deadlines for the Health Clinic Opportunity Fund are September 4, 2009 and March 1, 2010. Please note: Federally qualified health centers are not eligible to apply.
• Safety-net Enhancement Initiative attempts to strengthen cross-sector collaboration among community-based health-care agencies that provide primary-care services to low-income and vulnerable individuals. This grant opportunity has two parts: (1) a program planning and design phase and (2) a demonstration phase. It is designed to foster new models and approaches for health-care delivery that reduce health disparities and improve the health outcomes of adults and children living in underserved communities. We are requesting full proposals for phase one of the initiative, the program planning and design phase. The deadline for responses to our request for proposals is November 16, 2009.
• Safety-net Facility Improvement Fund supports new construction and renovation of clinics and other health care organizations so they may expand their facilities in order to increase access and enhance the quality of their services for underserved populations. Most grants are awarded in the form of a challenge grant during an organization’s capital campaign.

For more information on the Health Clinic Opportunity Fund; the Safety-net Enhancement Initiative, including a link to the Webcast of our pre-proposal information session; the Safety-net Improvement Fund; and to apply online, visit the Caring Communities page.

Emerging and Promising Practices is designed to explore, test and promote new knowledge, interdisciplinary and cross-sector approaches for improving the health of vulnerable populations and those living in low-income and underserved communities. This interest area responds to the growing awareness that health services alone do not address the root causes of health disparities. Focus will be given to projects that work at the intersection of multiple sectors, such as environmental sustainability and health care; medical-legal partnerships; food delivery systems and health; community design and development, including transportation and health; mental health and public health; and climate change and health.

For more information and to apply online with a letter of inquiry, visit the Emerging and Promising Practices page.

How we work

We believe that health – of individuals and whole communities – results from factors along a continuum, from prevention to policy, and that change originates through the relationships of individuals with their local communities. It is the level and quality of interactions within and across traditional and non-traditional health-related sectors that will improve health outcomes for vulnerable populations.

We support funding partnerships with community-based, state, and national organizations, academic institutions, and others – including groups involved in environmental justice, housing and land conservation – whose mission is to address community health problems.

To further our mission, we may develop and support strategic health networks, generate strategic communications, commission research, and fund policy-oriented and advocacy organizations, as well as invest directly in projects and partners using the full spectrum of our funding methods. These include both grants and below-market-rate loans as appropriate.

The funding process

The Health Team initiates projects with organizations already doing notable work to advance its strategic objectives, and also encourages letters of inquiry from potential partner organizations. Competitive proposals demonstrate the following:

• Advancement of our values criteria, particularly creating opportunity, working in underserved geography, promoting diversity and strengthening community impact
• Opportunities to align/inform health policy and future programming
• Responsiveness and capacity to address the social determinants of health
• Opportunities to strengthen the grantee’s level of capacity and sustainability
• Engaging and leveraging existing and new partners and resources
• Expanding the work of existing health collaborations or developing new ones
• Increasing or expanding the quality and quantity of, and access to, health benefits and resources within communities
• Exhibiting innovation and leadership in community health

Please visit the Healthy Environments, Caring Communities and Emerging and Promising Practices Web pages for letter of inquiry requirements, submission deadlines, if applicable, and to apply online. Letters of inquiry are accepted online only.

You will receive an e-mail confirmation of your submission. Your letter of inquiry will be reviewed by the Health Team and a program officer may request a follow-up phone conversation. If your project has potential for grant funding, we will notify you and provide necessary application information.

A special note: To all those who submitted ideas in the past 12 months, we thank you. Your contributions were helpful as we refined the programmatic direction of the Health Program. Going forward, we are no longer accepting ideas via e-mail. Please apply through the appropriate grant opportunities outlined above. 

Eligibility

Who may apply?

• 501(c)(3) organizations based in the United States that are not classified as private foundations and have financial statements prepared and certified by a certified public accountant in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles or Government Accounting Standards.
• Government entities that have financial statements prepared and certified by a certified public accountant in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles or Government Accounting Standards.

Who may not apply?

• Individuals
• Individual elementary and secondary schools (Note: School districts may apply.)

If you have questions, e-mail our Grants Inquiry Coordinator or call 248-643-9630.

Image credit: AVANCE, San Antonio, Texas

Community-health centers
Community-health centers are organizations that provide primary care services to low-income patients, including federally qualified health centers and health center look-alikes, public health clinics, school-based health centers, nurse-managed clinics, and voluntary free clinics, among others.

Safety nets
Those providers that organize and deliver a significant level of health care and other health-related services to uninsured, Medicaid and other vulnerable patients (Institute of Medicine).

Safety-net hospital
Hospitals that provide a significant level of care to low-income, uninsured and vulnerable populations. They are distinguished by a mission and commitment to provide access to care for people with limited or no access to health care due to their financial circumstances, insurance status or health condition. Considerations for Kresge also include the hospital’s proximity to underserved populations, its relationships with other safety-net providers and engagement in community prevention.

Social determinants of health
Factors in the social environment that contribute to or detract from the health of individuals and communities. These factors include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Socioeconomic status, transportation, housing, access to services, discrimination by social grouping (e.g., race, gender or class), and social or environmental stressors (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

Vulnerable populations
Those who are made vulnerable by their financial circumstances or place of residence, health, age, personal characteristics, functional or developmental status, ability to communicate effectively, and presence of chronic illness or disability (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

• Grant Application Cover Sheet (DOC)
• Demographic Data Sheet (DOC)

In response to the economic crisis and the impact it is having on front-line human service organizations, The Kresge Foundation has established a 24- to 36-month, interest-free program-related investment fund offering bridge loans of $250,000 to $500,000 to high-performance organizations so that they may be better able to meet the ever-increasing demand for their services.

Our programmatic approach

Competitive applicants will meet the following criteria:

• Provide comprehensive front-line services (homeless and domestic-violence shelters, safety-net providers, affordable housing and supportive services, legal aid services, emergency-assistance providers, and multi-service health and human service organizations)
• Have been in operation for three years
• Have a solid base of net assets or net worth, or long-term history of recurring revenue
• Can provide evidence of stable operating performance (net operating surplus over the past three to five years)
• Possess audited financial statements for the past two years.

Application process

We are making every attempt to fast-track the application process. To apply for a program-related investment loan, please submit the information outlined below in one e-mail only to grantsmanagement@kresge.org. Be sure to put “Community Relief Fund” in the subject line of your e-mail and to save copies of all the materials you submit. A complete application proposal includes:

• Kresge Foundation grant application cover sheet (found in the Resources box in the top, right-hand corner of this page)
• Kresge Foundation demographic data sheet (found in the Resources box in the top, right-hand corner of this page)
• One-page letter of request on the organization’s letterhead, signed by an individual authorized to enter into agreements on behalf of the organization
• Proposal narrative of five, type-written pages or less that addresses the following:
  • A description of your organization, including its mission, background, activities and population served
  • An overview of your community and the role your organization plays in it
  • An explanation of how the organization is advancing Kresge’s values criteria, particularly the values of creating opportunity, serving underserved geography, promoting diversity and strengthening community impact
  • Qualifications of the program staff, including a list of the names of key staff members (CEO, CFO etc.)
  • Amount of the loan requested and an explanation of how the funds will be used (include a brief discussion of the impact of the economic crisis on your organization and operating budget; any quantifiable increases in demand for services; the effects of the crisis on your revenue sources, including contributions and government funding, if applicable; and whether or not the organization is experiencing revenue shortfalls and how the situation is being managed)
• One-page budget sheet comparing your most recently completed fiscal year’s revenue and expenses with your current-year projections
• Audited financial statements for the past two years, including management letters
• List of your Board of Directors and their affiliations.

Eligibility

Who may apply?

• 501(c)(3) organizations based in the United States that are not classified as private foundations and have financial statements prepared and certified by a certified public accountant in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles or Government Accounting Standards.
• Government entities that have financial statements prepared and certified by a certified public accountant in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles or Government Accounting Standards.

Who may not apply?

• Individuals
• Elementary and secondary schools

If you have questions, e-mail our Grants Inquiry Coordinator or call 248-643-9630.

• 2010 Kresge Community Arts Guidelines for Detroit (PDF)
• Kresge Community Arts Grant Application Cover Sheet for Detroit (DOC)
• Kresge Community Arts 2010 Budget Form for Detroit (DOC)

The Kresge Foundation is piloting a new community arts and engagement project in St. Louis, Missouri; Baltimore, Maryland; Detroit, Michigan; Tucson, Arizona; and Birmingham, Alabama, that encourages residents to use art and culture as a tool to address issues in their communities.

We are investing $200,000 over two years in each community. Awards will range from $2,500 to $10,000. No additional cities will be selected for the pilot phase.

Our programmatic approach

The project is designed to test our belief that grassroots arts and cultural projects can be an effective tool to unite communities, address pressing social issues, and uplift our spirits in difficult times. Individuals and groups are encouraged to apply, including local artists and historians, neighborhood and homeowner associations, teens with parental consent, service agencies, municipal governments, community development corporations, and arts and cultural organizations, among others.

Application process

In St. Louis, Baltimore, Tucson and Birmingham, Kresge has enlisted local organizations to select and administer the grants. For complete information on eligibility and to apply, contact the local administrator directly. Contact information is below:

St. Louis, Missouri – The Arts and Education Council in St. Louis, www.keeparthappening.org, Cynthia Prost, 314-289-4001,
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Baltimore, Maryland – The Baltimore Community Foundation, www.bcf.org, Melissa Warlow, 410-332-4172 X150, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Tucson, Arizona – Tucson Pima Arts Council, www.tucsonpimaartscouncil.org Leia Maahs, 520-624-0595 x19, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Birmingham, Alabama – Cultural Alliance of Greater Birmingham, www.cultural-alliance.com Bonner Wagnon, 205-458-1394, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

In Detroit, Hamtramck and Highland Park, Susan D. Wood is administering the program. Application materials can be found in the Resources box in the top, right hand corner of this page. Please download “Kresge Community Arts Guidelines for Detroit” for details.

Deadline for 2010 applications is March 12.

Information sessions will be held on Monday, Feb. 8 and Monday, Feb. 22, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Detroit Public Library, 5201 Woodward Avenue,
Detroit, 48202. For more information, contact Susan D. Wood at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

How we work

The project is designed to support the creative ideas that percolate from within the selected communities. Our hope is that projects will engage underserved and new audiences as well as children, teens and families; promote cross-cultural understanding; increase exposure to art and culture; and provide experiences in non-traditional spaces such as low-income housing developments, juvenile detention centers, battered women’s shelters and after-school program centers.

Pilot cities were selected based on a criterion that included the median household income of residents and the readiness of existing local partners to help launch the project. Twelve of the nation’s most distressed cities were considered for participation.

Applicants in the pilot cities – St. Louis, Baltimore and Detroit, Hamtramck and Highland Park, Michigan; Tucson, Arizona; and Birmingham, Alabama – may request one or two-year grants for planning and implementation. Projects do not have to be new but existing projects will not receive priority funding. Grants range from $2,500 to $10,000.

Grantseekers who applied in year-one and were denied are eligible to reapply for the second year of funding. Current grantees are not eilgible for a second grant.

If you have questions, e-mail our Grants Inquiry Coordinator or call 248-643-9630.

The Kresge Foundation awards grants to small, mid-size, and large nonprofit organizations in six fields of interest (described below): health, the environment, community development, arts and culture, education, and human services. Working with our grantees, we endeavor to improve the life circumstances and opportunities for poor, disadvantaged and marginalized individuals, families, and communities.

We evaluate grant requests on the basis of how closely an organization’s mission, programs and community outcomes align with and advance our values criteria.

In 2008, we created three new programs – the Health Program, the Environment Program and the Detroit Program – to expand our work in these fields. The Detroit Program is our primary community-development effort. The priorities for each program are designed to achieve maximum impact in specific areas over the long-term.

Grantmaking in Arts and Culture, Community Development (outside of Detroit), Education and Human Services consists primarily of facilities capital grants awarded as a challenge. The challenge grant has been our signature funding method for more than eight decades.

Fields of Interest

Each field is listed along with our particular areas of concern and the aspects of our values criteria we believe will influence positive outcomes. We are most interested in grant proposals that specifically address the concerns described in the fields below.

Health – Our primary focus is on improving access to health care for groups that have been marginalized, particularly low-income and minority populations and women. Four values are important in this area: creating opportunity, working in underserved geography, promoting diversity, and strengthening community impact. Organizations with a predominant emphasis on improving the health status of needy populations will receive priority attention. For more information, see the Health Program page.

Environment – Our grantmaking supports efforts to address the challenges of global climate change, which we consider to be one of society’s most pressing issues. Funding will be considered for nonprofits that are focused on projects such as reducing greenhouse-gas emissions in the built environment, accelerating the adoption of renewable energy technologies, and developing adaptive strategies for dealing with climate change. Values associated with these efforts include creating opportunity, strengthening community impact, driving innovation, and advancing environmental conservation. For more information, see the Environment Program page.

Arts and Culture – Through our grant awards, we seek to help arts organizations overcome the challenges that threaten their long-term sustainability while ensuring they continue to fulfill their important role as creative contributors to the community. Funding will provide a financial safety net, support technological advancements, and build leadership capabilities.  The values of strengthening community impact, creating opportunity, and promoting innovation are particularly relevant for this field. For more information, see the Arts and Culture page.

Community Development – Grant awards are made to organizations whose work in geographically defined rural, urban, and aging suburban neighborhoods serves to enhance grassroots participation, resident empowerment, physical revitalization, neighborhood cohesion, and youth opportunity. Values that coincide with these efforts include: creating opportunity, strengthening community impact, working in underserved geography, promoting diversity, and enhancing environmental conservation. For more information, see the Community Development page.

Education – Our grantmaking is rooted in a desire to overcome systematic inequities in early childhood and higher education and to provide life-changing educational opportunities to those who have been excluded. We support organizations and institutions endeavoring to educate a workforce that can compete successfully in the global economy. Our top four values in this field are: providing opportunity and access, promoting diversity, supporting environmental conservation, and creating community impact. For more information, see the Education page.

Human Services – We focus mainly on the facility requirements of community-based organizations and the quality of care they provide. Grantmaking priority is given to service providers that offer opportunity and access to low-income, vulnerable, and disadvantaged populations in ways that improve their quality of life. The values we support include: creating opportunity, working in underserved geography, promoting diversity, and strengthening community impact. For more information, see the Human Services page.

Opening new doors

In 2007, Kresge began expanding its grantmaking to better address society’s pressing issues. We are in the midst of a multi-year transition to become a foundation that practices strategic philanthropy using an array of grantmaking tools and program-related investments. Our funding methods are determined based on the needs of an organization and the program officer’s discretion.

We are writing another chapter in our philanthropic history and opening new doors to grantees that seek our help and partnership. Although Kresge will long be remembered for helping to build the nation’s nonprofit infrastructure – libraries, hospitals, schools, museums, and community centers, among other facilities – we believe we have a moral obligation to address more directly the intractable issues of our time. The strong desire of our founder, Sebastian Spering Kresge, to “promote human progress” continues to be our guiding light.

The Kresge Foundation believes that higher education serves as a dominant driver of democracy in South Africa. Increasing the number of knowledge workers, such as agronomists, teachers, engineers, researchers, health-care providers and computer scientists will expand South Africa’s industrial base, create more specialized jobs, and make it possible for the country to compete more effectively in the global economy.  

Yet, in the wake of university mergers, increasing enrollments, under-prepared students, and an aging and homogeneous professorate, the ability of South Africa’s universities to meet the demands of the nation’s young democracy and fragile economy is uncertain.

Kresge seeks to help address these challenges by strengthening South Africa’s higher education system in the following ways:

• Increase the quality and quantity of locally produced research
• Improve learning and teaching
• Support university management
• Promote higher education innovation
• Nurture university-community relationships.

Our programmatic approach

Through direct grants to South African universities and higher-education organizations, we are helping to build the long-term local capacity of institutions in several specific ways. The grant awards are used in part to train the next generation of academic researchers and teachers; diversify the Academy by gender, race and ethnicity; renovate or construct laboratories and other facilities to meet world-class standards; build the management capacity and expand the income streams of universities; improve the preparedness and success of university students; and encourage universities to be fully engaged with their neighbors and the surrounding communities. 

In 2005 we committed $10.5 million over five years and partnered with Inyathelo, the South African Institute for Advancement, based in Cape Town, to fortify and advance higher education and provide on-site fundraising training and support to five institutions: Cape Peninsula University of Technology, University of Pretoria, University of the Western Cape and University of the Witwatersrand and the Red Cross Children’s Hospital Trust.

The initiative, which continues through 2010, is closed to new applicants.

Partnership for Higher Education in Africa

In 2007, Kresge joined the Partnership for Higher Education in Africa, a collaborative with the Carnegie Corporation and the Ford, Hewlett, MacArthur, Mellon and Rockefeller foundations. The purpose of the partnership is to strengthen higher education institutions across the continent of Africa so they can contribute to poverty reduction, economic growth and social development in nine African countries: Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. 

Each member foundation makes both joint grants in support of partnership priorities and individual grants in the countries where they have an existing strategic focus.   

By 2010, an estimated $350 million in grants from the partnership and the individual member foundations will have been awarded to universities and other African institutions and programs that are dedicated to improving higher education access, excellence, research and diversity for men and women at select African universities.

If you have questions, e-mail the Grants Inquiry Coordinator or call 248-643-9630.

Image credit: Stellenbosch University, South Africa

PROGRAM UPDATE
The deadline to apply to the Community Relief Fund for a zero-interest bridge loan is Tuesday, September 15, 2009, at midnight Eastern Standard Time. We plan to make the loan commitments before the end of this calendar year.

The Kresge Foundation believes all members of society deserve to have adequate food, shelter and access to basic human services so that they may lead self-sufficient and productive lives. The current economic crisis has only intensified this belief.

We support community-based organizations that serve society’s most vulnerable, disadvantaged and low-income people: food banks, homeless and domestic-violence shelters, safety-net providers, affordable housing and supportive services, legal aid services, and emergency-assistance providers.

In response to the economic crisis, we have established the Community Relief Fund, a program-related investment fund. We continue to award challenge grants for organizations conducting capital campaigns in support of facilities construction and/or renovation projects.

Our programmatic approach

It is through rigorous application of our values criteria that grantmaking decisions are made. Four values, in particular, are of utmost importance:

• Creating opportunity for disadvantaged and low-income people
• Achieving community impact by addressing clearly defined needs outside your organization, including outreach efforts
• Providing for those living in underserved geographies, including rural areas
• Reflecting in staff and board members the racial, ethnic and gender diversity of the populations the organization serves.

We support small, medium and large organizations.

Funding methods

Visit the Community Relief Fund page for complete information on eligibility requirements and the application process.

Organizations interested in applying for facilities capital may visit the Challenge Grant page for complete information on eligibility and the application process.

If you have questions, e-mail the Grants Inquiry Coordinator or call 248-643-9630.

Image credit: Common Ground, New York, New York

Through Kresge Arts Support, we have awarded unrestricted, operating-support grants to arts and cultural nonprofit organizations located in three metropolitan Detroit counties – Wayne, Oakland and Macomb – in order to contribute to their long-term strength and sustainability of small, medium and large organizations.

Kresge Arts Support was originally launched in 2007 as a three-year grantmaking effort and was extended in 2008. In all, $6.6 million in funding has been awarded to arts and cultural organizations in the tri-county area. In 2007, 53 nonprofits received three-year grants, and in November 2008, a second cohort of 14 organizations was selected to receive two-year grants.

Grant awards were based on merit and the size of an organization’s operational budget. Funding for grantees continues through 2010.

If you have questions, e-mail the Grants Inquiry Coordinator or call 248-643-9630.

• Changing the Odds: Lessons Learned from the Kresge HBCU Initiative (PDF)

PROGRAM UPDATE
The Green Building Initiative was retired May 29, 2009.