Cherokee Preservation Foundation

CANNON FOUNDATION

The Cannon Foundation (www.thecannonfoundationinc.org), which used to concentrate all its funding in Cabarrus County, NC, has expanded its focus in recent years and it now makes grants in rural areas from Manteo to Murphy. Historically, the Foundation’s principal grant areas have been health care (primarily in Cabarrus County) and education — especially independent liberal arts colleges in the Piedmont and Western North Carolina. In recent years, there has been an increase in grants to human and social service programs and organizations.

COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA

The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina (www.cfwnc.org) works with donors to create and manage charitable funds and then make grants to non-profit efforts in the 18 counties of the mountain region. The Foundation’s current grant programs include New Horizons (supporting the arts, environment, education, health care and people in need), Summertime Kids, Learning Links, Organizational Development and Medication Assistance. Information about the Foundation’s affiliate funds, including Cashiers Community Fund, the Fund for Haywood County and Highlands Community Foundation, is also available on the Foundation’s Web site.

DUKE ENDOWMENT

The Duke Endowment (www.dukeendowment.org) serves the people of North Carolina and South Carolina by supporting selected programs of higher education, health care, children’s welfare and spiritual life.

EBLEN FOUNDATION

The Eblen Foundation provides assistance to individuals and families suffering from the effects of illness and disabilities.

Eblen Foundation
(828) 274-8244
304 Summit Ave.
Asheville, NC 28803

JANIRVE FOUNDATION

The Janirve Foundation is a private grant making foundation established by the late Irving J. Reuter and his wife Jeannett. The Foundation provides funds for special projects, equipment, general operating expenses and matching grants. The majority of Janirve Foundation recipients are located in western North Carolina.

Janirve Foundation
(828) 258-1877
1 North Pack Square
Asheville, NC 28801

NORTH CAROLINA ARTS COUNCIL

The North Carolina Arts Council (www.ncarts.org) awards over 1,300 grants annually to non-profit organizations and artists to conduct arts programs throughout the state.

NORTH CAROLINA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

The North Carolina Community Foundation (www.nccommf.org) is a statewide community foundation that seek gifts from individuals, corporations and other foundations to build endowments and ensure financial security for non-profit organizations and institutions throughout the state. The Foundation's community affiliates make grants from unrestricted endowments to support a broad range of charitable purposes in those communities including human services, education, health, arts, religion, civic affairs, and the conservation and preservation of historical, cultural and environmental resources. The Foundation’s Western Region office is located at:

P.O. Box 2148
Sylva, North Carolina 28779
(828) 586-4616
(800) 201-9532
Fax: (828) 631- 3951

NORTH CAROLINA GIVING: THE DIRECTORY OF THE STATE’S FOUNDATIONS AND NORTH CAROLINA GIVING ONLINE

Capital Development Services (www.capdev.com/NCdirectory.htm) publishes North Carolina Giving: The Directory of the State’s Foundations and North Carolina Giving Online, an online library of North Carolina’s 1,100+ foundations. Both the directory and the online source describe North Carolina’s non-profit sector in detail and offer profiles of each foundation in the state.

MARY REYNOLDS BABCOCK FOUNDATION

The Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation (www.mrbf.org) concentrates on assisting people in the South to build just and caring communities that nurture people, spur enterprise, bridge differences, foster fairness and promote civility. The Foundation focuses on community building that seeks to assure the well being of children, youth and families; to bridge the fault lines of race and class; and to invest in communities' human and natural resources. Foundation grants are used to fund grassroots leadership development, community problem solving, enterprise and asset development, and organizational development.

Z. SMITH REYNOLDS FOUNDATION

The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation (www.zsr.org) will consider requests for any charitable activities which benefit the people of North Carolina, but it gives special attention to these focus areas: Community Building and Economic Development; Environment; Governance, Public Policy and Civic Engagement; Pre-Collegiate Education; and Social Justice and Equity.

ACCION INTERNATIONAL

ACCION International (www.accion.org) is a non-profit that fights poverty through microlending. A particularly useful feature of the Web site is a detailed list of both international and domestic microfinancing institutions with brief descriptions of and background information about each. Also provided is a short list with descriptions of policy advocacy organizations working in the field of community development.

ALLSTATE FOUNDATION

The grant programs of the Allstate Foundation (www.allstate.com/foundation) target issues related to tolerance, diversity, and inclusion, safe and vital communities, and economic empowerment. The Tolerance, Inclusion and Diversity program focuses on teaching tolerance to youth; alleviating discrimination; and reducing hate crimes. The Safe and Vital Communities program focuses on catastrophe response and mitigation; school anti-violence; and revitalization of communities. The Economic Empowerment program focuses on financial and insurance education; economic literacy; and entrepreneurial/small business skill development initiatives for women. Grants range from $500 to $500,000.

THE AMBER FOUNDATION

The Amber Foundation (www.womensnet.net) is a non-profit organization set up to help women of vision start new online businesses or advance existing ones. Each month, the Foundation awards a grant to the best business plan received. Proposals are judged for completeness of plan, originality of concept, and long-term prospects for success. Applicants must be members of the WomensNet Network to be eligible, but membership is free.

HARRY CHAPIN FOUNDATION

The Harry Chapin Foundation (www.harrysfriends.com/hcf) provides grants for community education, arts in education, agricultural, and environmental programs. Grants of up to $10,000 are available. The Foundation focuses its funding in the following areas:

Programs to identify community needs and mobilize resources to meet them.
Programs that foster social and economic justice.
Arts in education programs and other approaches to educating young people.
Agricultural programs that support the preservation of individually owned farms, or that promote equitable food production and distribution.
Environmental programs that promote a safe and sustainable environment.

COTTONWOOD FOUNDATION

The Cottonwood Foundation (www.cottonwoodfdn.org) is dedicated to promoting empowerment of people, protection of the environment, and respect for cultural diversity. The Foundation focuses its funding on committed, grassroots organizations that rely strongly on volunteer efforts and where foundation support will make a significant difference.

CULTURAL FUNDING: FEDERAL OPPORTUNITIES

The National Endowment for the Arts' Cultural Funding: Federal Opportunities at www.arts.endow.gov/federal.html is an online resource of federal funding available for arts initiatives through national, state and local funding programs. The site allows the visitor to search for relevant programs and see how program administrators accessed federal dollars for arts and cultural programs. The site also offers a list of links to federal departments and agencies that offer funding opportunities that can support arts and cultural programs. Additionally the site provides a list of tips on the process of accessing federal funding at the local level.

FEDERAL MONEY RETRIEVER

Federal Money Retriever (www.fedmoney.com) is a software package that is billed as a one stop guide to all U.S. federal funding programs. The software includes a search engine and a database as well as a guide to federal funding and federal grant application procedures and terminology, and is designed to help individuals and organizations in the search and full text retrieval of all federal funding programs corresponding exactly to their specific funding needs. The software can be downloaded from the Web or ordered as a CD-ROM. Packages are available in Economy, Standard, and Professional at various prices, depending on the package and route (Web or mail) selected.

THE FOUNDATION CENTER'S GUIDE TO GRANTSEEKING ON THE WEB

The Guide to Grantseeking on the Web available at http://fdncenter.org/marketplace/catalog/product_monograph.jhtml?id=prod40002 provides both novice and experienced Web users with a gateway to numerous online resources available to grantseekers, and supplies helpful advice on the best use of those various Internet resources. The Guide will structure your research with a toolkit of resources:

Guided tour of the Foundation Center's Web site
Independent foundations, grantmaking public charities, and corporate grantmakers on the Web
Government funding resources online
Prospecting online for individual donors
Profiles of searchable databases (both free and fee-based)
Online journals, periodicals, and newsletters on philanthropy
Discussion lists and message boards
Abstracts of hundreds of grantmaker and other non-profit Web sites
Comprehensive bibliography and Webliography

Valuable free information for grantseekers, including links to more than 2,000 grantmaker Web sites, are available on the Foundation Center’s Web site (www.fdncenter.org).

GRANTS WORKBENCH

Grants Workbench helps grantwriters to formulate and structure their ideas and then produce the first drafts of their proposals. The Grants Workbench — a service of WinningProposal.com — is designed for educators, healthcare organizations, social services agencies, museums, and libraries that want to increase their win rate for grant proposals and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the people who write them.

ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON COMMUNITY HEALTH LEADERSHIP PROGRAM INVITES NOMINATIONS

Each year the Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leadership Program honors ten outstanding individuals who help expand access to health care and social services to underserved and isolated populations in communities across the United States. Each honoree is awarded $100,000 or more for program support and $15,000 as a personal stipend. Community-based health providers and advocates in mid-career who have created or significantly improved health programs in local communities where healthcare needs have been ignored and unmet are eligible to be nominated. Please visit the Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leadership Program Web site at www.communityhealthleaders.org/ for more information.

KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL FUNDING

The National Center for Small Communities (NCSC) has published Keys to Successful Funding: A Small Community Guide to Federal and Foundation Resources. The guide was written to give local leaders the information and tools to locate and compete successfully for the billions of dollars in public and private funding for which they qualify each year. The guide illustrates how to develop the major components of a competitive proposal: Planning; Eligibility; Affordability; Funding; and Management. There is also a chapter devoted to the funding available from the nation’s 42,000 foundations, many of which limit their assistance to the community or state where they are located. The book concludes with free and affordable sources of planning, technical assistance and administrative expertise, as well as contacts, hotlines, and Internet sites of particular value. Keys to Successful Funding is available for purchase on-line at www.smallcommunities.org/ncsc/.

MANAGEMENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAM FOR NON-PROFITS

This guide, posted by the Management Assistance Program for Non-profits, provides financial management guidance with links to many other online resources. It is available at http://www.mapnp.org/library/finance/np_fnce/np_fnce.htm.

MILAGRO FOUNDATION OFFERS ASSISTANCE FOR YOUTH PROGRAMS

The Milagro Foundation (www.milagrofoundation.org) makes grants from $2,500 - $25,000 to community-based, non-profit grassroots organizations that work with children and youth, especially those at risk and disadvantaged due to such factors as poor health, illiteracy, or insufficient educational and cultural opportunities.

KARLA SCHERER FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIPS FOR WOMEN

Applications are currently being accepted for Karla Scherer Foundation Scholarships for women pursuing business careers with a focus on finance or economics (http://comnet.org/kschererf/). Women of all ages and backgrounds, including high-school seniors and women who have been out of school or the job market for some time, may apply. Each applicant must submit a preliminary statement concerning her choice of courses and college or university, and how she plans to use business education in her chosen field.