Walker Area Community Foundation
/OVERVIEW: This funder supports Walker County, Alabama, and the surrounding area. Its giving areas include arts and humanities, children and youth, education, elder care, environment, health and medicine, recreation and social welfare.
IP TAKE: Grant seekers should approach WACF for one-time project support, not for ongoing needs. The funder will support pilot projects, too. This funder runs two annual grantmaking cycles, accepting applications during the months of February and August. Create an account on the foundation’s application portal to begin the process.
PROFILE: The Walker Area Community Foundation (WACF) is based in Jasper, Alabama. It seeks to “build a permanent endowment that will forever help support the charitable needs of our community and improve the quality of life for the people of Walker County and the surrounding area.” The foundation dates back to 1995 when John T. Oliver Jr., Pat Willingham, and the Community Health Systems Board earmarked $6 million from the sale of the Walker Regional Medical Center. Funding priorities include arts and humanities, children and youth, education, elder care, environment, health and medicine, recreation and social welfare.
Nonprofits can apply for grants by March 1 or September 1 each year. The competitive grants process includes the Community Fund, Bankhead Fund, Matthew Crump Fund, Reed Family Fund, Rotary Club of Jasper Fund, and the Samuel Lee Smith Advised Fund. It is only necessary to apply once, not to each individually; all applications are considered by all funds. These are the only funds at the community foundation that accept grant applications.
The application process is conducted online. WACF typically does not make grants for operating expenses unless they are to launch a pilot project, and it does not fund recurring program expenses, either. View a list of recently funded nonprofits here. Yearly grantmaking usually exceeds $1 million.
Other services WACF provides to nonprofits include a resource directory, nonprofit council and training sessions for staff and board members. Generation Walker is a foundation plan that involves a listening tour and identifies external priorities for the foundation to focus on over the next three to five years. Each summer, the funder also teaches lessons in philanthropy through a partnership with the University of Alabama’s New College Partners for Action and Research in Communities. It is an eight-week internship that connects students and nonprofits.
Keep up with the funder and its interests on its newsletter section.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
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