Community Foundation for Southern Arizona
/OVERVIEW: The Community Foundation for Southern Arizona is Tucson-based community funder that awards regional grants in the fields of arts and culture, community development, economic empowerment, public health, education, journalism, clean energy, LGBTQ causes, and human services.
IP TAKE: The Community Foundation for Southern Arizona is a low-key community funder that makes modest grants in a limited geographical area. While it primarily funds small and medium-sized organizations that are both based in and serving Tucson or Southern Arizona, it may sometimes make grants to national organizations that have a chapter operating out of the region. While the foundation addresses a very wide range of needs and issue areas, it conducts its grantmaking through many different funds, each with their own individual funding interests and strategies. This can make navigating CFSA’s funding opportunities confusing, especially as different funds can have overlapping issues. Fortunately, CFSA encourages grantseekers to get in contact with their program officers, who can help you figure out the best funding opportunity for your program, organization, and service area.
CFSA’s transparency leaves something to be desired. It does not have a comprehensive grants database available on its website, but does sometimes keep a limited list of an initiative’s past grantees at the bottom of the program page. This, combined with the limited information on funding priorities for some initiatives and the fact that this information is spread out over many disconnected pages, means that it can be very confusing to navigate the foundation’s offerings and determine which program is right for you or what it’s looking for in a proposal. And while it is a relatively approachable funder that accepts applications for many of its initiatives, the sheer number of offerings with different deadlines and eligibility makes finding the right one a daunting prospect. The best way to approach this funder is to reach out to one of its program officers, whose contact information is posted at the bottom of each initiative page.
PROFILE: The Community Foundation for Southern Arizona (CFSA) was established in 1980 as the Greater Tucson Area Foundation before changing its name to the Tucson Community Foundation in 1984 and settling on its current name in 1997. The overarching mission of this community funder based in Tucson is to “build a thriving Southern Arizona through philanthropy.” To that end, CFSA acts as “a hub for individuals, families, businesses, and nonprofit organizations” and “connects donors to the causes they care about, serving as a vital link between philanthropy and the community’s needs.” Like many community funders, operates grant programs, donor-advised funds, several award programs established by donors, scholarships through several donor funds, and various initiatives. It has many different program and initiative areas, award programs and funding topics, including animal welfare, arts and culture, community development, education, environment, health and human services. Its main currently-active grant programs include African-American Legacy Fund, CFSA Endowment for the Arts, Comunidad Grants, CORE Grants, Hellene Henrikson Fund of the Lutheran Church of the Foothills, LGBTQ+ Alliance Fund, Local News Initiative, Nonprofit Solar Project, Santa Cruz Community Foundation, Shaaron Kent End-of-Life Care and Planning Grants, and South32 Hermosa Fund.
Grants for Community Development and Economic Opportunity
The Community Foundation for Southern Arizona broadly funds community development and economic opportunity efforts through several of its grantmaking programs.
African-American Legacy Fund provides grants of up to $10,000 in multi-year, unrestricted operating support for programs and organizations working to “address the educational and economic disparities faced by African Americans who call Southern Arizona home.” In addition to funding direct service programs, it also supports efforts to build capacity and increase collaboration and partnership among nonprofits in the field.
Comunidad Grants provide grants of up to $10,000 in unrestricted operating support for organizations with an operating budget uner $100,000 a year. This grant does not have a stated focus, but prioritizes organizations serving rural communities or marginalized groups that demonstrate “awareness of community needs” and “response to community needs.”
CORE Grants provide operating support grants of $10,000 to $30,000 for nonprofits that demonstrate a proven record of Community, Organizational sustainability, Results, and Effective programs. These grants are flexible and may be used to “address emerging issues, boost salaries and benefits, invest in technology and infrastructure, and build communication.”
Santa Cruz Community Foundation makes grants of up to $5,000 to nonprofits serving the needs of residents of Santa Cruz County.
South32 Hermosa Fund makes grants of up to $10,000 to organizations serving Santa Cruz County in areas such as “education and leadership, economic participation, good health and social well-being, and natural resource resilience.” This fund is endowed by South32, a global mining company with an operation in the Patagonia Mountains in Santa Cruz County, Arizona.
Grants for Immigrants & Refugees
CFSA conducts most of its grantmaking for immigrants and refugees through the donor-advised Hellene Henrikson Fund of the Lutheran Church of the Foothills. This fund provides grants of up to $15,000 to organizations working to “provide assistance to immigrants, refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers.” It prioritizes programs that help these individuals and families with “food, housing, and clothing,” “mental and physical healthcare,” “navigation through a variety of cultural or social obstacles,” and “meaningful employment and fair wages.” Past grantees include I Am You 360, Marshall Home for Men, Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation, Emerge! Center Against Domestic Abuse, and Primavera Foundation.
Grants for Public Health and Diseases
CFSA’s Shaaron Kent End-of-Life Care and Planning Grants go to organizations that “ provide or enhance end-of-life care services to individuals and their families,” “provide or enhance direct end-of-life services to low-income community members and people of color and their families,” or “help educate individuals, caregivers, medical personnel, family members, and the community about end-of-life care/services.” This fund provides grants of up to $25,000 for a three-year term, and consequently it only accepts applications every three years.
Grants for LGBTQ+
CFSA’s LGBTQ+ Alliance Fund was created in 1999 to “foster charitable giving in support of innovative programs and initiatives that benefit the LGBTQ+ community in Southern Arizona.” Its current priority issue areas are transgender, elderly, and youth issues. It also provides general operating support and grants for “community building, advocacy, and collaborations.” It supports a wide of organizations in the LGBTQ space, including groups whose primary mission is LGBTQ issues, groups who have a history of serving the LGBTQ community as part of their broader mission, and groups who are looking to expand their impact to include or better serve the LGBTQ community. Past grantees include Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation, Southern Arizona Gender Alliance, and Southern Arizona Senior Pride.
Grants for Climate Change & Clean Energy
CFSA launched its Nonprofit Solar Project in 2022 in partnership with Solar United Neighbors. This initiative provides grants to equip nonprofits operating in Southern Arizona with solar power in order to “reduce their carbon footprint and energy costs, freeing up resources for programming or other infrastructure needs.” This fund has not yet initiated its first grant round.
Grants for Arts & Culture
CFSA primarily supports arts and culture in Southern Arizona through the CFSA Endowment for the Arts, established in 1986 with the help of a matching grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. These grants provide unrestricted operating support to small and medium-sized arts organizations, aiming to turn them into operations that “promote high-quality artistic expression,” “have an active and engaged Board of Directors,” and “recruit volunteers and staff members that have a strong relationship with the community.” It especially prioritizes the arts in rural communities in order to “enhance our knowledge of that work, and increase the amount of funding per organization.” Past grantees include The Bisbee Radio Project, Central School Project, Ajo Council for Fine Arts, Border Arts Corridor, Patagonia Creative Arts Association, and Bi-National Arts Institute.
Grants for Journalism & Media
Launched in 2023, Local News Initiative is one of CFSA’s newest grantmaking programs. These grants of up to $75,000 go to support nonprofit news organizations that are distributed in and provide coverage of Southern Arizona. It may sometimes support for-profit news organizations with program-specific funding for projects that align with the initiatives goals and values. This initiative seeks to support and promote organizations that demonstrate a commitment to “the highest ethical and quality standards with a clear plan to publish and distribute their work widely” and “accurate, evidence-based, and verified information that is required to function in a free society,” as well as making an effort to “reach traditionally underrepresented communities.”
Grants for Education & Youth
In addition to supporting education and youth issues through several of its community funds and initiatives, CFSA also manages a number of Scholarships for students graduating from high school and/or attending college or university in Southern Arizona. The CFSA General Scholarship provides a total of $12,500 over four years and is available to high school graduates from the Southern Arizona area attending any accredited institution of higher learning. CFSA also manages many Corporate Scholarships and Criteria Specific Scholarships which may have more restrictive eligibility requirements. However, the majority of CFSA’s scholarships use the same General Scholarship application.
IMPORTANT GRANT DETAILS:
Foundation grants vary by program but often range from $3,000 to $10,000. The funder lists past grantees on the pages of its various grant programs, but does not have a comprehensive database of past grants. Grantseekers may review the foundation’s tax filings for more information on the types of organizations it supports.
CFSA’s grantmaking centers aorund Tucson and the Southern Arizona region. The community funder’s geographic affiliates are the Howard V. Moore Foundation, Oro Valley Community Foundation, Santa Cruz Community Foundation and Stone Canyon Community Foundation.
CFSA accepts applications for most of its grantmaking opportunities through the Common Grant Application. Eligibility requirements, deadlines, and the application process may vary significantly between programs.
Grants from donor-advised funds are generally by invitation only.
CFSA accepts applications for scholarships through the Common Grant Application. Applicants for the CFSA General Scholarship will also be automatically considered for several other scholarships with similar eligibility requirements. Scholarships administered by outside organizations in partnership with CFSA may have other requirements or application process.
For more information on grant applications, grantseekers may reach out to the program officer named on the page for the program in question. Other inquiries may be directed to philanthropy@cfsaz.org.
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