OVERVIEW: This community funder supports groups throughout the state, primarily in community development, the outdoors, children and education, health and wellness, and arts and culture.
IP TAKE: ACF is one of the biggest funders in the state of Alaska. It awards hundreds of grants each year and is affiliated with multiple community foundations across the state. There are many funds at ACF for grant seekers to wrap their head around. In addition to several affiliate community funds, ACF has helped three partner community foundations—Arctic Slope Community Foundation, Homer Foundation, Juneau Community Foundation—grow and hold permanent assets. The best place to start is with the local affiliate fund. Each affiliate has a different focus, so grant seekers should take some time getting to know the ones relevant to your organization. Funding opportunities are constantly in motion here, so check back often for new developments. This is an accessible funder that accepts applications online though guidelines vary widely by program. Some grant opportunities even offer unrestricted support. Note that this funder makes grants through an equity lens, so your work must align closely in this light. This is an important funder to keep on your radar in Alaska.
PROFILE: The Alaska Community Foundation is based in Anchorage and supports nonprofits throughout the state. It seeks to inspire “the spirit of giving and connecting people, organizations, and causes to strengthen Alaska’s communities now and forever.” The foundation makes grants through a competitive application process and on donor recommendations. Grantmaking includes the great outdoors, community development, children and education, health and wellness, and arts and culture.
ACF considers the Alaska Fund to be the heart of its funding operations. According to ACF, the Fund is the most “adaptable and responsive tool, it allows ACF to act swiftly, invest in long-term solutions, and support ideas and programs rooted in community wisdom.”
ACF leverages strategic grants, programs and partnerships in order to connect “people who care with causes that matter.”
Grants for Environmental Conservation
For the outdoors, ACF funds trail investments, capacity building for soil and water conservation, and science education clubs for youth. One program through which funding for conservation occurs is the Anchorage Trail Care Fund Grant Awards, which invests Alaskan natural beauty and biodiversity.
Grants for Equity and Justice
Social Justice Fund Grant Awards supports organizations and projects that seek to “eliminate systemic discrimination, increase the power of disenfranchised and under-resourced communities, and promote equal rights and equitable opportunities for all.” Opportunities exist all over the state.
Grants for Youth, Early Childhood and K-12 Education
ACF invests in range of education causes that includes everything from early childhood to higher education and vocation school. It invests in a wide-range of Alaskan needs that stretches to every corner of the state. This funder gives for education across several areas, but primarily through Anchorage Schools Foundation Project Grant Awards, Vocational Funds for Alaska’s Future Grant Awards and Camp Initiative Grant Awards. It also administers quite a few scholarship programs, each with its own guidelines and deadlines.
- Anchorage Schools Foundation Project Grant Awards provides support for educator-led activities that promote student success within the Anchorage School District, increasing impact on child in the classroom.
- Vocational Funds for Alaska’s Future Grant Awards invests in projects that build a highly skilled workforce in Alaska’s natural resource development industries.
- Camp Initiative Grant Awards provide youth with
- ACF’s scholarship programs provide many opportunities for rising college, university and vocational students in Alaska to further their education.
Grants for Public and Mental Health
For health and wellness, ACF largely supports teen suicide prevention and substance abuse prevention through its GCI Suicide Prevention Grant Awards, which funds projects and organizations that work to reduce “rates of suicide in Alaska and promote mental wellness through strengthened community and personal connections.”
- This opportunity via ACF is funded by GCI.
- Organizations seeking project or operational support are encouraged to apply.
Grants for Human Services and Food Security
ACF offers funding for human services across its greater Alaska Fund, as well as across several funding programs. Food security funding also occurs via the Community Food Security Through Gardening Grant Awards.
Grants for Arts and Culture
ACF has celebrated the state’s native arts and culture through support for the Alaska Native Heritage Center and the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum, as well as language revitalization efforts through the Clara Lee Memorial Fund for Preservation of the Inupiat Language and Culture.
Grants for Nonprofits
The Strengthening Organizations Grant Awards focuses on providing support for capacity-building across eight distinct areas. In response to changes in federal funding policies and practices that began in January 2025, this program has been “redesigned to provide nonprofit organizations that have been directly impacted by changes in federal funding with immediate, unrestricted support to pivot and plan in a changing funding landscape.”
Other grant opportunities:
- Aside from the competitive grants, ACF also guides donor-advised grants for named funds.
- ACF runs an affiliate program with other Alaskan foundations in partnership with the Rasmuson Foundation. Affiliates create “charitable resources for their hometowns and empower their communities’ people through capacity-building actions that make lasting change locally.”
Important Grant Details:
ACF’s grants vary widely from about $750 to over $300,000 depending on the type of grant opportunity and if a grant is multi-year. In a recent year, this funder gave $14,003,731 in grants.
- There are quite a few opportunities for ACF funding. Grant seekers can view current opportunities and guidelines here.
- Direct general grant seeker questions to the staff at (907) 334-6700 or via email at info@alaskacf.org.
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