Inland Empire Community Foundation

OVERVIEW: The Inland Empire Community Foundation supports a broad range of community needs and interests in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties in California.  

IP TAKE: This is a well-established and powerful community foundation with dozens of grantmaking opportunities for organizations in every field. The foundation articulated a strong commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in 2020, and is committed to addressing racial and other discrepancies in wellness, safety and opportunity in all of its grantmaking. Keep up with new opportunities on the foundation’s nonprofit landing page, and reach out via email with questions. In spite of its size, this funder is approachable and supportive.

PROFILE: Established in 1941, the Inland Empire Community Foundation (IECF) is a community foundation with offices in Palm Desert, Riverside and San Bernardino, California. Charles Brouse, a local banker and civic leader, created the Riverside Foundation, which later became known as the Community Foundation – Serving the Counties of Riverside and San Bernardino. IECF has since adopted its current name and manages around 400 funds. The foundation’s mission involves “strengthening the Inland Empire through philanthropy.” While many of its grant opportunities support community development broadly, the foundation also houses funds focused on women, children, mental health, disabilities, racial justice, veterans, journalism, arts and culture. Grantmaking serves the counties of Riverside and San Bernardino in California. This funder articulated a renewed focus on “focus on racial, gender, and economic equity” in 2020.

Grants for Community Development, Food Systems, Work and Opportunity

IECF makes grants for community development through several of its funds. While some of these work generally to support community needs and interests, others target specific issues related to poverty, hunger and elderly or vulnerable residents.

  • The Build Coachella Valley Fund was created in 2023 “to support the critically urgent social, environmental, and economic resilience of the region.” Grantmaking targets “effective, mission-driven organizations that uplift wellbeing and build prosperity for residents,” and the foundation named food insecurity as the focus of its first round of funding. Grants range from $5,000 to $25,000. Applications for this program are due at the end of April, with grants to be announced in July.

  • The Irene S. Rockwell Fund makes grants to support community development in the city of Perris, California.

  • The Idyllwild Community Fund maintains the mission of “strengthening Idyllwild through shared resources.” Grantmaking has supported organizations involved with local education, arts, safety, wellness and environmental concerns and prioritizes initiatives for underserved members of the community. This program accepts grant applications with a due date that usually falls in mid-April. Grant announcements are usually made in July, and grants are typically awarded in amounts of up to $5,000.

  • The Riverside County Nonprofit Assistance Fund was created with $14.5 million in funding from the Riverside County Department of Housing and Workforce Solutions to support nonprofits that “suffered a negative financial impact related to the COVID-19 pandemic within Riverside County.” Grantmaking also prioritizes communities in Riverside County that were disproportionately affected by the crisis. Specific areas of focus include but are not limited to employment, basic needs, health and wellness, crime, childcare and education.

These grants range from $50,000 to $150,000. Detailed guidelines, as well as links to application webinars and office hours are provided on the program page. Applications are due in early August, and decisions are announced in September. It is unclear if this program will run beyond its 2024 cycle.

Grants for Women and Girls, Mental Health, Disabilities and Violence Prevention

Several of IECF’s smaller funds offer grantmaking opportunities for organizations involved with the safety and wellbeing of women, children and disabled people.

  • The Seraphim Fund makes grants for causes related to women and children, “including the economically disadvantaged, victims of domestic abuse, and those suffering from physical or mental illness or substance abuse.”

  • The Fred Stebler & Eva V. Stebler Foundation Fund “provides funds for the treatment and care of indigent children in Riverside County, with a strong emphasis on children with special needs.”

  • The James Bernard & Mildred Jordan Tucker Fund works to support causes that “benefit disabled persons who are dependent on the use of a wheelchair for mobility.”

Grants for Racial Justice

IJECF runs two grantmaking programs concerned with racial justice and equity for Black and Latino residents.

  • IECF renewed its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in 2020 and since then has dedicated grantmaking from its Community Impact Fund to amplify “the voice and power of our grantees to transform their communities.” The foundation also articulates a commitment to use local data on “safety, health, and prosperity” to inform future grantmaking from the fund. Application information for this program is not available at this time, but interested grantseekers should email the foundation at grant-info@iegives.org to inquire about future grantmaking cycles.  

Grantees of the Community Impact Fund include the Nehemaih Charitable Fund, Carol’s Kitchen, the Morongo Basin Cultural Arts Council, the Children’s Charities of the Desert and Rebirth Homes.

  • The Black Equity Initiative EI Technical Assistance Grant program provides funding to Black-led organizations that aim to “secure funding for systems change and power-building initiatives.” Grants provide a $10,000 stipend as well as the opportunity to participate in grant writing instructional sessions. An early application round accepted proposals with a due date in mid-June, but it is unclear if this program will run again.  

Grantees include the Black Voice Foundation, the Sickle Cell Disease Foundation, Magdalena’s Daughters, African American Concerned Churches and the Victor Valley Family Resource Center.

  • The Cielo Fund was created in 2022 and “is dedicated to uplifting and investing in the Inland Empire’s Latino community.” Grants support Latino-led and Latino-serving organizations with budgets of up to $500,000. Areas of interest include leadership development, capacity building, economic development, education, health, racial equity, immigration and “media and narrative change.” The maximum grant request is $15,000, and the program accepts applications for a two week window of time beginning in late January. Grants are typcially announced in March.

Past Cielo grantees include Alianza Coachella, the California Immigrant Youth Justice Coalition, Get in Motion Entrepreneurs, San Bernardino Community Services and the Desert Sun’s Coachella Latino Voices Initiative.

Grants for Arts and Culture

Arts and culture are smaller areas of giving at this foundation, with some grant opportunities existing through some of the foundation’s community development funding programs. Two funds, however, focus specifically on arts and culture initiatives.

  • The Creative Corpos Inland SoCal grant program was launched in 2021 with funding from the California Arts Council. The program supports artists and arts organizations engaged in projects that  work to “create awareness in four key areas identified by the state: Public health and pandemic recovery, water and energy conservation, disaster preparedness and recovery, civic engagement, and social justice. Grants to organizations range from $25,000 to $150,000, while grants to individual artists range from $10,000 to $50,000. For a first round of grantmaking, the foundation ran information sessions and accepted applications with a due date of March 1 and decisions announced in June. It is unclear if this program will run again.  

Grantees include Bezerk Productions, Culturas Music and Arts, the Green Room Theatre Company and the Street Dance Collective, among others.  

  • The Fund for a Creative IE is a new fund created in response to the foundation’s 2023 Arts & Economic Prosperity 6 (AEP6) report. Still in its earliest stages, this fund expects to offer support to the region’s 250 arts organizations “and help them connect with their communities and funding possibilities.” Check the program page for future opportunities.  

Grants for Veterans and Military

IECF’s Friends of Veterans Fund supports veteran-serving organizations that support vets with “legal aid services, post-military education and skills-building, housing, basic needs, and physical and mental health.”  Information about the application process for these grants is not available at this time, but grantseekers should check the foundation’s grant opportunities sections for updates on this opportunity. The foundation does not provide information of past grantees of this program.

Grants for Journalism

IECF very recently established its Journalism Innovation Hub+ Fund “to support local and regional journalism and media and build the pipeline of talent for the sector.” Future grantmaking from this fund will focus on journalism education and training, community newsrooms, investigative reporting and “citizen and advocacy journalism.”

Important Grant Details:

IECF’s grants range anywhere from $5,00o to $5 million, although most grants stay below $100,000.

  • This is a large community foundation, with many new and changing opportunities. Keep up with available grants at the grant opportunities section.

  • This funder supports organizations of all sizes, but mainly limits grantmaking to the Inland Empire region of California, consisting of Riverside and San Bernardino Counties.

  • This funder accepts grant applications for almost all of its funding programs via its application portal. However, guidelines and due dates vary significantly by program, so be sure to examine program pages carefully before beginning the process.

  • For additional information about past grantmaking, see the foundation’s financial reports or its news page.

Submit general inquiries to the foundation via email at info@iegives.org or by telephone at 760-836-2400.

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