Smoky Hills Community Fund Grant
The Smoky Hills Community Fund is an unrestricted community grant fund. The Fund was created by the generosity of individuals who have contributed money to the Foundation for charitable uses, to be determined by the Foundation. From this endowed fund, the Foundation board annually designates the amount of available funding for these community grants.

The Foundation’s Smoky Hills Community Fund accepts applications once a year, in February-March (awarded in the spring). Specific dates are announced annually. Applications are not accepted outside of the grant cycles.

Applications are not limited to a particular issue or target population. Successful applications assist the Foundation in fulfilling its mission to improve the quality of life for our communities. For-profit organizations are not considered as grant recipients unless the request is for a charitable project.. Non-profit organizations and individuals or groups of individuals are considered. Grants are limited to projects that fall within the Ellsworth County area.

Below is a link to a simple grant application form. Those applying for a grant should note the limit on additional pages and that the Foundation will not accept any supplemental materials with the applications such as brochures, letters of support, annual reports, etc. Ten (10) copies of the application in its entirety must be submitted. All applicants should use the grant application form as the cover page.

The Foundation board reviews applications and makes recommendations according to the Foundation’s grant guidelines. (See below.)

If you have any questions, please feel free to call the Board Chairman at 785-472-3627.

Thanks for your interest in making Ellsworth and the surrounding area a better place to live.

TOP

Grant Guidelines
Smoky Hills Charitable Foundation

Applications for the Smoky Hills Community Fund are sought once a year from the general public. Traditionally, grants from this unrestricted community fund have not been targeted to a specific cause or population.

It is the responsibility of the Board of Directors to determine prior to each grant cycle whether or not they wish to target dollars from the Smoky Hills Community Fund for a specific area of interest or target population.

When reviewing applications for grants from the Smoky Hills Community Fund, the review committee will consider the following:

The board can choose to grant to any of the above type requests. However, unless it were a specific initiative, it is unlikely that the committee would use Foundation unrestricted funds to support an Endowment project.

Although the Foundation will consider operating or capital grants, preference will be given to grants that fall into the three remaining categories: project, seed money, or capacity building.

The Foundation will also give consideration to grants that support a variety of funding opportunities including programs or projects that support:

• Health and Human service needs

• Arts, including visual and performance

• Education

• Spirituality

• Environment

Other considerations:

Is the program, project, or organization for which funding is requested sustainable? In other words, is there confidence that the initiative will continue after Foundation support ends?

Grants may be made to charitable organizations (501(c)3 designation), or to individuals, groups or others that are requesting funding for a charitable project.

Grants should benefit the greater good of the population or the community.

Grants are restricted to benefit the Smoky Hills.

Although the review committee will consider a request for funding that is the same or similar to a previously approved grant, preference will be given to new and innovative grant requests.

The Foundation will not consider grants to the following: