Albuquerque Community Foundation: Arts/Culture, Education, and Environmental/Historic Preservation

Each year, the Albuquerque Community Foundation makes grants to organizations providing services benefiting people in the Albuquerque metropolitan area through a competitive process. The Foundation’s Competitive Grant Program is comprised of 71 endowment funds. In order to respond to the community’s needs, distributions from the funds are pooled and aligned with the Foundation’s fields of interest, as follows:

• Arts and Culture: Grants will focus on two primary funding areas: organizations and programs that provide access to arts and culture for low-income and/or at-risk populations and organizations supporting the greater Albuquerque Metropolitan Area through visual and performing arts. ​
• Economic and Workforce Development: Grants will support intentional, inventive efforts to ensure a strong local economy. This new field promotes social, economic, and environmental growth by supporting innovative support systems for entrepreneurs and the state’s workforce.​
• Education: Grants will focus on supporting at-risk populations to ensure they receive educational opportunities to better the course of their lives and careers. Specific focus areas are: elementary education literacy programs, at-risk youth, students with special needs, and skills-based education for youth and adults.​
• Environmental and Historic Preservation: Grants will focus on the “environmental economy” and the preservation of historic landmarks, attractions, buildings, and venues. The “environmental economy” can be defined as organizations working within the environmental sector to bolster economic growth. ​
• Health: Grants will focus specifically on meeting the mental health needs of individuals in the greater Albuquerque Metropolitan Area. Populations served through mental health programs may range from early childhood to seniors and will include the many diverse populations in between. ​
• Human Services: Grants will serve as “springboard” grants to help individuals transition to more self-sustainable lifestyles. Special focus will be given to organizations and programs that support one or more of the following: parental or guardian skills training, teen pregnancy, job training, independent living, and teens aging out of foster care. ​

In 2016, the Foundation identified a common grant theme through all fields-of-interest: “Access to Economic Opportunities,” aiming to move the needle towards prosperity for more Albuquerque residents. Access to economic opportunities could apply (but is not limited) to the following areas:

• Providing and supporting economic opportunities for individuals living in the four-county Greater Albuquerque Metropolitan Area. This may include life-skills and career development programs; educational opportunities; and/or social services programs that create self-sustainable lifestyles for at-risk populations.
• Providing and supporting opportunities that will bolster the economic growth of Albuquerque. This may include strengthening access to art and culture; supporting preventative health and human services programs to reduce homelessness and physical health needs; increasing workforce development and job creation to bolster economic growth; and/or ensuring Albuquerque’s proximity to the natural environment remains a preserved, protected and valued aspect of the city.

The Foundation makes grants on two cycles:

• Round 1: Arts/Culture; Education; and Environmental/Historic Preservation. Letters of intent are due by March 1.
• Round 2: Health; Human Services; and Economic and Workforce Development. Letters of intent are due by May 8.

Amount: An estimated $300,000 is available in 2017. Grant requests must be a minimum of $1,000 and a maximum of $15,000. The range for grant requests is based on the organization’s total income from the most recently completed fiscal year:

• If total income was under $500,000, organizations may apply for up to $10,000 in funding, but not more than 20% of that income amount
• If total income was $500,000 or more, organizations may apply for up to $15,000 in funding

Eligibility: Applicants must:

• Be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, or be a public educational institution or a public agency
• Have been incorporated in the state of New Mexico for a minimum of 5 years
• Be current with all state and federal reporting requirements
• Demonstrate how the organization or program provides access to economic opportunities
• Have 100% of its Board of Trustees providing a meaningful financial contribution to the organization

Link: http://albuquerquefoundation.org/grants.aspx

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