Heartland Area Action Grant
The Heartland Area Action 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 Heartland Area Action Fund accepts applications once a year. 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 Heartland area defined as: Heartland and the surrounding area, and charitable organizations outside Heartland that are founding donors in the Foundation.

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. Thirteen (13) 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 785-625-5601.

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

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Grant Guidelines
Heartland Community Foundation
Applications for the Heartland Area Action 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 Heartland Area Action Fund for a specific area of interest or target population.

When reviewing applications for grants from the Heartland Area Action Fund, the review committee will consider the following:

What type of support is being requested?

Project or program support -- supports specific projects or programs. Project grants tend to be discrete and are linked to an organization’s service.
Operating or general support -- supports the work of an organization. While it often covers the day-to-day personnel, administration and other expenses, it can be used as the grantee sees fit, including covering program costs.
Endowments -- intended to be kept permanently and invested to provide income for continued support of an organization.
Seed money -- to establish or initiate a new project, program or organization. Seed money can cover salaries and other operating expenses of a new project (also known as start-up funds).
Capacity building -- activities that strengthen an organization and help it better fulfill its mission, such as equipment and staff, facility purchase and renovation, training, publications, and convening.
Capital -- supports construction or renovation of a facility.

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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 Heartland or organizations outside of the Heartland which are founding donors of the Foundation.

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: