GRANT GUIDELINES

The Community Foundation is a public charity organized as a collection of permanent endowments. The income from these endowed funds is awarded through a grant application process to provide charitable funding to non-profits classified by the IRS as 501(c)(3) organizations and other eligible entities that benefit residents of Clinton, Eaton and Ingham Counties, MI.

The Community Foundation’s Youth Action Committee (YAC), made up of about 35 tri-county high school students and two advisors, serves asthe advisory committee for the Youth Fund.The Youth Action Committee (YAC) works for the long-term benefit of young people in the tri-county area, YAC grants focus on helping youth 12-18 years of age develop key assets and skills.

The Community Foundation’s Youth Action Committee (YAC) values projects that promote inclusiveness and that do not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, religion, marital status, sexual orientation, age, national origin, or disability.

The YAC will review all applications based on the following criteria and additional priority areas:

  1. Organizations eligible for grants must be:
  2. A public or non-profit private school, or a registered student organization within the school with the school acting as fiscal agent, in Ingham, Eaton or Clinton County,
  3. A non-profit charitable organization serving tri-county youth which has a current 501(c) (3) designation by the IRS, or
  4. A governmental entity serving tri-county youth.
  5. Projects that a $500-$5,000grant will encourage the leverage of the greatest possible amount of activity. This may be done with volunteers or by attracting additional funding for the project from other sources.
  6. Proposals that involve area teens in each phase of the grant process—planning, proposal writing and implementation.
  7. Priority for grant making will be given to programs/projects that address the issues of stress and anxiety, paying for college, and mental health support (depression) as identified recently by the YAC’s Youth Needs Assessment Surveyas the top three areas of concern for tri-county youthages 12-18.

WHAT THE FOUNDATION GENERALLY WILL NOT FUND. While the Community Foundation remains flexible in trying to meet community needs, the following are areas which will not be considered for funding through the application process at this time:

  • Sectarian or religious programs
  • Individuals
  • International organizations
  • Endowment funds
  • Annual meetings
  • Routine operating expenses (existing programming and administration)
  • Existing obligations, debts or expenses incurred before committee reviews proposal.

If after reading the above Grant Guidelines, you are interested in submitting a grant request to the YAC, please see the“YAC grant hard copy example”on our website ( for additional information and further instructions about this grant process.