AAF Launches the Catalyst Grant Program

AAF Launches the Catalyst Grant Program

Amarillo Area Foundation’s newest grant-making program, the Catalyst Grant program, has broad appeal to organizations with relatively small grant requests. The program will provide awards for organizations requesting between $2,500 to $20,000 for projects focusing on education, health, human services, and poverty. The Foundation is hopeful the Catalyst Grant program will help meet some of the capacity building and general operating needs of the local nonprofit community.

Adding to the innovation of the Catalyst Grant program is a committee of 15-20 residents aged 45 and under from the top 26 counties of the Panhandle that will review the applications. Committee members will commit to a two-year term and review grant requests. The purpose of the committee is to engage younger individuals from across the Panhandle to help make funding decisions and involve them in philanthropy.

An additional bonus of the Catalyst Grant program is an abbreviated application. Project requirements are still similar to the Foundation’s Discretionary Grant program. Applicants must be a charitable organization from the top 26 counties of the Panhandle with appropriate financial documentation. The same exclusions will also apply to the Catalyst Grant program as the Discretionary Grant program. Organizations will not be considered if they: submit more than one proposal to AAF in a 12 month period; resubmit previously declined proposals; resubmit a proposal for a project that has been previously funded by the Foundation; or, have unfulfilled reporting requirements from a previous grant.

Organizations can only apply to either the Foundation’s Discretionary Grant program or the Catalyst Grant program in a given year; they cannot apply to both. If organizations have an open grant within the Discretionary Grant program, they are ineligible to apply for the Catalyst Grant program. Nonprofit organizations who seek funding in excess of $20,000 will continue to utilize the Foundation’s Discretionary Grant program.

Applications for the Catalyst Grant program will open in April and are due at noon on Friday, July 1, 2016. Here’s the link to apply: Catalyst Grant

By Katharyn Wiegand