Atlanta Community Investment Fund Seeks 2014 Grant Applicants

Through the Com­mu­ni­ty Invest­ment Fund, we pro­vides small grants to com­mu­ni­ty-based orga­ni­za­tions and res­i­dent net­works to devel­op com­mu­ni­ty-dri­ven respons­es to com­mon chal­lenges. Grants sup­port res­i­dent-led projects in Atlanta’s Adair Park, Mechan­icsville, Peo­plestown, Pitts­burgh and Summerhill/​Capitol Gate­way neigh­bor­hoods — col­lec­tive­ly known as Neigh­bor­hood Plan­ning Unit V.

The Foundation’s Atlanta Civic Site team works with a group of vol­un­teer res­i­dents select­ed from each neigh­bor­hood to design the appli­ca­tion, fund­ing cri­te­ria and grant-mak­ing process for a total of $50,000 in mini awards through­out the year.

These small grants aim to:

• sup­port vol­un­teers and grass­roots orga­ni­za­tions in tak­ing own­er­ship in improv­ing their communities;
• fos­ter rela­tion­ships by encour­ag­ing diverse com­mu­ni­ty part­ner­ships to work toward com­mon goals;
• build capac­i­ty with­in the com­mu­ni­ty through train­ing and lead­er­ship devel­op­ment; and
• sup­port and track at least one mea­sure­able neigh­bor­hood improve­ment from each grantee, with the under­stand­ing that incre­men­tal improve­ments lead to broad­er com­mu­ni­ty impact.

Because the fund is one of only a few local grant oppor­tu­ni­ties open to groups with­out non­prof­it sta­tus, many of the grantees are vol­un­teer groups or start-ups that are able to lever­age a small invest­ment in many ways to max­i­mize their impact.

Awards range from $500-$5,000 annu­al­ly. The dead­line for 2014 sub­mis­sions is 5 p.m. Fri­day, May 30.

Down­load the 2014 Com­mu­ni­ty Invest­ment Fund Application