Grant Guidelines

The Saginaw Community Foundation is particularly interested in funding projects that:

Enhance and preserve the quality of life in Saginaw County
Are not adequately served by existing community resources
Provide leverage for generating other funds and community resources
Facilitate cooperation and collaboration between organizations

In making grants, the Saginaw Community Foundation is guided by the following general policies and considerations:

Other than grants made to individuals through designated scholarship funds, grants will be made only to those nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations and programs benefiting Saginaw County.
Grants will be made for a wide variety of programs and purposes benefiting the citizens and communities of Saginaw County, striving to reach communities throughout Saginaw County. We fund arts and culture, health and human services, civic improvement and environment, education and youth programs.
Grants are ordinarily made for one year.

Unless there are compelling reasons to do so, grants are normally not made for the following:

Operating budgets
Basic municipal services
Basic educational functions
Endowment campaigns
Previously incurred debt
Sectarian religious programs

Although not specifically precluded, low priority is given to requests for travel for groups such as school classes, clubs or sports teams.

When evaluating grant applications, we give careful consideration to factors such as the problem being addressed, the proposed solution, potential community impact, the ability of the project to ultimately be self-sustaining, the capability of the organization to achieve the desired result(s) and whether or not the proposed project duplicates or counteracts efforts of other groups.

Applicants must contact the Kendra Kempf at the Saginaw Community Foundation at (989) 755-0545 prior to submitting an application to determine eligibility and to recieve a grant number. Learn more about specific grant programs.