Hello, Everyone!

As you may know we hosted a webinar on June 8th to announce our plans for rolling out multi-year funding for our next open application grant cycle. We have been working toward implementation of trust-based philanthropy principles over the last several years. In that time, we have worked toward simplifying our application and reporting requirements, made all of our awards unrestricted general operating grants, made an effort to be more transparent about our practices, and have worked to provide support beyond the check for grantees and partners. So this is the final aspect of those principles that we are adopting (per Board approval in February 2023). If you missed the webinar, you can view it here.

While in the past, the Foundation has on occasion made multi-year grants, this new approach marks the first time that it will formally make such grants available in a broader way. Below is a summary of how we think this process will play out over the next few years. But, as you know, we are a learning organization so things may change based on feedback from our grantee partners and as we learn more about other successful models of multi-year grantmaking:

Starting with the 2024 funding cycle, the foundation will begin a multi-grant cycle process of transitioning its Focus category of grants to become three-year, $35,000 per year operating grants. When fully implemented, a total of 60 Focus grants will be active in the Foundation’s annual portfolio at any given time, with the remainder of its open cycle budget dedicated to one-year Cultivate grants, which moving forward will be in the set amount of $15,000 per year. This transition will occur over the course of the next three years, with 20 new multi-year grants awarded each year. The multi-year awards will be by invitation only and we hope to incorporate community voice as much as possible in the process.

• In the first year of this transition, 20 organizations that are eligible for the Foundation’s Focus category of grants will be invited to apply for the multi-year grants, while 40 1-year $35,000 Focus grants will be available for any eligible organization to apply for in the open cycle.
• In the second transition year, an additional 20 organizations will be invited to apply for a multi-year grant , while  20 1-year Focus grants  will be available for any eligible organization to apply for in the open cycle.
• In the third transition year, an additional 20 organizations will be invited to apply for a multi-year Focus grant. The remaining grants available in that open cycle will be Cultivate grants. 

Based on the questions asked at the webinar, we will be sharing an FAQ on our “Eligibility” page prior to August 15th (the beginning of our next open grant cycle for 2024 funding). That page also has the eligibility requirements to be considered for a Focus Grant (as well as information about our other grant categories). If you have any questions that were not answered during the webinar, please feel free to reach out to us at grants@nmmccune.org. 

We are looking forward to honoring the hard and important work done by our grantee partners by providing flexible, multi-year funding that supports their priorities. It is our hope that the approach we’re taking will help effective organizations gain additional stability and deepen the impact of their work.

Sincerely,

Carla Romero,

Executive Director

McCune Charitable Foundation