What Has the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven Been Up to Lately?

Milestone years tend to be a big deal for community foundations, and the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven (CFGNH) is no exception to this rule. Established way back in 1928, CFGNH supports 20 towns in Central Connecticut in the areas of arts and culture, basic needs, civic vitality, economic success, education, environment, health and wellness, and children and youth. With around 900 charitable funds under management and assets hovering around $350 million, CFGNH has one of the broadest reaches you’ll find anywhere in the Tri-State Area.

Topics of interest for this community funder lately include voter engagement, new tax law changes, sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace, and bringing diversity to its own board. For its anniversary year, CFGNH has been highlighting stories of inclusive coalitions and crucial collaboratives that have shaped and improved Connecticut communities in and around New Haven. Likely to drum up some community engagement, the funder is even giving out a $250 giveGreater.org card to a randomly drawn winner who reads these stories and takes a trivia quiz.

To respond to community needs, the foundation recently opened up its competitive grant process for both responsive grants over $7,500 and strategy grants in varying amounts. CFGNH responsive grants are made for capacity-building support, general operating support, and project support. Meanwhile, strategy grantmaking is currently focused on immigrant integration, and there’s funding now available for local groups that provide a wide variety of immigrant-related services, including direct services, advocacy efforts, and capacity-building. Now is a particularly important time for New Haven funders to pay attention to this issue since the city experienced a 50 percent increase in the local immigration population between 2000 and 2012.

In addition to these timely opportunities, event sponsorships up to $2,500, nonprofit animal shelter grants up to $7,500, and small grants up to $7,500 are available throughout the year. In a recent grant cycle of 46 grant awards, the distribution of grants among interest categories looked something like this: arts & culture ($123,000), basic needs ($286,000), civic vitality ($308,853), economic success ($20,000), education ($485,000), the environment ($240,000), health & wellness ($1,202,700) and children & youth ($341,803).

Learn more about this funder in IP’s profile of the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven.