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Grants are the life-blood of any grassroots fundraising campaign.
Grants are basically cash awards given to projects that meet the
foundation's guidelines. There are national and state grants as well as
smaller sources of funding that might be specific to a particular
county, city, or even neighborhood. Grants are directed to projects
that share a common mission. For example, the Tony Hawk Foundation
awards grants primarily to skatepark projects in areas that are
currently underserved by skateboarding terrain. In order to receive a
grant from one of these foundations, the project must demonstrate its
merit. This is typically done through a grant application though
sometimes there can be a more involved process that includes interviews
or presentations.
There are precious few Tony Hawk Foundations
out there and these funding sources are very competitive. No skatepark
effort should ever rely upon a single source of funding or presume that
any particular grant our funding source is a sure thing. Most skatepark
efforts apply for a THF grant so if your project will also apply for an
award, you will need to demonstrate that your project is more worthy
than the hundreds of other applicants.
There are lots of places
to look at what grants are available though it will be up to you to
decide which ones to apply for. While you can certainly apply for all
kinds of grants, if the foundation's mission doesn't focus on youth
recreation in some way it's probably not a great use of your time.
One funding source in Indiana, for example, is the Indiana Youth Institute. According to their mission, the IYI "...promotes the healthy development of children and youth by serving the institutions and
people of Indiana who work on their behalf." It looks like if you've got a skatepark project going on in Indiana, this is a potential source of support.
On
a national scale, advocates will find that there are lots of funding
sources but that it's challenging to find sources that are directly
applicable to skatepark development. It will be up to you to "make your
case" to why a skatepark meets the foundation's goals.
Sprint is a good example of a large company that operates a charitable branch. On their website you can see what their goals and guidelines are...
"The Sprint Foundation accepts grant requests from January through
November each year. Grants for national partnerships are limited to
those addressing K-12 Character Education, Safety in Schools and
Diversity. Regional and Local grants focus on those areas as well as
K-12 education more broadly, youth development, and arts & culture.
Recipient organizations must be tax exempt and tax deductible, have
auditable financial results and comply with all necessary laws
regarding registration and reporting. Ineligible requests include those
for political or religious organizations, individuals, international
organizations and private charities or foundations. A more complete
listing is provided in the Sprint Foundation section of the Sprint.com
website. Generally grants are provided for specific program support not
for operating expenses or events."
The key phrase here is "youth development." If you can
demonstrate how the skatepark project is crucial to the development of
your community's youth, you may have a compelling application to
Sprint's review committee. Even if funding for the skatepark is denied,
you may find other in-kind donations useful to your project.
The
internet is a fantastic place to research potential grants. One quick
search for "national youth facility grants" returns a result for the National Youth Development Information Center,
which lists a number of grant opportunities, some of which may be
applicable to your project. You may find that foundations with narrower
geographic scope will tend to be less competitive, so try to focus your
searches to a state, county, or city level.
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