Community Foundations for Civic Health Planning Grants
Grant Opportunity: Planning Grants
Funder: Community Foundations for Civic Health (CFCH)
Grant Amount: $10,000 – $50,000
Grant Duration: 12 months
Deadline to Apply: November 19, 2026, at 3:00 PM EST
Community Foundations for Civic Health
Community Foundations for Civic Health (CFCH) is an initiative of CFLeads, the Rhode Island Foundation, the National Civic League, and other partners that enables community foundations to confidently strengthen civic health, achieving local impacts at a national scale.
The initiative helps community foundations leverage community leadership to coordinate local efforts, build their own plans for civic health improvement, access resources to carry out this important work, and learn from one another.
CFCH Planning Grants Overview
CFCH Planning Grants support community foundations seeking to establish or deepen their civic health work. Grants can be used to pay for costs associated with a range of efforts, such as local community engagement, field scans, asset mapping, professional development, and training that promotes board alignment. The purpose of this grant program is to help foundations advance on the Community Foundations Civic Health Continuum, transitioning from a state of emerging interest to one in which they are more prepared to implement actionable, community-anchored civic health strategies.
CFCH anticipates awarding up to $1,000,000. Awards range from $10,000-$50,000.
Planning Grants Information
CFCH Planning Grant Portfolio Goals
Planning Grants are the first to launch in CFCH’s broader granting strategy. The CFCH Planning Grant is designed to:
- Provide an accessible on ramp to a broad range of community foundations to engage more deeply in civic health
- Support broadbased impact across the field (e.g. small to large community foundations; rural, urban, and suburban footprints; racially and ethnically diverse communities served, etc.)
- Address a demonstrated need in a community foundation’s civic health continuum and bolster capacity within applicant organizations to take the next step
Community Foundations Civic Health Continuum
Applicants must anchor their proposal in a self-assessment using the Community Foundations Civic Health Continuum framework:
Explorers
a. Explorer foundations have taken initial steps by engaging in one or more CFCH or similar civic health learning opportunities, such as training or convenings, to build foundational understanding of civic health frameworks.
b. They are experimenting with piloting small activities, mapping their local civic ecosystem, and identifying relevant stakeholders — but have not yet developed a formal civic health strategy or integrated it into organizational systems and day-to-day practices.
c. Measurement is not yet in place at this stage; the focus remains on learning and early exploration rather than tracking outcomes.
Adopters
a. Adopters continue to build on CFCH or similar learning opportunities as they work to deepen their civic health knowledge and skills.
b. They are actively developing a civic health plan or strategy that aligns with and strengthens their broader community leadership efforts — experimenting with more strategic and coordinated approaches, integrating civic health into planning processes, and building partnerships with local civic actors to advance shared goals.
c. Measurement is emerging at this stage: Adopters start identifying civic health indicators and testing ways to track impact, marking a transition from learning to structured implementation, though gaps in skills and experience remain.
Integrators
a. Integrators have sustained engagement across multiple CFCH or similar learning opportunities, reflecting a deeper and more consistent investment in ongoing learning.
b. Civic health is no longer a standalone initiative but an integrated part of strategy and operations — these foundations actively leverage partnerships, community relationships, and resources to implement civic health approaches at scale, including local fundraising to support and sustain this work.
c. Integrators are starting to see early measurable outcomes, using evaluation and data to refine strategies, improve effectiveness, and guide continuous improvement.
Exemplars
a. Exemplars maintain deep and sustained engagement in civic health learning and field leadership, collaborating with peers and field leaders to help shape best practices and advance civic health amongst community foundations.
b. These foundations have fully integrated civic health into their organizational systems across programming, funding, and community practice, maintaining well-resourced, locally grounded civic health funding mechanisms and designing innovative local fundraising strategies.
c. Exemplars demonstrate strong, sustained outcomes and advance sophisticated measurement and evaluation systems — their work is iterative, continuously reflecting, adapting, and refining strategies to increase effectiveness and community impact.
Proposals must clearly state where the foundation currently sits on this continuum and demonstrate how the proposed planning goals will move the foundation toward the next stage.
Examples of Eligible Activities (non-exhaustive)
- Strategic Planning: Developing a community foundation civic health strategic plan, expanding existing strategic plan to include civic health, developing a community plan for civic health.
- Stakeholder Engagement: Facilitating community conversations, focus groups, and co-design sessions with local civic health leaders.
- Field Scans & Asset Mapping: Documenting community strengths, local leaders, cultural assets, and existing civic infrastructure.
- Board & Leadership Alignment: Conducting dedicated board education, executive learning retreats, or strategic planning sessions.
- Professional Development: Organizational capacity review, initial training for staff in public deliberation, participatory grantmaking, or civic data analysis.
Award amounts will be determined by the proposed budget, and cost and scope of the activity proposed. For instance, some internal work like board and leadership alignment require fewer resources than external-facing community engagement or asset mapping. Some proposals will be funded in full and others will be funded in part. We want to fund as many grantees as possible while having a balanced pool of grantees with budgets ranging from $10-50,000.
Technical Assistance Offered by CFCH
Grantees receive full support throughout the 12-month period:
- 1-on-1 Coaching: On request coaching calls with CFCH advisors.
- Toolkits and Resources: On request access to toolkits, models, and resources for asset mapping, board engagement, and community listening.
- Expert Connections: On request access to connections with peers leading similar work and national organizations leading in the field.
Who Should Apply
Community Foundations of all asset sizes and geographies are eligible to apply. Community Foundations who situate themselves on every level of the Community Foundations Civic Health Continuum are eligible to apply. Strong applications will be anchored in data-backed rationale for how the planning grant will position them to progress on the Community Foundations Civic Health Continuum.
Applications will be prioritized for community foundations who are Investors of CFLeads or who plan to become Investors during their grant term.
Review Process
As part of its review process, the Community Foundations for Civic Health team utilizes a rubric to ensure rigorous and equitable evaluation of each application.
The rubric is closely linked to the program’s priorities and application questions. It includes a scoring system based on a series of questions rated on a 1-5 scale using defined criteria, while also incorporating qualitative comments. Proposals will be reviewed by a peer review committee comprised of community foundation staff, researchers, and civic health practitioners. We will mitigate against any conflict of interest in assigning review portfolios. Questions include, but are not limited to, the following:
| Does the applicant provide a credible self-assessment supported by evidence, partnerships, practices, and prior civic health work? Is there a strong likelihood that the work will advance the foundation’s civic leadership and civic health capacity? |
| Is the civic health challenge, opportunity, and community context clearly described and compelling? |
| Are community members, partners, stakeholders, board/staff, and other participants appropriately engaged in the proposed work? |
| Will the project generate meaningful knowledge, skills, systems, or organizational capacity? Do activities match eligible activities? |
| Are goals, milestones, timelines, staff roles, and activities clear, realistic, and well aligned? |
| Does the applicant demonstrate awareness of challenges and realistic mitigation strategies? |
| Are proposed organizational and community outcomes clear, meaningful, and achievable? Will an artifact be produced for meaningful use? |
| Are indicators, data sources, evaluation methods, and reporting plans appropriate to the proposed work? |
| Are matching contributions, sustainability plans, and ongoing commitments credible and sufficient? Does the application include required letter of support? |
| Has the organization participated in relevant CFCH activities and demonstrated commitment to civic health learning? |
The rubric is one component of a comprehensive and collaborative review process that incorporates the perspective of multiple reviewers, team discussion, follow-up with applicants as needed, as well as alignment with available resources.
What is not covered in the Planning Grants?
In late 2027, CFCH will be launching Implementation Grants aimed at implementing civic health initiatives. If your foundation has scanned your service area for needs, reviewed existing strengths and assets, tested an initiative or model, and is ready to implement that initiative, that scope of work is better suited to the Implementation Grants.
Grant Process Timeline
CFCH Planning Grants will be open starting October 22, 2026. Awardees will be notified in February–March 2027. The grant period is one year, and reporting is due in early spring 2028.
Budget & Financial Guidelines
- Funding Tier: Proposals may request between $10,000 and $50,000. An additional 10-20% will be added onto each award for measurement and evaluation.
- Allowable Costs: Consultant/facilitator fees, community partner stipends, event venue/catering costs, staff time dedicated to project activities, professional development registration, and administrative overhead (up to 15%).
- Match: A 20% match of requested funds; raised dollars or staff time on task may serve as a match.
- Budget Narrative: Submit an itemized budget table.
Reporting & Storytelling
CFCH prioritizes action-oriented planning for this grant. Grantees will be required to complete:
- Mid-Grant Reflection (Month 6): A 45-minute check-in conversation with CFCH staff.
- Final Report (Month 13): Submit final report via the grant portal to include a narrative summary highlighting key activities and learning, one artifact (see below) and budget.
- Storytelling Multimedia Artifact: One creative artifact depicting the learning and planning undertaken (e.g., a photo essay of community sessions, a PPT report to the Board of Directors, a summary video, a mapped asset directory, a podcast-style interview with key stakeholders to broadcast, draft of a strategic plan, etc.).
Submission Guidelines
Submit full proposals through the online portal by November 19, 2026, at 3:00 PM EST
Click HERE to watch our application portal tutorial.
Click HERE to download a PDF copy of the grant application questions.