The Charlottesville Future Fund 

Established in the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation in 2009

CACF has launched the Charlottesville Future Fund, a giving circle comprised of people in their 20’s through 40’s who will pool their charitable dollars into a fund within CACF and decide annually as a group which local non-profits to support. For the inaugural year 2009-2010, the Future Fund has 96 founding members who will have approximately $29,000 to grant in May 2010.

About the Future Fund grantmaking program

The Future Fund has formed a Grants Committee of Future Fund members who will review proposals and recommend a slate of finalists to the full Future Fund membership (all grants made through CACF are approved by the CACF Governing Board). The membership may choose to grant one large grant or to provide smaller grants to several organizations. The focus of the Future Fund’s grantmaking for 2009-2010 will be EDUCATION and will focus on the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County.

The Future Fund seeks to respond to nonprofits or schools seeking programmatic, capital, or capacity building (improving organization effectiveness) support. For this grantmaking year applications are limited to:

• nonprofit organizations serving Charlottesville & Albemarle providing education from early childhood through adolescence
• nonprofit organizations serving Charlottesville & Albemarle providing vocational and adult education
• school applicants are limited to the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County Public Schools: one proposal is allowed from each school. The proposal must be supported, in writing, by the Superintendent of Schools. Higher education institutions are not eligible.

How to Apply

The Foundation requires an application addressed to the membership of the Charlottesville Future Fund. The application deadline is Wednesday January 6, 2010. Applications may be hand delivered to the CACF office at 114 4th Street, SE or by mailing them to the Charlottesville Future Fund, Charlottesville Area Community Foundation, P.O. Box 1767, Charlottesville, VA, 22902 (applications must be postmarked no later than January 6 to be accepted).

Application procedures

In no more than 3 pages please tell us the following:
• Contact information (name & title of primary contact person, address, phone, fax, e-mail, and website address)
• Please identify your request of up to $29,000 that reflects the need of your organization and let us know how the grant will improve the educational goals of your target population.
• Description of the need to be met and the goals and objectives for the proposed project or program. Include the number of individuals to be served and frequency of service.
• A brief description of the organization’s mission, history, and the programmatic and geographic scope of its activities.
• Plans for measuring when and if the project or program has succeeded.

In addition, please include:
• A one page project budget using the Project Budget Form available by clicking here.  Please include additional funding sources secured or pending for the project or program.
• Latest financial statement (audited if available)
• A copy of your 501(c)3 tax-exempt letter as issued by the Internal Revenue Service
** For the narrative, please use each of the bullet points as a header so that it is clear that you have submitted all of the required information. The one page budget, financial statement, and tax-exempt letter will be in addition to the three page narrative.

The Foundation's Response 

CACF will acknowledge your application was received. Applications will be reviewed by the Future Fund membership and organizations will be contacted if further information is needed or a site visit is requested. Grant decisions will be finalized and organizations notified in May 2010.
Grant Reporting
All recipients are required to send a one page report upon project completion or one year after grant is awarded, whichever occurs first. Reports should be submitted via email to Holly Hatcher, Director of Programs at hhatcher@cacfonline.org.

Questions about this grantmaking program may be directed to Holly Hatcher, Director of Programs at hhatcher@cacfonline.org or at (434) 296-1024. To learn more about the Charlottesville Future Fund please visit www.cacfonline.org