Community Funding Accelerator - Federal grant support for community orgs

On a recent call with the Walton Family Foundation (WFF), we learned of their investment into the Community Funding Accelerator (CFA), which supports underserved communities in identifying, applying for, and winning competitive federal grants, particularly in education and workforce pathways (read more here). We wanted to share this resource, in case helpful to you or any of the community partners with whom you work.

Considering the rigor of federal grant applications, many of ASU’s nonprofit/community/implementation partners never apply for this type of funding, despite the scale of resources typically available. The Community Funding Accelerator aims to fill the knowledge, resource, and support gap many community organizations face in seeking federal funding by identifying relevant grant opportunities, building coalitions, and providing technical assistance to submit—and implement—winning applications. The types of support CFA offers range from active, hands-on partnership and assistance to passive, stand-alone resources like the Grant Writing e-book (here), which is specific to education grants and will be most beneficial for the applicant that has little to no previous experience with federal grants. WFF’s investment into the CFA is part of their strategy to leverage philanthropic funding so communities can access additional financial resources for scaled impact.