A NOTE FOR APPLICANTS:
This year, we have also begun using a new grant application program! Now, applicants will visit our GoApply website and create a profile before submitting applications. That website can be found here: https://goapply2.akoyago.com/ewvcf
Once you create your profile and log in, you will see a list of our current grant opportunities, including the TRGC grants. Once you hit “View” next to the application name, you will be taken to a page where you can read the grant guidelines. From there, you can click “Apply” and begin filling out your application! Your progress is saved as you fill out the application – no need for Save and Continue emails anymore!
The Two Rivers Giving Circle is one of the few local sources of grants for Eastern Panhandle nonprofit groups that are engaged in historic preservation and natural resource conservation.
Our members come from Jefferson, Berkeley, and Morgan counties, and we confine our grantmaking to those counties. The Two Rivers Giving Circle will consider grants for:
- Safeguarding Habitat: Protection of habitat is critical to the preservation of biodiversity. Focus is placed on buffer zones, wildlife areas, watersheds, and functioning ecosystems.
- Children and Nature: Education and involvement of the next generation are extremely important. Programs that address youth activism, knowledge, hands-on activity, and physical movement.
- Saving Panhandle Treasures: We all have a deep care for our countryside and heritage. Initiatives that provide increased protection of historic, cultural, and pastoral places in the Panhandle.
- Waste and Recycling: Efforts that catalyze underserved recycling efforts, promote effective household waste treatment, and deter non-point source pollution in the Panhandle.
- Energy Conservation: Initiatives that promote increased energy conservation and decreased consumption behaviors in our Panhandle community.
- Growing the Movement: Programs that engage, organize, and empower new constituencies who add to the advancement of programs through volunteerism and leadership that lead to new ways of thinking and acting.
Application Deadlines, Reviews, and Reports
Applicants must meet the following eligibility requirements:
- An already existing nonprofit, 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(13) organization in good standing with the IRS, or
- An existing government/quasi-governmental agency, or public school applying for a project that is not funded by tax revenue, or
- A religious organization requesting funding for a non-sectarian charitable purpose, or
- A civic group that is not a 501(c)(3) organization requesting funding for a charitable community cause.
Required Financial Information for 501(c)(3) Organizations
Applications must include financial information for the organization as a whole, and in addition:
- Applicants with charitable contributions over $300,000 but less than $500,000 must provide the most recent financial review performed by an independent certified public accountant.
- Applicants with charitable contributions over $500,000 must provide the most recent audit performed by an independent certified public accountant.
In addition, 501(c)(3) organizations must be in good standing with:
- West Virginia Secretary of State’s Business & Licensing and also the Charities Division: http://apps.sos.wv.gov/business/corporations/ & https://sos.wv.gov/business/Pages/Charities.aspx
- IRS, as assessed via IRS Pub 78 and GuideStar: https://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/ & https://www.guidestar.org/Home.aspx
Applications will open on AUGUST 23rd, 2024 and close on SEPTEMBER 20TH, 2024. Two Rivers Giving Circle representatives may contact applicants for a phone or face-to-face interview and site visit. Grants will be announced by November.
Grant Size, Payment, and Final Reporting
Trust-Based Philanthropy Reporting Requirements: In general, grants range from $1,000 to $2,500 and are generally awarded up front. A final report, including outcomes of the funded program, and a summary of your grant expenses must be submitted by the end of August of the year following receipt of the grant. All grantees will be asked to attend a Zoom meeting to update members of the Two Rivers Giving Circle shortly after final reports are submitted. Under unusual circumstances, the Community Foundation may consider an extension.