Grantmaking Overview

At the Foundation, we are proud to serve 21 towns – each with its own character, strengths, and priorities. While demographics, nonprofit presence and capacity, and local concerns may vary from place to place, we also see powerful common threads, shared hopes for healthier communities, greater economic opportunity and lasting impact.

Our grantmaking process reflects this complexity. It is comprehensive, community-informed, and grounded in our values. We prioritize needs as identified by our partners, informed by staff insight, and shaped through engagement with a range of community stakeholders. On average, the Foundation distributes $8.3 million in grants and scholarships annually, including approximately $2 million through staff and committee-directed grantmaking, with a commitment to responsiveness, equity, and accountability across Greater Waterbury and the Litchfield Hills.

Our Priority Funding Areas

(See chart below for current application dates and deadlines.)

• Arts and Culture
  Supports community access to quality arts experiences.
• Building Equitable Opportunity
  Addresses pathways to long-term success, including education, youth development, job training, financial literacy, and housing security.
• Grassroots Leadership
  Supports civic engagement and organizing efforts in Waterbury.
• Health and Environmental Justice
  Provides funding for health, housing, basic needs, and efforts that address environmental disparity.
• Pathways (Older Adults)
  Supports engaged, healthy aging in community.
• Strengthening Nonprofits
  Supports nonprofits with skill, technology, and capacity-building efforts.

Special Funds include:

• Herbst Fund for Eye Research
• Pride in the Hills Fund
• Saunders Health Fund for Naugatuck
• Southbury Community Trust
• Waterbury Black Giving Circle
• Whittemore Travel Scholarship Fund
• Women’s Giving Circle

If your project does not appear to fit within the priority areas or special initiatives listed above, please call us at 203-753-1315 and we will be happy to discuss it with you. 

Our Approach to Grantmaking

Foundation staff and volunteer committees are dedicated to being curious, transparent and bringing the spirit of collaboration to the grant process. We strive to learn from our grantees’ lived experience and to simplify the barriers to receiving funding. We encourage grantees to provide feedback on what is working and what needs improvement.

Check out our Frequently Asked Questions for more details. 

Grant Guidelines

To apply for funding, an organization must: 

• Be a not-for-profit organization recognized under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or a municipal entity seeking a grant for public purposes. Organizations may also have a nonprofit fiscal sponsor if they do not have their own nonprofit status. 

• Have a board that is representative of the community, of which a majority are neither employees nor relatives of employees. 

We encourage requests that

• Provide services, supports or programming to the communities located within our 21-town service area .
• Support system change and advocacy efforts .
• Include support for core nonprofit operations such as staff time, overhead, and evaluation.
• Support organizations working to reduce disparities in our community.
• Fall within the average grant size range for each area of interest. Our average grant size is between $5,000 – $15,000. (Please refer to each of our priority funding areas to see the range of awards for that area.)

We do not fund:

• Requests for political or religious purposes. 
• Requests for capital expenditures on buildings not owned by a nonprofit. 

First-time Applicants 

The Foundation welcomes new applicants. We want to get to know our grantees and learn more about your work.  In advance of submitting a first-time request to the Foundation, applicants are required to set up an in-person meeting with the Program Officer who staffs the area of interest of the request. These conversations are an important part of the process and are tied to eligibility. Please contact the program officer to set up a meeting as soon as possible. Staff contact information is listed at the bottom of each grant opportunity page on our website.  

Decision making timeline

All applications are reviewed by our staff and/or committees and board of trustees in a process that takes approximately three months from the deadline date. 

NOTE: This chart will be updated as new grant applications open and deadlines are announced for each round. DATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE. Contact your program officer with any questions regarding application dates and deadlines.

NOTE: This chart will be updated as new grant applications open and deadlines are announced for each round. DATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE. Contact your program officer with any questions regarding application dates and deadlines.