Hartford Foundation Access Grants  

The Foundation is pleased to already be supporting many critical mission-aligned nonprofit partners in Greater Hartford. For these nonprofits who already have an open grant from the Foundation, we encourage you to speak with your current officer to learn how we may be able to continue to be a resource for your work. Through this conversation, your officer can help navigate potential opportunities for continued grant support. Access Grants are designed as an option for organizations that don’t already have a relationship with the Foundation and would like to introduce their work through this “door.” Organizations that are new to the Foundation may also reach out to applications@hfpg.org to schedule a conversation and find out if there are other ways the Foundation may be able to support work that contributes to our strategic priorities.

Advancing the Foundation’s vision of dismantling structural racism and advancing equitable social and economic mobility must include nonprofits led by people with lived experiences of racism. We prioritize BIPOC-led work because our goals require new perspectives and leaders with credibility to engage the people and communities that are most impacted by racism and historical inequity.

Research has shown that BIPOC-led organizations have faced historical disinvestment due to structural racism and funder bias. Currently, BIPOC-led organizations are less likely to be awarded grant funds, contributing to these organizations having budgets 24% smaller than white-led organizations and BIPOC leaders facing greater restrictions from funders regarding how to spend those funds than groups with white leaders.¹ The historical disinvestment in BIPOC-led work suggests foundations and individual donors determine it to be a “riskier” investment. Data show that racial bias exists even when comparing funding between nonprofits that have similar focus areas, but leaders from different backgrounds. For example, among nonprofits focused on improving outcomes of Black men, funding to nonprofits with Black leaders was 45% lower than at nonprofits led by white people.²

The Foundation seeks to address this disinvestment and overcome this funder bias by evolving our grantmaking practices to engage and support BIPOC-led organizations at the front lines of addressing inequities experienced in communities of color.

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¹ Nonprofits Led by People of Color Win Less Grant Money With More Strings (Study) (philanthropy.com).  See the whole report at Racial Equity In Philanthropy | Bridgespan. See also Savage, B., Dorsey, C., Kim, P., Daniels, C., & Sakaue, L. (2020). Overcoming the Racial Bias in Philanthropic Funding. Stanford Social Innovation Review. https://doi.org/10.48558/7WB9-K440

² Racial Equity and Philanthropy: Disparities in Funding for Leaders of Color Leave Impact on the Tabl | Bridgespan

The Foundation values the time of all of our nonprofit partners and we recognize that that time is best spent serving the community, not applying for grants. By offering to provide feedback, we hope this may help our partners to determine whether this grant process is the right fit for their work and if there are ways they can better describe their work to demonstrate how it aligns with our vision. We also welcome the opportunity to speak with nonprofits before you apply, if you are not sure whether or not this is the right opportunity for you.

Yes, all types of requests are “on the table.” It’s about making the case for why the funds can have an impact in terms of racial and social mobility equity.

The Foundation’s grantmaking policies restrict our grantmaking to registered nonprofit, IRS designated 501(c)(3) organizations. Neighborhood associations or community groups interested in seeking support should work with a registered nonprofit organization willing to serve as a fiscal sponsor.

Yes, applicants are still eligible even if they already have an open grant with the Foundation. Please be aware that using our eligibility criteria, more weight will be given to organizations that do not have an existing open grant, particularly a multi-year open grant. This criteria, however, is only one of the determinants for application assessment.

The Hartford Foundation is unable to provide funding directly to for-profit employers. However, we are interested in supporting the ecosystem for employment efforts and small businesses, for example, when such support would create greater opportunity for adults with barriers to employment. We can only make grants to support those efforts through nonprofits.

Yes. This is not an exclusive grant opportunity. Please be aware that using our eligibility criteria, more weight will be given to organizations that do not have an existing open grant, particularly a multi-year open grant. This criteria, however, is only one of the determinants for application assessment.

No. There is no specific minimum budget size; however, we do require that organizations have existed and have a track record of work and outcomes for at least one year in order to apply.

No. We are agnostic as to the type of philanthropic tool or the kind of structure of the grant. We are interested to hear the impact that the organization expects to have, how it plans to contribute to dismantling structural racism, promote equitable social and economic mobility as well as the support needed from the Foundation. If flexible support is needed to support this overall mission, we would like to hear that.

Requests of up to $50,000 will be considered. The minimum grant request has not yet been explored.

Yes. Organizations that understand the need for virtual programming and consideration of the current CDC social distancing and other guidelines would be viewed positively. We expect everyone who applies has considered the current health guidelines that we are facing. While we are hopeful that programming will be open and able to be done face-to-face in the not-so-distant future, we are also realistic of what is possible right now and are supportive of keeping people safe. We would encourage organizations to build flexibility into their proposed activities and be able to adapt.

No. All nonprofits serving Greater Hartford that can make a case that the work they are requesting support for might contribute to dismantling structural racism and promoting equitable social and economic mobility are eligible. We welcome a range of different project ideas or types of work and are excited to see what ideas the community has that can contribute to this common goal.

If the organization has no open grant or has never received a grant from the Hartford Foundation, they will receive maximum “points” in one area using our criteria to assess grants. We are not favoring first time applicants above all others but rather attempting to provide an opportunity to them.

The rubric doesn’t specifically score collaboration, but the rubric does address the consideration of whether applicants consider other stakeholders or service providers, and how the request is fulfilling a gap or is coordinating with other available services. Collaboration is a good way of showing that a conscious effort towards looking at the full “ecosystem” has been made.

To some degree, it has to do with how our budgeting works. Multi-year support may be offered after the first year of awards based on the outcomes of the first one-year grant. The one-year approach offers more flexibility to try out options and give more nonprofits the opportunity to try new approaches. But, continued support will be necessary for impactful work that requires longer-term support.

We strive to contribute to the dismantling of structural racism and to promote equitable economic and social mobility. This means looking at and attempting to address the needs of Greater Hartford residents facing the greatest disadvantages, the greatest barriers, or the least access across a number of different factors, whether that means access to high quality education, healthcare, stable housing, employment, safety issues, or tables at which decisions are made.

We are working to support efforts that would remove barriers to access and promote more equitable access. Access Grants invite organizations to think about the work that they are doing, the community that they are serving, the needs of their community and barriers they may face to access opportunities and share with the Foundation your organization’s ideas on how to make an even greater impact in the community.

Yes. If organization believes there is a project idea that creates greater access to their services (translation and interpretation services, etc.) and therefore contributes to dismantling structural racism and promoting equitable social and economic mobility, we would be open to learning about it.

We are prioritizing requests that would serve Greater Hartford 100%. Organizations need to be serving at least 25% of Greater Hartford residents to receive any “points” in our rubric. Even in this case, the budget request would need to be proportional to services or impact in Greater Hartford. 

This is unlikely. While it may have a deep impact on a small number of individuals, the scope of the impact would be very limited. With Access Grant funds, we hope to have a broader scale impact, particularly given the limited resources.

The Hartford Foundation has a restriction on supporting sectarian efforts, particularly proselytizing, so we could not support a request that would be seen as proselytizing. However, if an organization believes that they have a proposal that will contribute to dismantling structural racism and promoting equitable social and economic mobility, please feel free to apply or reach out to have an additional conversation.

This sort of request for “internal DEI work” could be considered for Access Grants but it might be better supported through a request to our Nonprofit Support Program. In addition to funding the work itself, NSP can provide guidance in selecting a consultant or identifying other supports.