Grant Opportunities

In collaboration with Ulster County and in alignment with the Ulster County Food Security and Access Network (UCFSAN) Report findings, funding will focus on proposals that effectively address one or more of the following:

• address food insecurity;
• leverage existing resources and expand existing emergency food services;
• provide equipment or personnel to increase capacity to collect, store, distribute, and provide food to those in need;
• purchase food; and
• ensure sustainability and organizations addressing food insecurity in critical geographic areas where providers are limited.

It is important for you to read and understand the grant program’s guidelines and priorities of Ulster County before starting an application.

Please also review the UFSAN Report: Strengthening Support: Emergency Feeding in Ulster County and Recommendations for Network Resilience here: LINK to report

Funding Available: $350,000

Application: An online application is required and must be submitted via the link below.

Awards: Grants made through this program will range from $5,000 – $20,000 for individual organizations.
Applicants who make requests in partnership/collaboration may apply for up to $75,000. Collaborative projects must demonstrate a clear plan for how the funds will be used to improve the resiliency and sustainability of the emergency food system into the future. Collaborative requests to only purchase food will not be competitive. Roles of each partner/organization participating in the collaboration must be clearly defined.

Deadline: October 15, 2025 11:59pm

Award Notifications: Early December 2025

Questions:
Contact Cristin McPeake, VP Programs at (845) 452-3077 or cmcpeake@communityfoundationshv.org

Review Criteria:

• Quality of Program/Project: Does the proposed project have a clear charitable purpose? Does the program/project meet the criteria of the grant guidelines? Does the organization adequately describe the program/project and what it wants to accomplish? Does the organization present a clear and realistic plan for implementation, complete with specific activities and a timeline?
• Capacity and Stability of the Organization: Does the organization appear to have the capacity to carry out the proposed work? Do they have previous experience with this type of program/project or do they demonstrate previous organizational or leadership accomplishments? Is there appropriate expertise and partnerships? Does the organization appear to be functionally and financially stable, based on review of the organization’s operating budget and financial statements?
• Budget and Additional Support: Is the program/project budget clear and realistic? If this is an ongoing program/project, is there a reasonable plan for future funding? Is there evidence of support from other funders, or in-kind support for projects that require significant financial support?
• Impact/ Results: How will this program/project make a difference to the target population and/or to the broader community? How significant is the program/project? Will the outcome be finite or of broad impact to the community? Will it provide a one-time benefit or a long-term impact? Is the program “change-oriented”, addressing root causes rather than immediate needs? Are the goals well-defined? Does the organization have a viable evaluation plan? What is the likelihood that the plan will successfully measure the impact?

Review Process: All applications will be rated on these criteria and reviewed by a Grants Committee of the Community Foundations. All recommendations are reviewed and approved or declined by the Board of Trustees of the Community Foundations.

To help you work on your grant application, we have created a pdf version of the questions/application. You can use this document to formulate the answers, along with spell check, character count, etc. However, you must still use the online grants portal to submit your application and provide attachments.
Click here for the grant working copy:

Application PDF

This project is being supported in part, by federal award number 21.027 awarded to the County of Ulster by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.