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Community Grants

The Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley Community (CFHV) Community Grant Program is an annual opportunity to provide nonprofit organizations with unrestricted General Operating Support grant awards (GOS). GOS grant awards are flexible in order to support an organization’s ongoing administrative and infrastructure costs and to provide support to maintain existing, effective programs, organizational development and capacity building in Dutchess, Putnam and Ulster Counties.

Funding Focus:

Beginning in 2026, the Community Grants Program will introduce priority focus areas. These priorities give applicants greater clarity as to where the most funding is available. Please note: The total dollars available for Community Grants will remain similar to past years. This change brings greater transparency to the evaluation of grant applications.

Priority areas have been identified through our Voices of The Hudson Valley report:

  • Early Childhood Education/Child Care
  • Food Security/Hunger
  • Housing & Shelter
  • Mental Health
  • Transportation

General Operating Support grant awards provide unrestricted support to the organization but can include specific support such as:

  • Planning and/or the direct implementation of the program
  • Technology, equipment, or material costs
  • Strategic planning, staff/board development and/or succession planning
  • Management systems (financial, HR)
  • Marketing and communications
  • Investments to increase organizational capacity

Eligibility:  

  1. 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organizations, and organizations using a 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor
  2. When applicable, organizations must be registered with the NYS Charities Bureau
  3. Organizations serving Dutchess, Putnam or Ulster counties

Please note that grants (including GOS) are not given to support:

  • Individuals
  • Political or partisan purposes
  • Lobbying activities
  • Loan reimbursements for capital projects already underway or completed
  • Retroactive expenses that were incurred prior to the grant award
  • Endowments
  • Religious organizations for sacramental or theological purposes; however, grants may be made to support non-religious community programs provided through these institutions
  • Schools, however, grants may be made to support student/teacher community service programs targeted to assist broader community needs
  • Private foundations
  • For-profit organizations

Funding Available:

Funding availability will vary by County as funds awarded come from County endowments, annual Garden Party proceeds, and donor contributions.

  • Organizations may apply for a range of $2,500 – $20,000. Please be mindful of the request amount in relation to your budget size. Typically grant awards will not fund more than 20% of your total operating budget.
  • The majority of awards will be in the $2,500 – $7,500 range. 
  • We anticipate making a limited number of larger grant awards this year.
  • $40,000 will be available from the Hudson Valley Immigrant Defense and Support Fund to support legal and social services for the immigrant communities throughout Dutchess, Putnam and Ulster Counties.

We recognize that needs far surpass our available resources. Not receiving funding in this cycle is not a reflection on the worthiness of an organization or its project. Please understand that we will not be able to grant all of the requests we receive.

Application: 
Organizations applying for funding are required to use the Community Foundations’ Online Grants Portal. Click here to access the Grants Portal.

There are separate applications for each County. Organizations may submit one application per County if they can demonstrate their impact and services in each.

The application has a ‘copy previous answers’ feature. You can quickly duplicate answers from your initial application and then modify them to address County-specific information within each.

Applicant Tutorial – Copy Request – Foundant Technologies

 

Deadline: 
CFHV will be accepting applications from July 1st through August 15th. Applications will not be accepted after the deadline on 11:59pm August 15th

Questions:
Contact grants@communityfoundationshv.org or (845) 452-3077

Review Criteria:
While this list is not exhaustive, CFHV considers applications with the following criteria in mind:

  • Organization/Program Capacity: Demonstrated track record of similar programs/work, qualified staff/support, financial stability, governance strength and past grant management success.
  • Focus Area/Community Need: Demonstrates strong alignment with one or more funding priorities (Early Childhood Education/Child Care, Food Security/Hunger, Housing & Shelter, Mental Health, Transportation)
  • Impact: Clearly outlined plans and activities that will have a significant, sustainable impact on community needs

Organizations that do not have completed applications with the appropriate attachments will not be considered.

Review Process:
All applications will be rated on these criteria and reviewed by the Dutchess, Putnam or Ulster Advisory Boards of the Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley.  The Advisory Boards are comprised of community members representing each county.  All recommendations made by the Advisory Boards are then reviewed, approved or declined by the Board of Trustees of the Community Foundations.

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