2023 - 2027 Grant Cycle

WHY UNITED WAY  |  GRANT CRITERIA & ELIGIBILITY  |  GRANT TIMELINE & AWARDS  |  INSTRUCTIONS & APPLY

DEADLINE TO APPLY: JANUARY 5, 2024, BY 11:59 P.M.

In 2014, United Way of Southeast Louisiana embarked on a journey to renew our approach to creating lasting change. The journey began with a carefully orchestrated listening process, including community conversations across our seven-parish service area. Participants discussed their aspirations and the challenges they face. Some of the barriers that emerged included low wages, limited education, inadequate health care, and unaffordable housing. 

Through research and engagement, it became clear that poverty is the fundamental issue in the region.

We introduced our Blueprint for Prosperity – our plan to eradicate poverty informed by community voices and validated by external research – to present a compelling path toward a stronger, prosperous, and more equitable Southeast Louisiana for us all. As a part of the Blueprint, we also introduced our programmatic grants – designed to support distinct programs or projects – in alignment with our new prosperity outcomes framework (see below). 

Today, our grantmaking is rooted in addressing the complex interplay of symptoms and drivers of poverty in the region and supports the vision of equitable communities where all individuals are healthy, educated, and economically stable.

In 2022, we hosted another series of community conversations to listen to residents and refine the most pressing issues in our communities and pathways to maximize local impact. Once again, we were able to identify the emerging barriers to prosperity for households across each of our seven parishes. 

As a result, we’re launching our second cycle of collaborative grant process  – rooted in equity, community voice, and data – to foster systems-level change across the region. 

WHY UNITED WAY

While many efforts exist to support the health and vibrancy of communities across the region, the organizations often lack the funding and collaboration to drive coordination and collective impact.

United Way creates space for organizations to create greater change collectively than could be accomplished alone. Through strategic financial investment and targeted planning, we create collaborative spaces for you to work together more effectively and develop comprehensive solutions that meet the needs of residents.

A United Way grant will maximize your impact, helping existing resources go further to meet the needs of residents. You will better support the needs of those in the region and generate holistic impact by participating in shared learning, information sharing, and referrals. Register and apply here.

GRANT CRITERIA & ELIGIBILITY

UWSELA seeks grant requests across five priority areas aligned with our Blueprint’s prosperity outcomes that we believe will produce long-term change to sustain our mission of to end poverty. In particular, we will consider proposals that focus on one or more of our four outcomes and five priority areas and align with our guiding principles. Note: preference will be given to organizations addressing the priority areas in each parish. DEADLINE TO APPLY: JANUARY 5, 2024, BY 11:59 P.M.

PROSPERITY OUTCOMES

Data, community conversations, and partner convenings conducted in 2014 and 2015 resulted in four interrelated outcomes that describe the region United Way and residents want to see.

• Stability Today: Families have the skills, resources, & opportunities to access basic needs.
   
• Prosperity Tomorrow: All families have the social, emotional, and financial assets to create a better future.
   
• Personal Wellness: People of all ages enjoy a high quality of life and well-being.
   
• Vibrant Communities: All communities are safe, equitable, and thriving.

PRIORITY AREAS

Additional community conversations held in 2022 drilled down into the four prosperity outcomes, resulting in five priority areas for each parish. Once again, we will give priority to those programs that address these areas for each parish. Review the parish-specific focuses here.  

• Youth Development: Investing in organizations with a primary focus on serving youth, including both academic and recreational programming, to support the learning, well-being, and prosperity of our next generation.
   
• Mental Health: Investing in organizations that provide direct counseling and substance abuse treatment to expand the capacity of local providers supporting those facing mental health challenges and to create a more supportive and healthy community.
   
• Financial Empowerment: Supporting workforce development, community-level economic development, and emergency assistance programs to provide all residents pathways to attaining the skills, opportunities, & supports that undergird economic stability for communities and families.
   
• Access to Resources: Investing in personnel and community-facing platforms to ensure residents are aware of and able to access existing local supports & resources.
   
• Coordinating & Convening: Supporting efforts to drive coordination between community-serving organizations with the goal of enhancing accountability, information-sharing, and referrals across the ecosystem, resulting in holistic services and solutions for residents.  

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

The following six guiding principles represent the core values of our work and, by extension, the work we want to see from and with our partners:

1. Connectivity: We coordinate our efforts to create pathways of prosperity that are trusted, culturally appropriate, accessible, and without bias.
    
2. Equity: We strive to lift up all people and to eliminate systemic barriers to prosperity.
    
3. Lived Experience: We amplify the voices of those we are serving and allow their needs and aspirations to guide our work.
    
4. Long-Term Commitment: We commit to continuing our work until the cycle of poverty is broken, communities are thriving, and people are living prosperously.
    
5. Shared Responsibility: We believe success requires the unique contributions of the entire community, including individuals, families, schools, nonprofits, the faith-based community, funders, governments, and the private sector.
    
6. Systems Change: We embrace our work as holistic and dynamic, impacting people, place, practice, and policy.

    

ORLEANS PARISH COLLABORATIONS: ALIGNMENT WITH THE YOUTH MASTER PLAN

All youth-serving organizations in Orleans Parish must align with the Youth Master Plan.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

Additionally, applicants must also have the following for funding eligibility:

• Collaborations must operate within Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, or Washington parishes.

• Collaborations organized for primarily religious, educational institutions (schools/universities), fraternal, governmental, political, cultural, animal welfare purposes are not eligible for funding through UWSELA.

• Collaborations may include these organizations but must have a fiscal agent that is a 501(c)(3).

• Collaboration grants will not be awarded for endowment campaigns, land purchase, construction of new facilities or major renovating of existing facilities, or capital campaigns.​

GRANT TIMELINE & AWARDS

TIMELINE

If you have questions about submitting your materials, please contact Grants@UnitedWaySELA.org on or before December 15, 2023.

DEADLINE

Grant submissions must be submitted electronically by January 5, 2024, by 11:59 p.m. CST. Incomplete submissions will not be accepted. Extensions will not be granted, and late proposals will not be accepted. Notification of grant award will be sent in June 2024. 

AWARDS

Eligible collaboratives must support a group of organizations and stakeholders taking a unified approach to systems change. The grants may be used for: 

• Planning: Up to $25,000 in funding to help collaboratives come together to create a steering committee, common agenda and working groups. 
• Infrastructure-Backbone: Up to $50,000 in funding to support backbone organizations or functions.  
• Infrastructure-Shared Measurement: Up to $50,000 in funding to support shared measurement systems. 
• Implementation: Up to $100,000 in funding to support systems-change strategies developed by working groups. 
• Continuous Improvement: Up to $50,000 in funding to conduct evaluations. 

UWSELA intends to be a long-term partner in supporting collaboratives. As such, at the end of a funding cycle, grantees will have the opportunity to reapply for a funding extension based on a successful evaluation of the work. The funding timeframe for this three-year grant is July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2027. Funding for the second and third year of the grant is contingent on available dollars and the funded collaborative's performance in the previous year.

Note there is another funding pool available to applicants designed to support programmatic efforts that align with UWSELA’s Blueprint for Prosperity. Program grants have a separate application, process, and timeline.

Note that this is a competitive process. If a decision is not made in your favor, you may contact Grants@UnitedWaySELA.org for more information. However, there is no appeals process, and all decisions are final.

NEXT STEPS

If your collaborative grant request is approved by the United Way Board of Trustees, you will be scheduled to meet with the Community Impact staff to discuss your objectives and operating budget before signing the grant agreement. All grantees' fiscal agents must submit an annual audit or financial compilation with footnotes, an IRS 990, and a collaboration budget. Grantees must also host an annual site visit and submit quarterly progress reports. Funding will be held until all documents are submitted to Community Impact.

INSTRUCTIONS & APPLY

SUBMITTING YOUR APPLICATION

The application process consists of two parts: (i) an application review; and (ii) a presentation to the Collaborative Grant Committee. The first step is submitting an application which identifies criteria you must meet to move forward in the process. Based on the application review, you may be invited to present your collaborative project to the Collaborative Grant Committee. 

APPLICANT TRAINING

Need help with filling out the application? UWSELA will host two trainings for applicants on the Northshore and Southshore. A recording will be made for each location and shared on this website.

Watch the Recording

IMPORTANT: Before preparing your application, please read the following instructions carefully and provide all requested information.

We strongly encourage applicants to review the Blueprint for Prosperity framework and the Collaboration Grants Outcome Menu prior to applying. 

Organizations must provide the information below in order to be eligible for funding:

• You must identify a fiscal agent that will be responsible for administering the grant and has an established track record and sufficient financial resources to effectively manage the project.  The fiscal agent must be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit Health and Human Service organization.

• Fiscal agent organizations must have the following for funding eligibility:
  • 501(c)3 nonprofit status and must submit their 501(c)(3) Letter of Determination.
  • 2022 or 2021 audited financials – must submit
  • 2021 or 2022 IRS 990 – must submit

• Volunteer board roster that includes race/ethnicity, age, gender, place of employment, and contact information. 

Failure to comply with directions, answer questions, or absence of any of the attachments will cause the dismissal of your proposal.   

APPLY

Submit your application and required documentation online by 11:59 p.m. CST on January 5, 2024. NO LATE or incomplete applications will be accepted.

• All applicants must register through our grant portal, FLUXX, before applying. 
  Review the registration process steps.
   
• Applicants will receive a registration confirmation email from FLUXX with login instructions within two business hours (9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.).
   
• Once credentials are received, applicants may log into the portal to start the application process.
   
• DEADLINE TO APPLY: JANUARY 5, 2024, BY 11:59 p.m.

CONTACT

Please direct general questions about the framework or the process to Grants@UnitedWaySELA.org.