Highlands Community

The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina (CFWNC) is accepting applications for its Highlands Community Fund, a grant program designed to support charitable purposes within the Highlands community. While the prompt asks for foundation mission alignment and strategic priorities, the provided text primarily focuses on the specifics of this particular grant program rather than the broader foundation's overarching mission or theory of change. The program itself aims to fund initiatives that demonstrate the greatest community benefit within Highlands. The primary target beneficiaries are qualified 501(c)(3), governmental, educational, and religious organizations serving Highlands, with a documented history of substantial work in the area. The impact goal is to address community needs through projects or programs that are not directed solely toward students or staff in the case of private primary and secondary schools. The grant duration is typically one year, and funds should be expended within this period. The fund generally provides grants ranging from $2,500 to $10,000, although the overall size of the grant is listed as $1,000 to $10,000. Key priorities for consideration include requests that exhibit the greatest community benefit. Organizations applying should consider including a letter of endorsement if another organization will benefit from the grant. Expected outcomes are tied to the successful implementation of charitable projects within the community. While the text doesn't specify measurable results, the emphasis on "greatest community benefit" suggests that successful applicants will demonstrate a clear positive impact on the Highlands community. The fund specifically does not support scholarships, annual giving campaigns, endowment funds, deficit funding or debt retirement, sectarian religious purposes, partisan political purposes, festivals or one-time events (such as exhibits, performances, or fundraisers), or private primary and secondary schools (unless projects directly address community needs). Activities or expenses incurred before grant decisions are made are also ineligible. This focus on what is not funded helps to further define the program's priorities and implicitly its theory of change, which appears to be centered on supporting ongoing, impactful community-based initiatives rather than individual or single-event funding.