The Pella Community Foundation Impact Grants program offers significant funding to projects designed to strengthen the community of Pella. These grants specifically target major initiatives and promising opportunities that align with the Foundation's mission of improving the quality of life for Pella residents. The program focuses on supporting charitable organizations or governmental agencies with a charitable purpose, emphasizing projects that will have a broad, wide-reaching, and inclusive impact on the entire Pella community.
The target beneficiaries are the residents of Pella, with a particular focus on underserved populations, ensuring equitable access and outreach. The impact goals are to address major local initiatives, meet significant community needs, and demonstrate a high probability of leveraged funding from other sources. The Foundation seeks to expand existing high-performing programs and foster collaborative efforts that show evidence of long-term planning and sustainability beyond the grant period.
The program prioritizes projects that exhibit strong community need, leverage additional funding, and demonstrate significant community-wide impact. It also emphasizes initiatives that are collaborative, sustainable, and recognize Pella's heritage, while planning for outreach and accessibility to underserved populations. Organizations must show strong capacity and include a plan for evaluating success. The Foundation explicitly will not consider grants for completed projects, ongoing annual operating expenses, continued program funding, individuals, or projects not serving Pella residents.
The expected outcomes include a measurable improvement in the quality of life for Pella residents, the strengthening of existing high-performing programs, and the successful implementation of collaborative, sustainable projects. The Foundation's strategic priorities are rooted in a theory of change that posits by investing in initiatives that address major local needs, foster collaboration, ensure sustainability, and reach all segments of the community, Pella will experience significant and lasting positive transformation. Successful applications will provide evidence of organizational capacity and a clear plan for evaluating the project's success and its broader community impact.
