Funding “capacity building” is a major goal of the Community Foundation of Collier County. The Board of Directors of the Foundation has directed the grantmaking to focus less on program funding and more on grants that strengthen the internal skills, processes and resources that sustain organizations and the community. Capacity building is defined as, “actions that improve nonprofit effectiveness and enhance a nonprofit’s ability to accomplish its mission”.
A second, but equally important goal is to mobilize community resources through engaging our donors in the grant process and leveraging our dollars to the community.

While we have every confidence that this effort will have a positive effect, it will require that nonprofits think strategically and long term. The grant committees and the staff are committed to working with the nonprofit community to ensure best practices, efficient service delivery mechanism and sustainability.

The following are the baseline eligibility requirements for grant recipients through the Professional Development and Capacity Building Grant programs:

• With rare exception, the Community Foundation funds nonprofit organizations serving Collier County that are exempt under Section 501( c ) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code and are deemed as “not a private foundation” under Section 509(a).
  
  
• All grant applicants must register on-line with The Resource Guide to Collier Nonprofits. It's a free service, and there is no charge for registering your organization or updating your information. To register: Click on the following link: http://cfcollier.org/rg_admin/login.php, View the help document. On the login page, there is a “help” button that will give hints and instructions for updating your nonprofit profile.

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