Impact Grants

About the Impact Grants Program

Does your nonprofit have an ambitious idea to improve community health in Greater High Point?

At the Foundation for a Healthy High Point, we recognize that health is largely determined by the social, economic, and physical environments where we grow up, live, work, and age. To improve the long-standing health issues confronting our community, we must address the non-medical factors and disparities that undermine healthy behaviors.

Twice a year, the Foundation awards Impact Grants of more than $10,000 each to support projects working to improve these complex dynamics and to break down barriers to good health.

Focus Areas

We focus specifically on the leading local health issues and social determinants of health (SDOH) identified in our recent Assessment of Social Health Drivers of High Point. Funded projects should align with one of these areas:

• Neighborhood Conditions & Built Environment
• Healthcare Access & Quality
• Social & Community Context
• Economic Stability
• Education Access & Quality

To learn more about each area, please see Our Focus.

For more information on social determinants of health, read the Foundation’s research, the CDC’s “Healthy People 2030” initiative, and the NC Institute of Medicine’s “Healthy NC 2030 Report.”

Scope

We welcome proposals to create lasting impact, solve a problem at its origin, and achieve measurable improvement in community well-being. We look for projects that create new partnerships with expanded capabilities and a wider range, reduce disparities, reframe policies, and advocate real changes to structural and systemic barriers.

The Foundation prioritizes collaborative proposals that are consistent with Our Upstream Approach. We understand that social, economic, and environmental policies can be more important than health care or lifestyle choices in influencing health. So, it is necessary to confront these policies and practices at their source, upstream from how they are realized in daily life. Projects may also work to improve the current conditions that promote wellness and to provide better opportunities for good health throughout Greater High Point.

Potential proposals of interest might include:

• Collaborative efforts that (for example):
  • Help people stay in their homes or attain permanent housing
  • Ensure individuals have a livable wage
  • Move people out of persistent poverty
  • Focus on reducing persistent disparities
  • Provide or coordinate wrap-around services for families
  • Address other systemic social issues or social determinants of health
• Efforts that bring stakeholders together around critical issues affecting the health of the community to develop a shared agenda, actions, and outcome
• Community-wide campaigns that promote improved health or improvements to social determinants of health
• Community-engaged research that can inform program planning, advocacy efforts, or allocation of resources
• Program capacity-building projects that result in new, expanded, or enhanced services and that include a plan for sustaining the program after the grant period ends
• Organizational capacity-building, such as efforts that support business planning, start-up staff that can be sustained, revenue enhancement, or new funding mechanisms to support an organization or program
• The Foundation will consider one-year unrestricted general operating support grants to organizations whose mission is to address immediate health needs via social determinants of health. See Our Focus for more information about social determinants of health.

Eligibility for Impact Grants

Applicant Organizations

The Foundation makes grants to two types of organizations:

• Nonprofit organizations classified as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3)
• Public agencies, including state and local governments

New or emerging organizations without 501(c)(3) status are permitted to apply through a tax-exempt organization serving as a fiscal sponsor.

NOTE: The Foundation will not fund individuals or for-profit organizations.

Public Support Test for Charitable Organizations:
The Foundation encourages all applicants and grantees with a public support test requirement to ensure grant support from the Foundation will not cause the organization to lose its status as a publicly supported charity. For more information about the Public Support Test and the effect on your organization known as “tipping,” read more at Candid Learning.        

Serving Greater High Point

The Foundation for a Healthy High Point is a place-based strategic grantmaker focused on improving health and well-being in the Greater High Point area of North Carolina, including High Point, Jamestown, Archdale, and Trinity.

To be eligible for Impact Grants, health and human service nonprofit organizations must be:

• Located in and primarily serving residents of Greater High Point, or
• Located outside this area with a large percentage of clients or participants from Greater High Point, or
• Located outside this area with a stated intent to expand services to Greater High Point.

Nonprofits awarded assistance through the Foundation’s Impact Grants are also eligible to apply for a Small Grant.

Restrictions

The Foundation greatly appreciates the important work performed by nonprofit organizations in our community. As such, the Foundation does not wish nonprofits to spend considerable time and resources preparing a proposal unless there is a clear possibility of funding under our guidelines. These grants will not support:

• Medical research, transportation, and housing services
• Direct benefits to clients, such as an individual’s rent
• Direct support to an organization itself, unrelated to improved health in Greater High Point
• Scholarships to individuals
• Fundraisers or dinners
• Supplanting or substituting existing funding
• Activities that exclusively benefit the members of sectarian, faith-based, or religious organizations or that would be used for religious purposes
• Partisan political programs or voter registration efforts
• For-profit organizations
• Organizations with previous past due or incomplete grant reports and/or required grant objectives

The Foundation for a Healthy High Point does not pay a straight percentage of indirect costs on any proposal. Necessary administrative costs related to the request can be listed as individual line items and built into the direct costs of the proposal. Please note that the Foundation will generally not accept institutional infrastructure costs included with the budget. The Foundation reviews each budget individually for the appropriate direct costs requested.

Impact Grants Process

1. Eligible nonprofit organizations first submit a Letter of Interest (LOI) — a brief proposal (2 – 3 pages) outlining the idea, project, or initiative.
2. After the LOI deadline, the Foundation reviews all LOIs and invites selected organizations to submit formal applications.
3. After the Foundation reviews all applications, organizations are notified approximately two months later whether they will receive an Impact Grant.

Letter of Interest Format

The 2–3-page LOI should include:

• A brief background of the organization, including:
  • Mission statement
  • Date founded
  • Size of staff and board
  • Constituency and geographic region(s) served
  • Focus areas for the organization
  • Size of the annual operating budget
  • The social determinant of health that best reflects your organization’s focus

• A description of the project for which support is requested, including duration, goals, and related activities. Please include a description of how the organization decided to engage in this project, factors that contribute to the need or opportunity, and the project’s importance to the organization and constituency.

• A proposed budget, in summary form, for the total cost of this project and the amount the organization intends to request from the Foundation and other funding sources. As appropriate, please identify the specific budget item(s) for which Foundation support will be requested.

• A brief description of why the organization is seeking support from the Foundation. Please note other factors that will help the Foundation understand the request.

For instructions on how to compose an LOI, including examples, please visit Candid Learning.

How to Apply

LOIs and applications must be submitted via the Foundation’s online grant portal. Hand-delivered, emailed, or mailed LOIs and applications will not be accepted. To log in to the Grant Portal:

• New users must create an account.
• Those who have previously applied for a grant from the Foundation must use the same account information to log in. If you think you or someone at your organization has already registered in the system, do not create a new account. Please contact us at 336-822-7740 to receive your username and password.

Frequently Asked Questions