Since our founding in 1975, Greater Worcester Community has sought to make Worcester County a better place to live, work, and thrive. One of the ways we have accomplished this is by maximizing our grant-making opportunities to support projects and organizations that strengthen and enliven our community. The Community Foundation offers both competitive and non-competitive grant opportunities, and provides grant support in many areas of community life

Competitive Granting

Competitive Grant Opportunities

Greater Worcester Community Foundation offers a range of competitive grant cycles annually to provide area nonprofits with access to flexible and supportive funding. Each of our granting programs has its own set of guidelines and parameters. All organizations should closely review the grant opportunities to confirm eligibility and appropriateness. Organizations may apply in multiple areas and to whichever programs they choose.

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Applicant Resources

In today’s philanthropic landscape, every funder has their own way of doing business – which we recognize is a challenge. Whether you are writing your first grant proposal or you are an experienced professional, we hope the guidance below will help you put together a successful application.

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Grantee Resources

As stewards of community resources, we have a commitment to telling a larger collective impact story. Your role as a grantee partner is crucial to achieving this shared goal.

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Non-Competitive Grant Opportunities

Competitive grants – typically drawn from what are known as discretionary or field of interest funds – make up just a portion of GWCF’s granting portfolio. Many nonprofits also receive grants from the Non-Competitive funds we manage:

• Designated funds are created by donors who have decided in advance which nonprofits they wish to support; those nonprofits then receive yearly payments from those funds.
  • If a nonprofit has a donor interested in sustained giving, perhaps setting up a designated fund with us would be an option for them.

• Donor advised funds, by contrast, are created by donors who decide annually which nonprofits they wish to support. While we regularly make information about the community issues and nonprofits we are prioritizing available to our fund holders, they make their own funding decisions.
  • If fund holders request to learn more about a nonprofit, our donor services team will assist them with that; but, we are not able to provide nonprofits with details about fund holders.

To learn more about the types of funds we manage, click here.