Community Vision Fund

Focus: Events that foster a community where all are valued, feel included, and can contribute​

​Grant Deadline: Opens February 23; Closes October 31; Rolling applications reviewed and responded to by the following month*​

​Grant Ranges: $500 to $5,000​

​Grant Considerations:​

• Event must be free and open to the public​
• No top-tier sponsorships; ​
• Request can be up to 50% of event budget.​

​Application Process: Online portal application with high-level event summary report. Submission must be at least 60 days prior. 

View Event Sponsorship Applicant Guidelines Here

*Event sponsorship applications will open on February 23rd. While we routinely ask for 60-day advance notice, we recognize that the timing of our application opening might impact this turnaround requirement. For any events happening in March and April, we are instead requesting a 30-day advance notice. Any events occurring in May or later will be required to submit at least 60 days prior to the event start date.​

Focus: Providing nonprofit organizations with the opportunity to enhance their internal capabilities and effectiveness. These grants focus on new strategies, improving processes, and strengthening organizational capacity to ensure long-term sustainability​

 Grant Deadlines: Opens February 16; Closes March 31st at 11:59pm​

 Grant Ranges: Grant awards will range from $5,000 to $75,000 for a one-year award​

 Grant Considerations This is not an exhaustive list, please reach out if you have questions about project alignment.​

• Leadership and Board Development; Staff well-being support​
• Key personnel expansion, including hiring and/or right-sizing FTE status​
• Technology optimization for systems and tools already assessed​
• Major organization transitions (e.g., mergers, acquisitions, or other structural realignments)​

Application Considerations: To encourage shared investment and long-term sustainability, capacity building grant requests are limited to no more than 75% of the total project budget.

View Capacity Building Applicant Guidelines Here

Focus: Providing support in the form of professional advice, consulting, training, and/or strategic planning. They are designed to help organizations achieve mission sustainability and their long-term goals with more certainty and clarity. ​

​Grant Deadlines: Opens February 16; Closes March 31st at 11:59pm​

​Grant Ranges: Grant awards will range from $1,000 to $10,000 for a one-year award​

​Grant Considerations This is not an exhaustive list, please reach out if you have questions about project alignment.​

• Grants to support working with a consultant, expert, or advisor to provide specific advice, training, or planning assistance​
• Strategic planning and/or board development support​
• Technology optimization assessment work​

​Application Considerations: Applications are encouraged to provide a realistic scope of work, timeline and budget that reflects the project, even if it goes beyond the granting range identified above

View Technical Assistance Applicant Guidelines Here​

Focus: Grants play a vital role in strengthening nonprofit resilience by giving organizations the flexible, timely support they need to respond to emerging challenges and opportunities. These cycles honor the reality of day-to-day mission work, allowing nonprofits to direct resources where they will have the greatest impact. 

The Annual Responsiveness grant is our pilot effort at being more open to hearing what nonprofits need in the moment. The 2025 nonprofit survey demonstrated that overall, nonprofits desire “general, responsive funding.” The Annual Responsiveness grant allows nonprofits to share an overall picture of opportunity: You can submit for general operating and/or a specific program. This is your time to help us understand what is currently happening within your organization and how continued philanthropic support would make a difference. ​

​Grant Deadlines: With recognition of the cyclical nature of philanthropy, we will have three cycles. Applicants are encouraged to apply to the cycle that best aligns with their needs:​

• Cycle 1: Opens March 1; Closes March 31st at 11:59pm​
• Cycle 2: Opens June 1; Closes June 30th at 11:59pm​
• Cycle 3: Opens September 1; Closes September 30 at 11:59pm​

​Grant Ranges: Grant awards will range from $1,000 to $15,000 for a one-year award​.

​Grant Considerations: Annual responsive grants support flexible, general operating support and the applications will reflect a more general approach to understanding the mission, current work being done, and financial need. ​

View Annual Responsive Grants ​Applicant Guidelines Here​

Focus: Visionary grants support community-driven ideas that emerge from lived experience and grassroots leadership. They are designed to elevate voices with lived experience, encourage innovation and experimentation, and support early stage or non-traditional approaches. ​

​Grant Deadline: Opens February 23; Closes October 31; Rolling applications reviewed and responded to by the following month​

​Grant Ranges: Grant awards will range from $5,000 to $10,000 for a one-year award​

​Grant Considerations: In alignment with the namesake of this fund, visionary grants are focused on supporting:​

• Community-driven ideas shaped by lived experience​
• Efforts that test new approaches, pilot emerging ideas, or explore creative solutions​
• Initiatives that are just beginning or evolving but show promise for community benefit​
• Projects where there is potential for shared learning, community strengthening, or systems insights ​

View Visionary Grants ​Applicant Guidelines Here​

Yes. You may apply to more than one grant type.

We do encourage you to think about your top needs and prioritize, especially if one of the grants you are applying for is capacity-building. When reviewing applications, we will look at what funding your organization has received from the Community Vision Fund for 2026.​

You will see the grant application once the application process opens. If you do not see the application, it means the granting process is not active. To confirm the timeframes for each grant type, click on the 2026 CVF Grant Guidelines grant drop-down above. 

Event Sponsorships & Visionary Grants (rolling deadlines) 

• Applications received in one month are reviewed in the following month. 

Capacity Building & Technical Assistance Grants 

• Decisions are shared within 6 weeks after the deadline.

Annual Responsive Grants 

• Decisions are shared within 4 weeks after the deadline.

​

No. Meeting with staff is not required and will not affect your review.

We want to honor your time and have created an Applicant Guidelines for each grant type, which can be found when you click on the 2026 CVF Grant Guidelines grant dropdown. You can submit a grant application without meeting with us, and it will not be evaluated differently.

An organization must be able to demonstrate service to and within our geographical scope of Calumet, Outagamie, Shawano, and Waupaca, and the Neenah-Menasha area of Winnebago counties in order to be considered for funding from the Community Vision Fund.  

If a regional or statewide organization applies for funding, clear explanation must be provided of: 

• How many people you serve within our geographic area 
• What percent of your total service that represents 
• How you calculated the portion of your budget tied to our region 

Start by reading the Applicant Guidelines that are linked under the guideline dropdowns above. these documents explain the questions for each grant type and what reviewers look for. 

If you still aren’t sure, email ceteam@cffoxvalley.org and we’ll connect you with the right team member.​

You can, but we strongly encourage you to choose one. 

• Technical assistance helps you understand your needs 
• Capacity building helps you act on needs you already understand

If you are still in a planning phase, trying to identify what capacity is needed, technical assistance may be the better fit. 

At this time, we are only piloting one round of the capacity building and technical assistance grants. However, we know needs arise year long.

If you find yourself in this situation, we encourage you to reach out to ceteam@cffoxvalley.org to explain and discuss with a team member. From there, we will work with you on what options we can explore.  

Yes.

We do encourage you to think carefully about timing as leadership transitions often bring new strategies, new understandings of capacity needs and priorities, and temporary limits of what the organization can take on.  If you do apply, please explain why capacity-building is still the right step now. 

Yes.

Many nonprofits paused hiring to stabilize budgets. If the role is still needed, you may apply for capacity building support. We do encourage you to consider whether you can sustain the role long term, since these grants are one year and we cannot guarantee future funding.

Capital campaigns are not eligible for Community Vision Fund support. 

Capital projects may fit in one of these: 

• Annual Responsive Grant (allows you to describe your current needs and opportunities) 
• Visionary Grant (if the capital item will allow you to innovate)  

You can also email us to talk through your idea before applying. Email ceteam@cffoxvalley.org and provide key updates. We will share the information with the appropriate team member. 

While we recognize that many nonprofits continue to need general operating support, we also don’t want to lose focus on the visionary ideas that: 

• Come from those with lived experience 
• Encourage innovation and experimentation 
• Support early stage or non-traditional approaches 
• Take thoughtful risks where learning is as important as outcomes 

These grants are meant to lift up community driven ideas that may not fit traditional funding boxes. General operating for established programs should redirect to the Annual Responsive grant application.

The grants focus areas (like the Environmental Stewardship Fund) are staff-directed field of interest fund that focuses on supporting creative, economically feasible and environmentally sound solutions that benefit broad segments of the population to improve the well-being of current and future generations.

To apply, use the annual responsiveness grant application through the Community Vision Fund  

Last fall, nonprofits across our region completed a survey to share what was hard in 2025 and what would help them move forward.

They told us they need: 

• Stable and flexible funding 
• Support for capacity building and technical help 
• Leadership and board development 
• Clearer information about how to work with us 

Our Community Engagement team also reviewed our own process and talked with peer community foundations. We saw ways to reduce confusion, make the process easier, and respond better to community needs. The result is a refreshed framework with clearer definitions, predictable timelines, and more structured funding options, while keeping partnership, learning, and accessibility at the center. 

To increase transparency and make the process easier, the Community Vision Fund will pilot several updates in 2026: 

• Five grant options: event sponsorships, visionary grants, capacity building grants, technical assistance grants, and annual responsive grants.
• Each option has set application windows and clear grant ranges.
• Each option includes transparent guidelines to help nonprofits decide what fits.
• Each option has a support guide that explains what reviewers look for.
• All grants will be one-year.

Several core commitments remain the same in order to receive funding. 

• Organizations must be a nonprofit 501(c)(3), registered religious institution or public entity (i.e., government agency, public school, educational institution, city council, public library, municipal office, etc.)  
• Organizations using a fiscal sponsor that is an eligible nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization must have completed fiscal sponsorship paperwork prior to submitting the final application.  
• Projects must benefit people within our geographic area.
• We continue to welcome new organizations, emerging ideas, and pilot efforts.
• We remain committed to learning with you and supporting shared accountability.

We know multiyear grants can help nonprofits breathe easier. But when we looked at our past multiyear awards, we saw that: 

• Most were small capacity building grants spread over three years.
• The amounts were not large enough to provide true stability.
• Multi-year commitments limited our ability to respond to new needs.
• Some nonprofits felt more stress managing multi-year reporting.

This year, we want to offer larger one-year grants that nonprofits can use right away based on their most urgent needs.

Past focus areas mixed mission types (like arts or environment) with organizational needs (like financial health). This caused confusion. The 2025 nonprofit survey showed that organizations across all missions face similar challenges. So in 2026, we are focusing on how funding is needed, not the mission area.