Learn More About Applying to Generous Acts
The 2025 application cycle will open December 11, 2024 and close February 7, 2025.
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Basic Needs
Our vision for Basic Needs is that residents of all ages have equitable access to services that enable and promote a healthy quality of life. We seek to strengthen the social safety net, assist with emergency relief, ensure access to quality support networks – from home health aides to child care to financial literacy, and more.
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Educational Pathways
Our two-part vision for Educational Pathways is 1) that all children benefit from high-quality early learning and development, and 2) all learners have meaningful opportunities to pursue pathways to gainful employment and fulfilling lives. We seek to foster a systems-approach for cradle-to-career education, support early childhood development, invest in college- and career-preparedness, bolster life-skills and basic literacy, and more.
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Economic Vitality
Our vision for Economic Vitality is that thriving communities provide equitable and just economic opportunity, build generational wealth, attract residents and businesses, and inspire community participation. We seek to invest in community-led initiatives to enhance quality of life and fuel the economy, support workforce development and business sustainability, retain residents and encourage visitors to move here, and more.
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Nonprofit organizations, schools, and municipalities located in or serving the people of the Adirondack Region, defined for this purpose as all of Clinton, Franklin, Essex, and Hamilton counties as well as the parts of St. Lawrence, Warren, Herkimer, and Washington counties within the Adirondack Park boundary.
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Applications are available through our Online Grants Manager. You can also find a sample budget here.
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Sure. Please be sure to describe how your work aligns with our priority areas – and be as specific as you can.
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Generous Acts awards both small grants that range from $2,500 - $7,500 and several larger grants that invest in long-term change and range from $10,000 - $20,000.
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Once a year. The 2025 application will open on December 11, 2024 and must be completed by February 7, 2025.
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We typically do not fund capital campaigns, regranting programs, tuition assistance, or one-time events. With limited resources, we are looking for opportunities that will have the greatest impact for the dollars available to award.
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Committees of trustees, community council members, and advisors work with our program staff to review applications. During the review process, we may call an applicant for additional information or clarification, request a meeting, or reach out to regional experts for guidance.
Applications are evaluated based on four main criteria.In addition to our evaluation criteria below, please
review the specific priority area guidance below for promising approaches that we fund in the basic needs,
educational pathways, and economic vitality.
1. Alignment - The degree to which the request aligns with Adirondack Foundation’s priority areas.
2. Need - Articulation of need (e.g., working to address inequality, reaching an underserved
population). The request connects with the larger problem you are trying to solve, need you are
addressing, or change you’d like to affect in the community you serve.
3. Effectiveness - The degree to which the applicant leverages partnerships, community resources,
and outside funding to maximize impact AND The extent to which the expected outcomes and plan
for measuring success are clear and feasible.
4. Capacity - The applicant has the skills, capacity, and knowledge to carry out the work. -
Our partners with the Hudson Headwaters Upstream Fund review applications – looking for alignment with their goals to support community-based projects that address socioeconomic issues affecting health. For the applications they select, Hudson Headwaters will make payments directly to the recipients through their Upstream Fund, which is separate from Adirondack Foundation.
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Yes. Our goal with Generous Acts is to amplify giving and granting for the betterment of our region. In addition to HHHF, we share applications with other funders who are interested in learning about granting opportunities.
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No, please just share your project budget in the “budget and timeline” field and upload a summary of the town or school overall expenses in the “financial statements” field.
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It depends, here are some things to keep in mind:
- If your organization is large, multi-faceted and operates in multiple communities and offers multiple types of programming you can submit more than one request as long as it is serving different audiences or communities. (Example: County-wide agencies such as JCEO, or Adirondack Community Outreach or Cornell Cooperative Extension)
- If you are a school or institution, please only submit one request per school building. (Example: Lake Placid Middle High School could submit one request, and Lake Placid Elementary School could submit one request).
- You may also ask for support for different programs within the same application. Just be sure to clearly delineate the amount requested for each project in your project budget and in the funding description narrative. (Example: Teachers in the same building can partner up on one application.)
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Absolutely!
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We have funds dedicated to specific geographic areas and fields of interest that accept applications. Please see our other available grant opportunities here.
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You should hear about the status of your grant application the middle of April.