Generous Acts Application Open for 2021
Seeking projects supporting wellbeing, educational opportunity, or community & economic vitality 

Tuesday, January 5, 2021
 
2019 Generous Acts grant recipient NCAVI
A Generous Acts grant in 2018 helped the North Country Association for the Visually Impaired provide critical outreach services – for free – to people suffering from visual impairment.  Plattsburgh community member Carmen Carpentier is pictured here with visual rehabilitation specialist Pat Wilson who is helping her maintain her independence at home.

 

LAKE PLACID – Adirondack Foundation today announces that the 2021 Generous Acts grant application is open and available online until 5 p.m., February 1, 2021.

“The pandemic is putting social and economic disparities into much sharper relief. At the same time, the crisis is revealing new opportunities for collaboration toward long-term change,” said Foundation President and CEO Cali Brooks. “Generous Acts is here to respond to urgent needs, as well as invest in systems-level solutions to help our communities prosper. It has the flexibility to do both, which is more important than ever.” 

Application guidelines
Generous Acts grant applications can be submitted through the Foundation’s online grants manager, adirondackfoundation.org/online-grants-manager. The Foundation welcomes applications in these priority areas:

  • Basic Needs - Providing basic needs for people such as food and housing, creating age-friendly communities, enhancing home and community-based services from early childhood development to elder care
  • Educational Pathways - Promoting literacy, improving school-readiness for young children, strengthening post-secondary pathways and support networks for education and employment
  • Community & Economic Vitality - Supporting workforce initiatives to train workers and fill jobs, improving access to child care and other support services for working families, overcoming economic or racial inequities, bolstering civic engagement, addressing community-defined needs


Eligibility and evaluation
Nonprofit organizations, schools, and municipalities serving the people of the Adirondack region, defined for this purpose as all of Clinton, Essex, Franklin and Hamilton counties as well as the parts of Herkimer, St. Lawrence, Warren, and Washington counties within the Adirondack Park boundary, are eligible to apply. Projects are evaluated for their alignment with Adirondack Foundation’s priority program areas, overall effectiveness, articulation of needs being served, and capacity of the applicant to carry out the work.

More Generous Acts
Adirondack Foundation shares Generous Acts applications with other funders to bring attention to important causes and garner additional grant dollars. Last year for instance, the Hudson Headwaters Health Foundation selected 10 applications to fund directly through its dedicated Upstream Fund, which focuses on community-based projects that address socio-economic issues affecting health.

“Hudson Headwaters recognizes that many factors influence a person’s health. That’s why our Foundation is so thrilled to partner with Adirondack Foundation to ‘go upstream’ and learn about Generous Acts funding opportunities that can help build healthier communities,” said Tucker Slingerland, M.D., CEO of Hudson Headwaters Health Network.      

Cumulatively since 2014, Generous Acts has awarded more than $1 million in grants, supporting, for instance,  food assistance programs in Clifton-Fine, Elizabethtown, Indian Lake, Malone, Minerva, Saranac Lake; community health and wellness opportunities in the Champlain Valley, AuSable Forks, Chester, Wells, Wilmington; educational programs in Clinton and Franklin counties, Old Forge, Warrensburg; financial literacy assistance programs reaching people across the region; economic development initiatives in Keeseville, Speculator, Ticonderoga; and much more.

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