Grant Guidelines 

The Keokuk Area Community Foundation and North Lee Community Foundation invest in local nonprofit organizations that help improve the quality of life in our community.

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The following are general grant guidelines that apply to all our grant opportunities. Each of our grant opportunities may have additional guidelines (click on the highlighted grant opportunities to learn more).

 

Grant Opportunities

• The Hellman Lee County Impact Grant

• Eichacker / Lofton Grant Fund

• Lee County Youth Services, Inc.

• Kowzan / Sandrock Grant Fund

   

General Grant Guidelines

• The Keokuk Area Community Foundation and North Lee Community Foundation welcome applications for grants from nonprofit organizations, charities, health care organizations, and educational institutions that the IRS has determined to be exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS Code.

• Municipalities, churches, and schools with charitable intent will be considered for grants.

• All applicants must complete a grant application through GLM and submit it with all required documents. Recurring grants for the same program are accepted.

• No grants for programs, projects, or purchases completed before grant funds were awarded.

• Grants are for a period of one year.

• The Keokuk Area Community Foundation and North Lee Community Foundation's primary geographic focus for support is Lee County, Iowa.  Nonprofit organizations in Hancock County, Illinois, and Clark County, Missouri may apply only for the Eichacker / Lofton Grant.

• Successful grant applications typically address problems to be solved or opportunities to be seized in the Tri-State Area. Grant application requests are considered in the fields of arts and culture, community betterment, education, health, and human services.

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Project Support

Community building is central to the work of the Keokuk Area Community Foundation and North Lee Community Foundation; therefore, the foundations will give preference to projects that:

 

• Suggest practical approaches to community problems.

• Generate community support, both professional and volunteer.

• Demonstrate the organization’s ability to secure realistic funding.

• Strengthen a non-profit organization's effectiveness or stability.

• Increase civic participation and community vitality.

• Build community connections, especially among diverse groups, and build mutual trust and reciprocity in community relationships.

• Develop an expanding pool of talented community leaders.

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Priority Funding

• Seed Grants to initiate promising new projects and programs so they can demonstrate their usefulness to the community.

• Projects that will enable non-profit and charitable agencies to reduce costs, increase efficiency, and move toward self-sufficiency.

•  Projects that address and help resolve important existing or emerging community issues and needs.

• Projects that facilitate cooperation and collaboration among organizations and communities in our area.

• Projects that identify, enhance, and expand leadership in the community by supporting charitable activities that empower individuals.

• Capital expenditures, such as construction, remodeling, additions to existing buildings, and equipment purchases.

• Projects for which other grants have been approved but require matching funds for completion.

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Will Not Be Funded

The Keokuk Area Community Foundation or North Lee Community Foundation will not provide grant funds for purposes that do not directly advance your charitable purposes.

 

• Endowment or scholarship funds.

• Annual fund drives or annual giving campaigns-to reduce or erase a budget deficit or any form of a debt reduction campaign.

• Grants for political campaigns or organizations that directly or indirectly participate in a State, Local, or National campaign for any political party or cause.

• Requests to establish or maintain scholarship funds.

• Requests for specific sectarian religious purposes (however, requests from religious organizations will be considered for general community and humanitarian programs).

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