Horizons has already awarded our annual Community Issues grants for 2007. Please check back in mid-July for the 2008 RFP. If you wish to be included on the email list for future Community Issues grants, please email your contact information (including mailing address) to info [at] horizonsfoundation [dot] org with "Community Issues Grant Mailing List" in the subject header.

If you have any questions, please contact Jewelle Gomez, Director of Grants and Community Initiatives, at 415.398.2333 x116 or jgomez [at] horizonsfoundation [dot] org.

Eligibility
The maximum grant award is $10,000. Please note that an organization may submit only one proposal for a Community Issues grant. To be eligible for a 2007 Community Issues grant, your organization must:

• Be a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization, or provide documentation that the organization is sponsored under a fiscal agent umbrella that has 501(c)(3) status.
• LGBT organizations are strongly to apply for general operating support, which Horizons is committed to providing. However, LGBT organizations may choose to submit proposals to fund specific programs or projects.
• Non-LGBT organizations are welcome to apply for support for a specific program serving LGBT people.
• Organizations without 501(c)(3) status must have a fiscal sponsor at the time they submit the proposal.
• Apply within one of the following issue areas:
• Arts and Culture - This issue area covers all proposals for visual, performing, literary, film, and video arts relating to LGBT people of all ages.
• Awareness and Civil Rights - This issue area covers all proposals that address social awareness and civil rights issues affecting the LGBT population. Your proposal may also focus on LGBT-related advocacy, awareness, and civil rights with a primary audience of non-LGBT people (for example, an anti-discrimination campaign).
• Community Building - This issue area covers proposals from organizations that are multi-purpose (such as community centers), or for projects that directly develop connections among disparate members of the LGBT community or that strengthen the LGBT community as a whole. (Multi-purpose organizations may choose to apply instead under one of the other issue areas, if appropriate.)
• Human Services and Health - This issue area covers all proposals that primarily address health-related issues, as well as the provision of community, social, and human services for LGBT individuals and families.
• Request support for an organization or program within one or more of these counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, Sonoma.
• Have submitted a final report and financial accounting for any past grant(s) which are due.
• Complete all sections of the proposal. We regret that incomplete proposals cannot be considered.

• Requests for costs incurred prior to the date of the grant award
• Requests from government agencies
• Requests for capital support, including construction and renovation
• Fundraising event sponsorship
• Projects that directly benefit an individual

Other Funding Considerations

• Horizons will give priority to organizations based in the LGBT community and whose principal mission is to serve the LGBT community. Non-LGBT organizations may apply for LGBT programs, but should do so understanding that priority will go to LGBT-specific organizations.
• We will also give priority to organizations and projects that are organized by, and work on behalf of, underserved segments of the LGBT communities. Programs that represent and serve diverse constituencies with respect to ethnicity, race, age, gender, gender identity, and physical and mental ability are viewed positively in making granting decisions.
• Horizons will also give special consideration to programs that have limited appeal to traditional funding sources - either because they are small, new, and/or non-traditional in approach or goals - and to projects that are designed to increase an organization's fundraising abilities.

For any other questions, please contact Jewelle Gomez, Director of Grants and Community Initiatives, at 415.398.2333 x116 or jgomez [at] horizonsfoundation [dot] org.