Grant Writing Assistance

We help with grant writing

We provide assistance in designing programs, identifying funders, and writing proposals for your grants that include CSM and/or Excel Together West Virginia.

Please reach out to us at hello@exceltogetherwv.org for more information.

We're here as partners

Helping with your grants

There are many steps to obtaining funding for programs from state and federal sources, or from philanthropies:

  • program planning
  • identifying partners
  • writing grant applications
  • conversations with funders

Excel Together West Virginia offers help in all areas of fund-raising for organizations that are involved in our initiative. We are just getting going at the moment, but in the near future, we plan on having regular notices of West Virginia-related RFPs, as well as sample grant language that can be included in grant proposals.

Partnering on our grants

From time to time, SeeMore Impact Labs will be applying for grants -- generally speaking, covering some areas of education, workforce & economic development, and human services. If you operate in these areas, it may be possible for you to participate in some of those programs.

Reach out to us

If you'd like to talk with us about partnering on grants, or if you'd like for us to reach out as we plan our own grants.

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West Virginia philanthropies

The table below lists most West Virginia philanthropies that fund in education, economic and workforce development, and human services, and is sortable by their area of work, and size of organization. This also includes some out of state funders (one of the largest local funders in West Virginia is the Benedum Foundation, headquartered in Pittsburgh).

This list does not include national funders, or state or federal government agencies! Most national funders tend to look for larger, more strategic programs, or for narrow programs (e.g. Catholic education in schools). For most West Virginia non-profits, local funders will be easier to approach.

This information comes from the federal tax filings (Form 990's), and information may be 1-2 years out of date.

Interpreting 990's

Once you have identified a possible funder, you can often find more information on their website, but some philanthropies don’t have websites, and others can be confusing about their interests and grantees.

990s are publicly-available federal tax forms that foundations and non-profits are required to file annually. If you know where to look, these forms can give an in-depth picture of their financial status and grantees.

A good place to find 990s is at the Pro Publica Non-Profit Explorer. Search for the philanthropy to download the 990 (green “PDF” button) or open it for easy reading (light blue “Full Filing” button).

Here's what you can find in the 990:

  • How much they give out in grants: On the 1st page, the first line of expenses
  • Mission Statement: on the second page, Part III, line 1
  • Descriptions and amount of funding given for specific programs: on the second page, Part III, lines 4a-c
  • All grants given in the previous year: Schedule I (letter "I", not Roman numeral I), Part II near the bottom. This is usually two-thirds or more through the form.

Interpreting the Philanthropy Table below

  • Total Assets refers to the total assets held by the organization.
  • Annual Funding is the total annual grants given by the foundation each year. Foundations are required to spend 5% of their assets in funding annually, but can spend more.
  • Average Size refers to the average size of grants in the specific funding area listed. Note that in some cases most of the grants may be nearly the same size (near the average), or it may be that there are many small grants with a few very large grants.

Philanthropy tables

click on the different categories below...

Large education philanthropies

Smaller education philanthropies

Economic / workforce development philanthropies

Human services philanthropy

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