The Community Vision Fund within the Community Foundation is ready to help nonprofit organizations make a huge impact in the Fox Valley. The fund seeks to fulfill community needs and advance well-being for people living in Calumet, Outagamie, Shawano, Waupaca, and the Neenah-Menasha area of Winnebago counties. The fund combines dollars from donors who created endowment funds or made individual donations to improve the quality of life of the Fox Valley region.

A $5,000 grant to NEW Hmong Professionals in 2023 provided tools and materials for a flower cloth-making group for Hmong elders to support them in a safe setting where they can continue their learned trade and keep a part of home with them.

Applicants can use the grant portal to check out a quick quiz to help determine eligibility. Recent improvements make the grant request process more efficient and responsive.

In 2023, 68 grants totaling $842,323 were awarded from the Community Vision Fund. See a full grants list here.

Through an application and review process, grants are distributed to Fox Valley area nonprofit organizations within five focus areas: arts and culture, community and neighborhood development, environment, financial stability and wellbeing, and nonprofit effectiveness. Those focus areas are influenced by the Vital Conditions for Health and Well-Being and the Imagine Fox Cities’ community vision. 

Tax-deductible donations of any amount can be directed to the Community Vision Fund to help support nonprofit organizations working to improve the quality of life for all in the Fox Valley region. Donations can be made with cash, securities, IRA assets, real estate, or other assets.

A $25,000 grant to LOTUS Legal Clinic in 2023 helped with capacity building to expand legal services to survivors of human trafficking and sexual violence in the Fox Valley.

As we consider inquiries, we prioritize requests that invest in:

• Under-resourced and/or historically excluded communities and organizations,
• Rural communities,
• Systems change efforts and systems thinking,
• Organizations or programs led by people with lived experience (or those in closest proximity) to the issues we’re trying to address,
• Or apply a diversity, equity, inclusion, and antiracism lens

Learn more here and review the Community Vision Fund guidelines prior to applying. 

What does a Community Foundation do? Glad you asked! Learn more here.