Community Fund Guidelines

Program Eligibility Criteria

United Way has established certain criteria that agencies must meet before their Letter of Intent will be considered.

• Be a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization as determined by the Internal Revenue Service.
• As a condition of a program grant award, it will be expected that you attend monthly meetings with United Way of Idaho Falls & Bonneville County and other funded nonprofit partners.
• Have as their primary mission the provision of health and/or human services.
• Resources are directed towards programs that support families, individuals, seniors that fall within the A.L.I.C.E. (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) demographic.
• Be under control of a local governing board which is organized and functioning to provide policy direction and fiscal management oversight.
• Have the ability to demonstrate outcomes in the goals under the Impact areas of Health, Education and Financial Stability. 
• Our funding priorities under the three pillars are:
  • Access to Healthcare (mental health & physical health)
  • Food Insecurity for children and seniors
  • Early Education
  • Affordable Housing and a Living Wage
• Financial Attachments 
  • Be able to provide an independent financial audit of most recent fiscal year (if organization annual revenue is over $500,000) 
  • or an independent financial review of most recent fiscal year (if organization annual revenue is $1 to $499,000), 
  • Also, a copy of the most recent 990 filed with the IRS.
• Provide services to residents of and have a physical service delivery location in eastern Idaho, including the counties of Bonneville, Clark, Fremont, Jefferson, Lemhi, Madison, and Teton.

Program Investment Guidelines

• Minimum grant amount will be $5,000.
• Grant awards are not made for capital projects.
• Outcomes will be reviewed each year by the Community Solutions Panel Volunteers.  To ensure that investments are making an impact, a maximum grant amount for any newly applying agency/program is $15,000.  
• UWIFBC grant awards should not exceed 20% of a program’s budget.

Letters of Intent (LOI forms) are reviewed by our Community Solutions Panel Chairs who determine which programs will be invited to apply for our annual grant process. Please see the annual grant process timeline below for more details.

Please submit grant questions to Carol Mercau at cmercau@unitedwayif.org or by calling (208) 522-2674.

Community Solution Panel Volunteer Opportunity

Approximate time commitment–20 hours from April through June

Each year, grant applications are received from regional nonprofits seeking funding from UWIFBC'S Community Fund. This fund is from area employee donations through our Workplace Giving Campaigns. Community Solution Panel volunteers (CSPV) from our seven-county service region help the United Way Board of Directors direct the funding to nonprofit organizations that align with our impact areas of:

• Food insecurity for children and seniors.
• Access to mental health and health resources and services.
• Affordable housing, living wage.
• Early education, equity-based programs.

Duties Include:

• Commit to 15–20 hours of time between April and June.
• Review and score grant applications.
• Understand and apply UWIFBC's mission and goals while making funding decisions.
• Participate in CSPV training - one hour in April.
• Participate and contribute to panel emails, discussions, and meetings.
• Participate in nonprofit agency site visits and interviews.
• Contribute to discussions and final funding recommendations.

Being part of the CSPV is a great opportunity to better understand the work that our 40 nonprofit community partners are making creating lasting changes for children, families and seniors in eastern Idaho.

If you are interested in being a volunteer for the 2024 grant season please reach out to Chris Wiersema cwiersema@unitedwayif.org.