Request for Proposals | United Way of the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo Region

OVERVIEW

United Way of the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo Region (UWBCKR) envisions a vibrant community where all people realize their full potential. UWBCKR leads shared efforts by engaging diverse people, ideas and resources. 

We are focused on four impact areas and community level goals to ensure every person can learn more, earn enough and live a healthy life:

EDUCATION:  Improve high school graduation rates and reduce racial and economic disparities in graduation rates. 

INCOME:  Increase the number of economically stable households in the region.

HEALTH:  Improve family and infant health and reduce racial and economic disparities in related indicators.

BASIC NEEDS:  Ensure that our regional community has a safety net in place to help individuals and families access basic necessities during times of need.

UWBCKR’s regional Community Impact strategy includes four distinct investment tiers:

STRATEGIC – Multi-year grants to support programs that align with a strategic priority area and specific indicators that demonstrate the program’s ongoing efforts to make progress towards the community-level goal in education, income, and health.

INNOVATIVE/INTERIM – Innovative/Interim grants will provide one year of funding for new or existing programs that 1) align with UWBCKR’s strategic priorities and 2) have the potential to make progress towards the community-level goal in Education, Income, or Health. Assessment of Innovative/Interim proposals will also include the potential for a program to eventually scale up to qualify as a Strategic Investment. Data relative to at least one UWBCKR indicator will be collected to assess the program’s potential to become a strategic investment. 

SUPPORTIVE – Supportive grants provide one year of funding to programs that are related to a community-level goal in Education, Income, and Health but are not necessarily aligned and operate outside of that goal’s strategic priorities. Consequently, program level data will be collected as opposed to data that is specific to strategic indicators. 

BASIC NEEDS – One year grants to maintain and improve a regional safety net of supports for highly vulnerable populations to access services that address immediate needs. 

ACTIVE REQUESTS FOR PROPOSALS (RFP’s):

Link to Innovative/Interim Funding RFP

Link to Supportive Funding RFP

For more information, please contact Heather Rittenhouse at (269)441-1725 or [email protected].