Stewardship Through Charitable Funds

The Community Foundation's mission is to connect people, resources and causes to produce a positive and sustainable change in the communities we serve. After we receive the money from our donors, we invest it and use part of the earnings to make grants to 501(c)3 non-profit organizations that are improving the quality of life in Howard County for this generation and generations to come.

Since our beginning in 1991, the generosity of our donors has allowed us to make grants of more than $20 million to help make our community a better place. This amount includes more than $16.96 million in grants and more than $3 million in scholarships, with an additional $4.6 million in Lilly Endowment Community Scholarships.

The Community Foundation of Howard County has implemented three changes to our grantmaking program:

The guidelines and application process have been simplified and include a more defined outline for the “letter of inquiry.”
We are launching new strategic grants in response to the three aspirations that were prioritized by our community listening process. The development of our more intentional and focused strategic grants process supports the aspirations of Howard County. Our participants want a community that is:

a. mentally healthy, safe and drug-free
b. progressive, growing, vibrant and economically healthy
c. inclusive, supportive, connected, engaging and culturally diverse
We are allocating money for mini-grants (requests up to $1,000) and rapid response grants (requests up to $5,000) to offer a quicker turnaround. The grants help the Foundation respond to short-term emergencies, opportunities, and evolving community needs.

We will continue to make general grants to respond to a wide variety of opportunities to benefit Howard County. All grants will be awarded from the variety of unrestricted community endowment funds that donors establish.

Note: All grants are considered based on funding availability.

Read more about the impact of giving in these grantee stories:

Building Transformation Makes Room for Adult Day Programs Expansion

Day Camp Comes to Kids

Coronavirus in Our Community

God's Garage

Project Access: Dentists Delivering Smiles

United Way of Howard County: 4Community

Super Explorers: Summer Camp

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Recent Grants

Frequently Asked Questions