San Diego Foundation invites applications for the Community Scholars Initiative

The San Diego Foundationis committed to inspiring enduring philanthropy and enabling community solutions to improve the quality of life in the region.The foundation invites applications for the Community Scholars Initiative (CSI), which aims to support students who identify in any of the following student groups; students with disabilities, foster youth, students experiencing homelessness, and English language learners. Successful applicants will submit a proposal that outlines the most promising and impactful strategies and programmatic interventions that contribute to increasing college access, persistence, and completion among one or more of the priority student populations. Successful applicants will be part of the CSI cohort, receive a four-year conditional funding commitment from the foundation, and receive the following:Annual Programmatic Funding: Organizations will be eligible for annual grants in the range of $125,000 to $150,000 for up to four years to support programmatic

operations. Unrestricted operational dollars allow organizations the flexibility to direct dollars where needed to provide robust college access and success programming to students.Annual Emergent Needs/Responsive Funding:Organizations will be eligible for annual grants to maintain a $20,000 responsive fund for basic and emerging needs for CSI-awarded students.Technical Assistance Support:Organizations will have access to support for professional development opportunities.Networking and Capacity Building Support:Organizations will participate in periodic SDF-sponsored and/or -hosted convenings that are focused on capacity building, professional development, and networking.Student Scholarships:Organizations will refer their eligible graduating high school seniors to a dedicated needs-based two-year renewable scholarship.To be eligible, applicants must be tax-exempt as defined by section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, located in San Diego County, and have an existing track record serving San Diego County. A 501(c)(3) public charity may serve as a fiscal sponsor for another applicant to administer the grant and provide regular financial reporting to San Diego Foundation so long as the applicant is in San Diego County and serving San Diego students.For complete program guidelines and application instructions, see the San Diego Foundation website.