PIERCE COUNTY CONNECTED funding

 

Submit Requests for funding to respOnd to COVID-19

As the public health response to COVID-19 in Pierce County escalated on March 13, 2020, United Way of Pierce County and Greater Tacoma Community Foundation partnered for an aligned philanthropic response to emerging community needs. Together, they launched the PIERCE COUNTY CONNECTED fund, seeded with $750,000 from GTCF. GTCF committed another $1 million in matching dollars for regional funders joining in the effort. Since the launch, numerous regional funders contributed to the fund, and have exceeded the matching amount.  The chart above will be updated weekly to reflect the latest information about the fund balance. 

The PIERCE COUNTY CONNECTED fund supports organizations providing services to address urgent needs and the disruption of basic human services to Pierce County’s most vulnerable populations due to COVID-19 and the necessary public health measures to address it 

PIERCE COUNTY CONNECTED partners are committed to delivering rapid funding to organizations in a way that supports their continued services to vulnerable populations with the fewest barriers possible.

With that in mind, this is not a typical grant application process. This process is designed to surface urgent and emerging needs in the community related to COVID-19 disruptions, elevate these funding needs to a broad networks of funders and GTCF fundholders, and rapidly move PIERCE COUNTY CONNECTED funds into the community for those applicants that meet the criteria.

Requests will be accepted from organizations and entities with services based in Pierce County including tribal governments, local governments, school districts501c3 nonprofit organizations, intermediaries, and fiscally sponsored projects or collaborations. Vulnerable populations include, but are not limited to, people with food insecurity, people experiencing homelessness, communities of color, frontline workers, immigrants, people experiencing domestic violence, people needing behavioral health supports, people with disabilities, remote or isolated persons or families, and senior citizens.

When submitting a request to PIERCE COUNTY CONNECTED, please be aware of the following:
 
1. Requests may not be funded.
2. Organizations can update their requests as needs change or surface so that funders can be as responsive as possible.
3. Funding requests will be shared with GTCF fundholders and funding partners. The purpose of doing so is to help surface needs so that area funders can directly support unfunded applications.

 

CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT A FUNDING REQUEST FOR EMERGING NEEDS (PHASE 3) Of PIERCE COUNTY CONNECTED FUNDING

 

 

PIERCE COUNTY CONNECTED Funding Timeline

 

Phase Goal Funding Awarded
Phase 1: Urgent Response
March 30 - April 3, 2020
$1M funding support of food access, shelter, and childcare for first responders, medical providers, and essential workers. Phase 1 Funding Recipients
Phase 2:
April 4 – 30, 2020
(Rapid Response)

Rolling Requests

$2M funding in support of urgent and emerging needs identified through online requests and surfaced through PIERCE COUNTY CONNECTED Community Response Committee. Phase 2 Funding Recipients
Phase 3:
May – Sept 2020
(Emerging Needs)
Funding in support of emerging needs identified through online requests and surfaced through PIERCE COUNTY CONNECTED Community Response Committee Phase 3 Funding Recipients
Phase 4: Oct 2020 – Sept 2021
(Rebuilding)
Phase 4: Rebuilding
October 2020 – September 2021
As this situation continues to develop, PIERCE COUNTY CONNECTED will post focus areas for any additional funding.
 

 

 

PIERCE COUNTY CONNECTED Funding Committee

  • Brad Cheney, Ben B. Cheney Foundation (Co-Chair)
  • Dona Ponepinto, United Way of Pierce County (Co-Chair)
  • Alisha Fehrenbacher, Elevate Health & One Pierce
  • Cassandra Mitchell, KeyBank
  • Georgia Lomax, Pierce County Library System
  • Holly Bamford Hunt, Bamford Family Foundation
  • Janece Levien, Greater Tacoma Community Foundation
  • Jeff Woodworth, Woodworth Family Foundation
  • Lois Bernstein, MultiCare
  • Nick Russell, The Russell Family Foundation
  • Richard Woo, retired CEO, The Russell Family Foundation
  • Seth Kirby, Greater Tacoma Community Foundation
  • Todd Silver, Todd & Teresa Silver Funds
  • Tyler Zemanek, Windows of Hope Foundation