There are nearly 34,000 Anne Arundel County residents (6.3%) living below the federal poverty level of $25,100 for a family of four. There are tremendous unmet needs that remain consistent in Anne Arundel County ranging from affordable housing, food insecurity, lack of accessible and quality child care, homelessness, mental health treatment, substance abuse prevention and treatment, transportation, and many others as outlined in the Community Foundation of Anne Arundel County’s (CFAAC) Community Needs Assessment, Poverty Amidst Plenty V: Striving to Achieve Progress for All.

One of CFAAC’s primary goals is to increase the dollars that the foundation has available to strategically align grantmaking with the most critical needs in the county. The Fund for Anne Arundel is a new fund created to help meet critical needs and improve the quality of life for all county residents, now and in the future.   

As federal, state, and local funding support for nonprofits continues to decline for countless reasons, individual donors and community foundations are being called on now more than ever to fill the gaps so that nonprofits can continue to provide essential community services.

In 2017, CFAAC was awarded a $300,000 Challenge Grant from the Deerbrook Charitable Trust to begin building the Fund for Anne Arundel. In 2018, CFAAC Board Trustee, Jim Humphrey added another $150,000 to the challenge, which effectively turns this opportunity into a 3:1 match! We must raise $150,000 to receive the $450,000 in matching dollars.

Once we meet our goal, a committee of board members, staff, and other community members will be formed to develop a strategic grantmaking approach that could include the following:

• a competitive grantmaking process (e.g. singular issue or multiple issues such as mental health, youth development, etc.)
• categories such as Opportunistic, Collaborative, Community Needs, Operating, or Capacity Building;
• an Innovation Prize grant competition;
• Public-Private partnerships towards a common systemic initiative;
• Impact Investing.

Fifty percent of the fund will be endowed for future use. On top of the match, a donor may qualify for a 25% state tax credit through Endow MD. Please let us know if you are interested in learning more about the tax credit.

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