GWCF’s Community Grant Program has always been the reliable workhorse of our grant making, and that remains true. The program, though, has changed over the years. Just a few years ago, we went from two cycles a year to just one. And each year we have modified the guidelines – sometimes making tweaks that sharpen the focus a bit, and at other times making bigger changes. In the past year we separated operating support from project requests; better clarified our funding interests; and, more meaningfully, centered racial equity, community voice, and systems change as priorities for our grantees. For 2022, we are making changes to the timeline again. Spoiler alert: The magic date is no longer September 15th.

GWCF chats with Victoria Njoroge, a young person sharing her thoughts on the importance of teaching diverse perspectives in schools.

Chick and Gayle Weiss: Chick is a former Greater Worcester Community Foundation board member, and as a couple, the Weiss’ are long-time forces for good in the nonprofit community. Last year, they decided to establish a donor-advised fund with the Foundation. The couple chose the Foundation for its knowledge of community issues, philanthropic leadership and flexibility in managing funds.

Fresh off its 20th anniversary, the Greater Worcester Community Foundation’s Youth for Community Improvement program this year focused its grantmaking on COVID-19 relief as well as access and equity across the greater Worcester community.

Awards totaling nearly $2 million are included in this year's Greater Worcester Community Foundation Community Grant Program cycle. In 2020, the Foundation presented 123 awards to 114 nonprofit organizations totaling $1.935 million.

Individuals and nonprofits across Central Massachusetts experiencing severe economic hardship as a result of the pandemic can expect additional support from the Greater Worcester Community Foundation in the coming months.

On Monday, Nov. 16 the Greater Worcester Community Foundation joined with 13 fellow Bay State community Foundations to create the Massachusetts Community Foundation Partnership.

In the Greater Worcester Community Foundation’s calendar, the arrival of fall also means the commencement of the community grant program – our biggest discretionary granting cycle of the year. This year, however, is different. Every nonprofit organization is feeling the impact of COVID-19.

Barbara Fields, Greater Worcester Community Foundation president and CEO, reflects on what she's learned in her first year leading the 45-year-old Foundation.

Gifts of all shapes and sizes helped the Greater Worcester Community Foundation raise more than $10 million from residents and organizations across Worcester County. Here is one story of a donation sparked by the writings of high school poetry students in the era of COVID-19.