OVERVIEW: The Black Hills Area Community Foundation supports arts and culture, disaster recovery, women and children, environment, education, affordable housing, human services, homelessness, and other community needs in the Black Hills region of South Dakota.
IP TAKE: The Black Hills Area Community Foundation seeks to provide “leadership” when it comes to giving in its community in South Dakota. It encourages giving and administers a range of grants through an open, accessible application process. This is a community funder on the rise, with its annual giving and asset totals skyrocketing in recent years. Recently, the Foundation has prioritized combatting food and housing insecurity, as well as youth mental health. It’s Thriving Communities grantmaking area, which administers grants via giving circles, changes priorities year-to-year based on an online survey distributed to community members and donors, so grantseekers should note that certain projects may be more or less relevant to the Foundation from one year to the next.
PROFILE: Established in 1987, the Black Hills Area Community Foundation (BHACF) is a community foundation based in Rapid City, South Dakota. It works with nonprofits, assists donors, raises funds, and distributes grants in the local community. The foundation aims to “provide philanthropic leadership to build community endowments to invest in people and solutions that positively impact the Black Hills area.” It funds local efforts for arts and culture, disaster recovery, women and children, environment, education, affordable housing, human services, homelessness, and other community needs.
Grants for Community Development and Welfare, Economic Development, Education and Human Services
The Black Hills Area Community Foundation has a robust, locally-oriented series of grants that have their own guidelines and application cycles:
The BHACH awards Capacity Building Grants to organizations working in their region of interest, specifically in the counties of Oglala Lakota, Fall River, Custer, Pennington, Meade, Lawrence, and Butte. The maximum allowable grant in this category is $5,000. Organizations should not expect to receive multi-year support.
It awards Community Action Grants of $50,000 and $20,000 to organizations that are sustainable, partnering with other community resources, and implementing new ideas.
BHACF’s Collective Impact Food Security Grants go to organizations in Rapid City and Box Elder and “support the overall collaborative efforts of the Collective Impact Food Security Workgroup.”
The funder’s Liv to Give Fund gives preference to organizations and projects that benefit children.
- The Jim Hess Community Forward Grant “supports nonprofits in the Northern Hills, including Butte, Lawrence and Meade Counties.” This program awards two grants of $15,000 each to eligible nonprofits.
Its Community Service Center Trust Fund Grant assists organizations that provide services to low-income local people, especially Native American Indian groups. The maximum grant total is $2,000.
The foundation also has a Youth Philanthropy Grant program that focuses on youth mental health and awards grants up to $2,500.
Finally, Black Hills Area Community Foundation provides the opportunity for endowment matching with organizations trying to build an endowment for their future security.
- Past local grantees include the Black Hills Raptor Center, Casa 7th Circuit, Front Porch Coalition, and Haakon School District.
BHACF also hosts a robust scholarship program, with a large handful of opportunities dedicated to students graduating from certain local high schools or actively enrolled in certain academic programs.
Grants for Animal Welfare
The BHACF also administers the Margaret Warren & Grace Lemley Animal Welfare Grant. This grant is available to to organizations that provide for animals in the Black Hills community.
Grant Details:
Grants range between about $2,500 and $50,000. In a recent year, this funder awarded $7.4 million in total grants.
- Grantmaking focuses on the Black Hills area of South Dakota.
- This foundation accepts unsolicited grant applications from nonprofits for some of its grantmaking programs. Each program has its own set of guidelines and deadlines. See guidelines for your specific grant category above.
- Grants must be submitted via online portal.
- Direct general questions to the staff at info@bhacf.org or (605) 718-0112.
PEOPLE:
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