Discover and Celebrate the Bliss of the Asheville Area Non-Profit and Grass Roots Organization Funding Options

Center for Participatory Change Western North Carolina Self Development Fund
"... provides direct funding for small, community-led organizations and their projects. The SDF helps meet the need for financial support among grassroots organizations, while also helping those groups 1) develop the capacity to write proposals for funding from larger organizations and 2) plan for carrying out grassroots fundraising projects. The SDF has two grant programs. Through Seed Grants, the SDF provides small start-up grants (up to $1,000) to support projects that are initated, planned, and controlled by groups of people in low-wealth communities. Through Grassroots Fundraising Matching Grants, the SDF provides funds to match what a group brings in through a grassroots fundraising project which the group has planned and carried out together...."

Community Foundation
"... Since 1978, Western North Carolinians and their professional advisors have relied on The Community Foundation to help them turn their charitable passions into meaningful and effective philanthropy. In partnership with our donors, the Foundation has awarded more than $90 million in charitable grants to nonprofit organizations and public institutions to enhance the quality of life throughout our 18-county mountain region and beyond...."

The Fund for Southern Communities
"... is a public foundation that supports and unites organizations and donors working to create just and sustainable communities that are free of oppression and that embrace and celebrate all people. Through grant-making and related activities the Fund for Southern Communities fosters social change initiated by community-based groups in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina...."

Click on each of the dozens of categories to the left to uncover what makes the Asheville area so vital, so intriguing and so, well, UTTERLY BLISSFUL!

From Rolf Potts' Vagabonding blog:

I've never been one of those uptight literary types who thinks that you have to have actually read a book in order to recommend it to others. So I feel no trepidation in suggesting Eric Weiner's new travelogue-slash-memoir The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World The premise of the book is simple but intriguing-- here is Amazon's description:

Part foreign affairs discourse, part humor, and part twisted self-help guide, The Geography of Bliss takes the reader from America to Iceland to India in search of happiness, or, in the crabby author's case, moments of "un-unhappiness." The book uses a beguiling mixture of travel, psychology, science and humor to investigate not what happiness is, but where it is. Are people in Switzerland happier because it is the most democratic country in the world? Do citizens of Singapore benefit psychologically by having their options limited by the government? Is the King of Bhutan a visionary for his initiative to calculate Gross National Happiness? Why is Asheville, North Carolina so damn happy? With engaging wit and surprising insights, Eric Weiner answers those questions and many others, offering travelers of all moods some interesting new ideas for sunnier destinations and dispositions.

In the imaginary Netflix queue of books-that-I'm-planning-to-read, this one has just jumped to the top. By the way, why has no one started a Netflix for books? This question, and many more, I'll leave for another day.

Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation
"...is a private, general purpose foundation with the mission of improving the quality of life of the people of North Carolina. The Foundation is interested in supporting two particular kinds of organizations or projects through its grantmaking. First, the Foundation desires to support organizations, programs and projects that accomplish progressive policy change and/or systemic reform, especially those that have multi-county or statewide impact. By strategically focusing on efforts to affect policies, the Foundation believes the investments it makes can have a broader and deeper impact on the lives of the largest number of North Carolinians. Second, the Foundation desires to support innovative, community-based projects within the Foundation’s focus areas, with an emphasis on reaching low-resource and/or rural regions in the state....."

Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation
"We Make Grants... Throughout our region, people who live in low-wealth communities and individuals from the public, private and nonprofit sectors are forming creative partnerships to advance economic and social justice. We invite proposals from local, statewide and regional nonprofits in the Southeastern US that have track records of helping low-wealth people build assets and transform economic conditions in their communities. We look for the most promising work that aligns with the Foundation’s mission and beliefs. We support grassroots groups and networks in low-wealth communities that are poised to expand their scale of impact. We also support statewide or regional organizations and networks that are achieving large-scale impact. We are interested in both new approaches and proven strategies that link together grassroots and larger organizations..."

Non-State-Specific Funding Sources and Assistance

Ben & Jerry's Foundation
".... doesn't prioritize any particular issue area for funding, we do focus on the types of activities and strategies an organization uses for creating social change in any number of areas. The Foundation will only consider proposals from grassroots, constituent-led organizations that are organizing for systemic social change. We support programs and projects that are examples of creative problem-solving...."

Foundation Center
"... the nation's leading authority on philanthropy, connecting nonprofits and the grantmakers supporting them to tools they can use and information they can trust. The Center maintains the most comprehensive database on U.S. grantmakers and their grants — a robust, accessible knowledge bank for the sector. It also operates research, education, and training programs designed to advance philanthropy at every level. The Center's web site receives more than 47,000 visits each day, and thousands of people gain access to free resources in its five regional library/learning centers and its national network of more than 340 Cooperating Collections...."

Network for Good
"... provides easy & affordable online fundraising services...." Free weekly newsletter. Free helpful articles.

Guidestar.
"...we gather and publicize information about nonprofit organizations...."

Attracting Volunteers

Here are some directories and sources of information to help you attract 'virtual volunteers'.

Idealist.org "Action Without Borders"
Mentor Expanding the World of Quality Mentoring
Charity Guide "... volunteer directory makes it possible for busy people like you to make a difference at anytime, from anywhere. Even if you have an unpredictable schedule, you can volunteer for your favorite cause,..."
SERVEnet Many resources with focus on young adults.
ServiceLeader Many excellent articles
Network for Good "... find volunteer opportunities that match your interests and geographic location, or search for an organization by name..."
VolunteerMatch "...the largest online network of participating nonprofits, VolunteerMatch attracts thousands of volunteers every day. We can help you find the volunteers you need!..."