Grant Request for Proposals
The Buhl Regional Health Foundation along with our community has identified optimizing the health of our children as our top priority for grant funding and will be accepting proposals in 2024.
Overview
The most recent County Health Rankings report ranks Mercer County at 58th (of 67 counties in the state) in overall health outcomes. This ranking, in addition to Community Health Needs Assessments (CHNA) conducted by The Robert Woods Johnson Foundation and the four major healthcare systems serving Mercer County, PA (UPMC, AHN, SCHC, PHN) identify the county’s leading health concerns as heart disease, obesity, and diabetes.
On the surface, these health concerns seem unrelated, but evidence shows a compelling correlation between these negative health outcomes and the effects of excessive adversity on the human body and its biological systems. Research suggests that both adults and developing children who face significant hardships in their environment and/or experiences are at higher risk for developing stress-associated diseases, like those mentioned above.
The Buhl Regional Health Foundation issues this Request for Proposals to our community stakeholders, seeking innovative initiatives that propose to improve health outcomes in our community by addressing the inequities, health disparities, and obstacles that children and their families face. Health is directly and positively impacted when communities and systems adequately support families and children during the early childhood stages of development.
Grant Opportunity
BRHF will award grants in 2024 for implementation of initiatives that strive to increase children’s access to optimal health and well-being and/or improve their access to quality, holistic healthcare.
Use of Funds
Organizations are invited to apply for funding to launch a new initiative focused on optimizing the health of the children in Mercer County, PA through collaboration and innovation.
GRANT REQUIREMENTS
To qualify as a grant recipient, your organization’s initiative must meet the following requirements:
- Initiative must be new to the community.
- Initiative must provide services and/or outreach to children in the community aged 18 and under.
- Initiative must intentionally address health disparities and/or inequities.
- Initiative’s goals must be clearly identified and methods for measurement of goals and objectives should be clearly described.
- Initiative must include a plan for collaborating across sectors in our community and/or establishing strong community partnerships.
Grant Priorities
The recipient(s) of the OHOC grant will:
- Demonstrate creativity and innovation in the community.
- Predominantly serve children with demonstrated health disparities or unmet health needs.
- Actively develop strong, cross-sector community partnerships.
- Address children’s health or well-being and/or increase their access to necessary health services.
- Have a clear plan for sustainability beyond the grant period.
ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
Eligible applicants will meet the following criteria:
- Applicants must be classified as tax-exempt by the IRS, typically 501(c)(3) status, government agency or utilizing a fiscal agent who is clearly identified in the application.
- Faith-based organizations must welcome all faiths and participation in religious activity participation must be clearly defined as optional.
- Applicant’s efforts must serve individuals, aged 18 and under, who reside in Mercer County, PA.
- Previous grantees of BRHF must have fulfilled the required 18 month waiting period from their last grant award and all previous grants must be closed (all grant reporting completed and any unused funds returned).
Unallowable Expenses
This grant may not be used to fund the following:
- Supplemental funding to previously awarded grants or existing programs.
- Direct payment to a pediatric care provider.
- Research projects, such as clinical trials.
- Health fairs or other one-time events.
- Additional expenses may be disallowed at the discretion of BRHF
- Consumables and daily supplies
APPLICATION PROCESS
Responses to this RFP must be submitted through BRHF’s grant portal. All other forms of submission will not be reviewed. First-time applicants will need to create a new account. Once an account is established, the Letter of Interest can be completed within the portal and must be submitted by the deadline listed in this RFP.
A review of the LOI’s received will prompt BRHF to issue invitations for detailed proposals. All applicants will be notified of the status of their LOI, either via invitation to continue the application process or a letter of ineligibility.
Detailed proposals will require the upload of the organization’s most recent 990, a full project budget, proposed use of the funding requested and additional details and documentation regarding your organization and proposed initiative.
Additional attachments to the application are optional, not scored, and may not be used in response to application questions. Applicants may include up to four pages of attachments, including, but not limited to: citations/references, flyers, letters of support and letters of intent or interest from current or future community partners.
APPLICATION REVIEW
Detailed proposals will be scored based on the following criteria:
- Creativity and innovation
- Significance of impact on the community’s health needs
- Effective collaboration efforts or goals
- Actionability
REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
Grant recipients will be required to submit reports on project development and implementation on an interim and final reporting schedule determined by the BRHF Director of Grantmaking.
RFP TIMELINE
The RFP Cycle will follow the timeline below:
| Deadline for LOI | February 9, 2024 |
| Detailed Proposal Invitations Sent | February 23, 2024 |
| Deadline for Detailed Proposal | April 19, 2024 |
| Site Visits / Discussions | May 7, 2024 – May 14, 2024 |
| Award Announcements | May 2024 |
| Funding Issued | Late Spring 2024 |
QUESTIONS
The Buhl Regional Health Foundation staff is here to be a resource throughout the application process. Questions, requests for guidance, and portal support needs should be directed to Kimberly Porsch, Director of Grantmaking, kimberly@buhlrhf.org or Jessica Koss, Executive Team Assistant, jessica@buhlrhf.org.
Grant Portal
Ready to apply? Follow the button below to be directed to our online Grant Portal.
