WNC Bridge Foundation - IMPACT Grants

WNC Bridge Foundation offers IMPACT Grants to strengthen community wellbeing across Western North Carolina. The 2026 grant cycle focuses on organizations delivering services within the Foundation's regional service area, which includes 18 Western North Carolina counties and the Qualla Boundary. Applications focused solely on long-term recovery and resilience following Hurricane Helene receive additional consideration. The 2026 application cycle is closed, with applications having been accepted from February 2 through March 2, 2026. Because the program is presented as an annual grant cycle and the supplied materials describe the 2026 cycle, the opportunity is treated as recurring and anticipated to return for a future round. Funding priorities are organized around Basic Needs, Mental Health, and Youth Development. Basic Needs includes organizations providing fresh food access or prepared meals, healthcare, home or property repair, and transportation, although initiatives focused on homelessness are outside the program's scope. Mental Health supports organizations helping individuals and communities through outreach and access to mental health services, but recovery and substance abuse focused organizations are not eligible. Youth Development supports positive outcomes for children through mental and emotional support, academic support for K-12 students, child welfare, and family support. Organizations requesting funding for camps or camp programming are not eligible for IMPACT Grants. Grant awards generally range from 15000 to 50000. Applicants are encouraged to request only the amount necessary to successfully implement their proposed project. The Foundation maintains a limited budget for each grant cycle and expects requests near the upper end of the range to be clearly justified by project scope, scale, and anticipated community impact. Organizations that believe a project may merit more than 50000 are instructed to contact Foundation Grants staff before applying. The program does not consider multi-year grants, and funded recipients have one year from the date of the grant to spend their award. No matching or cost-sharing requirement is stated in the supplied materials. Grant funds may support direct program and operational expenses that advance the Foundation's focus areas and strengthen community resilience. Eligible costs can include program materials, staffing, program delivery, and expenses associated with Hurricane Helene relief and critical services, including utilities, administrative expenses, transportation, and essential supplies necessary to maintain operations and effectively deliver services. Funding may also provide stabilization support to nonprofit partners experiencing reductions in state or federal funding so that critical community services can continue without disruption. Additional consideration is provided to organizations actively involved in long-term recovery from Hurricane Helene. Eligible applicants are nonprofit organizations with 501(c)(3) status and faith-based organizations serving the Qualla Boundary and the 18 eligible Western North Carolina counties of Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania, and Yancey. Faith-based applicants must demonstrate that grant-funded activities serve the broader community regardless of religious affiliation or belief. Government agencies, individuals, other funders or organizations primarily established to distribute grants, out-of-area projects, political purposes including lobbying, camps and camp programming, and grants prohibited by IRS regulations are ineligible. Organizations may submit only one application, and multi-year requests are not considered. Applications receiving the highest consideration align with the Foundation's focus areas, demonstrate need and capacity for impactful service delivery, present organizational readiness, and show potential for long-term positive community impact. For the 2026 cycle, the application opened February 2 and was due March 2, 2026 at 11:00 p.m. Applicants were instructed to begin by reviewing the updated IMPACT Grant Guidelines and then submit the IMPACT Grant application. The WNC Bridge Foundation Board of Directors was responsible for final funding decisions, with applicants scheduled to receive notification in mid-June 2026. As of September 9, 2026, the 2026 application deadline and decision period have passed. The opportunity is therefore no longer accepting applications for the completed cycle but is classified as Anticipating Next Round because the source describes an annual grant cycle. Using the recurring-cycle methodology, the next cycle is projected for February 2027, with an internal check date of February 1, 2027; these dates are projections rather than dates explicitly announced by the Foundation. Questions about IMPACT Grants may be directed to grants@wncbridge.org or 828.274.6159. The supplied source does not identify an individual program contact, total program funding amount, total number of awards, or an explicit direct PDF URL for the IMPACT Grant Guidelines.

Request only the amount necessary to implement the proposed project. Clearly justify requests at the higher end of the award range based on project scope, scale, and anticipated community impact. Demonstrate need, capacity for impactful service delivery, organizational readiness, alignment with a stated focus area, and potential for long-term positive community impact. Projects focused solely on long-term Hurricane Helene recovery and resilience receive additional consideration. Contact Grants staff before applying if seeking more than 50000.