Community Assistance Grants

The Community Assistance Grants program is administered by the City of Charleston as part of its annual funding initiatives aimed at supporting nonprofit organizations that provide meaningful services to local residents. This program is one of two primary grant opportunities offered by the City, alongside the Accommodations Tax Grants, and is designed to allocate municipal funding to organizations that demonstrate a clear public benefit. The City of Charleston serves as the funding authority and oversees the full lifecycle of the grant process, including application review, evaluation, and final award decisions. The purpose of the Community Assistance Grants program is to support projects and services that fulfill a defined public purpose. Public purpose is characterized as activities that promote public health, safety, morals, general welfare, security, prosperity, and overall community well-being. Eligible applicants must be tax-exempt nonprofit organizations that deliver beneficial services to residents within the City of Charleston. Priority service areas include arts, community development, education, health and human needs, and youth development, ensuring that funded initiatives address a broad range of community priorities. Applications for the program are submitted through the City’s designated online grants platform, Submittable. Once submitted, each application undergoes an initial review by City staff to confirm eligibility, verify organizational financial health, and ensure compliance with minimum requirements. Applications that meet these criteria are then evaluated by a Grants Committee composed of internal City staff and a Councilmember. This structured review process is designed to ensure fairness, transparency, and alignment with City priorities. The evaluation process is based on a weighted scoring system that assesses five key criteria. Community Need and Community Impact each account for 30 percent of the total score, reflecting the importance of addressing unmet needs and delivering measurable benefits to Charleston residents. Alignment with the City’s mission and Feasibility of implementation each represent 15 percent, while Sustainability accounts for 10 percent. High-scoring applications clearly articulate a compelling need, demonstrate significant and lasting impact, align with municipal priorities, present realistic implementation plans, and include strategies for sustaining outcomes beyond the grant period. Following the scoring process, all application scores are aggregated and incorporated into an objective funding formula that considers total funding requests and the overall program budget. Based on this analysis, funding recommendations are developed and submitted to the Charleston City Council for final review and approval during a public meeting. Applicants are subsequently notified of the outcome, and organizations selected for funding must enter into a formal agreement with the City prior to disbursement of funds. Awarded organizations are expected to maintain compliance with reporting and performance requirements throughout the grant period. The application cycle for the Community Assistance Grants program operates on an annual basis. For the current cycle, applications opened on June 1, 2026, and must be submitted by July 10, 2026 at 5:00 PM. The City also provides a funding workshop to support applicants in preparing competitive submissions. Organizations interested in applying are encouraged to carefully review the scoring criteria, ensure alignment with program priorities, and prepare detailed proposals that clearly demonstrate need, impact, and sustainability. Additional information and support are available through the City of Charleston via the provided contact email and phone number.

Clearly demonstrate unmet community need quantify impact align with City mission and present strong sustainability plan