The Resilience Fund: Collaboration Grants Program

The Resilience Fund: Collaboration Grants program is administered by Community Foundation Boulder County, an organization established to support nonprofit capacity, community resilience, and equitable outcomes across Boulder County. The Resilience Fund itself was created in 2025 to provide education, technical assistance, and financial resources to nonprofits, with a focus on strengthening long-term sustainability and collaboration. This specific funding opportunity is delivered in partnership with Boulder County Arts Alliance and the City of Boulder Office of Arts and Culture, reflecting a coordinated local effort to improve nonprofit effectiveness and community impact. The primary purpose of the Collaboration Grants program is to support nonprofit organizations and fiscally sponsored projects in exploring or implementing collaborative strategies that enhance organizational capacity and improve efficiency. The program prioritizes efforts that enable multiple organizations to work together in structured ways, including partnerships, shared services, or mergers. These collaborations are intended to reduce administrative burden, optimize resource use, and ultimately improve service delivery to the community. Funding is specifically designed to support collaboration-related activities rather than direct program delivery or general operating expenses. Allowable uses include consultant fees, legal support, planning activities, and implementation costs associated with collaborative efforts. Examples of eligible projects include shared administrative services such as finance or human resources, co-location of facilities, joint leadership roles, development of shared governance structures, and formal mergers or consolidations. Projects focused solely on a single organization’s internal capacity or the launch of new programs are explicitly excluded. Eligibility is limited to organizations serving Boulder County. Applicants must be IRS-recognized 501(c)(3) public charities, although organizations without this designation may apply through a qualified fiscal sponsor. Private non-operating foundations are not eligible. Additionally, funded activities must occur within Boulder County, with one grant specifically reserved for arts and culture activities within the City of Boulder. The funder does not support projects that promote a specific religious doctrine. The application process is conducted online through the funder’s grant portal. Applications opened on June 4, 2026, and are reviewed on an ongoing basis until the stated deadline of December 31, 2026 at 5:00 pm. Applicants are instructed to first review the Request for Proposals document and then submit their materials through the portal. A confirmation email is sent upon submission, and funding decisions are typically communicated within six to eight weeks. The program offers a fixed grant amount of $5,000 per award, with a total funding pool of $35,000 supporting approximately seven grants. Two awards are designated for arts and culture collaborations, while the remaining grants are open to broader focus areas within the county. Each funded project has a 12-month performance period, followed by a required final report due 30 days after the grant period ends. Applications are evaluated by Community Foundation Boulder County staff along with community representatives. Priority is given to proposals demonstrating significant collaboration between two or more entities, particularly those that reduce administrative burden and improve equitable outcomes for historically marginalized populations. The program operates on a rolling review basis within the open application window, and award announcements are made on an ongoing schedule rather than at a single fixed date.

Prioritize formal collaborations between multiple organizations; emphasize efficiency gains and equitable outcomes for marginalized populations