An organization must meet all requirements below to apply for a Celebrating Communities of Color grant:

1. Organizations must have a current 501(c)(3) Public Charity status from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), be a school or a unit of government.
2. Organizations must be located in and serving diverse populations in the Twin Cities 7-county metro area; Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott and Washington.
3. Organizations must apply for project support. The Celebrating Communities of Color program does not award grants for operating or capital support.
4. Organizations must apply for funding via the online grant application found in the How To Apply section which will be available on April 15, 2009.

Celebrating Communities of Color grants will focus mainly on four areas:

• Youth Nutrition and Fitness – supporting innovative programs that help improve youth nutrition and fitness behaviors.
• Education – supporting efforts that emphasize student academic achievement, particularly at the K-12 level.
• Arts and Culture – supporting organizations that provide innovative performing arts and cultural programs as evidenced through innovation, program quality and contribution to their community.
• Social Services – supporting programs that strengthen families and promote a safe, nurturing environment for children and youth.

Organizations must be located in and serving diverse populations in the Twin Cities 7-county metro area; Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott and Washington.

The Celebrating Communities of Color grants program is a highly competitive program. The General Mills Foundation receives many more requests for this program than it can support. A decision to decline a Celebrating Communities of Color request does not imply that the applicant’s program is not needed or valued, but simply that it does not fall within our giving guidelines or priorities, or that funds are not available.

As a standard practice, the General Mills Foundation does not fund:

• Organizations without 501(c)(3) and
• Organizations with 509(a)(3) Type III status
• Organizations that do not comply with the Foundation’s Non-Discrimination Policy
• Annual appeals, federated campaigns, fund drives
• Recreational, sporting events or athletic associations
• Religious organizations for religious purposes
• Individuals
• Basic research
• Social, labor, veterans, alumni or fraternal organizations serving a limited constituency
• Organizations seeking underwriting for advertising
• Political causes, candidates or legislative lobbying efforts
• Travel by groups
• Emergency funding
• Loans, debt reduction or operating deficits

Generally, the Foundation does not support the following:

• Conferences, seminars or workshops Publications, films or television programs
• Campaigns to eliminate or control specific diseases
• Underwriting for program sponsorship
• Special events

The General Mills Foundation does not support the above mentioned areas because supporting these would significantly reduce the resources we have available to focus grant making on programmatic and project support, which is our priority as a Foundation

General Mills Foundation staff, along with employee volunteers, conduct between 50 - 75 site visits each year through the Celebrating Communities of Color program. As a grant applicant you may be asked to host a site visit so that Foundation staff can obtain additional information about the organization and/or program. Site visits will take place in October 2009. Organizations selected for site visits will be contacted in August to schedule the site visits. All applicants, regardless of whether or not they receive a site visit, will remain eligible for a Celebrating Communities of Color grant.

Organizations that receive a 2009 Celebrating Communities of Color grant will be asked to submit a project evaluation report at the conclusion of their project. Additional information regarding this evaluation report will be sent to the fifty grant recipients at a later date.

Celebrating Communities of Color grant application is now online. Use the application instructions below as you fill out the online grant application.

2009 Celebrating Communities of Color online grant application instructions

Click the link below to access the 2009 Celebrating Communities of Color online grant application.

2009 Celebrating Communities of Color online grant application