The first grant round requests are due by 5 p.m. tomorrow (March 19).
COVID-19 Rapid Response Grants
The Outer Banks Community Foundation is now accepting grant applications from nonprofit organizations to provide vital services to the Outer Banks through the Coronavirus crisis. Those services could include child care, elder care, 
patient care, emergency response services, financial assistance to people out of work, nutritional assistance and beyond.
Grant requests will be accepted on a rolling basis and reviewed every two weeks to ensure quick decisions and timely programs. The next two deadlines are Thursday, March 19, and Thursday, April 2, with funding decisions announced the following day.
Before applying, please read the details below, gather your ideas, and call Lorelei Costa at 252-261-8839 to discuss your project.
Grant purpose
The primary goal of COVID-19 Rapid Response Grants is to enable nonprofits to adapt, expand, or initiate vital services to the Outer Banks through the Coronavirus crisis. We define the Outer Banks as Dare County, Ocracoke, and/or the Currituck beaches. To be eligible for a Rapid Response Grant, programs must be related to the COVID-19 crisis, either directly (e.g., care for virus patients) or indirectly (e.g., assistance to working parents without child care). We will also consider grants that would allow a nonprofit to adapt its existing programs in the face of the ever-evolving COVID-19 landscape (e.g., modifications to a food program to allow for community closures). In all cases, special emphasis may be given to efforts that help the most vulnerable and/or the most people in our community.
Eligible organizations
Any nonprofit organization serving the Outer Banks is eligible to apply — including those organizations that have an active Community Enrichment or Special Focus Grant with the Community Foundation. Local organizations may be given priority for funding.
Schools and government agencies may be eligible to apply, if it is demonstrated that financial support is not available from other sources.
Churches and faith-based organizations are eligible to apply for projects assisting the wider community (i.e., not just members of their own faith or congregation), and if their outreach does not include the promotion of religious beliefs.
Eligible projects and grant expenses
COVID-19 Rapid Response Grants will be awarded to support the direct costs of a charitable project or program (e.g., supplies, equipment, food, educational materials, program staff). Operating, overhead and indirect costs are not eligible for grant funding.
Contract help and/or additional program staff may be eligible if used for extra personnel that was hired or augmented to meet a need related to the COVID-19 crisis. Grants are to be used for program staff only; neither administrative nor management staff time is eligible.
All grants will be paid on a reimbursement basis for actual costs incurred. Grant expenses must be substantiated by third-party documentation (e.g., receipts, statements, invoices). These documents should be generated from your vendor, not from your organization, with the exception of documentation of staff time. Grants for staff time will be paid upon the furnishing of time sheets; please ask our staff for sample time sheets or if you have questions.
How and when to apply
Before applying, please call or email Lorelei Costa (252-261-8839 or LCosta@obcf.org) to discuss your nonprofit’s needs.
Applications should consist of a one- or two-page letter in PDF format, briefly describing your nonprofit’s mission, the project at hand, the dollar amount requested, the local need it would meet, and the beneficiaries of the proposed program. Please be as specific as possible in terms of the number and demographics of the people you would serve with the grant.
Attached to your letter, please include a project budget in PDF format and, if you’ve never received a grant from the Community Foundation, your 501(c)3 letter, also in PDF format.
Email your application, with all pieces in PDF format, to LCosta@obcf.org.
Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis as long as the COVID-19 crisis continues with funding decisions every two weeks.
To be considered in the first round, applications must be received by 5 p.m. on Thursday, March 19, for a decision on Friday, March 20. The second application deadline is 5 p.m. on Thursday, April 2, with decisions announced on Friday, April 3. Subsequent deadlines and decision dates will be announced as local needs evolve.
Evolving needs
As the COVID-19 crisis evolves, so too will our Rapid Response Grants Program. For now, we intend to award these grants every two weeks, as long as there is a need. However, that timeframe, and the focus of our grant-making, may change as community needs unfold. Please check back frequently with us if your needs change to see if our grants program can help.
If you have a need that does not seem to fit with our parameters, please contact us. As we learn about additional or changing community needs, we may adapt our grant parameters for better inclusivity.
