HF: The Business and Communities Grants Program

Sponsor: The Hitachi Foundation (HF)

The Business and Communities Grants Program reflects our new strategic plan adopted by the Board in December 2003. This program focuses on both the role of businesses and communities in addressing economic isolation and strengthening the field of corporate citizenship. The Foundation will identify suitable candidates for grants and invite proposals. Due to limited resources, we will not issue Requests for Proposals.

Proposals may only be submitted at the Foundation's invitation. However we have a web-based system for inquiries from nonprofit organizations. There is a link at the bottom of this page for the Online Inquiry System.

More details about our grant making focus are in the first section below. Eligibility requirements and decision making criteria are discussed in the second section. And the link to the online inquiry system follows.

Grant making Focus: The grants program operates at the intersection of business and communities to accomplish two purposes. First, the Foundation seeks to address the conditions that perpetuate economic isolation in America through business-community partnerships. Second, we invest in projects to strengthen the corporate citizenship field. The Foundation will focus on partnerships that enable economically isolated people to retain and advance in their jobs, earn living wages, and accumulate savings and assets. The actions and interaction of business and community are fundamental to this goal. We will support path-breaking business and community partnerships in order to capture lessons from leaders that can advance the field. We hope to achieve a deeper understanding of motivations and practices as we continue our exploration of the role of businesses in society.

Our strategy begins with these assumptions:

• Work, wages, savings, and asset accumulation are necessary conditions for moving from economic isolation.
   

• The choices that businesses make that bear on the work, wages, savings and asset accumulation of economically isolated people define a boundary for our efforts. Community organizations can influence these choices, and they possess valuable knowledge and skills that can enable successful execution of these choices by providing services or acting as intermediaries.
   

• We will identify high impact opportunities using several cross cuts:
   

• We will look at business sectors that traditionally employ low-wage workers -- such as health care, hospitality, food services, apparel, and other manufacturing.
   

• In addition to our emphasis on retention and advancement in work, we will also look for ways that employers can help build savings and assets among low-income people.

  
  

• We will focus on two broad demographics -- low-wage incumbent workers and economically isolated young people.

Grant making Process: The Foundation will identify promising candidates for grants and invite them to submit proposals. Due to limited resources, the Foundation will not issue broad-based Requests for Proposals. Proposals may only be submitted at the Foundation's invitation. However, nonprofit organizations that may meet our eligibility requirements may want to share initial information through our online inquiry system.

Eligibility Requirements and Decision Making Criteria: Overarching eligibility requirements include:

• Support is limited to nonprofit organizations in the United States.
   

• Organizations must have Section 501 (C) (3) designation by the IRS.
   

• The Foundation does not make grants to individuals. Nor does the Foundation make grants to for-profit businesses or to individuals for business start-ups or expansions.
   

• The Foundation does not support capital drives or fund raising efforts. Funding for conferences and seminars is considered only when there is an exceptionally strong match with the Foundation's mission and strategic objectives.

Program-specific eligibility requirements include:

• The project's primary focus must be on improving the ability of economically isolated people to work, earn living wages, and/or accumulate assets.
   

• The project's benefits in terms of expanding work, wages, and savings/assets of low-wage workers must be compelling and clearly articulated.
   

• Local projects should serve high poverty areas or communities as evidenced by poverty rates or other indicators of need.
   

• The project must demonstrate effective and innovative corporate citizenship practices and/or promote learning and adoption of good practices.
   

• The project should represent path-breaking work in our areas of focus and interest. The project must define expected outcomes for the target populations and measure and report impacts over time.

We will give priority consideration to projects that: leverage our support with other funding sources; are replicable or have a model that can be brought to scale; and/or focus on small to medium sized businesses in the targeted sectors.

Deadline: Our online inquiry system offers a user-friendly, universally accessible way for nonprofit organizations to send us information about project ideas and receive our response as to whether your project meets our criteria for further consideration. If the idea meshes with the priorities of our Business and Communities Grants Program, your organization may be invited to submit a concept paper or a complete proposal.

For further information, please visit: http://www.hitachifoundation.org/grants/index.html