Grant Programs at the Wichita Community Foundation

The Wichita Community Foundation supports a wide variety of charitable purposes and responds to the needs of the Wichita/Sedgwick County area. Grants are made within the areas of Arts/Humanities, Environment/Conservation, Health, Education and Human & Social Services.

Where our grant dollars come from:

Prospective donors may choose to make a gift free of restrictions or guidelines to the Wichita Community Foundation endowment fund. These unrestricted gifts, welcome in any amount, are pooled together to form the corpus of the Unrestricted Grant Fund. If you are thinking about making an unrestricted gift, consider the lasting impact of such a generous act. As a direct result of increased grant dollars, the Foundation is able to do more in the community over time, creating a maximum impact for your charitable dollar.

Throughout its twenty year history, the Wichita Community Foundation has received generous, unrestricted donations from donors, enabling the Foundation to create an endowed Unrestricted Grant Fund.

Some of our generous major donors who understand the importance of unrestricted funds and who have made the WCF grant program possible are:

Bank IV Charitable Trust
The Walter H. & Olive Ann Beech Memorial Fund
The S.M. & Laura Brown Charitable Trust
The Elizabeth Hamilton & Edward A. Caredis Fund
Fidelity Savings Association
Funds for the Future of Wichita - Established by Dick Devore
The WCF Memory/Honor Fund
The Philanthropic Leadership Fund of Mary Lynn Oliver
A Scott & Carol Ritchie
The Dale V. Reed Fund
The Carl S. and Mildred K. Rohwer Fund
The Robert & Alice Sauer Charitable Trust Fund
The Donna J. Schmid Fund
Kenneth Wagnon
Lawrence & H. Lucile Wulfmeyer

Income is generated by this fund each year and enables the Foundation to give grants in the Wichita community on a continuing basis. In 2008, WCF expects to award $554,000 from the unrestricted endowment fund. For a listing of recent grants, click here.

These grant dollars are divided between Traditional Grants and Community Venture Grants in order to make the Foundation flexible and responsive in its grant making.

Community Venture Grants:

This year the Foundation will award $304,000 for Community Venture grants. The Foundation will begin accepting proposals for new Community Venture grants on July 1, 2008. To foster the creativity necessary with these types of grants, there are no deadlines for submission, guidelines or funding limits. However, all programs or projects must serve the Wichita/Sedgwick County area.

If your organization or collaborative group is thinking of applying for a Community Venture Grant, please submit a short letter of inquiry to the Foundation stating your idea and projected budget. The WCF Grants Committee will respond within 90 days and if your idea is approved, will ask for a full proposal outlining your ideas.

Wichita Community Foundation
200 W. Douglas, Suite 250
Wichita, Kansas 67202

Phone: (316) 264-4880
Fax: (316) 264-7592

e-mail: wcf@wichitacf.org