Current Grant Opportunities
Together for SLO County: A Critical Response Fund
Timeline
- Application open from October 3 to October 24, 2025
- Decisions announced and grants awarded in early December
Our Grants & Programs staff now offer office hours to help answer your questions. Sign up here.
A pre-recorded info session about the grant program is also available to view here.
Link to Grant Application: Click Here
Our application process has moved to a new platform.
To continue, all users are required to create a new account. For detailed instructions, please view our instructional video.
A PDF version of the application questions can also be downloaded here.
Initiative Overview, Together for SLO County, A Critical Response Fund: Mobilizing Community. Sustaining Vital Services.
Together for SLO County is a targeted initiative created to protect and strengthen the safety net for our most vulnerable neighbors. Across San Luis Obispo County, nonprofits are facing deep and unexpected funding cuts that threaten essential services. Funding through the initiative provides rapid, flexible general operating grants to ensure vital resources, such as food, housing, healthcare, mental health support, childcare, and more, remain available where they are needed most.
Grant awards will range from $50,000 to $150,000, depending on the size of the applicant’s operating budget:
- Budgets under $1 million = grants up to $50,000
- Budgets between $1–10 million = grants up to $100,000
- Budgets over $10 million = grants up to $150,000
Who is Eligible: To qualify, applicants must:
- Be based in, or have operated in, San Luis Obispo County for at least 12 months.
- Be able to expend grant funds within 12 months of award.
- Be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization or have a qualified fiscal sponsor.
- Demonstrate substantial funding reductions that occurred in 2025 or are officially confirmed for 2026.
- Serve SLO County residents who are among the populations most in need, including:
- Children with special needs
- Disabled populations
- Foster youth and transition-age foster youth
- LGBTQIA+ individuals
- Immigrant populations
- People living in poverty
- Individuals without access to physical, oral, or mental healthcare
- Survivors of power-based violence
- People experiencing unemployment or homelessness
Grantmaking Criteria: Together for SLO County prioritizes organizations that:
- Provide Critical Services: Delivering essential supports such as:
- Accessibility services
- Advocacy and community organizing
- Adult daycare
- Childcare
- Food security
- Healthcare services (including oral, reproductive, preventive, and early intervention services)
- Housing
- Mental health services
- Resource and referral supports
- Restorative justice
- Trauma and violence prevention
- Workforce development
- Demonstrate Long-Term Resilience
- Adapting and innovating in response to funding cuts and community needs
- Having clear strategic priorities and plans for sustained impact
- Developing innovative strategies to sustain vital services
- Embed Equity Throughout Their Work
- Designing culturally and linguistically responsive services
- Ensuring inclusive decision making and leadership structures
- Integrating equity into hiring, leadership development, and organizational practices
- Define and Measure Community Outcomes
- Tracking outcomes that matter to the communities served
- Using both quantitative and qualitative measures to demonstrate progress and impact
Beyond the Grant: Investing in Sustainability
Together for SLO County is not only about short-term relief, it’s also about long-term resilience. In addition to funding, grantees will have opportunities to participate in sustainability and organizational wellbeing supports, which may include:
- 1:1 coaching or consulting
- Peer sharing and learning opportunities
- Group workshops and trainings
- Access to sustainability and planning tools
Accountability and Reporting: Funded organizations will be expected to submit a report in early 2027
Community Grant Program (Closed)
Timeline
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- Application closes August 1, 2025
- Decisions by early October
Link to Grant Application: Click Here
Our application process has moved to a new platform.
To continue, all users are required to create a new account. For detailed instructions, please view our instructional video.
Two-year general operating grants
CFSLOCO offers an opportunity for local nonprofits to request funding support through a competitive process. The competitive process includes review and decision by an external evaluation committee comprised of community experts, community volunteers, and staff. Applications will be assessed using these criteria:
- serving San Luis Obispo County residents
- centering the voices and perspectives of communities served
- dismantling disparities and increasing access to opportunities
- utilizing substantiated data to inform strategy and programs
Our application is open to organizations doing work in the below issue areas. Submitted applications will be further assessed using the issue-based criteria listed here. Applicants will be invited to select one or more issue areas, and must address at least one bullet in each issue area:
- Arts & Culture: At least three grants will be awarded ranging from $20,000-40,000 across two years, or $10,000-20,000 per year
- promotes cultural expression and bridges cultural divides
- enhances youth participation and appreciation of the arts
- increases audience diversification
- uplifts community well-being through arts
- Environment: At least three grants will be awarded ranging from $20,000-40,000 across two years, or $10,000-20,000 per year
- promotes preservation of land, natural resources, and green spaces
- supports community education, appreciation, and awareness of local environmental issues
- Health & Human Services: At least three grants will be awarded ranging from $20,000-40,000 across two years, or $10,000-20,000 per year
- addresses root causes of health disparities
- promotes mental and physical health and well-being of our SLO County communities
- alleviates housing and food insecurity
- Seniors & People with Disabilities: At least three grants will be awarded ranging from $20,000-40,000 across two years, or $10,000-20,000 per year
- supports resources for independent living for seniors and people with disabilities
- enhances social and emotional support for seniors and people with disabilities
- improves access to food and basic needs for seniors and people with disabilities
Field of Interest Grant Program (Closed)
Single year project grants
Timeline
- Application open June 23
- Application close August 1
- Decisions by early October
CFSLOCO leads work in several issue areas that have been identified and funded by our donor community and other external funding sources. In some of these issue areas, grants are awarded through a competitive process. The competitive process includes review and decision by an external evaluation committee comprised of community experts, community volunteers, and staff. Grants awarded through our field of interest funds will be filtered using the same criteria as our community grants program:
- serving San Luis Obispo County residents
- centering the voices and perspectives of communities served
- dismantling disparities and increasing access to opportunities
- utilizing substantiated data to inform strategy and programs
Current Field of Interest funds that award grants through a competitive process include:
- Growing Together: LGBTQ+ Fund, $5,000-$10,000
- reaches out to, involves, and centers queer and trans people of color (QTPOC)
- advances medical and mental health care for transgender and nonbinary people
- creates ‘queer spaces’ in currently underserved areas of the County
Competitive Grant Program Filters
In addition to our overarching criteria, staff will use other screening filters when reviewing competitive grant applications; we will not fund the following:
- Candidate election activities
- Capital campaigns
- Endowment campaigns
- Fraternal Organizations, unless in support of a specific program which is open to or benefiting the entire community
- Fundraising events
- Government
- Individuals
- National or international organizations, unless the organization operates in, and has a significant presence in San Luis Obispo County
- Organizations that are in the first year of a two-year general operating grant
- Organizations that discriminate on the basis of age, disability, ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, race or religion
- Organizations with religious affiliations, unless the program is open to the entire community without regard to religious beliefs
- Partisan advocacy or activities
- Real estate purchases
- Sponsorships
2025 Spring Grants (Closed)
Grant applications are open from January 15 – March 14 for two funding categories: Women’s Legacy Fund and the Robert Janssen Youth and Youth Sports Fund. All complete and eligible proposals will be reviewed and all applying agencies will be notified of a funding decision by May 15th. Nonprofit organizations may register for an orientation to learn about the funding categories and the application process. A recording of the orientation to learn about the funding categories and the application process can be found here.
Women’s Legacy Fund
The Women’s Legacy Fund (WLF) awards one and two-year grants to 501c3 organizations in or who serve San Luis Obispo County and are committed to:
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Dismantling disparities and increasing access to opportunities for the communities they serve
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Centering the voices and perspectives of people and communities most impacted
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Utilizing substantiated data to inform strategy and programs
During the 2025-2030 grantmaking cycle, the maximum grant amount will be $20,000 for a one-year proposal and a total of $40,000 for a two-year proposal. WLF will consider proposals for grants that strengthen or expand existing programs or introduce new strategies to the community that prioritize support for women and girls in the following areas: affordable housing, childcare, and healthcare.
WLF is dedicated to data-driven decision-making, ensuring its funds are directed toward initiatives that address important issues. Every five years, WLF publishes the “What do Women Need?” report, which thoroughly reviews the most pressing needs for women and girls across San Luis Obispo County. The data gathered in the report is used to build public awareness and inform the WLF grantmaking priorities. To learn more and read the full report, follow this link.
Robert H. Janssen Youth and Youth Sports Fund
The Robert H. Janssen Youth & Youth Sports Fund seeks to support programs that enrich the lives of local youth and ideally reflect the Search Institute’s 40 Developmental Assets. Grants are available to local nonprofit organizations providing youth enrichment and youth sports programs with an emphasis on active participation over educational programming. The grant is intended to support programs that provide access to all segments of the community regardless of income level and operate within the City of San Luis Obispo and adjacent areas of San Luis Obispo County. Janssen grant funds should represent only a portion of the funds required to implement the program, and a preference is to support direct program costs. Community-based programs are given priority over membership-based programs. The Fund anticipates awarding $50,000 to approximately 10 organizations with a maximum grant award of $5,000.
Online Application Instructions
Instructions and links to access our new grant application program will be posted here, including an orientation recording.
Contact the Grants & Programs Department at grants@cfsloco.org if you have any questions about eligibility, program fit, or the grantmaking program.
For questions related to the Community Grant Program Applications, contact Michelle Fries, michelle@cfsloco.org.
For questions related to the Field of Interest Grant Program, contact Alysia Krupsky, alysia@cfsloco.org.
For technical questions about the application or the portal, contact Emily Narveson, emilyn@cfsloco.org.
