Eligibility and Priorities
 

>> Priority will be given to proposals that not only fit at least one of the following four categories, but also demonstrate the greatest likelihood of achieving measurable results:

• Religious and Church Work

• Christian Education

• Community Improvement 

• Relief of Distress, and Enhancement of the Spiritual and Material Condition of Humanity

 

>> Grants will ordinarily be limited to agencies and institutions within a 100-mile radius of Pittsburgh. In the selection of projects for potential funding, preference will be given to proposals that:

• Address an important issue or challenge, and describe with convincing information the potential benefit and impact of the grant. 

• Will have a positive (and measurable) effect on the grantee’s programs and operations.

• Have developed practical and workable strategies to meet the challenges facing successful project implementation.

• Show the potential and likelihood of attracting and leveraging other sources of support.

• Show strong promise of achieving articulated goals in a timely manner.

• Demonstrate the required level of organizational capacity (staffing and access to other resources) to meet project objectives in a reasonable period of time.

• Would not necessarily require immediate and ongoing Foundation support upon project completion.

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>> Grants will not be made in the following areas:

• Medical needs of hospitals and scientific causes

• The arts

• Endowments

• Annual appeals of national organizations

• Retroactively or for debt repayment

>> Applicants are strongly encouraged to consider the following guidelines: 

• Before submitting an online Letter of Inquiry through the grant portal, applicants are encouraged to contact Foundation staff to discuss the grant request. 

• Multi-year grant requests are rarely awarded and not encouraged.  

• Requests should be staggered so that organizations are not applying for funding in back-to-back years. 

• Requests for capital projects and/or for operating/administrative expenses are discouraged. 

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Application Procedures 

>> The Board of Directors of the Pitcairn-Crabbe Foundation meets two times a year to review proposals and make funding decisions. In 2025, request deadlines are January 29 and September 3. 

• The grant application is a two-part process. Interested applicants must submit an online LOI first to briefly describe their organization and their funding request. If the Board of Directors would like to invite an organization to submit a full proposal, Foundation staff will contact the applicant to provide further guidance regarding submission of a full application.

• For example, if you submit an LOI in January and the Directors invite you to submit a full application, that application will not be due until September. If you submit an LOI in September and the Directors invite you to submit a full application, that application will not be due until the following January. 

• Because of this extended application process, please keep in mind the timing of the use of your requested funding; grant funding cannot be used retroactively. If you are submitting an LOI in January that means the earliest that you would be submitting a full application would be September, and the Board of Directors meeting would take place the following month. So the project or program you are requesting to fund cannot happen before that time.  

• Incomplete LOIs and applications will not be considered. 

• LOIs and applications will not be accepted after the deadline. 

• To submit an LOI, you must create an organization profile in the grant portal. After creating an organization profile, you must click ‘Apply’ from the Applicant Dashboard. Then, enter the Pitcairn-Crabbe Foundation access code, ‘PCF25’ to access the LOI process, which is due by January 29, 2025, at 11:59 p.m.

• Applicants with questions regarding grant inquiries, please reach out to Emily Wood, Program Officer, at ewood@cfalleghenies.org.