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Founded by a man who spent a lifetime in the countryside, the Ballyshannon Fund is a donor-advised fund of the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation. The Ballyshannon Fund does not support capital campaigns, endowments, individuals, or bricks and mortar projects. We support educational projects and programs, only. See our previous grants for examples. Please note that in order to be eligible for Ballyshannon Fund funding, your organization must have 501(c)(3) status or be a government entity
Please follow the steps below to apply for a Ballyshannon Fund grant:
1. Determine your eligibility.
The Ballyshannon Fund accepts proposals for funding only for central Virginia area projects. Please review this website and then...if your organization is working in a program area that may be of interest to Ballyshannon Fund, and if you believe that your organization is a good fit with the Ballyshannon Fund...please submit a short Letter of Inquiry (LOI) by email:
2. Submit a Letter of Inquiry to the Ballyshannon Fund.
Ballyshannon Fund will not accept unsolicited Grant Applications.
If your organization has never received funding from us, you must first submit a Letter of Inquiry (LOI) to Ballyshannon Fund.
Please don't send communication directly to a fund advisor or the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation. Please respect the time constraints and privacy of our volunteer fund advisors.
To Submit a LOI, please contact us at at this email address and include:
• The amount of your funding request--at the very top of the application
• Your organization’s mission, goals, strategies, history, and the programmatic and geographic scope of its activities.
• The goals and objectives of your proposed program or project in no more than two pages.
We'd like a brief overview of what you want to accomplish and why that effort is compatible with our goals. Please include metrics for how we'll measure your success and specifics about your funding requests, e.g. particular costs for your objectives.
• Please include your return address, email, and contact info!
• We will only consider applications submitted to our email address, and conforming to our two(2) page limit.
Ballyshannon Fund will only accept Letters of Inquiry that have been submitted by email through this website. We have a single application deadline each year -- February 15 -- followed by a review period.
If you are a first-time applicant, please submit your LOI by February 15. We will review all LOIs received and if we like your proposition, we will reply by email and ask that you submit a more-complex Grant Application.
If you are a previously-funded applicant, please submit your full proposal (in two pages) by February 15.
Subsequent to that initial correspondence, and...
3. ...BY INVITATION, ONLY, submit a Grant Application to the Ballyshannon Fund.
Please do NOT send hard copies or additional information about your organization through the US mail to the Fund unless requested by a Fund Advisor or a CACF staff member. If your organization has never received Ballyshannon Fund funding, you will be able to submit a full proposal to Ballyshannon Fund only after your letter of inquiry has been approved and your Grant Application requested by us. Previously-funded Ballyshannon Fund grantees are welcome to submit a proposal for any subsequent grant cycle unless otherwise notified by the fund. This invitation does NOT mean that grants will be renewed automatically.
Each potential grantee will receive an email from Ballyshannon Fund with instructions explaining how to submit a Grant Application to the Ballyshannon Fund. At a minimum, your Grant Application must include:
• Purpose and history of organization;
• Goals and objectives of program or project;
• Current status of project, including date the project was established and the anticipated duration;
• Description how the organization will use the funds to further its objectives;
• Describe how we will know when your goals and objectives have been accomplished.
• Organization's annual budget and program budget;
• List of governing board members and staff
• Copy of the organization's IRS exemption letter.
Because the Ballyshannon Fund is a donor-advised fund of the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation, all grants recommended for approval by the Ballyshannon Fund's Advisors must still be approved by the Governing Board of the CACF, which has no obligation to follow the advice of the Ballyshannon Fund's Advisors.
4. Measuring success: All grantees will be required to report and/or demonstrate how the funds were used and how effective the program was. The Ballyshannon Fund Advisors or Fund representatives will visit your program either while it is underway or after it is complete so your organization may report on outcomes.
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