League of California Community Foundations

Program Purpose

Community-based organizations (CBOs) that serve as trusted messengers are essential in California’s diverse communities. They reflect the language, culture, and lived experience of the people they serve and are often the most effective voices for outreach, public education, and community connection. Yet many of these organizations operate with limited resources and face barriers to long-term sustainability.

The Capacity Building and Community Engagement (CBCE) program, funded by the Office of Community Partnerships and Strategic Communications (OCPSC) and facilitated through the League of California Community Foundations (LCCF), invests directly in the strength and resilience of these trusted messengers. By providing subgrants to grassroots CBOs and equipping community foundations with tools to support them better, the program builds local capacity where it is most needed.

By participating, community foundations will:

  • Strengthen nonprofit partners by providing direct grants to trusted messenger CBOs based on their specific needs.
  • Expand their role as community leaders by gaining insight into shifting state priorities and sharing relevant updates with grantees.
  • Build internal knowledge and tools for supporting the distinct capacity needs of grassroots organizations that serve as trusted messengers.

Program Goals

The CBCE Grant Program supports a two-track strategy to strengthen the nonprofit ecosystem across California:

Direct Investment in CBO Capacity: Through subgrants administered by community foundations, trusted messenger CBOs will receive funding to support activities that enhance their organizational resilience.

Field-Building Among Community Foundations: LCCF will host a three-part virtual training series designed to equip community foundations to support the capacity of trusted messenger CBOs. The sessions will explore different models for capacity building and provide insights into the evolution within the Office of Community Partnerships and Strategic Communications and the impacts on nonprofits.

A $5,000 stipend will be provided to each participating foundation to support staff participation in the regranting, training, and cohort activities.

Core Activities

Cohort Formation

LCCF will run a competitive grant process to select a cohort of 8–10 community foundations to participate in the CBCE program. Interested foundations will submit a brief application outlining their current capacity, regional priorities, and their readiness to support trusted messenger organizations through subgrants.

Due to the accelerated timeline of this grant, participating foundations will identify and subgrant to their trusted messenger CBO partners using a non-competitive, invitation-based process. This approach allows funding to reach CBOs quickly by leveraging the foundation’s existing relationships and local knowledge.

Fund Distribution and Training Structure

Sub-granting to Trusted Messenger CBOs

Foundations selected to participate in the CBCE program will receive a grant between $60,000 and $80,000 to distribute as subgrants to trusted messenger community-based organizations in their region. Grant amounts will vary based on the number of CBOs each foundation supports and the scope of the proposed capacity-building efforts. (Please note: The grant amount includes the $5,000 stipend to support community foundation staff participation in the regranting, training, and cohort activities.)

CBO subgrantees will be encouraged to define their own capacity-building priorities based on their organizational need. Following is a list of allowable expenses.

  • Staff salaries
  • Payments to contracted technical or administrative professionals
  • Telephone, shipping, and postage costs
  • Space rental and occupancy costs (e.g., maintenance, security, insurance, utilities)
  • Printing, advertising, and marketing costs
  • Evaluation services and documentation (e.g., photo, video, audio, data collection)
  • Travel and conference expenses for staff and/or volunteers to attend:
    • Community convenings
    • Collective impact table events
  • Production costs
  • Materials and supplies
  • Data management and software subscription/license costs (upon request/approval)
  • Partial rent and utilities, based on appropriate FTE allocation during the project period

Foundations will administer these subgrants using their existing systems, including contracts, disbursements, and reporting. They will also serve as ongoing points of contact for their CBOs, helping ensure accountability and providing support throughout the grant term. Foundations will collect brief reports from their CBO partners and synthesize insights into a final report submitted to LCCF in March 2026.

Training for Community Foundations

The League of California Community Foundations will deliver a three-part virtual training series for participating community foundations. These sessions are designed to strengthen each foundation’s ability to serve as a local leader in nonprofit capacity building, particularly in support of small, grassroots CBOs that serve as trusted messengers in their communities.

The training series will be developed with feedback from trusted messengers, and might include the following:

Understanding the Unique Capacity Needs of Trusted Messenger Organizations
Foundations will explore the structural challenges and resilience strategies common among small, community-rooted nonprofits. This session may offer tools for assessing capacity gaps, examples of effective support models, and approaches to trust-based grantmaking.

Designing Foundation-Led Capacity Building Efforts
Foundations will be introduced to a range of ideas and frameworks for supporting nonprofit partners beyond traditional grantmaking. Topics may include: cohort models, shared services, technical assistance strategies, and leveraging philanthropic partnerships to extend support.

State Landscape Update: OCPSC Priorities and Evolving Campaigns
This session will provide an update on OCPSC’s structural changes and explore what these shifts mean for statewide programs like the Census, Heat Ready CA, and other issue-based campaigns. Foundations will gain insight into how to stay informed and how to help their nonprofit partners remain connected to these opportunities.

All sessions will include peer learning components to allow foundations to share challenges, questions, and promising practices with one another. The goal is to build a shared understanding across the cohort of what it means to effectively support trusted messengers—not only with funding, but with lasting infrastructure and relational investment.

Program Values

The CBCE Grant Program is rooted in a values-based approach that guides every aspect of its design and delivery:

Equity-Driven
Resources are intentionally directed toward communities that have been historically excluded from state outreach efforts. These are communities where trust in public systems is low, and where culturally responsive engagement is essential for closing information and access gaps.

Place-Based
Community foundations are long-term stewards of their regions. With deep local knowledge, enduring partnerships with donors, and a sustained commitment to building nonprofit capacity, they are uniquely positioned to support trusted messenger organizations.

Informed by Local Data
Foundations are encouraged to use demographic data, local indicators, and community insights to inform their strategies. This ensures that resources are focused where the need is greatest and that outreach efforts are responsive to real, not assumed, conditions on the ground.

How to Apply

Community foundations interested in participating in the CBCE program must apply through the online portal hosted in Submittable. For a preview of the application questions, please review the application worksheet here.

To apply:

Applications will be reviewed by a team from the League of California Community Foundations and Demarest Strategy Group, with final selections based on geographic diversity, organizational readiness, and alignment with the goals of the CBCE program.

Eligibility Criteria for Participating Community Foundations

To be considered for participation in the CBCE Grant Program, community foundations must meet the following criteria:

League Membership
Applicants must be current members of the League of California Community Foundations (LCCF) or participants in the Growing Community Foundation Circle program at the time of application.

Organizational Readiness
Foundations must demonstrate capacity to manage subgrants and comply with reporting and fiscal requirements within an accelerated grant period.

Trusted Community Relationships
Foundations must have established relationships with community-based organizations (CBOs), particularly those serving historically underserved, under-resourced, or linguistically diverse populations. Foundation will be asked to identify a preliminary list of trusted messenger organizations they would consider inviting to participate

Commitment to Program Goals
Foundations must participate in the training sessions and serve as partners to their CBO grantees.

Program Timeline

The timeline below outlines key milestones and responsibilities for participating community foundations.

Timeframe Activity
Monday, August 4, 2025 Community Foundation grant process opens
Monday, August 11, 10:00 AM CBCE Workshop for Community Foundations
Monday,  September 15th Community Foundation applications due
Mid-September – Early October Community foundations selected and funds distributed
October 2025 CBOs selected and subgrants disbursed
November- February CBOs implement capacity building work
Early November 2025 Capacity Building Training Session #1
January 2026 Capacity Building Training Session #2
February 2026 OCPSC Program Update Session #3
March 2026 Foundations submit final reports to LCCF

Questions about CBCE:

CBCE Grant Program FAQs

If you would like to view the information session recording held on August 11th contact Sheila@lccf.org .

Please contact Karin Demarest, Demarest Strategy Group, karin@dstrategygroup.com, 707.338.4111

For questions about the use of Submittable, please contact Sheila Tyree, sheila@lccf.org, 209-206-0692