To nominate projects for Peaceful Pathways, a grantmaking organization must be tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and must represent a community of color or diversity that is traditionally underserved by mainstream philanthropy.

More information on diversity-focused funders may be found on the website of the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers www.givingforum.org in the Racial, Ethnic and Tribal Philanthropy Knowledge Center. Examples of diversity-focused funders include grantmakers committed to projects for gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender people; African-American affinity groups or refugee resettlement funds.

Diversity-focused funds may be incorporated as independent funds or they may be affiliated under the umbrella of an established philanthropy such as a community foundation. They may be structured as donor-advised funds, field-of-interest funds, designated funds, ethnic funds, endowed funds, diversity funds, special interest funds or giving circles.

The nominating funder may contribute some or all of the matching dollars, working with other local grantmakers and the grantee to help obtain sufficient matching funds and technical assistance throughout the grant period. The nominating funder will be RWJF’s primary contact and serve as liaison with any other local funding partners.

The applicant organization must be the entity that will assume leadership in implementing the grant-funded project. Applicants must be nonprofit organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Typically the applicant is not primarily a grantmaking organization and it cannot be classified as a private foundation under IRS Section 509(a).

To be eligible, an applicant organization must demonstrate the fiscal capacity to manage the funds. The grant award must not exceed 50 percent of the organization’s annual budget.

A small agency may be affiliated with an organization that has a more established administrative infrastructure. For example, a community foundation may be eligible to apply on behalf of a special affinity group operating within the philanthropy.

We welcome applicant organizations with knowledge of and commitment to the specific group to be served with respect to language, history and culture. Applicants should be active in the community to be served and engage members of the community in planning and leadership. We are especially interested in organizations with proven experience in building partnerships between their respective communities and outside groups.

In 2010 the Peaceful Pathways program will fund projects that work to reduce violence in the context of a specific, vulnerable community such as a group that is under-resourced because of race, ethnicity, tribe, gender, sexual identity, rural/frontier location or other distinct characteristic.

Projects must be new, community-based and culturally appropriate, reflecting how language skills, significant cultural differences, education, income and discrimination affect health-related outcomes.

So that proposals will reflect the priorities of the designated community, there is great latitude in the definition of violence. Project examples include the following:

• Eligible projects may relate to interpersonal or public violence, to the behavior of gangs or individuals, or to the experience of war or family violence.
• Projects may serve any age, from the youngest children to the most senior members of a community.
• Projects may focus on any threatening or violent behavior that results in emotional, psychological or physical harm.
• Prevention programs are eligible as are projects designed to help people affected as victims, witnesses or perpetrators.
• Projects may address hate crimes, bias or abuse in the workplace or in public, nonprofit or private agencies.
• Projects may address threats or endangerment from strangers or from persons well known to the victim, as well as sexual violence or intimate partner violence.
• Projects that deal creatively with conflict and anger, that strengthen communities by identifying risk and protective factors, and that create immediate, practical solutions to improve health and quality of life are also eligible.

RWJF encourages multiple donors and funders to work together over the duration of the grant (up to three years maximum) to help the project grow and to invest resources in the community to be served. These additional funding partners are not limited to diversity-focused funders.

Matching funds may come from many types of grantmaking organizations such as independent and private foundations, family and community foundations, corporate foundations and other philanthropies.

• All matching funds must represent new funding specifically designated to support the proposed project.
• Funds raised for capital costs, renovations or endowment are not eligible as matching funds.
• In-kind services may be used to match up to 25 percent of the award each year.

In-kind services are defined as contributed services that have a dollar value, such as a percentage of an individual’s salaried time, office space, duplicating and printing support, etc. In-kind services are often necessary to complete a project’s budget, and applicants are allowed to seek these forms of support for up to 25% of the RWJF request per year.

City, county or state funds may be considered as an additional source of matching dollars along with philanthropic support. In that situation, applicants must clearly document that these are new public funds, designated solely for this project