In 2013, a new grant approach is offered to advance our mission: Matching Assets To Community Health (MATCH).  The goal of the new MATCH grant program is to support communities in implementing healthy eating and active living programs, along with environmental change initiatives that support healthier communities across Iowa and South Dakota. 

The MATCH grants program encourages and supports creative projects that enhance the health of Iowans or South Dakotans through visionary health thinking in cities and towns, counties, public entities and nonprofits that will intentionally leverage our funding to attract additional funds from other sources. 

The MATCH resources are being offered to serve as a catalyst to bring other funding to important health needs of a community that impact environmental and policy approaches necessary to impact health locally.  Specific preference for this funding is to advance work in: 

1. promoting active living and built environment
2. increasing access and consumption of nutritious foods

Through this new MATCH grant program, we are seeking to use our available grant funding as a catalyst to leverage funders (corporate, private, governmental, individuals, families, community foundations, United Ways, local giving circles, etc.) to support the area of local health status improvement. This involves explicitly using our grant awards as a matching/challenge grant. 

What Are Matching Grants?  The term “matching grant” means that you are required to raise some amount of money to “match” the amount of the grant. The money you raise in addition to the grant is called “the match.”  Within a pre-determined period of time after you receive the grant award notification, you’ll have an opportunity to use our grant to secure other funding and conceivably double the grant ($1:$1 match). 

Matching grants are good opportunities for those receiving this kind of funding support to gain additional funding for a project or initiative.  The grant donor (Wellmark Foundation) that's offered a matching grant mechanism is intentionally trying to leverage additional funding commitment(s). 

This type of funding can create a powerful platform to engage other funding sources to advance health status improvement locally.  Your organization can use this commitment of support to motivate others to take action through this structured leverage funding opportunity. 

The matching grant focus is a new method and approach for us and we’re optimistic this can help our grantees collaborate and encourage new stakeholders and funding sources to participate in the health status improvement throughout our two states.