Mark your calendar for these key dates in 2011. The Foundation will offer two distinct Healthy Communities Grant Program Request for Proposals (RFP) options during 2011 that each are designed to solicit proposals in both priority funding areas (childhood obesity prevention and community-based wellness and prevention).

For both grant cycles, applicants beging with a Letter of Interest. Applicants with a Letter of Interest selected for further development will receive an invitation to submit a full grant proposal and additional application guidance. Only those applications invited to the full proposal round will be reviewed for the full proposal deadlines.

2011 Healthy Communities Grant Program – Level I: This will represent our initial funding opportunity for new project support in 2011 - designed to support smaller projects (under $25,000). Not every project requires a six-figure award to advance important and necessary work. We hope this funding opportunity invites new collaborators in this work and puts health on the map in exciting and new ways. Research is consistently demonstrating that as little as 10% of an individual's health is influenced by direct health care delivery, while up to 70% is influenced by factors that reside in the environmental, social, and economic conditions of a community. Our approach with this incubator funding is to address upstream health issues from this perspective. We seek to seed new ideas, frame new and innovative approaches, and foster new collaborations. Below is the timeline for these applications initially due April 12, 2011.

2011 Healthy Communities Grant Program – Level II: This RFP lays out the application process for our larger grants ($25,001 to $150,000). These larger applications are solicited with specific guidance, have a single due date and are reviewed using scoring criteria developed for this approach. A volunteer panel peer reviews the applications and recommends RFPs and the slate of grants are then forwarded to the full Wellmark Foundation Board of Directors for approval. Grantees may be asked to participate in learning collaboratives to share lessons learned, or in planning groups around similar concepts to coordinate efforst. This funding is meant to support projects with larger resource needs and potentially more mature initiatives than those solicited in our earlier funding opportunity of 2011. Below is the timeline for these applications initially due August 2, 2011.