Grassroots Funding Opportunity

Grassroots Funding Opportunity is sponsored by St. Louis County Children's Service Fund. Funds programs that enhance the social and emotional capacity of children and youth, family strengthening, youth development and empowerment, physical and mental health prevention and intervention, trauma healing, and substance use education, prevention, and intervention programming within St.

Louis County.

How To Apply - St. Louis County Children's Service Fund At the St. Louis County Children’s Service Fund (CSF), we are continually working to meet mental and behavioral health needs of kids in St.

Louis County. We do this by funding nonprofits and governmental agencies that provide mental and behavioral health and substance use prevention services to kids ages 0-19 and their families. We traditionally fund in cycles , and when we have an opportunity available, we will post it here.

Interested in the types of organizations we partner with? See a complete directory of who we fund. Before a funding opportunity opens for applications, we heavily advertise through several mediums, we hold community meetings in person and virtually, and provide additional guidance on how to apply and what our criteria is.

Applications are open for several weeks, giving organizations time to complete and submit the application. Beginning in 2025, nonprofit applicants for CSF funding will be required to have a Gold Seal of Transparency on Candid . Community members are enlisted to help us review applications and make recommendations on which organizations best fit our funding criteria and meet the needs of the community.

We present those recommendations to our Board of Directors , which approves the final awards. We share the good news with awardees, finalize the funding contracts, and celebrate with our new partners! What We Are Looking For .

At CSF, we fund 501(c)3 and governmental organizations that offer programs for kids ages 0-19 in St.

Louis County in the following focus areas: Intensive Outpatient Programs Temporary Shelter And Transitional Living Psychological Testing and Assessment Non-Therapeutic Counseling Educational, Skill-Building And Prevention Psychiatry And Psychiatric Diagnostics Case Management And Child Advocacy Inpatient medical, psychiatric, and chemical dependency services and transportation services are not eligible for CSF support.

Core Funding Opportunity . The Core Funding Opportunity was established in 2010 as CSF’s first funding cycle. Since then, we have sought partnerships with organizations that align with our value of providing quality care to kids and families in St.

Louis County. Our Core partners are established organizations that address community needs through impact-driven approaches to mental and behavioral health care. We support our Core partners through a standard unit-rate reimbursement model.

This is a three-year grant cycle, aligned with the academic calendar. Learn more on our Core Funding Opportunity page . Grassroots Funding Opportunity .

We established the Grassroots Funding Opportunity in 2021, recognizing that we could serve more kids by expanding the organizations we invest in. Grassroots is a two-year funding cycle that is aligned with the school year. Your organization may be a good fit for Grassroots if it has a smaller operating budget (under $1 million), is community based, and your staff and leadership reflect the community you serve.

Learn more on our Grassroots Funding Opportunity page . Special Project Funding . Emergency Funding Opportunity .