Grantmaking Guidelines

Areas of Interest

Areas of interest for the Berea College Appalachian Fund (BCAF) will be focused on:

Health – Supporting improved access to quality health services and health education for those living in under-served areas.
Education – Supporting programs that improve access to education as well as programs that serve economically-disadvantaged populations.
Social Services – Supporting programs that improve the quality of life for individuals, children, and low-income families.
Folk Arts and Cultures (as funding allows from external sources) – Supporting initiatives where folk arts and cultures will be more deeply understood, more broadly recognized, and more widely practiced.

Proposed projects must directly serve the residents of Appalachian counties in eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, southwest Virginia, east Tennessee, and western North Carolina.
Emphasis is placed on counties designated by the Appalachian Regional Commission as distressed or at risk.
Proposals from nonprofits that are not headquartered in the identified Appalachian counties can be accepted if the programming supported by the Fund will take place entirely in those counties of the defined service region.
General operating grants will not be awarded to those out-of-region organizations.
There is a strong emphasis on projects serving people in rural areas.
Programming in urban areas is acceptable if it is provided primarily to residents of rural counties in the defined service region.

Organizations must have 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status to be eligible to receive funding from the Appalachian Fund.

Standard grants typically range from $5,000 to $25,000 except under extraordinary circumstances. Folk Arts and Cultures grants range from $5,000 to $15,000.
Requests for general operating support are permissible under the standard Appalachian Fund cycle. Indirect costs are not allowable on requests for general operating support.
Indirect costs up to 10 percent may be requested for non-general operating support projects such as specific programs and initiatives.
All projects supported by the Berea College Appalachian Fund should reflect the values and ideals expressed in the following:

Berea College Appalachian Fund grants may not be used for activities such as: