About the Creating New Fund Economies Fund
Resourceful Communities’ small-grant program, the Creating New Economies Fund (CNEF), provides direct investment in community-based efforts. Seed money supports a range of projects: eco- and heritage tourism, youth conservation programs, farmers markets, alternative energy production and more. Additional information for applicants follows. Submit questions to smallgrants@conservationfund.org.
A portion of CNEF funds is available to help rural United Methodist Churches (UMCs) strengthen food ministries. All UMCs are encouraged to contact Faith and Food Coordinator Aaron Hayworth (ahayworth@conservationfund.org) or Matthew Rouse (mrouse@consevationfund.org) to discuss potential projects. You can also email smallgrants@conservationfund.org with questions.
INFORMATION ABOUT OUR SMALL GRANTS PROGRAM
- We do not support individuals, for-profits (LLCs), nonprofit organizations with budgets over $300K, or nonprofit organizations in the following counties: Buncombe, Durham, Forsyth, Guilford, Mecklenburg, New Hanover, Orange and Wake Counties.
- Applicants are required to speak with a Resourceful Communities staff member about their proposal before applying.
- Click here to view important dates for the 2023 Creating New Economies Fund grant cycle.
- Click here to view Eligibility and Frequently Asked Questions about the 2023 Creating New Economies Fund grant cycle.
- Click here to view the Creating New Economies Fund's 2019-2022 list of grantees.
TOOLS AND FORMS TO ASSIST CNEF APPLICANTS
-
SAMPLE APPLICATION: Click here to download a sample Word Version of our CNEF Application. Please note: you will still need to complete and submit your application online at: tinyurl.com/cnef2023.
-
TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE: Need help understanding the triple bottom line (CNEF Application Question #6), a requirement for all funded projects? Click here for more information.
-
MEASURING FOOD IMPACTS: If you are applying for a food-based project, click here for an evaluation guide to help you develop evaluation measures (CNEF Application Question #7).
-
OPERATING/ANNUAL BUDGET: We ask applicants to submit an organizational budget. A sample can be found here.
- PROJECT BUDGETS
- SAMPLE BUDGET: Click here to download a sample budget (Word document). Click here to download a sample budget (Excel spreadsheet).
- IN-KIND SUPPORT: Please be sure to include non-cash support or in-kind support for your project. Learn more here.
Working with a fiscal agent?
- FISCAL AGENT OVERVIEW: If your organization is not a nonprofit and you are working with a fiscal agent:
- Click here to learn more about fiscal agents. - SAMPLE MOU: Click here.
APPLY HERE
TOOLS AND FORMS FOR FAITH AND FOOD COALITIONS
Faith & Food Coalitions: Funding up to $25,000 is available for groups of three or more rural churches and/or faith-based organizations that are improving access to fresh and local food for their communities. Priority will be given to rural communities and coalitions who partner with local farmers/aggregators. Please note: Coalitions of at least three churches, with one rural United Methodist Church, are eligible to apply. If your coalition includes more than five churches, we have some flexibility on the total grant budget; please contact someone on our team to discuss.
- Click here to apply*
- Click here to download a sample Faith and Food Coalition application.
- Click here to download the attestation required for online submittal.
- Click here to download a sample Faith and Food Coalition budget.
*Church coalitions are encouraged to contact Faith and Food Coordinator, Aaron Hayworth (ahayworth@conservationfund.org) or Matthew Rouse (mrouse@conservationfund.org) to discuss potential projects. You can also email smallgrants@conservationfund.org with questions.
FOR PAST CNEF GRANTEES
- Click here for the 2022 CNEF Grant Report Form.
- Click here for the 2022 Covid Emergency Grant Final Report Form.
ADDItional RESOURCES FOR FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
- Questions about cashing checks? Download this helpful guide.
triple bottom line
- Need help understanding the triple bottom line, a requirement for all funded projects? Click here for more information.
Additional Resources
YOUTH GROUP RESOURCES
- Here's a list of resources for youth-serving organizations in North Carolina. You can view a live document with organizations and grant timelines here.
Virtual Trainings
- View virtual learning opportunities and trainings for our community partners hosted by Resourceful Communities.
background checks
- Learn more about obtaining county-level background checks in North Carolina.
Considerations for new community garden projects
- Click here for some key questions to ask before digging in.
EVALUATION TOOL FOR GARDEN PARTNERS
- Click here for practical steps and tools to evaluate the triple bottom line impacts of your garden program.
- Watch this demonstration for help navigating the website.
GUIDE FOR LIMITED-RESOURCE FARMERS
- Click here to learn more about technical assistance, business and legal, networking and learning, and financial assistance for limited-resource farmers
Triple Bottom Line
- Need help understanding the triple bottom line, a requirement for all funded projects? Click here for more information.
PROJECT BUDGETS AND Working with a Fiscal Agent
- If your organization is not a nonprofit and you are working with a fiscal agent:
- Click here to learn more about fiscal agents.
- Click here to download a sample Memorandum of Understanding.
- Please be sure to include non-cash support or in-kind support for your project. Learn more here.
- Questions about cashing checks? Download this helpful guide.
TRIED and tested Rural Health Ideas
- Click here to visit Try This NC and learn about rural health initiatives from our partners
Corporate Giving Guide
- Click here to learn about grants and giving programs available in NC and nationwide, including funding priorities and sample applications.
Our emphasis on the triple bottom line means that Resourceful Communities engages in work and with partners that represent a broad range of issues – renewable energy, youth leadership development, eco-tourism, cultural preservation and more. We recognize that some issues call for special attention because they are innovative, represent critical need, and support The Conservation Fund’s broad mission of working land protection and economic development. Our targeted initiatives advance innovative solutions for our most economically- and socially-distressed communities.
North Carolina ranks in the top ten most food insecure states, with significant rates of poverty, farm loss and food deserts. Two of our current initiatives, Healthy Eating, Active Living and Food and Farm, address these serious trends. By employing our three primary program strategies of training, direct investment and networking, we are increasing low-income individuals' and families' access to healthy food and opportunities for recreation. We also help small farmers connect with new markets, better growing strategies and hard-to-reach resources.
Through these initiatives, we have supported SNAP/ EBT access at local markets with targeted technical assistance on securing and implementing equipment and targeted outreach to low-income community members and effective vendor education to support sales to SNAP recipients. Other projects include community gardens and trail building, training for youth and veterans in agriculture entrepreneurship, a chop-and-bag project that provides cafeteria-ready produce to rural schools and more. Convenings and peer learning visits support awareness of trends related to these issues; connections to peer educators and other resources; and skills to replicate effective strategies that garner real community change.
In addition, we are working with agency partners to advance Community Forestry. Many landowners and small municipalities own property that provides critical habitat; can improve water quality; offers outdoor education and passive recreation opportunities; and can generate sustainable revenue. Through workshops and technical assistance, we are helping develop partnerships and stewardship plans to ensure the best use of forest resources.
Resourceful Communities is also developing our Growing an Outdoor Generation initiative to help people of color and low-income communities connect with the outdoors. By connecting low-income youth of color and rural youth with environmental/outdoor education field trips, STEM-based curriculum programs, and natural-resource based professional development opportunities, we’re helping create new environmental stewards and addressing economic and social inequities.
Optimization Modeling
If you’ve ever studied a crowded supermarket shelf—Which brand? Size? Price?—you know the challenge of comparison shopping. So do conservationists. From state governments to local land trusts, cash-strapped conservationists must choose which of America’s special places to save. Today, with tight budgets, those choices are tougher than ever.But we’ve developed a tool that can help. Our strategic conservation team, working with a resource economist, has crafted a computer model that enables conservationists to shop smart—by evaluating potential conservation projects for best dollar value.
“We all want the most bang for our buck, and conservation is no different,” says Will Allen, our director of strategic conservation. “Are you spending too much money on expensive projects, or are you getting real value? With public budgets so tight, government officials must be able to justify how they’re spending these dollars wisely.”
The new model “optimizes” conservation decisions. It works by turning raw data about conservation decisions—project costs, benefits (scored numerically), budget constraints—into a user-friendly spreadsheet yielding comparison shopping conclusions. Using the model, for example, a government agency can quickly compare the relative value of all possible projects and then make, and justify, an informed choice.
Optimization Modeling On The Ground
On the ground, the Baltimore County Agricultural Land Preservation Program in Maryland has already used our optimization model to save 22% more farmland than it would have otherwise over the past three years. Every year since 2007, Baltimore County has applied the optimization model to choose which agricultural lands to save. Optimization has helped the county protect an additional 680 acres of high-quality agricultural land, at a cost savings of roughly $5.4 million—a return on investment over three years of more than 60 to 1. In other words, for every $1 that Baltimore County spent using the optimization model, it has gained more than $60 in conservation benefits.Wally Lippincott, Land Preservation Administrator in Baltimore County, is pleased with the results: “After trying for years to balance price with farm quality using rank based methods, we switched to optimization. In the first three years of using optimization, Baltimore County has been able to protect an additional 680 acres for the same amount of funds that would otherwise have been spent. This also translates into a savings of approximately $5.4 million.”
Rob Hirsch likes that the program is easy to use: “Optimization has proven easier to administer and run than our old methods. During our rank-based days, we performed extra administrative and mathematical work in order to solicit discounts and award extra LESA points for discounting. With optimization, this is no longer required.”
More about OPTIMIZATION
Purchase book on optimization and strategic conservation
table of contents
- Food Pantries: Keeping it Fresh!
- Local Food: Choose Your Own Local Food Adventure
- Faith + Lands 101
- Recordkeeping & Documentation
- Budgeting for Nonprofits
- Today’s Youth Tomorrow’s World: Cultivating the Next Generation of Environmental Leaders
- Resource Roundup: Evaluation
- Resource Roundup: (Virtual) Youth Programming
- Resource Roundup: Volunteer Strategies
- What’s a Food Hub Anyway?
- Grant Writing For Beginners
- Virtual Peer Learning Visit: McDowell Local Food Action Council
- Trails & Greenways Amid COVID-19: Highlighting Hayesville’s Success
- Community Garden Evaluation
- Virtual Programming: Pivoting with Partnerships
- Meet the Funder: The Cannon Foundation
- Volunteer Strategies for Faith-Based Food Ministries
- Creating New Economies Fund (CNEF) 2023 Webinar
- Meet the Environmental Educators of NC
- “Get Outside” Passport Challenge Information Session
- Funding Local Food Projects: From Purchases to Programs
- Social Media 101
- Youth Abuse Prevention
Food Pantries: Keeping it Fresh!
Click here to see the video
Perhaps you’ve been sourcing local food but are struggling to keep it fresh. In this training, food systems and operations consultant Sarah Bostick shares fresh ideas on how to simplify your pantry operations, including cold storage options and work systems that can greatly increase the efficiency of receiving/distributing fresh produce.
Local Food: Choose Your Own Local Food AdventurE
Click here to see the video.
If you’re wondering how other communities are “making the case” for local food purchases, even when it’s easier to stretch the dollar at the grocery store, join us for an interactive “Choose Your Own Adventure” workshop that explores all of these questions and more!
Faith + Lands 101
Click here to see the video.
Faith + Lands 101 will provide participants with tools, resources, and examples of how churches can use their land to promote stewardship, partnerships, conservation, and more.
Recordkeeping & Documentation
Click here to see the video.
This webinar is intended to introduce nonprofit recordkeeping and documentation, along with tools and resources to help implement good financial practices.
Budgeting for Nonprofits
Click here to view the video
This webinar is intended to introduce nonprofit budgeting, along with tools and resources to help implement good financial practices. This training also covers how the chart of accounts is used in budget management.
Today’s Youth Tomorrow’s World: Cultivating the Next Generation of Environmental Leaders
Click here to view the video
RCP’s youth-serving partners play an important role in growing the next generation of environmental & food justice leaders. Join us for a presentation on some of the NC-based resources available to you to support the college and career readiness of your youth. This event is geared towards groups serving youth ages 13-18. You’ll learn about funding opportunities, agencies, and curricula that can help strengthen your youth program offerings. You’ll also hear directly from a peer organization about how they involve youth in food and social justice conversations (and boots-on-the-ground action) through their Youth Leadership Institute!
Resource Roundup: Evaluation
Click here to view the video.
Do you dread being asked about your “evaluation strategy” when looking for funding? Unsure what that means or where to begin? Looking for easy, grab-and-go tools you can right-size for your organization? This workshop will cover all of this and more. During this interactive session, you will (a) learn why having an evaluation plan is worth the effort, (b) learn some helpful “dos” and “don’ts”, and (c) try on various evaluation resources in real-time.
Resource Roundup: (Virtual) Youth Programming
Click here to view the video.
Resource Roundup: Volunteer Strategies
Click here to view the video.
The pandemic has increased volunteerism for some, and decreased it for others. Regardless of the size of your volunteer base, strong volunteer recruitment and management tools will ALWAYS be beneficial to your organization and create less of a coordination headache in the long run. Listen in to learn from some tried-and-true strategies from your peers and their volunteers for recruiting volunteers and keeping them around.
What’s a Food Hub Anyway?
Click here to view the video.
Food hubs have a dual mission to strengthen local economies and increase access to healthy food. This training provides an overview of what food hubs are, which food hubs exist in North Carolina, and the many way churches can engage with them in their mission to feed their communities. If you are a rural church and would like to learn more, please reach out to our Faith and Food Coordinator, Aaron Hayworth (ahayworth@conservationfund.org). You can visit www.ncfoodhubs.org to learn more about the NC Food Hub Collaborative work.
Grant Writing for Beginners
Click here to view all videos from this playlist.
New to grant writing and feel overwhelmed by the grant application process? This playlist breaks up the process into manageable pieces and uplifts the most important facets of grant writing for beginners. We recommend you spend time watching all of the videos included here, but feel free to go at your own pace. This playlist includes the following sections:
- Where to Find Funding
- Funder Fit
- Funder Cultivation
- Grant Writing Checklist
- Project Description
- Building a Budget
Download the Grant Writing Checklist here, which is referenced in the Grant Writing Checklist video and is a great tool to reference in the future!
Virtual Peer Learning Visit: McDowell Local Food Action Council
Click here to view the video.
COVID-19 has upended our world in many ways—but communities have risen to the challenge and proven that necessity truly is the mother of innovation. Learn from McDowell Local Foods Action Council as they share their creative strategies for food access in western NC, and the many ways they continue to adapt to the ever-changing need. This information is useful for all organizations working to increase community food access.
Trails & Greenways Amid COVID-19: Highlighting Hayesville’s Success
Click here to view the video.
COVID-19 has forced a lot of us indoors, but has also renewed interest in getting outside and enjoying some more isolated outdoor activities. For any organizations who have any interest in building a local trail or using cultural resources as a driver of health and economic development, we present to you the inspiration you need to kick it into gear: the story of Hayesville, NC, as told by Rob Tiger of Clay County Revitalization Association (CCRA)!
This 30-min virtual Peer Learning Visit focuses specifically on the building of Jackrabbit Trail and the partnerships that made it happen. This recording is suitable for any organization that is interested in learning more about the process of getting started with trail-building; it’s full of wisdom from Rob Tiger, who has been part of Hayesville’s renaissance from the start. We hope you are as inspired by their work as we are.
community garden evaluation
Click here to view the video.
Calling all garden partners! This workshop introduces RCP’s new, one-stop-shopping tool for all your garden evaluation needs. You’ll learn from peers as they share real-life examples of triple-bottom line evaluation for garden-based programming and how they use their data to improve their programs and tell amazing stories.Click here to jump to the evaluation tool.
Virtual Programming: Pivoting with Partnerships
Click here to view the video.
COVID-19 has opened up a whole new world of virtual learning opportunities (and challenges!). Join Men and Women United for Youth and Families (MWUYF) as they walk us through their experience pivoting to a virtual summer camp—through partnerships, youth engagement, and some key resources that made the camp a wild success. In the second half of the video, RCP will share how they supported with some programming resources & you’ll get a sneak preview of the healthy eating/active living curriculum that MWUYF used!
Meet the Funder: The Cannon Foundation
Click here to view the video. Click here to view PowerPoint.
Are you interested in funding a building or other capital need of your non-profit? This recording is of an informational session with The Cannon Foundation! Learn about their funding priorities, application process, and “Do”s and “Don’t”s. We reviewed the application together, and there was lots of time for Q&A with Suzanne Philemon, Executive Director of the Cannon. Listen to the full recording and connect with The Cannon Foundation if you think you are a fit!
Volunteer Strategies for Faith-Based Food Ministries
Click here to view the video.
Many programs struggle to recruit, train, and retain volunteers and leaders. This workshop aims to present helpful strategies in these areas to empower and equip volunteer leaders in faith-based food ministries. Viewers will learn strategies for recruitment, training, and retention from RCP staff, then hear from a panel of talented volunteer managers and their valuable volunteers.
Creating new economies Fund (CNEF) webinar
Click here to view the video.
Click here to view the PowerPoint.
Learn more about the Creating New Economies Fund, eligibility for the grant, important documents and deadlines.
Meet the Environmental Educators of NC
Click here to view the video.
Do you teach people about plants, animals, agriculture, sustainability, environmental science, etc? Want to plug into a network of practitioners like you to lean on for support?
Watch this informational session to meet the Environmental Educators of NC (EENC) and learn what the network can do for you! You’ll also enjoy fun, hands-on activities you can bring back to your community, courtesy of NC Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and Chatham County Solid Waste & Recycling! You’ll walk away with a host of potential resources as you plan this year’s projects.
“Get Outside” Passport Challenge Information Session
Click here to view the video.
Did you know that 2023 in the “Year of the Trail” in NC? To support this initiative and encourage our partners — especially those serving youth — to get outdoors, we are launching our own little challenge: join the RCP “Get Outside” Challenge and complete activities to earn badges from our very own activities passport and earn awesome prizes!
This short information session shares all the info you need to know to participate. Please be aware that this challenge is aimed at supporting small, rural organizations that provide programs for their communities, especially those that work with youth or do environmental education.
Funding Local Food Projects: From Purchases to Programs
Click here to view the video.
Click here to view PDF slides.
Click here to download Excel sheet.
Sick and tired of relying ONLY on grants? You’re in luck—this training offers up field-tested strategies for fundraising for your food projects…only supplemental grant support required. This session is all about sharing the love-- how to design projects that bring in revenue while supporting those most in need. Learn from peer presenters who have built successful food projects that help sustain themselves. Peer presenters include:
(1) Donna Poe, Garden of Concord
(2) Carla Norwood, Working Landscapes
(3) Claudia Farr, Lillington UMC
(4) Jim Howard, Seeds of Hope Wilson
Social Media 101
Click here to view the video.
Click here to download the PowerPoint.
Social media can be a great tool to engage your community, volunteers, and even funders with your organization’s work but it can also feel overwhelming. In this webinar you will learn the best practices to make your social media stand out with Erin Miller-Carter, The Conservation Fund’s Digital Marketing Manager.
Youth Abuse prevention
Click here to view the video.
Click here to download the PowerPoint.
The Youth Abuse Prevention webinar aims to help youth-serving organizations create and sustain a culture of safety by identifying how abuse happens and reviewing key policies and procedures organizations should strive to implement.
| By the Numbers: |
| Strategic Conservation Planning has performed green infrastructure activities in close to 40 states. Strategic Conservation Planning has completed greenspace plans for three of the largest metropolitan areas in the country. |
Achieving environmental and economic goals often requires solving complex problems. That’s why creating practical approaches that balance natural systems with the built environment is essential for livable communities. Our team thinks big and offers solutions that government leaders, conservationists, and others need to create systemic and lasting environmental solutions in communities across the country. Strategic conservation makes economic sense—establishing an environmental legacy for future generations in the most efficient and cost-effective manner.
We bring strategic conservation expertise to government leaders, industries and communities across the country to achieve the multiple benefits from investing in clean air, clean water, habitat, climate resilience and adaptation, and community livability. We help communities identify their conservation priorities and goals, and we recommend high-impact and cost-effective implementation strategies that help build the capacity of communities to fulfill their conservation visions.
Through state-of-the-art geospatial mapping, and valuing the economic benefit of ecosystem services, we strategically evaluate areas for land protection and stewardship as well as identify opportunities to integrate planning for green and gray infrastructure.
We provide custom tailored tools to help solve complex planning problems:
- Green infrastructure networks / landscape design
- Regional conservation visions
- Ecosystem service valuation
- Rapid open space assessments
- Strategic conservation guidance
- Implementation / acquisition targeting
- GIS decision support tools and map services
- Optimization models for cost effective decision making
- Structured decision tools using the Logic Scoring of Preference method
