RFP to access federal funding for climate, environmental justice, and infrastructure – Aug 1

Posted by William Penn Foundation on July 23, 2024

William Penn Foundation issues RFP to access federal funding for climate, environmental justice, and infrastructure

Founded in 1945 by Otto and Phoebe Haas, the William Penn Foundation (WPF) aims to play an important role in improving the quality of life in greater Philadelphia.

The foundation has issued an RFP in support of efforts to access federal funding for climate, environmental justice, and infrastructure for the Philadelphia region.

According to the foundation, the federal government has recently made billions of dollars available for projects and programs that reduce climate pollution, promote clean energy, increase climate resilience, address environmental justice issues, and improve essential infrastructure via the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Federal funding is available in the form of grants, tax incentives, rebates, and financing. But meeting federal funding requirements is notoriously difficult, and special attention is required to ensure that communities most in need of funding can receive it.

WPF aims to support efforts to access federal funding for climate, environmental justice, and infrastructure for the Philadelphia region (Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties). The foundation is interested in prioritizing work that is focused on benefiting communities most vulnerable to climate change, environmental burdens, and/or the impacts of inadequate infrastructure.

Barriers to securing federal funding include but are not limited to stakeholder coordination, communications, and community engagement; project development (including concept paper development and technical analysis); community benefits agreement/plan development; grant writing; match requirements; bridge expenses for reimbursable grants and tax credits; legal guidance; tax guidance; and challenges with meeting federal procurement, compliance, and grants administration requirements. The foundation is interested in helping the region address these and other barriers to accessing funds.

WPF has allocated up to $3.5 million to award through this RFP. There is no minimum that organizations may request, and the maximum organizations can receive is $1 million, however, most grants will likely be smaller.

Applicants must be recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as 501(c)(3) public charities or operate under a public charity fiduciary. Public charities include community-based organizations, schools and educational institutions, and other types of public-serving groups. Government entities are also eligible to apply. Applicants do not need to be physically located in the Philadelphia region (Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties) but the work proposed must aim to access federal funding for the Philadelphia region.

Applicants are asked to submit a proposal on the foundation online submission system by August 1, 2024, at 5:00 p.m. ET. A WPF team will review all proposals and notify applicants by August 16, 2024, if they have been selected to move forward in the review process. Site visits will be conducted between August 19 and September 6, 2024, with project implementation to begin by November 2024.

For complete program guidelines and application instructions, see the William Penn Foundation website.

Deadline: August 1, 2024 at 5:00 p.m. ET