Community Development Grants
The Friends of Mongolia Community Development Grant program provides financing for small community-based projects in Mongolia and the United States that further education, cultural exchange, and community development between both countries. These grants provide a small amount of funding that can go a long way do to things like repair a school, start market gardens, upgrade a community IT center, and support women in small businesses.
Community projects generally do not attract the kind of funding on offer from large multi-lateral or bi-lateral donors, and modest community-based programs struggle to find appropriate funding to support their program goals. The FOM Community Development Grant program is intended to address these issues. This program was inspired by the Small Project Assistance (SPA) grant program that has been used by many Peace Corps Volunteers to help their communities. The Friends of Mongolia grant program began in 2006 with a grant to the National Center Against Violence and a 2007 grant to the Gobi Radio Project. All FOM Community Development Grants are community initiated and implemented.
Featured Community Development Grant
Apply for a Grant
Proposals are accepted during the application period, and each proposal is reviewed by a committee made up of Friends of Mongolia Members using a standard scoring method. Final funding approval for proposals is made based on review committee recommendations and the availability of funds. Each proposal should demonstrate community-based support for a project through a minimum 25% local in-kind contribution of labor and materials to the overall budget of the project. While there is no limit for how much an application can request, historically Friends of Mongolia has awarded grants of $500 or less, as to approve as many proposals as possible.
NEW: Grant Examples and Resources (link)
Current Grant Application is open!
The next grant application cycle has reopened for Spring 2020.
Contact [email protected] with any questions.