The Pharos Fund is one of our responsive grantmaking programs. Taking its name from the Great Lighthouse of Alexandria, which was located on the island of Pharos. We believe the name Pharos Fund will continually remind us to light the way towards innovative solutions, to focus on our program areas, and be a solid base for our grantmaking.
We see our youth taking an active role in making the dream of creating a community that nurtures and inspires all of its community members. Our youth will have the resources necessary to help them grow and thrive as productive members of society. Our youth will understand that they are the future of our community and are involved in helping creating an ideal community. They understand duty, service, and the importance of civic engagement. They are involved because they have a voice, are heard and have become an integral part of shaping the future of this community. Our community will be diverse, tolerant and safe. Our children will have safe places to go, and the ability and the skills to make informed decisions and strong self esteem.
We see our community being informed on issues and rallying its citizens to take action. The people of Fort Collins will use their networks and relationships to take a systematic approach to addressing these issues. We will focus on preventing problems from occurring rather than waiting to fix the problems.
To achieve the community we envision, The Pharos Fund has established two goal areas:
- to encourage and enable our youth to become productive members of society, and
- to be a catalyst for public awareness.
See Pharos Fund Guidelines and Pharos Fund FAQs for further guidance.
What We Look For...
The Pharos Fund has particular interest in requests from organizations with the following components:
- Programs that empower people to help themselves
- Programs which fill gaps in services
- Financial leverage (evidence of other funding and/or in-kind services provided by grant requesting agency)
- Sustainability beyond our support
- Programs that focus on causes vs. symptoms
- Organizations collaborating together to improve their efficiency
- Programs with high expectations for participants
- Strong evaluation systems
- Organizational/program inclusion of social and cultural differences
- Capacity building efforts to increase operational effectiveness
Important Pharos Dates in 2010
Grants are considered two times per year.
Pharos Application Deadlines and Decision Notification:
Application Deadline: February 4, 2010 Decision Notification: May 2010
Application Deadline: September 9, 2010 Decision Notification: December 2010
Note: Grant deadlines are not the same every year, please check back for updates.