The 2024 cycle is the sixth year for the Scripps Family Impact Fund (SFIF) and we are focusing on Women’s Initiatives with a specific focus on Domestic Violence. Our board seeks to avoid any controversial funding, so any project that is related to any politically sensitive or divisive subject, for example, is not likely to receive funding from the SFIF.

It is tough to specify exactly what level of funding we will provide in any given year because our first three years were starkly different. Our first year provided over $250,000 to three organizations focused on children, but the figure jumped to over a million in each 2020 and 2021 because of the atypical nature of our COVID-19 relief efforts and support for healthcare charities. It is likely that most years will be more akin to the first year’s experience, but we won’t know for certain until the top-three applications are shared with the family funders.

We are using a grants management software platform and expect to open the invitations by the second week of January 2024. Invitees will receive an email from donotreply@smartsimple.com. Grant applications are to be completed and submitted within the system by February 16, 2024. The board will narrow the list of prospective recipients to three and then ask the funders to contribute to the SFIF. We expect to notify the three finalists in May. In late June, the grant amounts will be assigned following a vote by the funders.

We anticipate recipients will receive their funds late summer to early fall. This allows the parties time to put grant agreements in place and to take care of any other compliance matters.

We can’t handicap how the funders will vote, but your application should specify a use for the money that will do the most good for your organization and further its mission.

Flexibility is built into our process. We would recommend you submit your application with a menu of options that allows funding for at least one of your projects if you are selected as one of the top three grantees.

Application is by invite only and will be offered to public charities that are recognized by the Internal Revenue Service pursuant to IRC section 501(c)(3).

We cannot send money to an organization that is based overseas, but we can fund US-based organizations that have international initiatives.

Members of our family have a long history of supporting philanthropic causes, and we are proud to continue that legacy. What we want to see accomplished will change from one year to the next, but the shared goal that motivates all of us is that our joint effort will make a material difference in the mission of a cause that is easy for all of us to rally around.

This is a way in which we are different from other grant makers. The fund is not powered by an endowed foundation. We will ask our family members to contribute every year, giving us plenty of room to grow in the future.