The DIVAs Giving Circle is comprised of Montgomery County women who seek to enable youth to have life-changing experiences through the arts.

Each year, the DIVAs Giving Circle develops guidelines for its giving, evaluates youth/arts grant opportunities, and seeks to support promising arts programming for youth through a competitive review process facilitated by The Community Foundation’s professional staff.

Eligibility

For the 2025 cycle, the DIVAs are particularly interested in enabling under-resourced children and youth (K-12) from Montgomery County, MD to access art programs which promote mental health, wellbeing, and resilience, and/or elevate youth voices within our community. They are particularly interested in breaking down barriers to the arts for those who have limited access due to family income, distance, and/or other challenges. 

The DIVAs will consider applications from 501(c)3 public charities which fall into one of the following categories:

• Arts organizations

• Youth-focused nonprofits that seek to partner with professional artists and/or established arts organizations

• Safety-net organizations that serve children/youth and seek to partner with professional artists and/or established arts organizations

Proposals may support activities after school, on weekends, or over the 2026 summer. The DIVAs are especially interested in supporting hands-on artistic activities that tap creativity rather than one-time and passive experiences.

Grants to arts organizations may support/enhance current programming or seed new partnerships.  Grants to youth-focused or safety-net organizations may support formal collaborations or sponsor children to participate in specific art programs (i.e., a youth-led organization could incorporate an arts component into its regular programs, a safety-net provider could host an artist/art organization at its site, and/or these organizations could sponsor youth clients to pursue a specific program or camp).