Martha’s table community impact fund
summer 2025

For more than 40 years, Martha’s Table (MT) has worked to support strong children, strong families, and strong communities in DC so that every Washingtonian can stay and thrive. Knowing that one’s neighborhood influences access to resources, MT is doubling down on its investments in the communities we stand alongside.

MT believes community members know best what their communities want and need to thrive. In 2020, over 1,000 neighbors shaped MT’s 5-Year Strategic Plan. What we heard loud and clear from them is the need for direct investments to help grassroots organizations build capacity.

Martha’s Table created the Community Impact Fund at the Greater Washington Community Foundation in response. The purpose of the fund is to support and strengthen grassroots organizations in Ward 8 that have been historically excluded from institutional philanthropy and whose leadership and staff reflect the demographic composition and lived experiences of the communities they serve.

In the past four years, the Community Impact Fund issued three rounds of grants to high-impact organizations. In 2025, the Fund will accept applications for the next round of grants for a two-year cycle.

At the time of proposal submission, applicants must:

• Be tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code or operate under the fiscal sponsorship of a tax-exempt nonprofit, AND status must be in good standing by having filed a form 990 or 990N in the last three years.

• Be based in, or primarily serve, Ward 8 as defined by the 2022 Ward boundaries map for at least one year.

• Have an annual operating budget of less than $1,000,000.

• Cannot be listed on the OFAC Sanctions List or be a registered hate group with the Southern Poverty Law Center

Informational Webinar

On August 27 at 1:00 p.m., The Community Foundation and Martha’s Table will hold a virtual briefing for applicants to learn more about the opportunity and ask questions.

If you’d like to participate in the webinar please RSVP with Yorman de la Rosa at [email protected].

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).