Mission
Honoring Rachel M. M. Hunt’s love of botany, we aim to improve access to local, organic, regenerative food and invest in farmers dedicated to their local communities – supporting holistic health and connecting people with the land.
Focus – the committee will prioritize a grantee that aligns with some of the following:
- Addresses root cause issues of inequity in access to nutritious food.
- Serves the local community through programming, community-specific food access, access to land, or work.
- Supports community-based leaders to solve problems, steward land, teach gardening, preparing, and cooking with community members
- Empowers organizations where modest funding can have significant impact.
- Regenerates ecological webs from soil systems to pollinator networks (perhaps even propogates heirloom seeds and/or incorporates agroforestry)
- Focuses on biodynamic/organic practices that mitigate air and water pollution, and toxins in the environment and our bodies
- Raises animals in ethical, and humane ways.
- Transforms Faith Lands into sustainable gardens and farms
- Brings farmer stories into bigger conversations and have their voices heard within decision-making venues.
Additional Preferred Attributes
- Utilizes integrated solutions and benefits from multi-sector partnerships
- Builds the capacity of communities to absorb environmental stresses and better adapt in the face of increasing natural disasters
- Able to share learnings and therefore scale tailored solutions regionally or globally
Geographies
- Primarily, but not exclusively, the United States
Types of Organizations/Projects
- Organizations that have community-based leaders in decision-making positions and/or have direct community input on the work
- Overall project / organizational budgets in the low to mid six figures
- 501(c)3 status or equivalency determination to establish tax exempt status
- Occasionally, we will consider innovative, pilot projects or beta organizations of larger organizations that aren’t well-funded (due to structural constraints) but show promising early results
Metrics
- Measured at the project / organization level
- Tied to sustainable organizational effectiveness / improvements and partnerships, which are critical to building the effectiveness of small-to-medium organizations
- Designed to support quality implementation
- Give grantees agency—not prescriptive
Grant Amount & Duration
- The Foundation will consider proposals for programs, projects, and coalitions, with grants in the $15,000-$30,000 range—our aim is to be influential by giving what for the organization is significant funding, but not to create dependency
- Preference for requests for unrestricted funding; grants to specific projects will also be considered
- The Foundation will make multi-year grants on a selective basis
2024 | 5 Grants | $135,000
How to Apply:
Letter of Inquiry (LOI)
Giving Circle – LOI Submission Dates
- November 2025 Meeting – submit between June 16 – August 1, 2025
Please consult the Community Farming Giving Circle guidelines, and submit a letter of inquiry, using our online application system. This system allows you to easily add and update your organization’s profile and gives the Trustees and staff quick electronic access to your information. It also reduces paper use and postage costs for you and the Foundation.
Our New Applicant Help Guide should answer any questions you may have. If you are using assistive technologies to access our web site, or encounter other difficulties with the system, please don’t hesitate to contact us at 412-281-8734 or info@rahuntfdn.org from 8:00am-4:30pm eastern time during the work week.
You will receive an automatic acknowledgement that confirms your inquiry was submitted. We typically respond within 45 days from the submission date deadline to inform you if the Trustees will invite a full proposal.