Funding & Grant Opportunities¶
A live pipeline of grant opportunities and funded comparables across BNI, with each entry earmarked to the project it would fund. This complements Finance & Funding (the org-level revenue model) — this page is the prospect/opportunity tracker.
Where the master contact list lives
Funder, partner, and prospect contact records (names, emails, phones) are maintained in the CiviCRM import seed bni-contacts-civicrm-import.csv (workspace root) and belong in the CRM, not on this site — per the CRM data-security guidance, contact PII is kept out of the semi-public docs. This page lists only public funder names, indicative ranges, and fit notes.
[HYPOTHESIS] Everything below is prospective — no grant is secured and the Aspire sponsorship is offered, not yet formalized. Dollar ranges are indicative (from prior grant-strategy notes and public funder pages), not commitments.
Earmarked → Boot Up (device-refurbishment pilot)¶
Project: Boot Up — recover donated/surplus laptops, rebuild on open-source software, award to graduates of an 8-module course.
The barrier this funding addresses: institutional surplus arrives with drives destroyed and cords missing (policy/compliance), so the machines are free but the parts are not. Background: Boot Up Donate a Laptop · Refurb Workflow · Data Sanitization.
Primary ask: a small parts grant — replacement drives + power cords (plus the occasional battery/RAM) to recover otherwise-free hardware. High impact-per-dollar; aligned with the reuse/sustainability mission. Deliberately not a buy-new-devices ask (other programs already do that; it cuts against why Boot Up exists).
Fiscal sponsor: Aspire Achievement Project — offered for the pilot [HYPOTHESIS] (not yet formalized). Acting as fiscal sponsor would unlock grant eligibility and tax-deductible support before BNI Foundation's 501(c)(3) is finalized. Contact: Octavia Cordon.
Highest-value lead: acquisition, not just parts¶
Digitunity is the national hub for nonprofit computer refurbishers. Joining its network could supply working donated devices — partly sidestepping the local drive-destruction wall, which may matter more than a parts grant. It also drove the Computers for Veterans and Students Act (2023), routing ~80,000 retired federal computers/year to nonprofit refurbishers via GSA. Recommended early outreach.
Prospective funders (Boot Up–relevant)¶
| Funder | Type | Indicative range | Fit / note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation (TGKVF) | Local WV community foundation | $5K–$75K | Start here. Education / Basic Needs / Community-Econ in Kanawha + neighbors; 501(c)(3) required (via Aspire). |
| Digitunity | Refurbisher network | Devices + periodic funding | Network membership = device supply; funded the AT&T device initiative below. |
| IMLS | Federal | $10K–$500K | Library digital inclusion — pairs with library delivery partners (KCPL IDEA Lab). |
| AT&T (Believes / Connected Learning) | Corporate | $10K–$100K | Workforce + the Digitunity device pipeline. |
| WV DHHR — CSBG | State | State allocation | Services to low-income individuals/families. |
| DOJ / BJA — Second Chance Act | Federal | $300K–$1M | Reentry-aligned (larger; partner-scale). |
| HP Foundation (HP LIFE) | Corporate foundation | varies | Refurb hardware + digital skills. |
| Google.org · Verizon · Microsoft Philanthropies | Corporate | $10K–$1M | Digital-inclusion / equity programs. |
| AWS Imagine Grant | Corporate | award-based | Nonprofit tech (more cloud/AI-leaning). |
| TechSoup | Supply channel (not a grant) | discounted | Cheap refurbished hardware for verified 501(c)(3)s. |
| Human-I-T | Refurbisher | devices | Distributes refurbished devices to nonprofits. |
TGKVF — start here (invitation-first)¶
The Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation is the recommended first local funder — but it is invitation-only, so the first move is a conversation with a Program Officer, not a written application.
- Eligibility: 501(c)(3) or government entity → BNI applies through Aspire as fiscal-sponsor / lead applicant; the project must serve Kanawha (or Boone/Clay/Fayette/Lincoln/Putnam) — Charleston ✓.
- Best-fit area: Community Economic Development — explicitly "workforce development and career/technical education leading to livable wages," a near-verbatim match for Boot Up. Secondary fits: Education, Basic Needs.
- Process: talk to a PO first → brief project summary → staff analysis (≥4 weeks to draft) → external reviewers → committee → Board vote. Contact a PO 2–3 months before a first draft is due; applications due by 4 pm.
- Cycles: invitation-only decisions quarterly; open-call annually.
- Amounts & rules: no published range (
[HYPOTHESIS]BNI notes indicate ~$5K–$75K, unverified); request ≤25% of annual operating budget; matching funds required (cash or in-kind — donated-laptop value + volunteer labor are the natural match); generally one application per org per year per core area. - Program Officers (public, from tgkvf.org):
- Todd Dorcas — Economic Development — tdorcas@tgkvf.org ← primary contact for Boot Up
- Derek Vance — Basic Needs / Special Initiatives — dvance@tgkvf.org
- Candace Krell — Grants Manager / technical assistance — ckrell@tgkvf.org
- Exact 2026 cycle dates live in TGKVF's downloadable "Timeline for All Discretionary Grants 2026" —
[HYPOTHESIS]confirm with the PO rather than assuming a date. - Sources: grantmaking FAQs · competitive grant process · forms & resources.
Funded comparables (the model attracts money)¶
- AT&T Connected Learning → Digitunity: $2.5M seed → 20,000-device goal; 41,597 devices deployed through the nonprofit network.
- Computers for Veterans and Students Act (2023): ~80,000 federal surplus computers/year → nonprofit refurbishers.
[HYPOTHESIS] Honest caveat: small parts-grants (hundreds to low thousands) are rarely published individually — the realistic comparable money is local community-foundation + corporate mini-grants. The large examples above prove the model is fundable, not that an identical small grant is documented.
Verify before relying
The federal Digital Equity Act funding (NTIA, the $1.25B competitive round) was disrupted in 2025 — confirm current status before building a plan around it.
Next steps¶
- Formalize Aspire fiscal sponsorship for the pilot.
- Email Todd Dorcas (TGKVF Economic Development PO, tdorcas@tgkvf.org) to open the invitation-only process and confirm 2026 cycle dates — draft ready in Outreach Drafts.
- Apply to the Digitunity refurbisher network (device supply).
- Draft the small parts-grant request with a concrete pilot budget (≈ units × [drive + cord + contingency]).
Sources: Digitunity — Programs · Digitunity — Technology Reuse · TGKVF — grantmaking priorities · Internet for All WV — Digital Equity · Human-I-T — laptop grants guide · HP Foundation
Other projects¶
Earmarked opportunities for MPowerUP, RLivN, Toaster Chef, and Wholefolk will be added here as they're scoped. MPowerUP-specific funder research already exists in the mpowerup/grants/ repo; the master funder list (Mozilla, Knight, McGovern Foundation, Ford, Open Society, CZI, Protocol Labs, etc.) is in the CiviCRM seed and CRM.