Wells Fargo Regional Foundation: Philadelphia Grants
/OVERVIEW: Wells Fargo operates a regional foundation that focuses on Philadelphia and the more rural parts of Pennsylvania. It prioritizes grant proposals that focus on community development and education, although other program areas are considered on a yearly basis for grants.
IP TAKE: Grant seekers should not be intimidated by Wells Fargo just because it has a prominent reputation. Philadelphia and other areas of Pennsylvania are given special attention through their own regional program. You will have to compete, though, with organizations from the entire state.
PROFILE: The Wells Fargo Regional Foundation serves all of Pennsylvania, including Greater Philadelphia, central Pennsylvania, Lehigh Valley, northeast Pennsylvania, and western Pennsylvania. Although the Los Angeles-based Wells Fargo Foundation is a huge player on the national philanthropy scene, the financial giant operates a separate regional foundation in Philadelphia. This foundation's assets are much smaller, but the grant program is much narrower and more accessible for local nonprofits.
The list of the Pennsylvania counties that the Wells Fargo Regional Foundation serves includes: Adams, Berks, Bradford, Bucks, Carbon, Centre, Chester, Clinton, Columbia, Cumberland, Dauphin, Delaware, Juniata, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Lycoming, Luzerne, Mifflin, Monroe, Montgomery, Montour, Northampton, Northumberland, Perry, Philadelphia, Pike, Potter, Schuylkill, Snyder, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, Union, Wayne, Wyoming, and York.
Two primary funding areas are neighborhood planning and neighborhood implementation. The foundation used to consider grant requests from education entities , arts and culture organizations, civic engagement causes, human services needs, and the environment. However, the foundation now concentrates resources on comprehensive, neighborhood-based economic and community development initiatives.
Learn more about neighborhood planning grants and neighborhood implementation grants on the foundation website.
Wells Fargo uses an online application system for its grant proposals, which are accepted between January and November each year. The board of directors gets together at quarterly meetings to evaluate applications, and grant seekers can expect to receive notification about a proposal within two weeks of one of these meetings.
Historically, most Wells Fargo regional grants have ranged in size from $1,000 to $100,000, so grant seekers should not expect millions of dollars to flow from the foundation's pockets. For example, past local grants included $83,500 to the Enterprise Center and $75,000 to the Chester Community Improvement Project.
Direct questions to Kimberly Allen, the vice president and senior program officer.
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