Community Capacity Grant Program Request for Partnerships

Upload the narrative as a PDF with a maximum of two single-spaced pages with 11-point font and 1-inch margins providing concise bulleted responses to each section in this order and using the three section headers.

1. Organization Description:
   1. Describe your organization’s mission, vision and population served. This should include your organization’s experience in addressing the social determinants of health and health inequities.
2. Organization’s Capacity Need:
   1. Describe your organization’s need for enhanced or expanded capacity through a Community Capacity Grant.
3. Capacity-Building Proposal:
   1. Describe the capacity-building project and how proposed activities align with the eligible capacity-building categories: Strategic planning and functional operational improvements and/or Professional development.
   2. Describe how the initiative will lead to sustainable impact on your organization’s ability to address the health and wellbeing of the population you serve.
   3. If applicable, provide a bulleted list of the partner organizations engaged in this work and how they will contribute to the capacity-building initiative.

Using the required Organizational Capacity template (DOCX), outline the organization’s current capacity to manage a Community Capacity Grant and the administrative and fiscal responsibilities required by WPP. This includes detailing the organization’s current staffing (i.e., total Full Time Equivalents), annual budget (e.g. through most recent fiscal year end), and board composition.

Using the required Project Goals and Timeline template (DOCX), outline the overarching goal of the initiative and details of the major activities, timeline and specific measurable milestones of the initiative.

Using the required budget template (XLSX), the project budget should clearly indicate how the grant funds will be spent. Expenditures must:

• Be fully justified, reasonable and clearly related to the project’s goals
• Reflect the activities listed in the proposal
• Explain the sources and amounts of any cash match or cost sharing funds
• Be allowable, reasonable, and applicable in accordance with WPP Cost Principles

Requests should be made by expense type (services, travel, supplies, etc.) and should provide sufficient detail for individuals unfamiliar with the project.

Guidelines for allowable/unallowable expenses are available for review on the Wisconsin Partnership Program website. Funds must be used for the capacity building project-related costs. Examples of how funds may be used include:

• External consultant and facilitator services
• Software
• Website development
• Registration fees for workshops, seminars, and conferences and associated necessary travel costs
• Training and professional development materials
• Personnel costs (salary, wages, fringe benefits) limited to support professional development activities—personnel costs cannot exceed a maximum of $1,000 for this award

For this grant program, funds may not be used for:

• General overhead expenses (i.e., general administrative support, rent, office space and cost-allocations for expenses not directly related to the project)
• Salary expenses outside of the allowable $1,000 in professional development support, including direct salary and fringe
• Capital expenditures costing $5,000 or more with a useful life of more than one year
• Projects outside the state of Wisconsin
• Facility upgrades, improvements to existing infrastructure
• General office supplies and equipment (printers, computers, tablets, etc.)
• Events, meals and meeting refreshments
• Participant incentives and stipends including gift cards
• Human subjects research

A budget justification is required for purposes of describing in detail the major budget line items. The justification should provide specific information about why an expense is necessary for the project. The budget justification must be uploaded as a PDF with one-inch margins and a minimum 11-point font.

Review this example budget justification (DOCX) for reference.

Upload the IRS determination letter of tax-exempt status or other relevant documentation for the applicant organization.

The Wisconsin Partnership Program is required to operate in accordance with Wisconsin’s public records and open meetings laws. Using the form provided, identify and request confidentiality for any trade secrets or proprietary information included in the application.

The Non-Supplanting Questionnaire (DOCX) must be completed by responding to the questions and providing explanations as necessary. The Non-Supplanting Questionnaire must be signed by the Community Lead Organization. See supplanting review for more information.

Before signing the required non-discrimination attestation (DOCX) (form provided*), review the Non-Discrimination Guidelines for WPP-Funded Projects. Developed in collaboration with the UW–Madison Office of Legal Affairs, these guidelines ensure that all WPP-funded project activities comply with applicable non-discrimination laws and statutes. A signed non-discrimination attestation is required.  Upload the signed attestation as a PDF.

*A non-discrimination attestation specific to sovereign tribal nations is available upon request.

Proposals will be reviewed based on:

• Need and Potential Impact (60 points): The proposal provides a clear and convincing summary of the need for the project to increase organizational capacity and gives reviewers confidence that the organization and proposed approach can have a positive and lasting impact on health and health equity in Wisconsin.
• Project Feasibility (30 points): The organization proposes a capacity-building project that is likely to be successfully accomplished in the proposed timeframe with strong potential to be sustained.
• Organization Qualifications (10 points): The proposal illustrates a strong and qualified lead organization with a health equity focused mission that has current capacity to manage a Community Capacity grant award and related financial and administrative requirements.

Proposals will also be reviewed to identify if there are concerns of supplanting.

Proposals will NOT be reviewed based on grammar, punctuation, spelling or informal language.

Technical Review: Wisconsin Partnership Program staff will review each application to ensure that all requirements are met. This includes review of eligibility of the applicant organization. For organizations with active WPP grants, staff will review the application to ensure there is no overlap of goals, activities, aims or objectives with the currently supported project. Proposals that do not comply with the submission or eligibility requirements will not be reviewed and the applicant organization will be notified.

Content Review: A panel of academic and community reviewers with relevant expertise will independently review assigned applications based on the proposal review criteria. Academic reviewers typically are from Universities of Wisconsin System schools and colleges and technical and tribal colleges. Community reviewers typically are from Wisconsin-based non-profit community organizations, 4K-12 school or districts, health systems, or tribal, state or local government entities with expertise in community health, health policy and/or health care. The review panel will share their scores, comments and feedback with each other, allowing for diverse opinions.  The ranking of the applications and the de-identified reviewer comments will be shared with the OAC.

OAC Review: The results of the content review will be presented to the OAC. The OAC will make a final decision to select the grant award recipients based on rank, discussion of the application and review materials, additional information from the applicant team (if requested by OAC or WPP’s Administrative Leadership Team) and the project’s alignment with the goals of the Community Capacity Grant Program.

Note: Applicants must maintain the integrity of the review process by not contacting reviewers or OAC board members directly or indirectly to influence the outcome of the review.

Applicants will be informed by May 7, 2026 on whether they have been granted funding. Applicants will receive the de-identified reviewer comments.

The committee’s decisions are final and cannot be appealed.

Supplanting Review: Supplanting means to replace, to take the place of, or to supersede. The Wisconsin Partnership Program prohibits any funds from being awarded that will supplant funds or resources otherwise available to applicants from other sources for the proposed project.

OAC’s award decisions are conditional on a final review of non-supplanting by the Wisconsin Partnership Program Administrative Leadership Team. If a determination is made that supplanting has occurred or likely will occur, the Administrative Leadership Team will take action in compliance with WPP’s non-supplanting policy. The Administrative Leadership Team’s decisions are final and cannot be appealed. The WPP Administrative Leadership Team has sole discretion over supplanting determinations.