Collaborations and Grantmaking

The Vitalyst Board authorized an additional $1 million drawdown of the endowment for FY 20-21 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The additional funding was allocated as follows: 

Grantmaking

• Public Policy Levers – $265,000 
• COVID 19 Health Equity Grants – $310,000 
• Technical Assistance and Bridge Support – $240,000 
• Loan Administration and Losses – $80,000 
• Arizona Together for Impact/Non-profit Mergers – $35,000
• Cover AZ Enrollment Support and Marketing – $50,000 
• Developmental Learning Reflection of CV19 Investments and Activities – $20,000 

A summary of the work that was funded is here.

Last fiscal year, changes were made to the grantmaking process. Vitalyst now offers a Systems Change Grant, which is a three-year grant for an established coalition, and the Spark Grant, a one-year early-stage grant. In FY 21, we awarded three System Change Grants and nine Spark Grants.

We also held our Grant Learning Sessions remotely and had more than eighty people attend those four workshops. Vitalyst distributed $2,145,411 in non-COVID-19 grants in FY 21.

Collaborations

Vitalyst supported and engaged in twelve different funder collaborations including the Early Childhood Funder’s Collaborative and the Rental Assistance Collaborative.

We continue to work with twenty other funders to support the Arizona Together for Impact Fund, which is in its third year. This group has supported fifty-three total organizations and awarded twenty-seven grants in 2020 to accelerate nonprofit mergers and collaborations.

Previous grants to the Ajo Center for Sustainable Agriculture (2019 Systems Change Grant) and Sonoran Prevention Works (2018 Innovation Grantee) led to new legislation that will fund agriculture apprenticeships and legalize syringe service programs in Arizona.

With twenty plus key stakeholders, Vitalyst compiled an inventory of trauma-sensitive school practices statewide and recommended next steps through its Creating Trauma-Sensitive School Spark Report.