Apply for a Grant

Applications for the 2026-27 cycle are open now and close Sunday, November 1, 2026. Applications received after that date will not be considered.

The Rotary Club of Newnan awards community grants to 501(c)(3) organizations serving Newnan and Coweta County. We fund programs and projects that do concrete good for the people who live here. If you want to see the kind of work we back, read what last year’s five recipients did with their grants.

Applications are submitted online. We do not accept them by mail.

Who can apply

• Your organization is a qualified 501(c)(3), and your IRS determination letter is at least three years old.
• Your program or project serves Coweta County residents.
• You can supply the five required documents below, plus your annual budget figure.

How much can you ask for? There is no fixed cap. Ask for what the project genuinely needs and show us how the money would be used — the committee weighs every request against the funds available that year and against the other applications received.

We do not discriminate in awarding community grants on the basis of race, sex, religion, color, creed, disability, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, or age, or any other basis prohibited by law. Applicants may direct their services to a specific population, provided the limitation is reasonably related to delivering those services effectively.

We also ask that grant funds not be used in any program that discriminates on those same grounds.

What grants can pay for

Examples, not an exhaustive list:

• Direct delivery of services to the people you serve — medical treatment, counseling, instruction
• Tangible items for the people you serve — food, clothing, instructional materials, program equipment
• Equipment for your organization — vehicles, computers, copiers
• Services for your organization, such as staff training
• Administrative services and supplies that support delivery of the program — accounting, management, maintenance, repairs, equipment leases, utilities
• Purchase of a building, or renovation of facilities

Fields we fund

Not all-inclusive, and subject to review by the Grants Committee:

• Youth learning
• Youth recreation
• Youth-at-risk after-school programs
• Basic human needs
• Food banks
• Homelessness
• Emergency shelter and counseling for victims of violence, and of domestic, spousal, and child abuse
• Employment and training
• Job training and vocational education for people with disabilities
• Literacy programs
• Community engagement
• Environment
• Substance and alcohol abuse
• Older adult life enrichment programs
• End-of-life and palliative care
• Pro-life resource services
• Medical and dental services at qualified free clinics
• Animal welfare
• Churches — only where the grant is unrelated to a religious purpose and does not promote a religion or sect

What we do not fund

Not all-inclusive, and subject to review by the Grants Committee:

• For-profit businesses
• Political organizations, campaigns, or candidates
• Personal fundraising, or fees for special events such as runs and walk-a-thons
• Programs outside Coweta County
• Retiring existing debt, or costs you are already obliged to pay
• Annual fundraising campaigns or fundraising events
• Medical researchers or practitioners
• Emergency disaster relief
• Publicly funded educational institutions requesting operational funding

Required documents

Your application is not complete without all of these. An application missing any of them is ineligible for an award.

Five documents to upload. PDF, Word, Excel, or image files, up to 10 MB each.

1. Your IRS 501(c)(3) tax-exempt determination letter — at least three years old
2. A list of your current board of directors
3. Your most recent IRS Form 990 filing — pages 1, 2, and 7–12 only — or your 990-EZ or 990-N (e-Postcard), whichever applies
4. Your Georgia Charitable Solicitations Act Charitable Organization Registration (Form C-100), unless exempt — or a brief note explaining your exemption
5. Your most recent year-end financial report

One figure to enter. Your current annual budget is typed straight into the form; there is nothing to upload for it.

What the application asks you for

The form runs in four steps and asks for a fair amount of writing, so it is worth gathering this before you start:

• Your numbers — Coweta County residents served in each of the last two years and an estimate for the current one, how many this particular grant would serve, the amount you are requesting, and the total cost of the project
• Six short pieces of writing, each with a character limit: statement of impact (500), program or project detail (1,500), timeline (500), assessment methods (1,500), measurable results (1,500), and a budget narrative (750)
• Other funding — whether you have applied elsewhere, for how much, and whether you received it
• Recognition — whether the Rotary Club of Newnan will be acknowledged, and how

The form does not save partway through, so set aside a single sitting for it.

Rules of the program

• The online application must be completed in full.
• Your contact person must have direct knowledge of the request and be able to answer questions about it. Someone else may fill in the form on their behalf.
• A member of the Community Grant Committee may contact you during review if more information is needed.
• You may be asked to allow a site visit.
• Applications received after the deadline will not be considered.

How your application is reviewed

• November and early December — the Community Grant Committee reviews every application received.
• Mid-December — every organization that applied is told whether it was funded.
• First week of January — awards are presented.

Committee members who serve on the board of an applying organization recuse themselves from voting on that application.

If you receive a grant

We ask for one thing in return: a follow-up report on what the grant did. You will receive the report form near the end of the Rotary year in which the grant was used.

We publish those reports. Last year’s five are on the 25-26 Grant Recipients Report page.

Apply

By submitting an application you confirm that you have read and accept the requirements and guidelines of the Rotary Club of Newnan Community Grant Program for 2026-27.

APPLY HERE

Questions

Write to the Community Grant Committee at rotaryclubofnewnan@gmail.com or newnangrants@rotary6900.org.

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