Grants

Grants Overview

The Cloudsplitter Foundation’s primary focus is the greater Adirondack Region. We have three grant rounds per year in which we accept applications for grant funds. Cloudsplitter is interested in opportunities that have large local and regional community impact. Requests with a clear strategic purpose, that have financial leverage (e.g., attracting other funders) and that generate high environmental or community returns are considered our highest priority.   Lowest priority will be given to grants seeking to build an endowment or reserves.

Please read through the below information CAREFULLY for guidance before submitting a grant application, link to the application is near the bottom of this page.

Types of Grants

Types of Grants

Program/Project Support Grants

These grants are to support a well-defined project or program that has a defined need, budget, and associated supporting documentation. This type of grant also includes events. Program/Project grants will only be considered during the normal grant cycles. There is no upper limit on such grants, but they are limited to 20% of the project or program’s cost.  The one exception is that “Last money in” grants can be as much as 30% of the project or program cost but 70% must be raised before the Foundation grant is payable.

For requests over $50,000, YOU MUST CONTACT CLOUDSPLITTER PRIOR TO AN APPLICATION SUBMISSION for permission. For requests above $50,000 the application (automatically) will require additional details than asks below $50,000.

Unrestricted Support Grants

These grants support a not-for-profit’s operating costs and not specific projects or programs.  Eligible grantees must meet the Cloudsplitter Foundation’s strategic objectives.  Unrestricted support grants are limited to $5,000 per year.  These grants generally go to organizations that Cloudsplitter has an established relationship with. Unrestricted Support grants are considered during our regular grant rounds.

Rapid Response Grants

These off-cycle grants are reserved for special and urgent needs that cannot wait for the next planned grant cycle.  These are limited to requested amounts below $5,000.  To request such a Rapid Response grant please contact our Grants Director, Chenelle Palyswiat (chenelle@cloudsplitter.org) for more information.

In EXTRORDINARY situations, request amounts above $5,000 may be considered, for those please contact our Executive Director, Daniel KieferBach, for more information (dan@cloudsplitter.org).

Childcare Excellence Awards

Childcare Excellence Awards of $2,000 are available for each step of a five-step childcare quality improvement programs administered by QUALITYstarsNY in Clinton, Essex, Franklin counties and in the Mohawk Nation at Akwesasne

Learn More

Other Flexible Requests

Other Requests. Although Cloudsplitter has set the above grant awards, we can at times be flexible with creative requests and is willing to entertain other arrangements.

To request something outside of our traditional grants categories, please email our Executive Director, Daniel KieferBach at dan@cloudsplitter.org

Request by Email

Requesting Grants

The 2026 request deadlines are January 1st, May 1st and September 1st. Applications must be received no later than 5pm. Requests received after 5pm will be considered in a subsequent funding round. Note, due to the high grant volumes, we will be closing down the application process once we have received our fixed number of applicants. We would advise you get your application in WELL BEFORE the grants deadline. You will not receive word of a decision, either positive or negative, until around 10 weeks after the grant deadline and processing awards may add some additional administrative time (1-2 weeks). Please consider this as you are planning your projects and crafting your application.

The Adirondacks are full of organizations that we love and that are irreplaceable. Cloudsplitter will continue to evaluate and prioritize systemic threats so that we have the resources to respond now and into the future. Given the unknowns of the current funding environment, we wanted to be clear with our funding priorities at this time.

Applications that have a HIGHER LIKELIHOOD of funding:

  • Applications submitted WELL BEFORE the grant deadline
  • Organizations that have an established a working relationship with Cloudsplitter in advance of their application
  • Projects, programs and organizations whose support will lead to long term Community Impact
  • Projects and Programs that include multiple nonprofit stakeholders and partners
  • Organizations with a diverse and sustained number of funding sources

Grant applicants that there is a LOWER LIKELIHOOD that we will be funding, at this time:

  • Capital Projects
  • Lakes Associations
  • Events
  • Very Large Grant Requests

Grant applicants that we will NOT be accepting or funding at this time

  • Asks of more than 20% of the project budget
  • Unrestricted support amounting to more than 5% of the organization’s annual operating budget
  • Requests from “For Profit” Businesses
  • Requests from organizations without multiple funding sources
  • Unrestricted Grant applications from religious institutions
  • Endowment expansion campaigns
  • Grant applications above $50,000 that have not made INITIAL CONTACT (before application is submitted) with dan@cloudsplitter.org

Additional Guidance:

  • If you feel a project program or organization within the above parameters still deserves our attention, please contact us to discuss further.
  • Religious institutions can submit applications to Cloudsplitter, however, we will only fund projects and programs with a direct connection to social safety net community program (examples may include programs around food banks, healthcare, childcare, homelessness etc…..)
  • Cloudsplitter will only accept one application, per applicant, per grant round. Exception applies if a nonprofit is acting as a fiscal sponsor on behalf of another grant applicant.
  • Fiscal sponsors: we can accept grant requests from a 501c3 registered charity acting as a fiscal sponsor for a not-for-profit lacking 501c3 status.  The ultimate grant recipient must be a legitimate charity and cannot be a for-profit entity

Fiscal sponsors: we can accept grant requests from a 501c3 registered charity acting as a fiscal sponsor for a not-for-profit lacking 501c3 status.  The ultimate grant recipient must be a legitimate charity and cannot be a for-profit entity

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Request a Grant

Grant Status Reporting

As a part of the receipt of your Cloudsplitter grant, we require (and would greatly appreciate) updates on your work.

Your organization is required to submit a Grant Status report that demonstrates the use of this grant within one year of receipt or prior to applying for subsequent grant opportunities.  This information is very helpful to us as it helps us to track the needs of our nonprofit partners with more information. Please do not neglect this important step, as failure to keep us informed of progress could impact your eligibility for future grants. More frequent updates are also welcome and appreciated

If you are unable to provide this information to us in a timely manner, or if you need assistance filling out this form, please contact Chenelle directly at 518-992-4900.

Reporting

Recent News

Note, due to the high volume of grant applications we have received in recent rounds, Cloudsplitter will begin closing the application on the website once we have received our fixed number of applicants. To maximize the possibility that you will be included in consideration, we would advise you get your application in well before the grants deadline.