How Can We Help?
David Kanter
Donor Services Officer
At the Baltimore Community Foundation, we mobilize mission-driven people around worthwhile initiatives—driving positive change you can see, feel, and measure.
Together with our donors, we’re creating a region where people, community projects, and entrepreneurial pursuits have the opportunity to thrive. By providing donors with a simple way to invest in meaningful causes, piloting high-impact initiatives, and directing funding towards economic and community development, we’re leveraging our local influence—and amplifying yours.
Our strategic grantmaking focus supports stronger schools and neighborhoods by funding community-led programs and projects right here in Greater Baltimore.
Through our Invest for More impact investing program, we support programs and projects that generate a financial return alongside social and economic benefits.
Our fundholders actively drive meaningful change by providing grants for a range of causes, including the arts, mental health programs, environmental projects, and more. Their generous gifts, deployed throughout Baltimore and across the country, are a significant part of our growing impact.
committed to affordable housing, mixed-use commercial & residential spaces, green energy, and more.
As of 12/31/2025
to schools, neighborhoods, programs, and projects in Baltimore and beyond.
As of 12/31/2024
across Baltimore City and County.
As of 12/31/2025
partner with BCF to support effective, creative, and community-led solutions.
As of 12/31/2024
over the past two decades, through strategic grantmaking and targeted donor-advised funds.
As of 12/31/2025
created, rehabbed, or preserved through Impact Investing initiatives.
In 2025
The map below highlights the impact of our Stronger Schools and Stronger Neighborhoods strategic grantmaking across Baltimore City and County from 2023 to the present. Use the menu on the left to toggle grant types on and off.
Our strategic grants, impact investments, and advocacy efforts amplify the positive civic engagement already happening across Baltimore city and county. We’re transforming our community into a connected, energized, and revitalized region where people can thrive by:
When the Baltimore County Arts Guild acquired the historical Catonsville Clubhouse, it had aspirations to modernize the facility—giving thousands of Baltimoreans access to artistic and cultural events. Through our Stronger Neighborhoods strategic grantmaking and the BCF Fund for Arts & Culture, we supported the renovation of the Clubhouse’s performance space, preserving its historical significance and expanding its capacity to reach and inspire our community.
Along the Liberty Heights Avenue corridor, and specifically around Reservoir Hill/Penn North and Howard Park/Forest Park, our layered grantmaking has measurably improved the schools and neighborhoods in the area.
In 2020, BCF successfully advocated for the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, the legislation enacting the Kirwan Commission’s recommendations on education reform. The bill secured $3.8 billion in additional funding for public education in Maryland over the next decade and is estimated to bring 15,000 new educators to our schools.
Our team led the Maryland General Assembly to pass Endow Maryland, awarding donors state tax credits for gifts to permanent endowments and Maryland-based community foundations.
By developing new strategies for building social capital and creating safe, clean, green, and vibrant neighborhoods, BCF supported the rise in property values across Reservoir Hill and Greater Highlandtown.
By investing in the Climate Access Fund, BCF supported the installation of a community solar project on the rooftop of the Henderson-Hopkins School in East Baltimore, providing energy to approximately 180 low-income households at a 25% discount from other energy rates. The project will also provide paid apprenticeships in solar infrastructure; offer entry-level wealth-building opportunities via equity ownership; and drastically reduce carbon emissions.
Our donors know giving to—and through—BCF will drive meaningful and measurable change across the region.
Through the Urban Farm Fund, one charitable family started a community-building movement that meets food insecurity and racial disparity head-on.
Since establishing their fund at BCF, The Baltimore Women’s Giving Circle has united over 445 participants around causes that move women forward.
BCF continues to bring our donors’ charitable visions to life with high-impact partnerships like ReBUILD Metro, an initiative transforming Johnston Square in East Baltimore.
Our community of subscribers get the first look at our moving stewardship stories, giving opportunities, and positive progress updates. Join now to be a part of the engaged group of changemakers building a better Baltimore—together.
Donor Services Officer
Donor Services Officer
VP of Philanthropy
Contact Dara Schnee, VP of Philanthropy, for a confidential, in-depth consultation about these and other giving options, tax benefits of each and how they can help to achieve your financial and charitable giving goals.
If you need assistance with Donor Central, please fill out the form below or call (410) 332-4171 with any questions you have and we will respond as soon as possible.
BCF Community Investment Team is here to help. Please fill out the form below with any questions you have and we will respond as soon as possible.
Contact John Gilpin at jgilpin@bcf.org to request hard copies of our Personal Estate Planning Kit. Please provide your mailing address and how many copies you would like.
Visit our planned giving website to find additional tools and resources to help your clients.
We have a nearly 30-year history of offering grants to resident-led groups and community projects in Baltimore City and Baltimore County. These grants give residents the resources they need to accomplish a small project, get more people involved, and encourage the next generation of neighborhood leaders. We also fund programs that support the development of leaders of all ages who are working to improve their neighborhoods and schools. Our support is intended to help identify, activate, inform and network leaders. And finally, we believe when schools and neighborhoods team up to improve their school and community, meaningful and lasting change can be made. We are interested in funding proposals in which the students and adults in schools collaborate intentionally with community residents, neighborhood associations, and other individuals, groups, and institutions in the area surrounding a school.
We believe that attracting and retaining effective and diverse school leaders is a key lever for change in Baltimore’s educational landscape, and so we fund school leadership development efforts at the district and individual school level. We are interested in funding proposals that focus on principal coaching, mentoring, peer networking, wellness/self-care, as well as pipelines that identify and develop new leaders. We will also continue to support efforts that build a culture of appreciation and encouragement for school leaders.
Our on-line application system provides applicants with a portal to start a new grant application or to continue updating an application already in process. Please be sure to select the “Save and Finish Later” button when you are finished working on your application in order to save your current session’s work. At any time during the application process you can select the “Contact Us” button in the top right corner of the screen and you will be able to send an email to the Baltimore Community Foundation staff with specific questions.
To be considered for funding, proposals must be submitted through the online application portal, however, we provide a PDF version of the application along with other useful forms here for your reference:
When you are ready please select one of the following options:
I have not applied for BCF funding online in the past.
Select this option if you have never used our website to apply for a grant from BCF.
I previously applied for BCF funding online in the past.
Select this option if you have applied for any of BCF’s grants using our website. Your profile may still be in our system and you may login using your account.
We have allocated funds for two geographical areas that bookend a crucial corridor on the Westside of Baltimore City: Howard Park /Forest Park area (served by Calvin Rodwell Elementary Middle School and Liberty Elementary), and Reservoir Hill/Penn North area (served by Dorothy I Height Elementary). In these three schools and their surrounding neighborhoods, we will support projects and activities designed to make the communities safe, clean, green and vibrant; and improve the quality of the schools. Some projects may be neighborhood-focused, some school-focused and others collaborative projects between the schools and their respective communities.
High quality early childhood education has a lifelong effect on students. Through our Early Learning grant program, we are interested in system-wide early childhood education proposals that will help Baltimore City and County’s youngest learners, and their families, get the start they need. Nonprofit organizations that offer programs and/or services to Judy Centers are encouraged to contact the centers directly to explore partnership opportunities.
Director of Planned Gifts
410-332-4171 ext. 132
Communications Officer
410-332-4171 ext. 181
Executive Director
Leonard and Helen R. Stulman Charitable Foundation
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