The Park City Climate Fund aims to engage climate work champions and innovators in greater Park City to implement local climate solutions that can demonstrate high impact in the above areas of climate work, and that have the potential to be replicated by other communities, especially Mountain Towns 2030 (MT2030.org) communities.

Please reference the “Climate Solution Areas of Focus” section of the grant guidelines. In summary, they are Reduction of Emission Sources, Land Sink Support, Community Outreach & Education. Finally, there is a category for “Innovation” which refers to forward-thinking ideas which warrant exploration and testing given potential impact.

You can browse past grantees projects here >>

Five cycles in 5 years – one cycle per year. 2021 represents cycle number 3.

In the first grant cycle (2019), three grants were awarded ranging from $50,000 to $75,000. In the second grant cycle (2020), eight grants were awarded ranging from $14,000 – $50,000. The final number of grants per cycle depends on the number of applicants, the requested amounts, and the potential impact.

We have received applications for one-time grants that proposed up to two years of project implementation. The one-year versus multi-year application selection gives us an indication of your expected project time frame.

If your estimate of the project time frame changes at any point (in the application phase or after a grant is issued), please reach out to Community Foundation's Grant Manager to let us know. Most important to us is the impact, not necessarily the timeline that it takes to get there. Please note that the amount granted will not be increased even if an extended spending timeline is agreed upon.

In terms of selection criteria, it is not a requirement that applicants demonstrate how they would leverage the funds, but we are completely open to that, and it could be seen as an advantage. Park City Community Foundation does not require the recognition of being the sole funder of a project. Whether additional funds can be leveraged by the applicant from other sources is completely dependent on the nature of the project. Some projects could potentially be fully funded by the Park City Climate Fund, but for other projects, this may only be initial, partial, or seed funding.

The focus of the Park City Community Foundation is programs that serve the greater Park City and Summit County region. There are no strict boundaries; projects can certainly include adjacent areas such as Wasatch County. The intention is that projects have a local connection but are also potentially replicable and could have ripple effects beyond the local community.

While the grants committee is encouraging collaborations among climate work specialists, partnerships are not required. If the project would benefit from partnerships, please feel free to include information about likely partners. If your organization can do the project alone, that is okay too. We do not want to force partnerships where they are not needed, so we do not require partnerships. If partnerships are an element of the application, they should be there to add value.

Requests for capital costs, a pilot program, or a feasibility study are allowed, as are many other potential types of project costs. The most important part of the proposal is making a compelling case for the potential impact of any particular project, and to indicate how the various budget items contribute to achieving that impact.