2025 RFP Application
– Due January 29th, 2025 –
$10,000
Grants
$50,000
Total
Apply
Today!
Overview
For our 2025 Sprouts Fund, Milwaukee Parks Foundation will give grants of up to $10,000 for work in Milwaukee County Parks, distributing $50,000 overall.
Whether it’s resident activation, community programming, or small physical improvements, MPF invites neighbors to create projects that meaningfully connect their park and community. Through our Sprouts Fund, MPF seeks to support the growth of grassroots park leaders and their continued investment in the power of public spaces.
Through our Seeds and Sprouts initiative, Milwaukee Parks Foundation supports Milwaukee County Parks by providing resources to community groups anchoring the parks they call home. We know that a bond between a community and its park means each is healthier, safer, and more whole. Acknowledging our local history of systemic racism, MPF prioritizes resources for grassroots groups working in our most historically disinvested communities as measured by Milwaukee County Parks’ Equity Index.
Sprouts Fund Focus Areas
Milwaukee Parks Foundation seeks projects embodying one or more of our focus areas: Healing & Health, Community Care, and Collective Joy, which we interpret as follows:
Healing & Health
Advancing wellbeing, restoration, and/or physical activity
Community Care
Responding to the needs of a park’s immediate community
Collective Joy
Sharing fellowship, happiness, connection, laughter, or however you define joy
Evaluation Criteria
Application review will be led by Milwaukee Parks Foundation’s Program Committee, a diverse group of community leaders invested in parks.
They will use a rubric with the following four criteria.
Community Connection
What connection does the applicant have with the community they’re serving? If this is a collaboration, what history of collaboration do the applicants have with each other?
Parks Connection
What history does the project’s collaborators have with the park(s) involved? How would the project serve the park(s)?
Sprouts Fund Focus Areas
How does the project embody one or more of our guiding focus
areas: Healing & Health, Community Care, and Collective Joy?
Project Assessment
What part of this project most excites the applicant? What gives the
applicant confidence that this project can be accomplished within the applicant’s capacities?
Priority will be given to projects connected to High Equity Index Parks and their neighbors.
Please review this background on the Equity Index and find your park(s) on the index before applying.
Guidelines
Review the project and physical improvement guidelines before applying.
PROJECT GUIDELINES
- Funds can be distributed to a 501(c)3 (including fiscal agents), LLC or even an individual. Contact us directly if you have a question about your eligibility.
- We want park projects to succeed. We are committed to helping our grantees learn Milwaukee County Parks processes, build relationships, and brainstorm possibilities.
- Project budgets should account for all permits and rentals from Milwaukee County Parks. Milwaukee Parks Foundation will help navigate this process if needed.
- Projects always have issues that arise, altering the original plan. And while you can’t plan for every contingency, how are you preparing for what you might expect in your park(s)? Examples include handling traffic, people, electricity, weather, water, lighting, potholes, or a safety concern specific to your park.
- We encourage compensating community labor. This means grant funds can be used to support organizers, programmers, and project management.
- A match is not required for a Sprouts Fund grant.
- Applying does not guarantee that funding will be awarded at any level.
PHYSICAL IMPROVEMENTS GUIDELINES
- Grant approval from MPF doesn’t mean physical modifications to a park are approved by Milwaukee County Parks. Examples include public art, gardens and signage. Such projects must go through additional approval processes. MPF will help grant recipients navigate these processes if needed.
- Because new park additions must be sustainable, projects with physical infrastructure and long-term impact to the park should include a plan and budget for at least three years of maintenance. For example, a mural project should set aside dollars to contract an artist when touch ups are needed.
- If your maintenance plan requires funds, please account for them in your budget.
- Maintenance may include a work plan rather than funds, i.e. a pollinator garden cared for regularly by neighbors.
- Contact us if you have specific questions about maintenance and your project.
- Timelines for Milwaukee County Parks approval may require that a physical improvement started in 2025 cannot be fully completed until 2026 or later.
REPORTING
Grantees track number of events, attendees and provide photo documentation of their work. At project’s completion, MPF and grantee engage in a preferred method of reporting (e.g. written, digital, in-person conversation), informing potential for a second year of funding.
Application and grant process
STEP 1
Applicants share project ideas and background through this form or pdf applications that can be found here.
Deadline: Jan 29 at
5:00pm
STEP 2
Applications reviewed by MPF’s Program Committee, Milwaukee County Parks staff and partners, with select projects invited for an interview in February.
STEP 3
MPF notifies all applicants of grant decisions in March.
STEP 4
Grantees attend group orientation in March, with the first installment of funds distributed upon completion of a Letter of Agreement, and completing a W-9 and invoice.
STEP 5
Grantees attend quarterly check-ins, including optional skill share sessions and
relationship building opportunities with Milwaukee County Parks.
Info sessions:
MPF will hold two info sessions to answer questions and provide guidance:
Tuesday – Dec 3, 2024
4-5:30pm @ King Center
1531 W. Vliet Street
Click here to register
Friday – Jan 17, 2025
10-11:30am
Kozy Center
2201 S. 7th Street
Click here to register
Digital office hours:
Drop in to ask any and all questions you have about the 2025 Sprouts Fund RFP. Milwaukee Parks Foundation staff will be answering questions and providing guidance.
Tuesday – Nov 26, 2024
2-4pm
Click here for zoom link
Tuesday – Jan 21, 2025
5-7pm
Click here for zoom link
Ready to Apply?
If you prefer a pdf version of the application, view it here.
To learn more about projects MPF has previously supported, including our 2023-2024 Sprouts Fund grantees,
The Sprouts Fund aims to support groups with authentic community ties, especially grassroots work lacking other funding opportunities. We encourage established organizations with access to other funding sources to collaborate with resident-led organizations and projects.
GET MORE GUIDANCE
For additional guidance on some of our key partnerships and spirit behind our work, visit our YouTube page.
