Empowering Student Success
In Bexar County, Advisor-to-Student ratios are often more than double the state recommendation and evidence shows that inexperience, misaligned workloads, and siloed advising strategies all have significant impacts on young people. To dissolve these barriers, we are creating a “community of advising” for Future Ready independent school districts, postsecondary institutions, and community-based organizations throughout our community.
Anchor partners, including the San Antonio Area Foundation, work with the understanding that a lot of advising occurs outside the school day through youth serving agencies. The strategy starts with middle grades. We are looking to support 6-7th grade students in the first year and adding two grade levels in each additional year. Eventually 100% of students in Future Ready Districts receive an advising touchpoint every year beginning in 6th grade and expanding upwards to 12th grade. While grantees do not have to be currently focused on the 6th and 7th grades, the San Antonio Area Foundation is looking for partners who can coordinate their relevant middle and/or high school programs in Future Ready partner school districts with this larger communitywide effort to provide coverage to 6th to 12th graders. Grantees will be accessed to reinforce key messages around the local college and career landscape.
The San Antonio Area Foundation is proud to serve as an anchor partner for the Bexar County Future Ready Plan, with the goal of increasing enrollment in postsecondary pathways to 70% by 2030. This grant opportunity is for community-based organizations who:
1) are signed Future Ready partners, and
2) have an established focus on helping middle and/or high school students with college and career readiness.
Grantees will be contributing to the Future Ready milestone of an additional 100,000+ Pre-K through college students accessing accelerated personalized interventions and supports, across the county, within partner districts, compact neighborhoods, community-based organizations, and colleges and universities.
At the top of the web page, enter access code: 2030Future
Application Opens: November 1, 2024
Application closes: December 13th at 11:59 p.m.
Outcome notification and grant disbursement: April 2025
Please click the link below to schedule a meeting with senior program officer, Andrea Figueroa.
Must be a signed Future Ready partner at the time of grant opens for applications.
Applicants will be notified of their application status in April 2025.
Yes. Direct service organizations who serve middle and/or high school grades are eligible.
This is a multi-year funding commitment. Organizations selected for funding will be awarded a 6-year impact grant contingent on the fulfillment of grant requirements, including participation in Future Ready workgroups/meetings, mile-stone check-ins, and annual reports.
Yes. Each organization will have the ability to determine how they utilize their grant funds. However, organizations will be required to report on their progress to advance Future Ready outcomes regardless of how they use their funds.
Grantees will be required to submit annual reports on their progress. Additionally, Area Foundation staff will schedule time to meet with non-profits on an annual basis to learn more about the work and impact they are making. This is an opportunity for non-profits to share updates, successes and challenges, and to connect with resources at the Area Foundation.
Grants are awarded based on Total Organizational Budget
Total Organizational Budget | Annual Award Amount |
$0 – $74,999 | $11,000 |
$75,000 – $249,999 | $25,000 |
$250,000 – $749,000 | $50,000 |
$750,000 – $1,999,999 | $75,000 |
$2,000,000+ | $100,000 |
Grants are made at the full award amount based on Total Organizational Budget. Partial grants are not typically awarded but may be considered.
We expect to award between 10 – 15 organizations through this grant process.
The Area Foundation offers several ways to get support in the application process, including:
Organizations with at least one year of documented programming or service in the community may apply under a fiscal sponsor. Prior approval of the fiscal sponsor is required. Contact Andrea Figueroa at afigueroa@saafdn.org or Jennifer Cook at jcook@saafdn.org to learn more.
The following documents are required:
The Board and staff of the San Antonio Area Foundation serve as stewards of our donors’ funds and, therefore, must have confidence that the investments we make in organizations are sound. The Financial Statements and Financial History (part of the application form) are reviewed to determine the financial stability of each organization.
No. We recognize that budgets are unique to each organization. To keep the submission process as simple as possible, please submit the your financial information in the format/template your organization uses. If, for any reason, your organization does not have a standard budget template, please reach out to our staff and they can provide you one.
Only organizations with budgets over $500,000 annually are required to submit audited financial statements. If your organization’s budget meets this threshold and does not have Audited Financial Statements, submit a Balance Sheet and Statement of Revenues/Expenses for the most recent fiscal year. Both statements are required. (Do not submit IRS Form 990.)
If an organization does not have three (3) years of budget information, provide all available financial history. In other words, complete the financial records for the year(s) the organization has been in operation.
No, organizations may only submit one application for this grant.