We support non-profit organizations with a 501(c)3 status as well as direct grants to public school systems and institutes of higher education. We dedicate our resources to K-3 Achievement and Teaching and Leadership locally in Charlotte-Mecklenburg and at the state level in North Carolina. In order to assess your fit as a potential partner, we encourage you to read the following:

Our approach
Our guidelines
Outcomes sought
Past grantees

After reviewing these documents, if you find there is a strong alignment between your organization’s work and our mission, please complete the Foundation's Eligibility Quiz.

If your organization meets the basic eligibility requirements laid out in the Eligibility Quiz, you will then be directed to a Letter of Inquiry form, which requests the following:

• Contact information
• Organization's Tax ID
• Brief description of how your organization’s purpose and/or program supports the mission of the Foundation
• Geographic area served

Please feel free to call us at 704-544-5444 with any questions throughout the LOI process.

Within a few weeks of receiving your inquiry, we will notify you to let you know whether your organization/program appears to be a fit with the Foundation’s desired outcomes. Please understand that initial interest does not necessarily mean that your organization will be invited to apply for funding.

The Belk Foundation staff will contact you if you have been selected to submit an application. We are a results-oriented organization; thus, our application questions do request specific results your organization is committed to achieving, as well as the evidence you will use to track success. Our Outcomes Sought document should be referenced in the final application process, as it relates to measuring success. The Foundation conducts two grantmaking cycles per year—one in May, one in November. Spring cycle applications are issued mid-February, and fall applications are issued mid-August.

Final applications are presented to the Grants Committee, and subsequently to the Board of Directors, for approval. The Board meets in May and November to make final funding decisions. The Belk Foundation staff will notify you after funding decisions are confirmed.