The United Methodist Foundation of West Ohio makes grants to advance the strategic goals of the West Ohio Conference through a competitive application process. The grant program focuses on providing financial support for established programs and program expansion of local churches, ministries and organizations across West Ohio; and for scholarships. Please contact Program Manager, Maddy DeWitt at mdewitt@wocumc.org for more information.
Spring 2026 Grant Focus: Children, Youth & Young Adults
Championing Children, Youth & Young Adults
LOI Opens Feb. 1, 2026
LOI Closes March 1, 2026
Full Application Finalists Notified March 5, 2026
Application Closes April 1, 2026
The application for the Championing Children Youth & Young Adults grants will be split into two rounds: the first will open on February 1st in an Letter of Intent (LOI) format with a shortened list of questions in an effort to garner important information in a more accessible way for applicants. Given the anticipated high volume of applicants, the LOI will mitigate the amount of information all applicants would need to initially provide, in turn making the application process more accessible and less time consuming. The LOI will close on March 1st. All applicants hoping to be considered for a Championing Children, Youth & Young Adults grant must submit an LOI in order to be considered for the next round. Those who are not moving onto the next round will also be notified on/or before March 5th. Applicants moving onto the next round in the application process will be notified on/or before March 5th. Final round applicants, i.e. "Full Application Finalists," will receive a PDF with the final list of questions they need to complete when they are notified. The full application closes on April 1st.
There will be two training opportunities to assist you with your application: a Zoom seminar during the LOI round; and another Zoom seminar for the final round should your application move forward. The LOI Zoom seminar will be on February 5th at 2:00PM, and will discuss how to submit a competitive Championing Children, Youth & Young Adult grant application. The training will provide examples of the following evaluation criteria used by the grant review committee including: holistic approach, encouragement of healthy congregations, development of intergenerational belonging, focus on equipping families, and leadership development opportunities.
Contact Maddy DeWitt at 380-223-9229 or mdewitt@wocumc.org for more information. Please see below for the link to the application and for the grant seminar.
Championing Children, Youth & Young Adults LOI Seminar Zoom Link - Feb. 5th at 2:00PM: https://wocumc.zoom.us/j/88563215436
Championing Children, Youth & Young Adults Application Link - Opens Feb. 1st: https://www.westohioumc.org/form/umfwo-championing-children-youth
View our grant program guidelines below for more details. You can open the guidelines in a new tab by hovering over the box with an arrow in the top right corner and clicking "Pop out." You can also learn more about our 2026 grant program by clicking here: https://www.westohioumc.org/2026-united-methodist-foundation-west-ohio-grants.