Pottstown Regional Community Foundation (PRCF) directs every grant toward measurable community impact. Guided by our Results Grantmaking Framework, we ensure that investments produce sustainable outcomes across Western Montgomery County, Northern Chester County, and Eastern Berks County.
Our equity-centered framework empowers nonprofits, collaboratives, and public partners to address the systemic factors shaping Education Innovation, Health Intervention, and Economic Opportunity across our region.
The Results Grantmaking Framework is PRCF’s comprehensive roadmap for strategic funding. It defines the outcomes we aim to achieve, how proposals are evaluated, and how success is measured.
This approach moves beyond activities and focuses on long-term, transformative results aligned with local data and community priorities. A complete version of the Results Grantmaking Framework, including detailed results indicators, prioritized project types, and system reform measures, is available in our Tools & Resources library.
Programs create initial awareness, reduce barriers, and open pathways to essential resources and services. This stage often includes outreach, education, screenings, or first-time access that introduces participants to opportunities they may not have previously known or been able to utilize.
Participants demonstrate measurable improvements, whether through skill acquisition, healthier behaviors, academic achievement, or stabilized life conditions. This stage focuses on short- to medium-term progress that indicates an intervention is effective and building momentum.
Successful programs yield sustained transformations that are embedded in participants’ lives, community systems, or public policies. At this stage, the outcomes reflect structural improvements, permanent new habits, long-term stability, or policy adoption that extend the impact beyond any single grant cycle.
PRCF evaluates grant outcomes along a clear continuum of progress to ensure long-term, meaningful results for the greater Pottstown region. Each stage reflects a deeper level of community impact:
PRCF offers three primary categories of grant support, each intentionally designed to address the systemic challenges and opportunities within the greater Pottstown region:
These grants fund direct services that deliver measurable improvements in the lives of individuals and families. Programmatic awards focus on projects that align with PRCF’s target outcomes along the continuum of Connect, Improve, and Change. Funded programs often include direct service delivery in areas such as youth development, education, health access, wellness, and community improvement.
Capacity building grants strengthen an organization’s ability to achieve lasting impact by enhancing its infrastructure, governance, operations, and sustainability. These awards may support investments in staff training, leadership development, fundraising systems, capital improvements, technology upgrades, strategic planning, evaluation methods, or DEI integration. The ultimate goal is to build stronger nonprofits that can serve more people more effectively. Learn more on Capacity Building.
Systems Reform Awards invest in collaborations, policy work, and field-wide initiatives that address root causes, reduce inequities, and foster long-term structural change. These grants support coordinated multi-sector efforts that influence policy change, align fragmented systems, develop best practices, and engage residents in shaping solutions. Systems Reform grants may include practice development, field capacity building, or community advocacy efforts to eliminate silos and inefficiencies that prevent equitable outcomes.
Each proposal is reviewed with care to ensure it aligns with PRCF’s commitment to equity, measurable outcomes, and long-term community benefit. We encourage applicants to design projects that address real community needs while demonstrating clear pathways to sustained, meaningful impact.
Projects must clearly define the problem being addressed, supported by strong local data and quantitative indicators that justify the need and target population.
Proposals should use proven, evidence-based methods, with a clear plan to track, verify, and evaluate outcomes that directly contribute to PRCF's focus area results.
Successful projects meaningfully involve residents and those most impacted in both design and delivery, ensuring diverse voices and lived experience guide the work.
Applicants must demonstrate how the project will continue beyond PRCF funding and how successful models can be replicated or shared with others.
We prioritize proposals that foster cross-sector partnerships with multiple organizations working together to amplify impact and maximize community benefit.
The Results Grantmaking Framework ensures:
This structure allows PRCF, our grantees, and our donors to track progress, adapt strategies, and deepen collective impact.
Please note: Organizations may submit only one application per grant cycle. Exceptions are made for organizations acting as fiscal sponsors or those leading collaborative proposals.
For questions, contact our grants team. We welcome any prospective applicants!
*Schools K-12 applications are accepted only in the spring grant round and are open to public and private schools.*
Visit our full Application Process page for eligibility details, submission deadlines, and access to our online Grant Portal.
When completing your application, focus on the who, what, and when of your proposed impact. Use our Defining Results by Investment Type Tool and Critical Steps and Milestones Worksheet, located in the Tools & Resources library, to support strong results statements and work plans.
Pottstown Regional Community Foundation connects philanthropic intentions with our community’s most impactful economic, social, and educational needs to improve the quality of life for all residents today and tomorrow.
152 East High Street, Suite 500
Pottstown, PA 19464
(610) 323-2006
Please have patience with our website, it is still under construction from our transition to our new name. If you have any questions, please reach out to Samuel Mirarchi, Marketing & Communications Specialist at smirarchi@pottstownfoundation.org. Thank you
