Costco Charitable Giving

Costco Wholesale’s primary charitable efforts specifically focus on programs supporting children, education, and health and human services in the communities where we do business. Throughout the year we receive a large number of requests from nonprofit organizations striving to make a positive impact, and we are thankful to be able to provide support to a variety of organizations and causes. While we would like to respond favorably to all requests, understandably, the needs are far greater than our allocated resources and we are unable to accommodate them all.

Donation and Grant Eligibility Guidelines

To apply for Costco support, organizations must meet the following general requirements:

• Must be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization

• Focus on supporting children, education, and/or health and human services

• Monetary requests only

Costco accepts and reviews funding requests throughout the year on a rolling basis, and organizations are eligible to submit one application per fiscal year (Sep-Aug).

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The Big Lots Foundation

The Big Lots Foundation supports nonprofit organizations in the communities the company serves throughout the United States, with the exception of Alaska, Hawaii, and South Dakota.

The Foundation's areas of interest include the following:

Hunger
The focus is on:

• providing nutritious food or meals;

• providing emergency food assistance; and,

• educating families or individuals about the importance of healthy eating.

Housing
The focus is on:

• preventing families or individuals from losing their housing;

• providing affordable, stable housing; and,

• providing emergency shelter for families and individuals.

Healthcare
The focus is on:

• improving healthcare through research and education;

• providing preventative education and care; and,

• providing affordable, critical medical care.

Education
The focus is on:

• improving classroom learning outcomes through innovation;

• providing service-learning curriculum that aligns with education standards; and,

• promoting servant leadership through academic and experiential learning.

Priority is given to projects that:

• have a Big Lots associate actively involved;

• support needy families, helping them transition from poverty to self-sufficiency; and,

• come from organizations with strong fiscal management and board member commitment and involvement.

Support is provided in the form of monetary grants, gift cards, and in-kind merchandise. (Significant partnership projects and capital requests are by invitation only.)

Support is not provided to/for:

• organizations that are not 501(c)(3) public charities;

• individuals;

• fraternal, labor, social, or veteran organizations;

• churches or religious sectarian organizations, with the exception of those that have an outreach program that benefits the whole community;

• non-academic educational activities such as bands, choirs, proms, after-proms, graduations, etc.;

• individual K-12 schools or public service agencies such as police and fire departments;

• organizations that spend more than 20% of their revenue on overhead and fundraising costs;

• organizations that discriminate against people on the basis of age, race, creed, gender, handicap, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or national origin;

• staff positions for government agencies;

• publications or audio or video productions, unless they serve as supporting materials to a project within the company's focus;

• political candidates, committees, or organizations; or,

• athletes, teams, sporting events, or tournaments of any kind, including charity golf tournaments.

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Bank of America

Bank of America, N.A. is proud to serve as trustee or co-trustee of a wide variety of discretionary charitable foundations. As stewards of these charitable funds, we work to award meaningful grants in accordance with the philanthropic mission of each donor. Our Philanthropic Solutions group is committed to fulfilling the charitable intent of each and every donor and to providing useful information for the nonprofit community.

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Using the search feature on this page you can obtain detailed information about the grantmaking focus of more than 150 foundations. These foundations' donors granted sole or co-discretion to Bank of America to design their grantmaking programs and carry out their philanthropic missions. We are pleased to share details about these foundations including their missions, guidelines, application procedures, proposal deadlines and contact information.

This site serves as an introductory portal for foundations distributing charitable grants primarily in the following states: Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, Vermont and Washington.

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Change Happens Foundation

The mission of the Change Happens Foundation is to act as a meaningful catalyst towards positive change. The Foundation is committed to helping motivated groups with pioneering programs and forward-thinking projects.

The Foundation's top three focus areas include:

• research and education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics;

• education, including higher education; and,

• the environment, including programs focused on conservation, climate change, and sustainable energy.

Grants are not provided to/for:

• charities based outside of the United States;

• faith-based organizations or religious activities;

• third-party sponsorships;

• endowments;

• scholarships;

• individuals; or,

• special events.

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Harry Chapin Foundation

The Harry Chapin Foundation's mission is to support nonprofit organizations that have demonstrated their ability to dramatically improve the lives and livelihood of people by helping them to become self-sufficient.

The Foundation focuses its funding in the following areas:

• arts-in-education programs;

• community education programs; and,

• agricultural and environmental programs.

Types of support include:

• project support;

• general operating support; and,

• challenge and matching grants.

The Foundation mostly focuses on giving grants to grassroots organizations with an annual budget cap of $500,000 or less.

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The Cooperative Development Foundation (CDF)

The Cooperative Development Foundation (CDF) is a charitable family of funds that promotes self-help and mutual aid in community, economic, and social development through cooperative enterprise.

CDF administers a number of grant funds dedicated to various aspects of cooperative economic development. Each fund is governed by its own board of trustees and has its own unique focus.

The following funds accept applications:

• Cooperative Education Fund
  This fund supports cooperative research, sponsors cooperative education events and scholarships, and develops cooperative education materials and programs.
   

• Disaster Recovery Fund
  This fund raises money to be used for economic and community recovery, repairs to cooperative businesses, cooperative education, and the creation of new cooperative businesses as part of the total recovery from disasters.

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