COVID-19 Update

As effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to debilitate the health and well-being of our community, we want you to be aware of Monterey Peninsula Foundations effort to address the immediate and long-term needs of our region’s most vulnerable residents. Between March and June 2020, we provided $2.3 million for COVID-19 response, supporting basic needs and emerging issues brought on by the pandemic.

Our ability to give depends entirely on hosting two golf tournaments – the PURE Insurance Championship and AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. While planning for a variety of possible tournament scenarios, the future is still very uncertain. As a result, we are thoughtfully evaluating the greatest needs in the communities we serve while creating a strategy to maximize giving.

What we anticipate:

We anticipate that the entirety of our giving will be directed to nonprofits providing support to those affected by the impact of COVID-19 in Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz counties for the coming year and perhaps longer. To this end, we will:

1. Prioritize support for direct services, historically disadvantaged communities, and people most effected by the virus and its social impact. We know from national research that organizations focused on these needs face significant challenges at this time.

2. Provide funding for the most urgent needs, including financial security (rent, mortgage, utility assistance), food and essentials, and mental Health of individuals, families, and children. We will look to fill gaps in needs resulting from the pandemic.

As the pandemic evolves,

we intend to stay grounded in our relationships with our grantees and nonprofit partners, other funders, and regional networks to help us ensure we understand the changing needs and reflect those needs in our approach to grantmaking.
We will update our approach to funding as the situation evolves.

These changes are in effect until we know more about the future of our events:

All funding categories will remain the same. However, health and service needs will take priority over less urgent programs or those that have paused due to the pandemic.
We will require a special COVID-19 survey as part of each application to help us understand the changes in services. We will send the link as part of the intake process.
We will proactively reach out to agencies we believe will not meet the highest need criteria.
Agencies denied in this process will be asked to wait a year before reapplying.
Applicants that do not address specific COVID-19 priorities will be denied and asked to wait a year before reapplying.
We anticipate a higher percentage of denials this year as compared to recent years.
We have suspended all future capital and multi-year funding requests.
Agencies new to Monterey Peninsula Foundation should not apply at this time.
Our approach to funding will include our traditional responsive grantmaking as well as proactive efforts to ensure funding serves the greatest needs in our communities.

These steps will help us continue to provide the most meaningful support at this time, as we all live into the next phase of life with COVID-19. It is a fluid situation, and we encourage you to check the website periodically for news of additional changes.