Community Grants

We focus our giving on four strategic areas that align with our values.

1. Hunger and housing

In this category, we support programs in:

• Clothing and household needs: Clothing; baby essentials such as cribs, car seats and diapers; household necessities.
• Food and nutrition: Food pantry support, food delivery and meal outreach, school and backpack nutrition, refrigeration needs, emergency food, farm-to-table.
• Housing and shelter: Emergency shelter support, refrigeration needs (excluding heating equipment), transition and permanent housing, housing for people with disabilities, home ownership, homelessness prevention, case management assistance, independent living.
• Transportation: Bus passes, ride share.

2. Workforce readiness

In this category, we support programs in:

• Agriculture: Youth agriculture (FFA, 4-H), school gardens, farm education and innovation, county fairs.
• Literacy and education: Libraries and bookmobiles; after school and summer reading; adult literacy; financial and digital literacy; STEM programming, workshops and festivals; STEM grants for K-12 classrooms; interactive classroom programs/tools; after school and summer STEM programs.
• Workforce development and transportation: Career exploration and job training, employment skills for disadvantaged youth, employment for people with disabilities, school-to-career solutions, energy industry programs, work transportation assistance and ride share.
• Youth development: Leadership and mentoring, anti-bullying, after school programs, YMCA.

3. Environmental stewardship

In this category, we support programs in:

• Environmental conservation: Protecting wildlife spaces, planting trees and prairies, creating and protecting habitats, water cleanup.
• Environmental education: Public education, workshops, and school programs about environmental issues, endangered species and wildlife protection.
• Park updates: Improving city parks with benches, signs and picnic tables.
• Trail projects: Enhancing trails with benches, signs, picnic tables, garden beds and maintenance.

4. Community safety and engagement

In this category, we support programs in:

• First responders: Lifesaving equipment such as thermal cameras, gas monitors, fire gear and AEDs. (Standard funding: $1,000)
• Community events: Festivals, fairs, holiday lights and parades.
• Playground updates: New equipment for public parks. (Standard funding: $1,000)
• Disaster readiness and relief: Aid for natural disasters, fires and pandemics.

See a list of our most recent investments and impact.

In order to focus our giving, there are projects we don’t fund. Please review this list in its entirety before you apply for a grant.

• Support of political activity, either directly or indirectly. This is prohibited by law.
• Energy-related projects, including solar panels, generators, lighting, heating or other items related to Alliant Energy’s core business. Alliant Energy Foundation is not able to support these types of projects due to IRS Corporate Foundation giving guidelines.
• Religious institutions such as churches, synagogues, temples or other houses of worship, or any organization whose main purpose is to promote a specific faith, creed or religion and/or direct resources to advocate for a specific ideology. This includes projects supported by a church that are for non-church purposes (i.e. social welfare programs), unless they have a 501c3 separate from the church.
• Organizations that discriminate against people because of their age, race, creed, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity or national origin.
• Contributions to individuals or for-profit businesses.
• Contributions to intermediary (“third party”) funding groups that raise money to distribute to other charities.
• Fraternal or social clubs.
• Body cameras, riot gear, tasers or K-9 service dogs.
• Animal welfare agencies or animal training services.
• Athletes, teams, sporting events or tournaments.
• Swimming pools/splashpads.
• Registration or participation fees for individuals, teams or schools for fundraising events, e.g., walk-a-thons, runs, travel funds for tours or tournaments.
• Golf outings, or run/walk events.
• Books, magazines or professional journal articles.
• Computers, laptops, or tablets. These are supported through our TechRefresh program.
• Post-prom events or booster club programs.
• Community welcome signs.
• Individual troops or clubs.

The Foundation is governed by a board of directors consisting of officers of Alliant Energy Corporation or its subsidiaries, which periodically reviews grant program guidelines.

Application schedule

Notes about applying for a Community Grant

• Funds are only available for organizations within the communities Alliant Energy serves.

• Organizations are eligible for one grant per calendar year.

• Past support of an organization is not a guarantee of future support. Please do not rely on donations from year to year, as we like to help a wide variety of causes.

• While we strive for trust-based philanthropy, we do prefer supporting specific programs, projects or initiatives.

• We manage applications for Alliant Energy’s Community Grants through our CyberGrants portal.
• We accept applications year-round and review them three times a year. With a request for a specific date/event, please be aware of the grants awarded date.
• We prefer online applications. If that’s impossible for you or your organization, please contact us.
• We notify applicants about funding decisions via email. Please add @cybergrants.com to your safe sender list.
• If we have questions about your application, we’ll reach out to you.