Grantmaking Strategy

Our United Fund encourages collaboration and innovative solutions so that more people in Anchorage have opportunities to thrive. We were blown away by the 40 proposals that nonprofits submitted, and selecting grant recipients was both challenging and exciting. We encourage nonprofits to resubmit or develop new proposals for our next round of United Fund grantmaking, which opens on April 6, 2026.

Grant Recipients

We selected proposals that support people in Anchorage and our community and awarded each grant recipient $15,000 to complete single, short-term projects. United Fund grant recipients proposed compelling, community-responsive projects. The work that they are doing aligns with our impact areas: Financial Security, Healthy Community, and Youth Opportunity. Find out all about the nonprofits’ projects, which are listed below.

Kids' Corps, Inc.

Anchorage Childcare Access Partnership: Sustain Head Start Services & Expand Workforce Childcare in Anchorage

Kids’ Corps will renovate 9,578 square feet of space inside an Anchorage School District (ASD) elementary school, thanks to our United Fund. This renovation creates a new early childhood education and childcare center, which will serve children ages 4 months to 5 years. It will include six licensed classrooms—Early Head Start, Head Start, and child care. It will have capacity for 78 children, including 17 full-day childcare slots guaranteed for ASD employees.

This project expands access to affordable, high-quality childcare while supporting Anchorage’s workforce, particularly ASD employees who struggle to secure care. Because of our United Fund, Kids’ Corps will also purchase classroom furniture that is essential for opening the new ASD childcare classroom. It allows them to outfit the room to meet early learning, licensing, and safety requirements.

Covenant House Alaska

Transitional-Age Youth Homeless Prevention: Aftercare Navigator Project

Covenant House will conduct rapid-cycle testing of an Aftercare Navigators program. These navigators will support transition-age young adults as they exit shelter, transitional housing, or other housing placements. During the first year that young adults live independently, they are most vulnerable to housing instability and return to homelessness. Thanks to our United Fund, this program combines relational support for participants with flexible cash assistance for up to 12 months.

Participants in the Aftercare Navigators program will receive crisis-response help, budgeting support, benefits navigation, landlord mediation, and connections to community services. As a result, these young adults, aged 18-24, can better overcome short-term financial crises, which put them at risk of experiencing homelessness. Covenant House designed this program based on data from its recent pilot program.

Abused Women’s Aid in Crisis (AWAIC)

Survivor Healing & Education Groups Pilot

AWAIC will launch a pilot program to redesign its group offerings for adult survivors of domestic violence. Clinicians from Alaska Behavioral Health will lead two support groups at AWAIC per week. Thanks to our United Fund, this partnership allows survivors to receive deeper therapeutic expertise and more structured trauma support in a safe setting. This program will help them build coping skills, regulate emotions, and develop healthy relationship tools to support healing.

Domestic violence often leaves survivors with trauma symptoms that disrupt safety, decision-making, housing stability, employment, and family life. In 2025, AWAIC documented more than 26,000 advocacy contacts and nearly 15,000 crisis-related calls, underscoring the complexity of survivors’ needs. Its program will test a stronger clinical model to improve engagement, strengthen outcomes, and shape future support groups.

Hillcrest Children's Center

Anchorage Childcare Sustainability Through Shared Services Initiative

Hillcrest will commission a study about using shared administrative services for a network of licensed childcare providers in Anchorage. This project explores centralizing functions to improve sustainability, reduce overhead, and support workforce development. Our United Fund allows Hillcrest and its partners to identify a cost-effective service model and pricing structure for providers. With that info, they can develop a registered apprenticeship pathway for childcare workers and administrators.

Childcare programs remain under intense strain as providers struggle to cover costs while families face unaffordable prices. Hilcrest is responding to the financial instability and workforce burnout, especially among administrators who juggle staffs’ needs with payroll, billing, compliance, and licensing demands. This study provides data to shape a scalable program that strengthens licensed childcare access and supports providers.

Alaska Children's Trust (ACT)

Afterschool AmeriCorps: Expanding Anchorage's Access to Out-of-School Time

ACT will place 15 AmeriCorps STEM Coaches in Anchorage after-school and summer learning programs. They will deliver hands-on activities for students in safe, enriching out-of-school settings. Thanks to our United Fund, students will explore science, technology, engineering, and math with the coaches’ guidance. Afterschool AmeriCorps increases out-of-school programs’ capacity by engaging the young adults who are serving in AmeriCorps and are delighted to take on youth-serving roles.

Persistent staffing shortages limit after-school and out-of-school enrollment and reduce access to programming. ACT is addressing these gaps by offering training and real-world experience for AmeriCorps STEM Coaches. Not only will these opportunities prepare these young adults for future employment by creating a stronger pipeline of qualified afterschool staff, but they will also engage about 200 students in STEM learning.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Alaska

Big Futures for Anchorage

Big Brothers Big Sisters will launch the first phase of Big Futures for Anchorage, which enhances a mentoring program for youth and young adults, aged 13–25. A selection of Littles and Bigs will participate in a 60-day pilot program. Our United Fund allows them to test career pathway planning, job readiness tools, career exposure, and life skills development. By incorporating existing, trusted matches, the youth will identify clear next steps toward their own employment, enrollment, or enlistment.

Many youth leave high school without a supported plan for what comes next—even when they have strong aspirations. Big Brothers Big Sisters will pilot Big Futures with 25 already-enrolled Littles, gather their feedback, and refine it before expanding more broadly. This effort strengthens mentoring outcomes now while shaping a larger career-readiness program that is expected to reach 100 Anchorage youth by year-end.

Denali Family Services

Foster Care Is Love Marketing Campaign

Denali Family Services (DFS) will launch a multi-media campaign in partnership with Alaska Child & Family (ACF) to recruit therapeutic foster parents. Foster Care Is Love will expand the number of available homes and help more youth remain in Alaska for care. Our state has an urgent need for highly trained family settings for youth with complex trauma, behavioral health challenges, and developmental needs. Our United Fund supports their digital outreach and community partnerships to reach prospects.

When trained foster families are not available, children with intensive emotional and behavioral needs may be placed in more restrictive settings. DFS and ACF are Alaska’s largest providers of therapeutic foster care, yet capacity in Anchorage and Mat-Su falls short. Foster Care Is Love will strengthen recruitment, increase licensing pipelines, and create more stable in-state placements for youth who need trauma-informed support.

Rural Alaska Community Action Program, Inc. (RurAL CAP)

Little Haven Pre-Licensure Support

RurAL CAP will secure licensure for its childcare program and run it on-site at Safe Harbor Muldoon, thanks to our United Fund. Little Haven will provide free drop-in care for children who are living with their parents and guardians in transitional housing. Children have a safe, fun place to be while adults access services, attend appointments, and work toward stability. By addressing staffing, training, and licensure needs, RurAL CAP will move Little Haven toward long-term sustainability.

Safe Harbor Muldoon serves about 330 people each year. More than half are children, and many have never been in childcare or need extra support. RurAL CAP designed Little Haven to address childcare factors while families take steps to stabilize. By getting licensed, the program can serve children more fully, strengthen its supports, and remain free for families who are preparing to move into permanent housing.