COMMUNITY REVIEW

The Community Review process is an essential part of the Cambridge Community Foundation’s commitment to participatory grantmaking. Community Reviewers may be community or nonprofit leaders, content experts, or individuals with lived experience in the Cambridge community. The Cambridge Community Foundation equally values knowledge gained through both lived experience and professional or academic work.

BECOMING A COMMUNITY REVIEWER

Interested in becoming a Community Reviewer? Please submit the interest form before January 10, 2025 at 11:59 pm. After you submit the interest form, our team may follow up for additional information.

Unsure if you would be a good candidate for Community Review? We encourage you to read the details below and complete the interest form.

We will inform you of your status for this year by January 29, 2025. After you submit the interest form, you may not hear from us until this date. The number of Community Reviewers will be based on the number of grant applications received. Once the application closes, we will calculate the number of reviewers needed and invite those selected to review this year. Regretfully, you may not be selected to review this year.

PROCESS

Community Reviewers help the Foundation to center the voices of the community in grantmaking through the following process:

  1. Community outreach: We conduct outreach across Cambridge to identify potential candidates to participate in the Community Review process. Anyone interested in participating in the process is asked to submit an interest form.
  2. Request for proposals: While Community Reviewers are being identified, the Foundation solicits grant applications from Cambridge-serving organizations.
  3. Individual application evaluation: Within each of CCF’s grant categories, a panel of Community Reviewers read each application and complete an evaluation rubric using the online reviewer dashboard.
  4. Group discussion: Community Reviewers convene to deliberate and make recommendations for funding to Foundation staff.
  5. Funding allocation: Foundation staff follow up with applicants based on Community Reviewer recommendations and compile a grant docket, which is sent to the Board of Directors for approval.

AT A GLANCE

ACTIONS

DEADLINE

Submit the interest form before January 10, 2025 at 11:59pm.

STIPEND 

Community Reviewers are eligible to receive a stipend at the completion of the process.

CONTACT

Danny Dicamillo
Senior Programs and Grantmaking Associate
[email protected]
617.856.2216
Schedule a call

IDEAL CANDIDATES

When assembling the panel of Community Reviewers, we are specifically looking for people who are:

  • Connected to the Cambridge community. Connections to the community may include your place of residence, work, play, worship, or other community-based activities.
     
  • Knowledgeable in one of CCF’s grant categories. We prioritize individuals who have unique knowledge of Cambridge-serving organizations through lived experience and/or professional/academic work. Our grant categories are:
    • Arts & Culture
    • Child & Youth Development
    • Community Building & Engagement
    • Economic Security
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Food
    • Health & Wellbeing
    • Housing
       
  • Mission-aligned. You believe in the power of collective action to ensure a vibrant, just, and equitable city for everyone.

Additionally, we seek reviewers that:

  • Have personal experience living at the intersections of multiple identities related to race, age, economic status, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, immigration status and country of origin, and disability.
     
  • Can review grant applications in English and have access to a personal computer and internet connectivity.
     
  • Can commit to review grant applications and attend a group discussion according to the timeline specified below.
     
  • Are not currently in a leadership position of an organization intending to apply to the Community Fund.

TIMELINE AND COMMITMENT

About 10 hours over roughly two months.

DateActivityLocation
January 10Submit the interest form before 11:59 pmInterest Form
January 29Invitation to reviewSent via email
February 3-7Training (90-minute session)Virtual via Zoom
February 11-25Individual Application Review (~5 hours, self-paced)Reviewer Dashboard
March 4-11Group Review Discussion (3-hour session)In-person at Cambridge Community Foundation, 99 Bishop Allen Drive (Central Square)

STIPEND

Community Reviewers are eligible to receive a $200 stipend upon completion of the process.

The stipend policy was put into place beginning this year as one way to increase the equitability of access to participate as a community reviewer.