2022 CRS Rice Bowl Grants Request for Proposals

The diocesan office of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is now accepting proposals for 2022 CRS Rice Bowl Grants. The application process is now open through Monday, October 3rd, 2022.

The CRS Rice Bowl Grant program is sponsored by Catholic Relief Services in the Diocese of Oakland and administered by the diocesan CRS Rice Bowl Committee. CRS is the official international disaster relief and development agency of the U.S. Catholic community. Funds for the grants come from the Lenten Rice Bowl program of prayer, fasting, learning and giving which is conducted in Catholic parishes and schools throughout the diocese each year. Seventy-five percent of the money raised by this program is used by CRS for humanitarian projects in developing countries, and twenty-five percent is kept locally, most of which is distributed within the diocese in the form of grants for hunger and poverty alleviation programs. (For more information about CRS and CRS Rice Bowl, please go to www.crsricebowl.org.)

Grants will be given to parishes, organizations and projects within the Diocese of Oakland (Alameda and Contra Costa Counties) that are working to alleviate hunger and food insecurity, and/or are addressing the root causes of hunger. Grant recipients can be food pantries and soup kitchens, for example, and/or groups that do economic development or anti-hunger organizing and advocacy.

Non-Catholic as well as Catholic churches and organizations are eligible to apply. Our allocations committee will be considering proposals for up to $1,000. Please be sure to review the application criteria and guidelines, which are attached here, for more information about the application process.
As in previous years, there are two grant application forms available:

2022 CRS Rice Bowl Grant Application: This form is to be used only by organizations that are not affiliated with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.
2022 CRS Rice Bowl Grant Application—St. Vincent de Paul: This form is to be used only by St. Vincent de Paul parish conferences.

Please note that this year we are instituting a new grant program on a trial basis, the Vegetable Garden Grant Program. It will provide funding to offset the cost of constructing an organic vegetable garden to help feed those in need. It is a collaboration between the CRS Rice Bowl Grant program and Planting Justice which would be available to provide the landscaping services. Funded by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), Planting Justice is an Oakland-based nonprofit that employs a large number of formerly incarcerated individuals.

Groups applying for a grant to construct a garden need to complete the regular 2022 CRS Rice Bowl Grant Application (for St. Vincent de Paul or non-SVdP) and also the special 2022 CRS Rice Bowl Grant Application Addendum: For Vegetable Garden Applicants. For more information, please be sure to see the 2022 CRS Rice Bowl Grant Guidelines and Information for Vegetable Gardens Applications that are attached here.

If you know of any agency/organization or parish program that might be interested in applying for a Rice Bowl grant, the application form and the criteria and guidelines can be obtained by contacting us at (510) 768-3176 or at [email protected]. Your organization may receive an application as an e-mail attachment or by U.S. Mail.

We apologize for the fact that the grant proposal forms and guidelines are not yet posted on the diocesan Catholic Relief Services website. Catholic Charities is no longer providing technical support for our website, so it is taking longer than usual to convert the application forms to fillable pdf’s and to post them on the site. We anticipate that the forms will be up on the CRS website, at https://crseastbay.org/, before September 2^nd, so you can access them directly.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions and/or if you would like me to meet with your agency/organization or parish staff or leaders regarding the grant process and completing the grant application.

Decisions on the 2022 CRS Rice Bowl Grant applications will be made by mid-November and communications of the awards’ determinations will be sent out to the applicants soon afterwards.

Sincerely,
Marc McKimmey
Catholic Relief Services Coordinator
Diocese of Oakland
The application process is now open through Monday, October 3^rd, 2022.

2022 Rice Bowl Grant Program Application Criteria and Guidelines