Paula A. Windham Fund for Education and Community Development

About this program

Community Foundation of Abilene’s Paula A. Windham Fund provides rural grantmaking for outlying communities in greater West-Central Texas, supporting special projects, capacity building, and capital projects that improve quality of life across focus areas such as arts and culture, community development and leadership, agricultural education and ranch management, health and human services, and related initiatives. Grants are submitted via the Foundation’s Foundant portal; the current cycle is open with a deadline of July 1, 2026. Eligible applicants include IRS tax-exempt organizations, municipalities, local governments, volunteer fire departments, churches, school districts, colleges/universities/trade schools, and chamber organizations located in rural areas as defined by the Foundation (territory not within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of any city with population ≥100,000). Nonprofits serving the listed counties (Brown, Callahan, Coleman, Comanche, Eastland, Fisher, Haskell, Jones, Kent, Knox, Mitchell, Nolan, Runnels, Scurry, Shackelford, Stephens, Stonewall, Taylor, Throckmorton) or located within 150 miles of Oplin, TX may apply, and all applicants must complete a pre-application interview with the Rural Grants Manager.