Kenneth King Foundation Newsletter

Fall 2026 Issue

Partners and Friends,

As we look ahead to fall, change is afoot at the Kenneth King Foundation. This year we have been developing our five-year strategic plan and are pleased to share that our plan was approved by our Board of Directors in August. Please read on to learn more about the direction of the Foundation for the next five years as we work to more meaningfully serve communities in Colorado.

We are excited to share that McKenna Ganz has joined the team as our Grants and Program Operations Manager! Learn more about Mckenna below.

We are in the process of reviewing Fall 2026 grant applications, please read on to learn more about our fall application cycle stats and our grant application review timeline.

If you received a grant from the Foundation in November/December 2025, your 12-month grant report is due on November 30th. Please find more information below.

Kenneth King Foundation staff is attending Heart of Colorado Rural Philanthropy Days in Leadville, CO October 29-30. We look forward to seeing many of you there!

If you are interested in learning more about grants and PRIs, please consider joining us for our next webinar on October 7th. You can register here.

King Foundation Five-Year Strategic Plan

In the spring of 2026, the Foundation undertook a strategic planning process with our Board of Directors, staff, grantees and local peer funders. This process guided us toward the decision to more meaningfully serve Colorado by adjusting how we fund throughout the state. We received strong affirmation that our funding areas are impactful and they will remain. The Board approved the following four goals for the next five years, below. You can review our full, five-year strategic plan here.

Welcome
McKenna Ganz,
Grant and Program Operations Manager

McKenna joined the Kenneth King Foundation in August 2026 as Grants & Program Operations Manager and is responsible for the Foundation's grants administration lifecycle, serving as a point of contact for grantseekers and grant partners.

McKenna earned her B.A. from Duke University in Global Cultural Studies and Political Science, with minors in Global Health and Economics. Through the School for International Training's comparative human rights program, she studied advocacy movements in Nepal, Jordan, and Chile.

McKenna has dedicated her career to the nonprofit sector, most recently as Program Administrator and Operations Manager at The Eating Disorder Foundation. Prior to that, she served as Development Manager at the Denver Indian Family Resource Center. She began her career in development and operations roles at Duke University Press, Duke Center for Leadership Development and Social Action, and Crag Law Center.

A Colorado Springs native, McKenna holds a Permaculture Design Certificate from the Denver Permaculture Guild and has developed therapeutic horticulture programming and community gardens across Denver. Join us in welcoming McKenna!

2026 Fall Grant Cycle

We are currently in the process of reviewing grant applications received for our September 1 fall grant cycle deadline. Applications go through a staff, peer and Board review over the next few months and funding decisions will be made at our November Board meeting.

For our fall grant cycle, we extended a total of 66 total invitations and received 59 applications. Of the 59 applications, 44% fall under removing barriers, 34% are employment/self-sufficiency focused and 22% are for entrepreneurism.

Our next grant application deadline is March 1, 2027. We will begin scheduling grant informational calls in mid-October for those who would like to explore the possibility of submitting an application.

2025 Grant Follow Up Report Deadline

If you received a grant in November/December 2025, your grant report is due on November 30th; you can find more information in our grant portal. Once you submit your grant report, you will be prompted to schedule a grant report follow-up meeting with a Foundation staff member. If you have any questions, please email grants@kennethkingfoundation.org.

Visit our Grant Portal

Join us for our upcoming Webinar!

If you would like to learn more about the Kenneth King Foundation and our grants and PRI programs, please consider registering for our upcoming Webinar on Wednesday, October 7. We would love to see you there!

Click here to RSVP

Refer A Friend!

We value the strength of collaboration and realize our collective potential. Your unique ties to different organizations might reveal unexplored partnerships for us. If you know of any organization matching our Program Areas, please refer them!