About BJ’s Charitable Foundation^®

Established with the goal of creating a positive, long-lasting impact on the communities BJ’s serves, the mission of BJ’s Charitable Foundation is to enhance and enrich community programs that primarily benefit children and families. Since its first grant in 2005, BJ’s Charitable Foundation has allocated funds on a quarterly basis, giving over $16 million to nearly 1,900 community organizations in the 15 states where BJ’s Clubs are located.

BJ’s Charitable Foundation contributes the bulk of its funding to organizations that provide services (in the form of hunger prevention, self-sufficiency, healthcare and education) to people in need.

 

Types of Support

Hunger Prevention

Support will be given to nonprofits that work to alleviate hunger through the purchase of food, supplies and additional resources necessary to feed those in need. Funding will be disbursed to agencies, including food banks, soup kitchens, and food pantries. We will support the purchase of food as well as food programs.

Self-Sufficiency

Over the last decade, the country has seen a rise in the number of reported homeless families. And studies have shown that these families are more likely to become self-sufficient by first having a safe place to sleep and then access to other support services. Support will be given to nonprofits that work toward the self-sufficiency of their clients. Grants will fund enhancement of shelter programs, purchase of supplies and clothing for residents, as well as programming that offers families safety.

Healthcare

Support will be given to nonprofits that work on providing healthcare to those who would not normally have access. Funding will be disbursed to agencies providing supplies to free medical clinics, health prevention services, as well as supplies for vision, dental and hearing screenings.

Education

Support will be given to nonprofits that provide academic and vocational opportunities for the disadvantaged. These programs include the purchase of supplies for literacy skills, mentoring, tutoring and career development.

BJ’s Charitable Foundation Grant Recipients

2012 Recipients
2011 Recipients
2010 Recipients
2009 Recipients
2008 Recipients
2007 Recipients
2006 Recipients

Guidelines for Submitting a Proposal

BJ’s Charitable Foundation welcomes funding proposals that are compatible with the above types of support. If you are interested in submitting a grant proposal, please closely follow the guidelines below:

1. Eligibility

All funding requests must meet the following criteria:

• The proposal must be from an organization that is tax-exempt under 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and recognized as a “public charity” by the IRS.
• The program must align with BJ’s Charitable Foundation’s mission of supporting organizations that provide basic needs services (in the form of hunger prevention, self-sufficiency, healthcare and education) to those in need in the ways we’ve defined above.
• The program must positively impact communities where BJ’s Clubs are located.

2. Application Procedure

To be considered at the next scheduled Foundation meeting, all required materials must be received by the deadline indicated below. Grant proposals received after this submission deadline will be put on the agenda for the following meeting.

Please Note: To expedite processing, all organizations are limited to one (1) application, regardless of its being approved or denied, per 12-month period. Additional applications will not be considered.

Quarter	Grant Application Deadlines	Response Dates
Q2	April 12, 2013	July 2013
Q3	July 12, 2013	October 2013
Q4	October 11, 2013	January 2014
Q1	January 10, 2014	April 2014
Q2	April 11, 2014	July 2014
Q3	July 11, 2014	October 2014

Revised April 2013

3. Restrictions and Limitations

BJ’s Charitable Foundation does not provide funding for:

• Organizations that discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, physical disability, or national or ethnic origin
• Political organizations, fraternal groups or social clubs that engage in any kind of political activity
• Religious organizations, unless they serve the general public in a significant non-denominational way
• 501(c)(3) organizations or programs/projects that have been in place for less than one (1) year
• Individuals or individual families
• Organizations located outside BJ’s Wholesale Club markets
• Capital campaigns
• Private foundations
• Sponsorships for music, film and art festivals
• Support for business expositions/conferences
• Organizations that have been funded by BJ’s Charitable Foundation within the past 12 months
• 509(a)(3) Type III non-functionally integrated supporting organizations
• Scholarships
• First-time applicants applying for more than $5,000 in funding
• Organizations that do not have an annual budget, IRS Form 990 and audited financials

By submitting this application to BJ’s Charitable Foundation, your organization confirms that you do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, physical disability, or national or ethnic origin.

 

How to Apply

The first step in applying for funding is registering your organization. In this section, you will be asked to provide general information about your organization.

Then you will be given access to a short questionnaire, where you will be prompted to answer questions such as:

• Is your organization tax exempt under section 501(c)(3)?
• Does your organization have an annual budget?
• Does your organization have audited financials?
• Does your organization file an IRS Form 990?

If your answers meet our grant requirements, you will be able to move forward and access our application for funding.

To begin the application process, please click on the apply now button.

BJ’s Charitable Foundation no longer accepts grant applications submitted via mail.

 

Recent Community News Stories

Check out our latest community news stories from BJ’s Journal.

Winter 2010
Spring 2011
Summer 2011
Fall 2011

BJ’s Charitable Foundation reserves the right to change relevant dates and other descriptive material without notice.

BJ’s Charitable Foundation is a donor-advised fund at a national public charity. All contributions to BJ’s Charitable Foundation go directly to the public charity that sponsors the donor-advised fund and all grants from the donor-advised fund are made at the recommendation of BJ’s Charitable Foundation, and its delegates and at the discretion of the sponsoring charity.