United Way of Southern Kentucky (UWSK) has opened its FY2027-28 Community Impact Grant process. The first-stage Letter of Intent opened September 8, 2026 and is due September 29, 2026 at 12:00 PM (noon). UWSK does not publish the deadline time zone in the current official program page, LOI form, or FY27-28 process materials reviewed, so Atlas is treating the exact cutoff as unresolved and will not initiate applicant-specific ORIGINAL outreach until it is authoritatively confirmed.
Priority Areas
Programs must align with one Community Impact priority focus area and the corresponding UWSK strategy. The current focus areas are Education (Kindergarten Readiness; College and Career Readiness), Income (Workforce Development), Health (Access to Affordable Health Care; Safe Home and Community), and Safety Net (Transportation; Access to Basic Needs).
Eligibility and Geography
Eligible applicants are federally tax-exempt nonprofit organizations currently providing, or able to implement, quality programs aligned with UWSK priorities. UWSK prioritizes best-practice, collaborative, and innovative programs that address community needs, integrate with other local efforts, and produce measurable outcomes. The FY27-28 process materials identify the service counties as Allen, Barren, Butler, Edmonson, Hart, Logan, Metcalfe, Monroe, Simpson, and Warren. UWSK also applies minimum governance, financial, reporting, and operating standards and may work case-by-case with organizations that do not yet meet every minimum standard.
Funding and Match
There is no published request limit. UWSK states that each priority category has a limited funding pool that fluctuates from year to year and encourages applicants to contact the organization for category-specific information. No universal mandatory match or cost-share percentage is stated in the current official materials reviewed. The application does ask applicants to identify other funding designated for the program and explain the effect of partial UWSK funding.
Allowable Program Expenses
The FY27-28 process materials describe Community Impact funding as support for programming expenses and show budget categories including salaries, employee benefits and payroll taxes, professional fees, office and program supplies, postage and shipping, telephone, occupancy or rent, equipment rental and maintenance, printing and publications, travel and meetings, assistance to individuals, membership dues, insurance, payments to affiliated organizations, and other program expenses. Applicant-specific costs must still be validated against the live application and UWSK policies before package production.
Application Process
New applicants submit the LOI through UWSK’s current Google Form; previously funded applicants use e-CImpact. The LOI determines eligibility to continue. Organizations requesting funding for more than one program must submit a separate LOI for each program. If invited to the full application stage, Warren County applications are due January 20, 2027 at noon and Partner County applications are due February 17, 2027 at noon. Mandatory application training is scheduled for December 2, 2026. New applicants later invited to submit a full application must provide nonprofit status documentation, bylaws, articles of incorporation, collaboration agreements, and a nondiscrimination policy; all applicants must provide an annual financial statement and board listing. UWSK states that late applications are not accepted.
Atlas Analysis
Atlas Opportunity Score: 88/100. This is a meaningful Southern Kentucky nonprofit funding opportunity with an explicit Health pathway for access to affordable health care and a broad regional service footprint. N9+ Fit: 28/100, conditional. The program is not a technology or equipment-purchase grant, although health programming and an ‘other’ expense category could create a narrow applicant-led pathway if UWSK confirms the proposed cost is allowable and the program genuinely requires guided remote physical examinations, vitals, or telehealth-enabled clinical encounters. N9+ should not be introduced in ordinary initial outreach. QC Healthcare Fit: 55/100, conditional for qualifying nonprofit-led healthcare-access programs where services or implementation support are allowable.
Verification Hold
Applicant-specific ORIGINAL outreach is blocked until the exact time zone for the September 29 noon LOI deadline is authoritatively confirmed and the prospective applicant’s nonprofit eligibility, county/program fit, verified business Contact, opt-out status, bounce history, and prior-send deduplication are cleared. Atlas will not infer a deadline time zone from UWSK’s physical location.
Official source: United Way of Southern Kentucky Partner Funding Process.