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Foundation Guidelines

Although a grant application may align with the Foundation's Mission, Principles, and Program Areas, it is not possible to fund all requests received. Because of this, the Foundation has developed a set of Grant Funding Guidelines to help the Foundation's Board in determining grant award decisions. It is important that prospective grant applicants be aware of these guidelines because they are used in determining the amount of funds to be awarded as well as the types of funding that are supported.

The Foundation will:

  • Award between $225,000 and $275,000 in grants in any given year
  • Try to divide funding evenly between the three program areas in any given year (1/3 to each program area)
  • Limit outstanding multi-year grant commitments to no more than 30% of funds available for distribution in a given year
  • Typically fund individual grants in the $5,000 to $20,000 range
  • Limit long-term grant commitments to any one organization to a maximum of four years
  • Approve no more than one funding request to any one organization per year
  • Approve no more than three consecutive funding requests to any one organization
  • Avoid providing funding to organizations primarily supported by government grants
  • Avoid providing funding to organizations which have a significant endowment fund
  • Avoid providing funding to organizations which have weak boards – poor board governance/accountability
  • Only fund general operational support grants to organizations that can:
    • Demonstrate a specific financial reason why the support is needed and can’t be raised through their normal fundraising channels.
    • Demonstrate that this is a short term, limited need to address a funding shortfall due to some significant event such as a recent program expansion, funding delay or cancellation, or extraordinary increase in demand for services
  • Limit general operational support grants to less than 5% of an organization's annual operating budget
  • Only fund major capital improvement projects if a significant percentage of the funds needed for the improvement have been raised by the organization’s usual donor community
  • Only fund major capital improvements or new programs if the organization can demonstrate how they intend to provide for the ongoing operational support of the improvement or program