Foundation Grants

The staff of Writing Grants has turned to a wide range of different foundations to augment and subsidize resources needed to complete projects not fully supported by or fundable through traditional government funding sources. In each of these cases, this additional funding support has allowed what may have otherwise been an inadequately provisioned project to produce significantly positive outcomes.

Click on the links below to see examples of successful funding awards.

Community Technology Center
Job Employment Program

Thousands of foundations throughout the world provide
funding for projects!

Foundations fund a wide range of cultural, social, economic, and other activities that may be deemed by the foundation to be of critical priority or importance. These priorities include: education, international development, strengthening democracy, important issues facing a nation's citizens, the arts, heritage, health, and other areas.

Some foundations may be national or regional in priorities and programs. Regional foundations will state that only projects within a given geographic region may be considered for funding. Foundations may also include preferences, such as the desire to fund studies, which not only add significantly to knowledge about a specific problem or condition, but also show promise of influencing policies impacting the specific problem.

Foundations typically fund tax-exempt organizations (e.g., non-profit organizations) and/or individuals, such as grants to faculty members, artists, research scientists, and students.

Each foundation has specific priorities, amounts of grant awards, categories of eligible applicants, guidelines, and processes for submitting grant requests.

The following identifies the general guidelines many foundations follow:

Letter of Inquiry

An applicant may first be required to submit a letter asking if funds are available for a specific project. The foundation determines if the proposed project fits the foundation's guidelines:

  • What problem does the project address and what is the relationship of the problem to the foundation's program priorities?

  • What strengths and capabilities do the applicant organization and staff possess?

  • Who is the individual who will direct the project?

  • What will the project result in? What accomplishments or evidence of success are anticipated?

  • How do you plan to disseminate information about the project to the public?

Once the letter has been reviewed, the foundation may invite the applicant to submit a proposal based upon specific guidelines.

Some foundations may fund different types of grant requests:

Discretionary grants of a small amount (e.g., $15,000). Discretionary grant proposals are typically evaluated by a foundation's staff and awarded at the "discretion" of the foundation's president.

Small grants (e.g., $25,000).

Large grants (e.g., over $25,000).

Small grants and large grants will require that guidelines be followed in developing the grant proposal. While there may be differences in guidelines for small and large grants, the requirement will typically include:

An Executive Summary (typically 1 to 2 pages), which summarize the proposal.

A Proposal (10 to 20 pages in length), which includes:

  • Statement of the Problem, its significance, and its relationship to the foundation's major priorities for funding.

  • Project activities indicating those for which funding is sought.

  • Timetable.

  • Outcomes and accomplishments anticipated as a result of implementing the project.

  • A dissemination plan, in which the applicant describes steps for sharing information with the public.

  • A plan for sustaining the project, in which the applicant shows how the project will be "sustained" or continued after the project funding runs out.

  • A management and staffing plan, including either biographical sketches and/or resumes of key staff and any consultant staff.

  • A description of the organization's capabilities for carrying out the project.

  • An evaluation plan.

In addition, an applicant may be required to submit the following documentation:

  • Organization's EIN number

  • Copy of an organization's tax-exempt status.

  • An organization's most recent annual report.

  • Copy of an organization's current operating budget.

 

More Grant Information:

Grant Money
Grants for Women
Home Grants
Grants for Home Repair
Grants for Teachers
Technology Grants
Grants for Artists
Nursing Grants
 Grant Writing
Law Enforcement Grants
Debt Reduction Grants
Farm Grants
College Grants
Small Business Grants
Government Grants

More Free Grants