Arthur L. & Elaine V. Johnson Foundation

The question “Why wasn’t my application chosen for funding?” is one we often hear from grant seekers.  We understand a grant-seekers’ desire to improve their “ask.”  It has been our experience that  those conversations are not helpful.  Either the applicant tries to explain why we should not have made the decision we did and asks us to change our funding decision, or will try to fine tune future applications. The foundation wants organizations to request the funding that is of greatest importance to them.

We hope the following information will help you, the grant-seeker, decide if the foundation is a likely source of funding for your request and prevent common mistakes that tend to cause grants not to be funded.

How We Make Granting Decisions

Before considering the specific issues we sometimes see in applications, it may help you understand how we make our granting decisions.

Many grant-makers establish long-term relationships with organizations that they support on a regular basis. Although we value the relationships we may form with grant recipients, we are project focused as opposed to providing on-going support for organizations.We focus our granting on projects, their expected benefit to the grant-seeking organization and the expected impact of the particular projects.

Each application is reviewed by at least two reviewers who score and comment on the application.  Once the application deadline has closed, the trustees review each grant, considering the review scores and comments, and rank the application. Funding decisions are then made from the highest overall score, working our way down until we have committed all available funds for the year.

Because we receive many more requests than we can fund each year, many excellent requests go unfunded. The fact that we declined an application does not mean there was anything wrong with it.  It may only mean that we received other applications that were ranked higher.  The chance of any application being funded is heavily dependent on the mix of applications in a given year.

When we review applications, we consider several factors.  Among those are:

• How much past support has the organization received from the foundation? Organizations that have a long history of significant awards may be given a lower score.
• How is the organization governed?  Are the board members qualified?  Is the board independent? Is the board is effective and engaged?
• Is the organization financially stable and sustainable?  We ask for audited financial statements and  the organization’s 990 to help us understand both how funds are being spent and the overall financial health of the organization.
• What is our past experience with the organization?  If the organization has previously been funded, how was reporting handled?  Were funds spent as planned?  Were the anticipated outcomes achieved?
• What type of request is it (e.g., operational funding or a specific project or need)? We prioritize the funding of impactful projects and rarely provide operational funding.

General Information for all types of applications

Create an Organization Profile

Our on-line application system allows you to apply as an individual or on behalf of an organization.  We strongly encourage you to create an organization profile that will allow you to manage users to collaborate on applications.  It will also allow you to specify multiple administrators who can receive important emails about your application.

Start Early!

There are two important reasons to begin your application early.  First, our review of your application may raise questions that we would like to discuss with you to help us better evaluate your request.  When applications are submitted at the last minute we rarely have the time for this level of follow up conversation.

Second, our application process requires considerable thoughtfulness to complete it adequately.  Yet, many applicants begin their application only days before the deadline.  As could be expected, their applications often reflect their haste.

For organizations that have not been funded previously, we require the completion of an Initial Inquiry stage prior to the full proposal.  This step is designed to help applicants understand if a proposed request is well enough aligned with our priorities to warrant a full application. We do not want you to spend your time on a comprehensive grant application that has little chance of receiving funding. Our review of the Initial Inquiry may take up to two weeks.  We encourage prospective applicants to complete the Initial Inquiry as early as possible.

Review Our Funding Criteria and Priorities

We maintain an explanation of our funding criteria and priorities on our website for both conservation funding and assistance animals.  Please review this guidance before you begin; we make updates periodically.

Follow the Instructions

Our on-line application includes instructions for most steps.  Many common application problems can be avoided by careful attention to this guidance.

Review Your Application Carefully

We will take the time to carefully and fully review your application.  We encourage you to do the same prior to submission.  We often find inconsistent or conflicting information in submitted applications.  This causes confusion and does not reflect well on your application.

Financial Information

We review an organization’s financial information to help us understand how it is allocating its funds and its long-term financial stability. We request audited financial statements, especially for organizations with significant annual income. We also require a copy of your 990. Here are some of the issues we encounter with submitted financial information that negatively impacts our review:

• Out of date or unaudited financials.
• Unexplained swings in income or expenses.  If your financial information shows significant shifts in income or expense, provide an explanation, so we are not left wondering what is happening.
• Irrelevant financial information. For example, an annual budget for a University foundation when a department, lab, or similar unit requests funding. The same is true for national “chapter” organizations. We want to know about the department, unit, chapter or branch requesting the funds. The overall budget, board, etc. information about the parent organization is relatively unhelpful.
• Very high-level budget information.  When providing requested budget information, provide enough detail to help us know how funds are being spent. A single-page budget summary for a multi-million dollar program or project is usually not adequate.

Governance

We are more likely to fund organizations with a strong, active, and independent board.

• Many applications lack the required detail on board composition. Simply listing a board member’s external or professional affiliations does not help us understand how they add to the board’s strength.
• What skills, background, and perspectives does each person add to the board?
• How long has each person served on the board?
• Each board member's current role or committee assignments.
• Board information for a parent organization. We evaluate the board responsible for the use of the grant funds.  For a chapter of a national organization it is not as useful for us to see the board information for the national or parent organization only.
• We request recent board minutes.
• If you can provide recent board minutes, that will help us evaluate effective governance and board engagement.
• If you cannot provide recent board minutes, please explain why.

Overhead or General and Administrative Expenses

We prefer not to fund overhead or general and administrative expenses.  In cases where it is necessary, please explain.

The Grant Narrative

The grant narrative is the heart of the application. It should tell the story of who you are, why the funding is needed, and how you will use any award. As you complete the narrative be sure to include:

• An explanation of the need.
• How your proposed action addresses the need.
• Your organization’s ability to carry out the action.
• A detailed explanation of how the funds will be used to meet your objectives.
• An overview of the activities that will be undertaken and, if applicable, a timeline of those activities.

Specific Information for Those Seeking Grants for Assistance Animals

Here are some of the issues that may negatively impact assistance animal grant requests.

• Sponsor a dog. We do occasionally sponsor a service animal.  However, we consider this to be operational support.  Please do not position it as a “project.”
• Organizations that fund various types of service animals.  Our funding area is more restrictive than many definitions of “service animal.” Please review our priorities. If your organization provides animals both within and outside of our funding area please: 
• Be very clear about how the requested funds will be restricted to the requested need that is aligned with our funding priorities
• Let us know the percentage of each type of animal provided (e.g., 20% autism support, 30% therapy, 50% physical assistance).
• Include your long-term success rate for animal placements. This is especially important for less common approaches such as owner-trained animals and the use of rescued shelter animals.

Specific Information for Those Seeking Grants for Conservation and Wildlife

Land Trusts and Similar Organizations

We receive many grant applications from land trusts and similar organizations each year.  We are unlikely to fund land or easement purchases if the significance of the property is not clear.  We prefer to fund the conservation of unique or ecologically important parcels (e.g., habitat for threatened or endangered wildlife). Our goal is to aid wilderness conservation; protection for recreation purposes is unlikely to be supported.

We will carefully evaluate your ability to monitor and maintain any easements; please clarify how you will do so.

Threatened and Endangered Species

We give priority to threatened and endangered species. Here, our highest priority is globally threatened species. The IUCN Redlist is our standard for determining the global conservation status of a species.

For species that are globally stable (Least Concern or Near Threatened) but nationally, regionally, or locally threatened or endangered, it is important to explain in your proposal the importance of the species to their ecosystem(s).

Under the umbrella of threatened and endangered species, our lowest priority is sub-species.  If your request focuses on a sub-species, be sure to explain the importance of the sub-species and why it is a priority for conservation.

If your request is focused on threatenend or endangered species, please provide the scientific name (i.e., genus and species).

Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation

Wildlife rescue and rehabilitation that is not focused on threatened, endangered, or otherwise significant species is not a funding priority.

If your organization rehabilitates both significant species and wildlife in general,  please:

• Be very clear about how the requested funds will be restricted to the requested need aligned with our funding priorities.
• Let us know the percentage of each type of wildlife (e.g., 20% threatened/endangered, 80% general wildlife).

Research Focused Applications

 If you are requesting funds for research, specify the anticipated value or utility of the research results. The better we understand the potential value and impact of the research, the better we can prioritize the request.

Back to Granting