We hope that the information here will assist you in understanding our granting priorities, and in avoiding common pitfalls.
About Our Process
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 primarily 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.
Every grant is reviewed and discussed by the trustees and funding decisions are made in the Fall.
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? What skills do board members bring to the organization? Is the board independent? Is the board is effective and engaged?
- Is the organization financially responsible and sustainable? We ask for audited financial statements and the organization’s 990 to help us understand both how funds are being expended 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 prefer to fund impactful projects over ongoing programs, and rarely provide operational funding.
General Information for All Applicants
Create an Organization Profile
Our on-line application system requires you to apply on behalf of an organization. This will allow you to add other users to collaborate on applications. It will also allow you to specify multiple administrators who can receive important emails about your application.
Start Early!
For organizations that have not been funded in the last three grant cycles, we require an Initial Inquiry prior to the full proposal. This step is designed to ensure 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.
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 follow up conversations.
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.
The Specific Details of Your Request
As we review your request we will be looking for:
- 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.
Applications that are not clear on these points are unlikely to receive funding.
Financial Information Requirements
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. Things we look for include:
- Up-To-Date Financial Information. Budgets, audits, and 990s should be complete and the most recent available. If your organization is not required to undertake an audit in your state, please upload a note explaining this instead.
- Financial Information for the Organization Doing the Work. For example, an annual budget for a University foundation is unhelpful when a department, lab, or similar unit requests funding. The same is true for national organizations with local chapters, or international groups with a US fundraising arm. We want to know about the body actually requesting the funds and doing the work. The overall budget information for the parent organization is relatively unhelpful.
- Detailed Budgets. Budgets should include breakdown of functional expense.
- This should show categories of expense (such as salaries) divided across categories such as programs, management, fundraising, etc.
- Budgets with a single line for e.g. “salaries” are insufficient.
- A single-page budget summary for a multi-million dollar program or project is usually not adequate.
- Explanations of Swings in Revenue or Expenses. If your financial documents show large swings in either revenue or expenses year to year, (e.g. from bequests, capital campaign, land acquisition, etc) please provide an explanation.
Governance Information Requirements
We are more likely to fund organizations with a strong, active, engaged, and independent board.
- We look for detailed information on board composition. In order to understand how each board member contributes to the board, we want to see more than their external or professional affiliations.
- 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 and/or committee assignments.
- Provide Board information for the organization doing the work. 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. For the US fundraising arm of an international organization, please provide the information that will help us evaluate the organization responsible for carrying out the proposed project.
- We require recent approved board minutes. Providing recent approved board minutes will help us evaluate effective governance and board engagement. You may redact sensitive discussions in the minutes if needed.
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.
For Those Seeking Grants for Assistance Animals
- We do occasionally sponsor a service animal. However, we consider this to be operational support, and so these requests are a lower priority for us.
- 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% PTSD, 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.
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 conservation 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. Please explain what activities will be permitted under your conservation plan. Protection for primarily recreational 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 threatened 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 will not be considered for funding.
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.