It is that wonderful time of year as we open the annual Fall Community Grants Program and begin the process of our largest cycle of grant review.
It is that wonderful time of year as we open the annual Fall Community Grants Program and begin the process of our largest cycle of grant review. Our volunteer Grants Committee, composed of nine community members, will convene during October and November to discuss, evaluate and select those that most closely align with our guidelines.
We recognize the investment on the part of nonprofits to meet the information requirements of various funders.
In that spirit, we have made a few changes that we hope will save time while still giving us the information we need:
- Several of our long-term grantees were notified last spring of a “fast track” application. (You know who you are!) This pilot may be expanded in the future.
- The Financial Trend Report is being replaced by a Guidestar report that we will download ourselves, presenting five years of information directly from grantee 990s.
- The format for presenting your organization budget is now optional – applicants may use ours, or their own version.
All of these are detailed in the application instructions. And discussed at the August Information Sessions.
In the meantime, and as always, our program officers stand ready to assist with all aspects of the grant review process.
We are committed to continuous improvement and will be eager to hear your feedback in order to assess how we are doing as an effective grantmaker.
