Grant Cycles
The Community Foundation of Lorain County (CFLC) seeks to improve the quality of life in Lorain County. Founded in 1980, CFLC comprises more than 500 endowment funds. Each grant is valued as an investment in our community.
CFLC and our Affiliate Funds have a total of eight grant cycles and one scholarship grant cycle. Grant application deadlines are:
Grant Cycle / Application Deadline / Board DecisionGeneral / February 1 / 3rd Wed. in July
General / July 1 / 3rd Wed. in December
African American Fund / November 15 / Late January
Hispanic Fund / July 15 / Late August
Women’s Fund / Oct. 1 / Mid-December
Youth Fund (grants for teachers) / February 1 / 3rd Sunday in May
Fund for Huron County / March 1 / Mid-June
Fund for Huron County (grants for teachers) / November 1 / Mid-December
Applications must be postmarked or hand-delivered to the Foundation office by 5 p.m. on or before these dates. If the application deadline falls on a weekend, then the deadline will be the next business day. The Foundation closes at 5 p.m.
The attached grant application forms pertain only to the general grant cycle. Guidelines for the African American Fund, Hispanic Fund, Women’s Fund, Youth Fund, and the Fund for Huron County are available through www.peoplewhocare.org or through a telephone call to the office.
Always confirm deadlines annually.
GRANT GUIDELINES
General Grant Cycle
Grant Priorities
The Community Foundation is very concerned about accountability and sustainability of programs. Organizations should have a diversified funding base. The Community Foundation is interested in innovative programs, partnerships, and collaborative efforts that are responsive to community needs. Lower priority is given to capital and equipment requests, services required by state law, and duplication of existing services.
Eligibility
Grant seekers may only apply for one project per year. Organizations must be located in or provide services to residents within Lorain County. Grant seekers outside Lorain County must provide information on the number of Lorain County residents served and a detailed budget for Lorain County activities. Grants will only be awarded to tax-exempt organizations classified as 501(c)(3) charities by the Internal Revenue Service. If your organization does not itself have a tax-exempt ruling from the IRS, it can obtain a grant through a qualified fiscal sponsor (see the Fiscal Sponsor Information form).
Restrictions
Reporting requirements from prior grants must be fulfilled before applying again. (Grant report forms are available at our website.) Grants will not be made to individuals, for-profit businesses, or political campaigns. Grants will not be made for debt reduction, loans, tickets for benefits, annual appeals, or religious activities.
Application Procedure
Fill in the attached application forms, attach the proposal narrative and required supporting materials. Incomplete applications may result in your grant application being declined or deferred to another grant cycle.
CFLC Application Checklist: Have you attached all the materials?
Send 2 copies of the following materials (1 original and 1 copy):
r A cover letter signed by the board president and executive director.
r Application forms. (Fill out the forms and place these immediately behind the cover letter).
r Narrative (number your pages, double spaced, 12 point font or larger, no limit to the number of pages). Include the organization’s history, and all the services and constituents served. Describe the proposed program, e.g., needs assessment (reference sources of data), precipitating factors, goals and objectives, methodology, time line, project outcomes, and funding secured. How does this proposal fit with your mission? Describe your organizational capacity to carry out the project (examples: job descriptions, staff qualifications, best practices), collaboration (documented by letters of support or memorandums of understanding), community impact, outcome measurements and sustainability. How many people will your program serve? What impact will we see in their lives? What behaviors will your program directly affect? Please provide a baseline of behaviors that you expect your program to directly impact. How will the program’s effectiveness be monitored, evaluated and measured? If this is an educational program, how does your program align with Ohio Department of Education standards? If there is an existing program in the community that provides the same services, what makes your program unique?
r For grant proposals requesting support for a specific program: please provide a detailed projected program budget including a budget narrative. Is this a new program? If not, please provide outcomes for previous efforts. Have you applied for other funding, or received any monies for this project? How will you secure future funding?
r Demonstrate impact of prior grants / projects. Who will you help? What will you do? What will you change? How will you measure changes? Example, how many people did your program serve and what did they accomplish? Or how did you change each person’s life? Please give exact numbers and not percentages in describing client outcomes.
Required for ALL Grant Proposals (requests for programs or general operating support)
On a one-page spreadsheet, show the following statements:
r Profit and loss comparisons for 3 years: Itemize the sources of funding, e.g., government (federal/state/county/city), program fees (separate programs), individual donations, corporate contributions, board contributions, foundation grants (list each foundation), federated campaigns, endowment, fundraisers (list each one), etc.
r A projected general operating budget for the current fiscal year.
r Year to date financials.
r Budget narrative: The budget narrative should explain line item terms that are not obvious, for example, “Professional” or “Miscellaneous.” Also explain any significant changes in your profit and loss statement.
r If you are requesting a grant for a specific program, please send a separate program budget.
r Please send a printed copy with your grant proposal AND e-mail this spreadsheet in Excel format to . Put the name of your organization in the subject line.
r List of current board members. (Indicate any members who are paid staff.) How often does your board meet? Does 100 percent of your board contribute financially?
r Brochures, and newspaper articles about your agency. Newspaper articles should have a date.
r Support letters should be sent with your application packet. Do NOT send your letters separately.
Send 1 copy of the following materials:
r Most recent audit (full copy with notes) and a copy of the Management Letter.
r Most recent Annual Report.
r For new grant seekers: IRS tax-exempt letter.
Please do NOT put your grant application materials in folders or plastic sleeves.
Do not e-mail your grant application (except for the financial materials).
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF LORAIN COUNTY
DESCRIPTION OF ORGANIZATION
Organization Name
Agency EIN
Address
Executive Director (Title if different)
Phone Number ext:
E-mail Address
Current annual organizational operating budget (expenses)
What is your fiscal year? (e.g., July to June)
Number of staff in the organization (how many full and part-time)
List your organization’s major programs and number of clients served. (Define units of services provided.) Please complete the section below even if you have attached your most recent annual report. Attach a separate sheet if necessary. Refer to the examples in the 2 lines below.
Name of Program / # of Clients Served (unduplicated) / # of Encounters / VisitsExample: Food pantry / 1 family / 3 people / 12 times a year
Example: Food pantry / 200 families / 600 people / 2400 people served
If your organization provides services at more than one location, please list them:
Fiscal sponsor (if your organization is not a 501(c)(3))
· Refer to and complete the Fiscal Sponsor’s Information form.
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF LORAIN COUNTY
FISCAL SPONSOR’S INFORMATION
(Revised July 2012)
If a grant seeker does not have a 501(c)3 tax-exempt status as approved by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Community Foundation of Lorain County will consider applications from a Fiscal Sponsor, with a 501(c)3 tax-exempt status as approved by the IRS. If the grant is approved, the grant will be made payable to the Fiscal Sponsor as the tax-exempt organization representing the grant seeker. As Fiscal Sponsor, the organization assumes fiduciary responsibilities for this project as though it were a project of the Fiscal Sponsor. We expect the Fiscal Sponsor to provide fiscal oversight, by verifying all expenses before reimbursing the grant seeker.
Name of the organization:
Address:
Executive Director:
Telephone number:
E-mail address:
The Fiscal Sponsor must send in the following attachments:
1. On agency letterhead, letter signed by the Executive Director and Board President indicating the following information.
Willingness to administer the grant if awarded.
Duration of time and nature of the cooperative relationship between the entities.
List services and frequency that the fiscal sponsor will provide to the grant seeker, e.g., bookkeeping, payroll, benefits, space, grant reporting, reports to the IRS, etc.
Fees for services charged by the Fiscal Sponsor to the grant seeker.
2. Copy of Minutes from Board meeting approving the fiscal sponsor relationship.
3. List of Board members.
3. Copy of the Fiscal Sponsor’s IRS letter indicating 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.
4. Copy of current operating budget including year-to-date financial information.
5. Copy of the most recent Form 990 filed with the IRS.
6. Copy of annual report.
7. Copy of the financial audit.
8. If the grant is awarded, it will be the Fiscal Sponsor’s responsibility to ensure that all reports and submissions are provided in a timely manner to The Community Foundation. (Reporting dates will be on the Terms of the Grant Award.)
Fiscal sponsors and grant seekers must sign below indicating that they have read this list of requirements.
Fiscal sponsor Grant seeker
Date Date
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF LORAIN COUNTY
PROPOSAL SUMMARY
Organization Docket (CFLC)
Executive Director
E-mail Tel. # and ext:
Contact person and title
E-mail Tel. # and ext:
Project title
Amount requested Total budget of the project
In the space below, summarize your proposal (Executive Summary). If necessary, add one more sheet.
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF LORAIN COUNTY
PROJECT BUDGET
Organization Docket (CFLC)
Project Title Grant Request
Item
List personnel first and then non-personnel items. / $ requested from CFLC(Column A) / $ from
other
funders
Example:
ABC Foundation
$10,000
(Column B) / Amount budgeted
from your agency
(Column C) / Total
proposed
budget
(Add Columns A+B+C)
TOTAL
o Did you attach a budget narrative? The budget narrative describes each line item. Examples: (a) Staff: The narrative should state percentage of the staff position’s time and salary, or state how many hours the part-time Coordinator works per week. (b) Supplies should include a detailed list. (c) Staff development should include programs and costs.
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF LORAIN COUNTY
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Organization Date
Project Title
Project Goal
Where appropriate, include your assumptions in parentheses. CFLC Docket #
Precipitating Factors /Resources
/Activities
/Outputs
/ Short & Intermediate Outcomes /Impact
Background and research: / In order to accomplish our set of activities, we need the following: / In order to address this issue, we will perform the following activities: / We expect that the activities will produce the following service deliveries: / We expect that the activities will lead to the following changes in 1 to 2 years: / Changes in 3 to 5 years: