competitive donor-advised funds
Capital Project Application
Guidelines For all Deadlines
The Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation accepts grant applications for a number of local corporations and family foundations. Funding priorities and grant award sizes vary by fund. Funding priorities are determined by each donor-advisor and may include programmatic support, capital campaigns, operating support, event support and endowment campaigns.
Important Note: Under federal legislation, donor-advisors may not receive tangible benefit, goods or services as a result of a grant from their fund. This includes membership, dinners, tickets, and other benefits.
Eligibility:
- The Community Foundation accepts applications from nonprofit organizations with a 501(c)(3) status, governmental organizations, and non-501(c)(3) organizations that have completed arrangements to obtain a fiscal sponsor.
Deadlines for 2015: February 13, June 12, October 15 at 4:30 p.m.
Donor-advisors typically provide grant recommendations two or three months after the deadline, depending on donor preferences.
Frequency of Application: Typically, organizations may receive one grant from each fund in a 12-month period.
How to Apply:
- Request Grant Portal Access (for first-time applicants only)
In order to complete the online application process, nonprofits must select one person to act as the grant administrator for the organization. The grant administrator will have access to the grant portal to submit online applications, check the status of applications, review grant histories and submit final reports. To request a grant administrator, the organization leader (president, CEO, executive director or board president) must send an email to with the first and last name, title and email address of the appointed person. Within two business days, theGrants team will email both the grant administrator and the organizational leader with a username and password. Note: Organizations –do not have access to the online application portal until they have received this username and password.
Preparation:
- We encourage you to complete the answers to all of the application questions in this document before logging in to the grant portal.
- Login and Complete the Online Grant Application
- To login, go to and click User Login found in the upper right corner.
- The online application portal is open one month before the grant deadline.
- If you need assistance, please feel free to contact the Grant team at 319.774.2370 or . Please be advised to begin the application process early. The Grant team is happy to provide assistance but may have limited capacity for technical assistance on the day of the deadline.
- In the grant portal:
- Note: The “Organization Snapshot” should be updated as information changes and reviewed for accuracy at least once per year.
- Applications must be submitted by 4:30 p.m. on the day of the deadline. Please note the time stamp on the application PDF is Eastern Time, however, the deadline is calculated as Central Time.
Application Checklist:
Information: / Online Application / Required UploadsOrganization Snapshot (including Board list) / X
Proposal Narrative / X
Project Budget (form provided)
Budget forms can be downloaded on our website. Go to select “Competitive Donor-Advised Funds”, go to the bottom of the fund page, and download the required budget form(s). / X
Organization Budget (Fiscal year, 2-page maximum)
(Governmental applicants should use department budget) / X
List of Agency Certifications or Affiliations (that may be relevant to the request) / Optional
Budget Narrative (explaining unusual or uncommon circumstances, 1-page maximum) / Optional
Letters of Support (3 maximum, useful for newer projects and as evidence of collaborative activities) / Optional
Questions? Contact: Elizabeth Cwik, Program Officer, at or at 319.774.2372.
competitive donor-advised funds
Capital Project
Application Questions
Please use the following worksheet to prepare your application. Verify character counts and correct spelling and grammar before inserting answers in the online application. (Note: All character counts INCLUDE spaces). Users are encouraged to copy responses to the online portal from the worksheet below. You may not copy and paste from a PDF or from a formatted table.
Organizational Snapshot: Please note: This snapshot will be available to all Community Foundation fund holders.
Mission statement: (500 character limit)
Brief organizational history: (900 character limit)
Describe target population: (250 character limit)
Briefly describe key programs: (1500 character limit)
Number of paid employees:
What is the total dollar amount of the current fiscal year organizational budget?
Describe volunteer support within organization: (250 character limit)
What year did your organization receive your IRS 501(c)(3) letter of determination?
List Board of Director names and professional roles: (Do not copy and paste from a PDF or from a formatted table).
Pre-Qualifying Questions
Charitable status: 501(c)(3), governmental agency
Fund Selection(s)
To which donor-advised fund(s) do you wish to apply?
On this screen you are asked to click on add which will create a drop down. Select the fund and put in the amount requested, then hit save. If you are applying to additional competitive donor-advised funds, click on add and select the next fund. Continue to add as needed. If you are requesting multiple years of funding, put the total request. There will be a later screen to provide more detail.
Section 1: Proposal Summary
Organization name: (This will auto-populate from snapshot).
Proposal title:
Proposal summary: (purpose of requested funds) (900 character limit)
Total Project Budget inclusive of all funding:
Total Dollar amount requested:
Dollar amount requested in Year 1:
Dollar amount requested in Year 2 (if applicable):
Dollar amount requested in Year 3 (if applicable):
Section 2: Organization Overview
All of these fields are auto populated based on information in the Organization Snapshot. You may amend the content of the following fields for the purposes of this application.
Mission statement: (500 character limit)
Brief organizational history: (900 character limit)
Describe target population: (250 character limit)
Briefly describe key programs: (1500 character limit)
Number of paid employees:
What is the total dollar amount of the current fiscal year organizational budget?
Describe volunteer support within organization: (250 character limit)
What year did your organization receive your IRS 501(c)(3) letter of determination?
List Board of Director names and professional roles: Information in a table format with not copy successfully into the online application.
Section 3: Proposal Details
Detail reasons why donors should invest in a capital projectfor this organization. What are the organization’s strengths? What is its value to the community? (2,500 character limit)
Detail the proposal. (2000 character limit)
Outline the relevant timelines for this project: (1000 character limit)
Section 4: Project Development
How will this capital project make the organization stronger and contribute to the long-term stability of the organization? (2,500 character limit)
Describe how the space requirementshave changed or developed over time and what led to the need for a capital project. (1500 character limit)
What would be the impact of a grant award that is less than therequested amount? More? (1500 character limit)
Section 5: Organization Contact Info
This will auto populate from the Organization Contact Information in our system.
Tax ID:
Name of organization primary contact: This is the Executive Director, Board Chairperson or organization President
Address information:
Website address:
Organization phone number:
Organization fax:
Additional questions include:
Primary Contact Organizational Role: This is the Executive Director, Board Chairperson or organization President
Primary contact phone and extension:
Primary contact email:
Section 6: Submission Information and Signature
Who should we contact with questions regarding this specific application?
Application contact’s organizational role:
Application contact’s phone and extension:
Application contact’s email:
Submitter’s name/Electronic Submission Authorization
Submitter’s organizational role:
To Complete the Application: Go to Upload Documentation page shown under Applicant Dashboard
Look for the application ID of the recently submitted application and select the link for each of the required documents.
A green checkmark will verify that a document has been uploaded successfully.
The following documents are required to complete the application:
- Project budget (form provided is required). Budget forms can be downloaded on our website. Go to select “Competitive Donor-Advised Funds”, go to the bottom of the fund page, and download the required budget form(s).
- Organization budget
Financial Document templates are found within each funding opportunity page at gcrcf.org
Your application is not complete until all mandatoryrequirements are checkmarked ()
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