Application Submission
Applications can only be submitted through the online application system. Paper, handwritten, hand-delivered, faxed, emailed, or mailed applications will not be accepted.
Guidelines
Guidelines can be your key to understanding all the rules of a grant – whether you’re eligible to apply, what the money can be spent on, how decisions are made, etc. Before beginning your application, carefully read the guidelines so you are prepared to best complete the application.
Grant Criteria & Questions
Decisions on whether to fund an application are made by a grant panel consisting of community members and these community members evaluate and score applications based on the grant criteria found in the guidelines. The application will have questions and narratives that cover a specific area related to each of the criteria. Prompts will detail what information to provide.
Specific, Clear, & Complete
Make sure you answer the questions and complete the requested information. Missing, vague, or incomplete information may hurt your chances for funding. Provide a lot of details and be specific, clear, and complete.
Simple, Direct, and Understandable
Be personable, generate enthusiasm and excitement, but remember you’re asking for grant funding and your job is to provide information in your grant application that will allow a panel to make an informed decision. Try to avoid exaggerated, over-the-top language or “grant speak” intended to impress. Use simple and understandable language. Additionally, use active voice and action words to give your application confidence.
Start Strong
Start your narratives as strong and clear as possible, making it immediately understandable what the project is about and what you’re requesting funding for. You don’t want a panelist to have to piece through different parts of the application to get a sense of what the grant is all about.
Presentation & Consistency
Use consistent language throughout your application. If you call a class a class, don’t later call it a workshop. Inconsistencies can cause confusion. Additionally, since many applicants repeat projects from year to year, it’s important to make sure you’ve updated dates and numbers to reflect the new application.
Multiple Drafts
Your first draft should only be the beginning. It’s important to work on multiple drafts of your application and have someone else review them. Often, you can think something is clear on the page when really you are subconsciously filling in missing information. You can become too close to your project and it’s important to make sure your application makes sense to someone unfamiliar with it.
Artistic Versus Entertainment
Grant panelists look for a project’s artistic and cultural merit. There’s nothing wrong with being entertained, but artists and their activities should be fully integrated and vital to your specific application.
Community
When speaking to the community that your project will benefit and impact, it’s important to specify exactly who this community is and to think about the project from their perspective. A community has a lot of definitions – it could be as large as a town or as small as a neighborhood or even a specific group of people that attend programs at your nonprofit. Defining who your community is will help inform much of your application.
Similar or Prior Funding
Support in the past does not imply or guarantee that an applicant’s project will be funded.
There is also no guarantee an applicant will receive the same funding as an applicant with a similar and/or joint project. Organizations who partner up with other organizations to do the same or similar projects should consider applying under one application.
Grant Panel Prior Knowledge
Sometimes grant panelists won’t be familiar with you or your project and it’s important your application is understandable to them. Applicants also shouldn’t assume a grant panel will read between the lines of an application. Whatever information you want reviewers to know should be included in your application.
