FUNDING CYCLES
The Foundation for Louisiana’s Board of Directors meets four times a year to consider proposals. Requests received after any deadline will be considered in the next cycle. Although the grants meeting/decision dates may change due to board members’ availability, the typical grant cycle is as follows:
Letter of Interest and Proposal Timeline
|
Grant Funding/Initiative Announcement |
Letter of Interest Submitted by: |
Final Proposal Received by: |
Staff Review Deadline |
Board Decisions Made by: |
|
July 1, 2011 |
Aug. 15, 2011 |
Sept. 15, 2011 |
Oct. 1, 2011 |
Nov.10, 2011 |
ELIGIBILITY
Foundation for Louisiana welcomes requests for funding from organizations that meet the criteria below.
Valid tax-exempt status - The Foundation for Louisiana makes grants to organizations that are exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and are classified as "not a private foundation" under Section 509(a). Grants may also be made to support independent projects that have a qualified tax-exempt fiscal sponsor.
Provide service to residents of Louisiana - Projects must primarily benefit residents, small businesses or institutions of the state of Louisiana
No overlapping grants - The Foundation for Louisiana does not award multiple or overlapping grants to the same organization within the same program area. Grantees with outstanding final reports shall be considered in an active grant cycle and will ineligible to apply for a grant until final close-out is completed.
Note on continuing support: All organizations will be eligible to apply for funding in the first round of grantmaking under the new guidelines.
Audit requirement- Foundation for Louisiana requires that any applicant with an annual budget of over $750,000 provide audited financial statements. Organizations with annual budgets between $250,000 and $750,000 are required to provide financial statements that have been formally reviewed by an auditor. Organizations with budgets below $250,000 must provide a copy of the most recently filed IRS Form 990. If your project is fiscally sponsored, the fiscal sponsor must meet the audit requirement. The philanthropic field has adopted the term fiscal sponsor to refer to permissible relationships between a potential grantee and non-exempt organization/project.
Disaster Continuity Plan - The Foundation shall require grantees to have a Disaster Continuity Plan in place, or under development.
Grant Restrictions
Exclusions: The Foundation for Louisiana is UNABLE TO FUND:
- Individuals
- Sponsorship of events
- Capital campaigns
- Organizations that discriminate or otherwise restrict participation on the basis of ethnicity, lifestyle, gender, age, or religion
- Soliciting or proselytizing
- General operating expenses
- Reimbursable or duplicative expenses
APPLICATION PROCESS
Letters of Interest
Letters of interests for grant funding are accepted and reviewed on a biannual basis (see timeline below for specific details). If you believe your charitable organization has a proposed project that fits within the Foundation’s program areas and meets the funding criteria stated above, please submit a letter of interest that includes the following:
- Your organization’s history and goals, the title of the project you have in mind and the purpose of the project
- A brief statement of the issues to be addressed and your organization's involvement with these issues
- A summary of the activities for which you are requesting support, including an outline of your objectives and anticipated outcomes and impact
- The approximate start date and duration of the activities that the funding will cover
- The total amount of funding needed, the amount requested from the Foundation for Louisiana, and information about other sources of support, both assured and requested
Letters are limited to two pages and must be submitted in 12 point font with standard 1-inch margins. You must also submit the organization’s 501 (c) (3) determination. Faxed requests will not be considered.
The Letter of Interest should also include a cover page with the following information:
Date Name of Organization Point of Contact
Mailing Address Email Phone Fax Amount Requested
Project Budget
Organization Budget
Please submit Letters of Interest to loi@foundationforlouisiana.org
Please submit your questions to info@foundationforlouisiana.org
Organizations will be notified if a full proposal will be invited within approximately four (4) weeks of the closing date for receipt of Letters of Interest.
Full Proposals
Following review of the Letter of Interest, Foundation for Louisiana program staff may invite submission of a full proposal. The purpose of the full proposal is to provide the prospective grantee an opportunity to make a strong, detailed case for support. Program staff may contact the applicant for additional information or schedule site visits as part of the review of a full proposal.
Foundation for Louisiana is committed to treating applicants with courtesy and respect. Staff members are sensitive to varying levels of experience in completing applications and encourage applicants to contact our staff if they are in need of assistance.
Required Attachments
If your proposal is invited, you will be asked to submit the following supporting documents along with your proposal:
- Most recent audited financial statement
- IRS determination letter
- Most recent IRS 990 form
- Board resolution
- Board of directors and key staff list
- Itemized project budget
UNSOLICITED FULL PROPOSALS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED
Please submit full proposals to proposals@foundationforlouisiana.org
Please submit your questions to info@foundationforlouisiana.org
PROPOSAL REVIEW PROCESS
Proposal Evaluation Criteria and Award Determination
The Program staff evaluates the Letters of Interest and proposals to ensure that the proposed project or program indeed is a fit with the Foundation’s mission, program goals and objectives
Submissions shall be assessed as competitive if they:
- Are in line with at least one of Foundation for Louisiana’s program areas
- Are collaborative in nature and bring public and private partners together with nonprofit organizations
- Are concrete, practical and impactful
- Include both well-tested models that can be scaled up or expanded regionally or statewide while maintaining local relevance, and new pilots that, if successful, can be grown and replicated
Submissions are not likely to be found competitive if they fail to demonstrate:
- Knowledge of the sector and its trends
- Clarity of project rationale and strategy
- Clarity in identifying target populations to be reached and justification for that focus
- Benchmarks for measuring progress
Final award determinations will be based on the strength of the proposal, as well as diversity in the program areas funded and regional distribution of grant awards. Following review of a full proposal, program staff will make a recommendation to the Foundation for Louisiana’s CEO to fund or to decline to fund the proposal. The Board of Directors approves grants recommendations at its board meeting.