Apply for a Grant

Before Getting Started
The Education and Literacy Fund provides grants for innovative, new or ongoing projects of charitable, nonprofit agencies or public charitable activities that fall within the Fund's identified grantmaking priorities. Please read all of the information on our Grantmaking page before beginning the process of applying for a grant.

Required Documents

Cover Sheet (See "Online Forms" below)

• Describe your project and how it will address the Education and Literacy Fund's identified funding priorities as stated on the Grantmaking page.
• Describe how your organization will make its project known to its target population and encourage active participation.
• Describe how your project will engage parents of the children you wish to reach.
• Describe the number of individuals that will be served by your project and other demographical information of the group to be served.
• Describe how your project is related to your organization's mission.

Funding

• What is the total cost of the project?
• What amount is requested from the Education and Literacy Fund? If the full amount of your request for funding cannot be granted, what portion of your request do you consider to be most essential?
• How will requested funds be used?
• What additional funding sources are needed, if any?

Implementation

• How will the project be implemented?
• If the project is intended to continue into the future, what provisions exist to maintain it?
• Chart the timeline for implementing the project.

Evaluation

• What outputs (direct results of activities) are necessary to classify the project a success?
• What outcomes (changes caused by the project) are necessary to classify the project a success?
• What tools will be used to evaluate the project (observation, surveys, interviews, focus groups, pre/post tests, etc.)?

Attachments
The following items are required to complete your proposal and must be labeled in the following manner:

1. Project Budget Worksheet (See "Online Forms" below)
2. Mission statement and nondiscrimination policy
3. Qualifications of project personnel 
4. Current board roster with professional affiliations
5. Copy of IRS determination letter establishing 501(c)(3) and 509(a) status (and fiscal sponsor agreement letter, if applicable)
6. Organization's current annual operating budget
7. Most recent financial statement (monthly, quarterly, etc.)
8. Most recent audited financial statement or completed IRS Form 990 (if available)

On-Line Forms
The Cover Sheet Form and the Project Budget Worksheet Form are provided below. These forms are designed to be completed on-screen and then printed (they cannot be submitted on-line and they cannot be saved for retrieval at a later time). You must have Adobe Reader to access these files (Adobe Reader is free and can be downloaded at www.adobe.com/downloads).

Cover Sheet Form
Project Budget Worksheet Form

Proposal Preparation and Deadline
The original and eleven copies of the proposal must be received by the Community Foundation Alliance no later than 5 p.m. on August 12, 2008. Use 8½ by 11 inch paper. Attach all required documents using paperclips or binderclips only (no binders or folders).

Questions should be addressed to Melinda Waldroup, program director, at 812.434.4923 or mwaldroup@alliance9.org.