Our Process

Letter of Inquiry

After reviewing our basic requirements, the first step for an organization interested in applying for a grant is to send the Foundation a one-to-three-page Letter of Inquiry (LOI), containing the following information:

• Legal organization name, mailing address and 501c3 Tax ID number of the organization/fiscal sponsor
• Contact information (name, title, phone number and email address) for the person who can best answer questions about the LOI
• Brief description of organization including mission, population served, scope of activities and current organizational budget
• Brief description of the proposed project for which funding is sought
• Total cost of the proposed project, any funds already committed, the fundraising gap and the amount of the request
• Timeline over which funding is needed, and overall timeline of the project

The LOI should be on official letterhead, signed by the Chief Executive Officer/Executive Director and submitted via e-mail to info@france-merrickfdn.org

We accept LOIs on a rolling basis and encourage organizations to send them anytime. Foundation staff acknowledge letters within 24 hours if received on a business day.  We communicate decisions about smaller requests (under $50,000) on a monthly basis and wait until after the LOI closing date listed below to make decisions about inviting proposals over $50,000. Applicants will be notified within 10 days of the closing date as to whether or not a proposal will be invited.  Due to limited resources, we cannot request proposals from all inquiries that meet our criteria. Organizations with requests that are clearly not a fit with our priorities, style of funding, geographical preferences or other reasons may hear from us before the decision closing dates so that they can more quickly look for alternative funding.

Timeline for requests for $50,000 and under:

Timeline for requests for over $50,000:

Proposal

Organizations that receive a proposal invitation and guidelines have approximately one month to prepare and submit a proposal. As general practice, we request project budgets, organizational budgets, board lists and audits as part of our application. A program officer is assigned to each proposal and follows up to ensure that our process is clear and that we fully understand each request, which frequently requires a site visit to better appreciate the organization and need addressed in the proposal. Following this review, grant requests are presented for consideration to the Grants Committee.  Proposals for over $50,000 go on to our Board of Directors, which meets four times each year.

Post-Grant Process

Organizations that receive a grant must sign an agreement that outlines the terms of the grant, including reporting requirements and payment schedule. Payments are made within one month of signed agreements. Final reports are generally due one year after the final payment date. Per Foundation policy, new funding requests may only be submitted after completing a two-year waiting period from the final payment date of a previous grant.