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| Current Trends in Foundation Giving |
| After 2001, many foundations began to reassess their grant making in light of lower expected income or drastically reduced assets, and at the same time the U.S. saw a rash of non-profit mismanagement scandals. While not as dramatic as those in corporate America, the impact of these developments on foundations has been to alter business-as-usual in several ways: many foundations are re-evaluating program areas, reconsidering internal processes for deciding which grants to fund, formalizing reporting requirements, and demanding more rigorous evaluations from grantees. |
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In the process of this reform, many foundations have tightened their guidelines and refocused or narrowed their giving (sometimes away from higher education). They increasingly ask the following questions:
- How does this grant help us to meet our goals?
- Is this the best investment in this grant-making area?
- Does it provide the best “bang for the buck” available?
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| The results of these changes are that while there are more foundations than ever in the history of the U.S., these foundations are more tightly focused on their priorities, and they have higher expectations of their grantees when they give their money. |
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| Getting Started |
| Since foundations, by IRS definition, are non-profit, mission-driven entities and they seek to make a difference in society (whether at the grass-roots level or via policy change), the best possible scenario is for an academic project or program to help achieve the foundation’s own goals. |
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| One way to think about foundations is that most are seeking to address a specific set of unmet needs and your proposed project should be presented as the best method by which they may attain this end. Therefore, while a project may seem extraordinary in concept to you, the applicant, in order to be funded, it must also fulfill the needs of the funder. |
| What to do Before Identifying Funders: |
| A faculty or staff member should have a very clear understanding of what is planned: What do you want to get done? Why? How long will it take? Who will do it? How much will it cost? A brief written description will help you think through the plan and to identify the resources needed. |
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| What Type of Funder to Approach? |
| Foundations, corporations, and individuals all support different things. Generally speaking, foundations fund a wide range of projects and programs. Corporations fund efforts that provide tangible returns to them. Individuals contribute to programs and operating funds, to endowment and bricks and mortar. |
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| Of course, there are always exceptions, so even if you have identified a funder you want to approach, the next step should be to seek out more information and good advice. Visit the funder’s website, and carefully review its grant-making philosophy. Look for deadlines, application guidelines, and for recent grant descriptions. You should begin to be able to answer the question of whether your project fits well with this particular funder’s areas of interest. If it is not a close fit, applying anyway will not increase your chances of being funded and may very well annoy the funder. |
| Who Can Help? |
| Talking with colleagues, the Office of Corporate Foundation Relations, The Office of Sponsored Programs, and administrators may help you to narrow your search to a group of funders, or to identify a specific funder to review. Keeping your departmental chair appraised of your fundraising plans provides both an opportunity to tap that individual’s personal experience and also allows you to measure the institutional support you may receive for your project. |
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| Many funders require letters of support or financial commitments from the university and these are best sought early in the process. For a more nuanced understanding of a potential funder, actual experience is best. A brief straightforward conversation with someone in the Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations should clarify what assistance you can expect and what procedures you should follow. |
| While each foundation will have its own operating procedures, many foundation program officers now prefer to have a conversation early in the process – both to fend off proposals that have no chance of being funded (wasting the time and energy of both applicant and grant-making staff) and to provide an opportunity for advice and assistance in shaping the particular request. Additionally, many foundation program officers and corporate liaisons prefer to maintain communication with one entity on campus, most likely someone in the Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations. Please consult with the Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations prior to contacting a potential corporate or foundation funder. |
| While the board of trustees of the foundation usually makes final funding decisions, foundation staff actively seeks out the best projects to meet the foundation’s own goals, and it is in their best interest to present well thought out, well written, feasible, and focused proposals. |
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| MSU Pre-Proposal Procedures |
| BEFORE Contacting a Funder (FOR FACULTY & DEVELOPMENT OFFICERS) |
| Before contacting a foundation please make sure to contact the Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations (tweller@montana.edu or 406.994.2522) to ensure that your efforts are coordinated with other ongoing approaches by MSU. |
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| AFTER Contacting a Funder (FOR DEVELOPMENT OFFICERS) |
| After contacting a funder, PLEASE enter a new activity comment on the database that concisely describes your activity with the funder, including each of the following: 1) the name and title of the person contacted, 2) the nature and basic content of the interaction, and 3) the next step in developing this relationship that will be acted on and entered. |
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| Submitting a Proposal |
| Preparing the Proposal |
| Carefully review any guidelines provided by the funder, consider who your audience will be (it may range from an expert panel to a group of educated generalists or business people), then write clearly and with the assumption that at least some portion of your proposal will be read by non-experts. |
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| Most proposals should include an executive summary, background of the institution and project, a discussion of why the project should be pursued (taking into account its value to society, to academe or your department, to some set of constituents, and to the mission of the funder), methodology, a description of what will take place and who will carry out the work, a set of expectations and how they will be evaluated, a timeline, and a budget. |
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| Timing and Negotiation with the Funders |
| Foundations have nearly as many variations in their grant making cycles as there are foundations. In deciding to approach a funder, after you have ascertained a good fit with your project, you will want to learn more about that particular funder’s decision-making time line. Some funders have a single review cycle each year, others have quarterly or on-going review processes. Some proposals are reviewed at several stages and applicants may be required to revise and resubmit the proposal or to answer lengthy questions. Some funders allow program officers to approve small grants at their own discretion and some require full board approval for any grant. The time period for the project should take into consideration the length of the funder’s review process and the timing of receipt of funds if a grant is awarded. |
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| A foundation may request changes in a proposal or budget. The funder is seeking to meet its mission through your project, and they may have a slightly different perspective on the objective and strategy. A spirit of collaboration may result in modifications that better suit the funder yet do not detract from your larger vision of the project’s impact. Be open to some adjustment but also consider carefully if the changes would so alter your project that it no longer meets your needs as a scholar. It is better to withdraw a proposal than to accept a grant if you are not able to fulfill its requirements, potentially damaging not only your own relationship with the funder, but MSU’s longer-term relationship. |
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| If Your Proposal is Accepted |
| What if Your Proposal is Accepted? |
| Be sure the Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations receives a copy of the award letter if the funds will be processed at the MSU Foundation. |
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| Reporting and Stewardship |
| The Principal Investigator is responsible for preparing any narrative report and for working with the Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations in coordinating submission of the report in a timely manner. Any significant changes to the original grant agreement, such as a change in leadership or major delays, should be communicated to the funder as soon as possible. Contact the Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations for advice in these negotiations. |
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| If Your Proposal is Rejected |
| What If Your Proposal is Rejected? |
| Most funders receive many more applications than they can accept; the acceptance rate of unsolicited proposals for a major foundation like Ford Foundation may be as low as 5%. The closer the fit between project and foundation mission, the better the chance the project has of being funded, but there may be other reasons for rejection. |
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| Don’t be discouraged. Grant seekers who are very successful in obtaining external funding do not receive every grant they seek, and building a good track record at a low dollar level may well lead to greater success in the future. |
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| Checklist for Development Officers/Faculty: |
- Confirm department/dean approval for project
- Identify funder(s)
- Review each funder’s website for guidelines and limitations
- Check with Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations for other activity and to check for coordination issues
- Follow Preproposal and Proposal Guidelines
- Include overhead/indirect costs; MSU Foundation fee if funder allows
- If funder requires cost-sharing, contact the Office of Sponsored Programs
- Inform CFR when funder responds
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