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How to Apply

   
Great Bay does not solicit grant applications from the general public. In most instances, Great Bay finds prospective grantees through networking and contacts made with existing grantees and social agencies. If it appears the social entrepreneur's work is consistent with Great Bay's mission, principles, and goals, Great Bay will invite the individual to submit a brief letter (2 pages maximum) describing the proposed project and funding needs. Great Bay staff will respond and, if it appears there might be a "fit," will visit with the individual entrepreneur to discuss the project in greater detail, and then determine whether the Foundation would entertain a formal grant request.

If Great Bay has missed you and your project, and you would like to bring what you are doing to our attention, you can send a letter (2 pages maximum and preferably by email - info@greatbayfoundation.org), setting forth your ideas, describing your project and how it addresses Great Bay’s mission and criteria.

Great Bay approaches each grant proposal it considers as a potential investment. We evaluate the proposal based upon its business risks and weigh those risks against the proposed investment Great Bay is being asked to make. The return we seek is two-fold: 1. the success of the program in becoming self-sufficient; and 2. the success of the individuals who are the ultimate focus of the program in becoming more self-reliant.

Great Bay makes grants of up to $150,000 to increase the revenue generating capacity of non-profit enterprises. The recipient of a Great Bay grant may be an existing or startup enterprise. It must have other sources of income to the extent not funded by a Great Bay grant, and a plan on how it will become self-sustaining over time. Where appropriate, and at its discretion, Great Bay will consider providing the resources to enable a grant recipient to obtain management support and consultants.

Great Bay makes grants for one year at a time. In appropriate circumstances, Great Bay will commit funds for more than one year, and in amounts sufficient to provide significant funding to social entrepreneurial efforts.

Great Bay favors simple approaches with specific outcomes rather than global results. Ideally, solutions should come from those experiencing the conditions or problems. We support efforts of individuals and organizations that take principled, pragmatic approaches. We are solution oriented. We ask these questions of each potential grantee: "What will be different in a year as a result of the grant? Will the grant allow the grant recipient to make progress and change its circumstances so that it will be less dependent on grants to continue with its project? Will the grant recipient need to replace our grant with a similar one, or will the grant recipient be on its way to self sufficiency for the project we have funded?" If the answers indicate that the grant recipient will be in the same place, having made little or no progress on the way toward program self-sufficiency, then a grant is unlikely.

On the other hand, if Great Bay made a grant in the first year and the grantee took action and made progress towards its goals, then Great Bay would consider making additional support available in the following year.

Multi-Year Grants and Technical Support

After the initial one-year grant award, Great Bay may make additional grant money and resources available to grantees.  We weigh each subsequent grant commitment very carefully.  We do not want to limit our grantee’s creativity by making him “follow the money” which Great Bay provides.

Over the course of the last few years we have become familiar with the business challenges and problems faced by many of the non-profits we fund.  Oftentimes we see solutions, or think we see solutions, to problems our grantees face, but we restrain from offering “the answer” because we do not wish to supplant our entrepreneurs’ ideas. We do not attempt to override their judgment with ours, nor do we want to be responsible for the success or failure of our grantees’ initiatives. We learned very early in the foundation business that: we are deferred to; we never tell a bad joke; and we are always deemed wise, witty, or insightful in our pronouncements simply because we have the money.

We do not tell grantees to use a particular resource, be it consultant or expert, or to go in a particular direction. We expect our grantees to ask for help, if they need it.  The grantee is responsible for achieving his stated goals, not us. Accordingly, when our non-profit entrepreneurs ask a question of us, we are not overly directive or suggestive. We never assume that we have all the answers or know more than our grantees about their businesses.  We bet on the entrepreneurs’ and their skills and knowledge.   When we fund ventures for more than one year, it is because they need our financial support for longer than one year.

The non-profit ventures Great Bay supports often take more than one year to get off the ground, and longer to become self-sustaining.  For example, Maine Woodworks took 11 years and Hannah Grimes Marketplace took four years to get to breakeven.  For-profit businesses usually take two or three years to get on a good footing, to reach breakeven, or to become profitable.  And, this is with the profit-motive incentive as well as access to investors’ capital working for the business.  

A for-profit entrepreneur can sell part of his business to new investors.  He has access to new capital and can appeal to the investors’ profit motive.  A for-profit entrepreneur may go through several rounds of capital infusions and still fail. Without access to capital infusions non-profit ventures find it difficult, if not impossible, to break through to the critical mass they need to survive.  If the non-profit venture does survive, it needs additional working capital to survive and grow.  

Moreover, in for-profit business, it often takes a year or longer for an entrepreneur to find out that his venture just won’t work as he had thought.  Access to capital gives the entrepreneur time to fail, rethink, and a chance to change what he is doing and to try again.  The for-profit entrepreneur  has capital resources or is out in the marketplace seeking new investors or loans.

After a year the non-profit entrepreneur has valuable lessons learned that he can put to good use, but often he’s now used all his cash and has lost his opportunity. Unfortunately the lessons came at a cost: a grant used up, resources – many of which were donated - expended, and loss of appeal to grantors. His project is just not ”sexy” enough for grantors to back:  they, the individual and his project, are perceived as losers in the increasingly competitive non-profit funding arena. If his was a for-profit venture he  would  now be in the stage of re-thinking and changing--using lessons he has learned from his failures or missteps.  He’s learned what resources are available and not, things or approaches that work and don’t; he’s learned where to go for things, help, etc., and he has a better idea of what he needs on the next step on the road to success.

Great Bay can provide non-profits with the capital, both start-up and working capital, that for-profit entrepreneurs would get from investors.  It expects entrepreneurs to suffer setbacks, and, under certain conditions, will continue to support them through the lean times as they strive to succeed.

When Great Bay considers a grant, it looks to see if an identifiable entrepreneur is responsible for the venture, and if he has a clear idea about where the organization must go.  It looks for someone with a track record of entrepreneurial enterprises, of getting a venture off the ground.  Once the entrepreneur is identified, Great Bay assesses the practicality and potential of his venture.

After the grant is made, Great Bay looks for progress towards the business and social goals set forth by the entrepreneur. Great Bay expects entrepreneurs to do what they say they intend to do.   It strives not to direct or to encourage the entrepreneur in any particular fashion with respect to those goals.  It expects the entrepreneur to figure out how to accomplish his goals and do it.

Great Bay does not direct or tell entrepreneurs what they must do to receive further funding. If it appears the venture is making progress towards the entrepreneur’s goals or the entrepreneur explains the difficulties which have impeded progress and he comes up with what seems to be a plan of how he is going to succeed, Great Bay will consider renewed funding.

Further, if a grantee is having trouble, Great Bay may provide help through its various, non-monetary resources. It expects the entrepreneur to ask for help if he needs it.  Just as the entrepreneur tries to help individuals become self-reliant by the acquisition of training, skills, education etc, so we provide support to entrepreneurs to acquire the skills to run their businesses and to be economically self-sustaining.  We have, for example,  provided funding for business consultants, process mapping, marketing, architectural planning, business planning, feasibility studies, etc.

We at Great Bay expect it to take more than one year for most businesses to get off the ground. We do not expect those whom we fund to have all the answers. We expect those who need it to ask for help or technical assistance.  And, in appropriate circumstances, we expect businesses to need infusions of cash over multiple years and we make them.