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How to Apply

Grant Time Table

The Great Bay Foundation accepts and evaluates grant requests, and makes award decisions, on a quarterly basis. The grant submission deadlines are:

1. October 15th
2. January 15th
3. April 15th
4. July 15th

 

Grant Evaluation Process

We recommend that interested organizations first familiarize themselves with the content provided on our website. Specifically, our “About Us,” “Funded Projects,” and “Blog” pages offer insight into our mission and funding guidelines. The website is updated frequently with information regarding new grantees, events, and initiatives.

We also recommend that interested organizations complete the Great Bay “Self-Assessment Tool,” which we’ve designed to assist organizations in gauging how well their proposed project fits our mission.

If after reviewing our website and completing the self-assessment tool you feel that your organization meets our funding criteria, we invite you to submit a 2-page narrative and 1-page financial projection spreadsheet. The following should be included in the 2-page narrative:

• A description of the 501(c)(3) organization, including its social mission.
• A description of the social entrepreneur, including a brief discussion of his/her track record.
• A description of the business venture, including a list of measurable business goals (numerical targets) for each of the next three years.
• A description of the social impact of the project, including measurable social goals (numerical targets) for each of the next three years.
• The dollar amount you are requesting and a budget for how those dollars will be allocated.

The following should be included in the 1-page financial projection spreadsheet:

• List of all Revenues projected for the business venture over each of the next three years.
• List of all Expenses projected for the business venture over each of the next three years.
• A projected profit/loss figure for each of the next three years.

Note that for projects in the planning phase it is not necessary to include three years worth of measurable business and social goals, or a financial projection spreadsheet.  Instead, please include a description of what you hope to achieve within the first year of receiving planning grant funds, as well as a discussion on your long-term vision for the business and social impacts.  

The grant request materials should be emailed to Travis Cummings at travis(at)greatbayfoundation.org, and carbon copied to Joanne Nielsen at joanne(at)greatbayfoundation.org.

We will evaluate the materials and determine whether your project is a potential fit for the Great Bay Foundation. If we deem it so, we will begin the following staged evaluation process:

• Stage 1: Phone interview with social entrepreneur.
• Stage 2: Written set of questions emailed to social entrepreneur.
• Stage 3: Additional sets of questions, if necessary.
• Stage 4: Great Bay site visit to potential grantee’s organization.
• Stage 5: Further sets of questions, if necessary.

The grant evaluation process will be conducted on a quarterly basis, and so no evaluation will take longer than three months. However, at any point in this process we may decide to decline a grant request.