Nonprofits

CFNIL offers two main types of grants:

Donor Designated Funds

Donor Designated Fund Grants are annual distributions from endowment funds which were established by donors for the benefit of specific, designated organizations or activities. Depending on the parameters of the fund agreement and designated activities, these grants may be characterized as Designated With Reporting (DWR). Organizations receiving DWR grants must complete an Annual Report before receiving the next distribution.

CFNIL Competitive Grant Programs 

Organizations which have been awarded CFNIL grants via any competitive program (including Neighborhood Grants, Community Grants, In Youth We Trust Grants, and DKG Mini Grants) must complete Interim and/or Final Reports on their grant activity.

With the exception of In Youth We Trust grants, the first step in the grant application process requires you to create an account in the online grants application portal, log in to access the list of available grants, and start a new grant application. All applications must be submitted digitally via this account.

Only one user per organization should create an initial account. That initial user will be able to add additional users once they have started an application using the Collaborator tool.

The first person to register enters the organization’s information, which creates the organization profile. It’s important to enter this information accurately at registration because the organization profile can only be edited by Community Foundation staff after this point. If you are unsure whether your organization already has an account or if you need to be added to an existing account, please contact us.

At the time of registration you are required to enter the following information:

• A username that is an email address.
• Your contact information.
• Your organization’s information, including the EIN/Tax ID number.
• Contact information for the organization’s Executive Officer.
  

Once a grant is awarded, this account gives you an easy way to see the status of your grant, check due dates, and submit electronic grant reports.

Your application can be saved as a draft at any point in the process, allowing you to return to that draft, make edits, and eventually submit the application. We recommend that you back up your application in a Word or Google document.

Each grant program has unique open/close dates. Applications must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. on the close date for the cycle you’re applying for.

• The budget should include only the revenue and expenses for this proposal, not your entire organization.
• Revenue should equal or exceed expenses.
• Expense items may be combined into one line if there aren’t enough rows for all expenses. Group like items as much as possible and use the budget narrative to indicate the amounts for the component expenses.
• For "Status" choose "Received" for all income currently under your organization's control. Choose "Pledged" for sources that have been promised to your organization but not yet received. Choose "Requested" for all income sources for which your organization has applied or asked for that have not been received or pledged. Choose "Estimated" for all income that you are projecting to earn from services provided or event admissions.
• CFNIL encourages you to add up to 15% of the project costs for indirect costs. For example, if you need $10,000 from CFNIL, multiply $10,000 by 15%. $10,000 x .15 = $1,500. The indirect cost amount that would be entered on the Budget Revenue and Budget Expense tables is $1,500, and your total Request Amount will increase to $11,500.

Congratulations! You have submitted your grant application!

If you would like a paper copy of your application for your own records, log in to the application portal and choose the "Application Packet" link. This will create a PDF of your application that you can save and print.

It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure their proposal is complete. You may be prompted to clarify your proposal or submit omitted documents up to one week before the deadline. Staff will not seek clarification or the submission of omitted documents within one week of the deadline.

We are committed to a fair and objective proposal review process.

Following specific proposal review guidelines, volunteer community members review and recommend grant proposals for approval by the CFNIL Board of Trustees. CFNIL trustees, volunteers, and staff adhere to carefully considered conflict of interest and confidentiality policies throughout the review and approval process. Due to the volume of proposals considered, CFNIL cannot routinely meet with grant applicants as a part of the review process.

Grant award decisions are final. CFNIL trustees, volunteers, and staff are prohibited from discussing the details of committee deliberations with any grant applicant.

If you are working with or within a school district or providing services to school districts, such as field trips, you must complete a Pre-Authorization Form.

This form is embedded within the grant application and will be completed and submitted as part of the application process. The form asks for detailed information about the partnership between the applicant and the district, specifically the district’s role in designing the charitable activity and allocating resources toward its completion.

If you are working with or providing services for multiple school districts, enter information for the school district with which you work the most.

Grant recipients may be asked to submit several types of reports. 

Interim Reports

Applicant organizations must submit an interim report for each in-progress grant from CFNIL’s Community Grants Program even if your new application is for a different program. Each new application must include an upload of all interim reports within the online application portal. If you need to submit reports for multiple open grants, combine the reports into one document to upload. PDF format required.

Interim reports should include:

• Description of the charitable activity’s progress.
• Description of any changes to the charitable activity since approval.
• Reason that a Final Report is not being submitted.
  

Please Note: If you are applying for the same charitable activity for which you are currently being funded, it's to your advantage to provide a more detailed Interim Report so that the reviewers can understand the current impact of your charitable activity.

Annual Reports

Donor Designated Fund Grantees are required to submit Annual Reports, which must be completed by 5:00 p.m. on June 1 of each year in order to receive the next annual grant. 

To submit your Annual Report, log in to the grants portal and look for the “Active Requests” tab on the Applicant Dashboard. Find the grant record for which the report is due, and click the blue "Edit" link at the right of the row. 

Once you have opened the report, you will see two fields. If you have prepared a report outside of the system, simply upload that document. If you prefer to type the information into the text box, please do so. The second (optional) field is available if you would like additional space to enter information or to upload another document. 

Submit!

Final Reports

All grant recipients are required to submit a final report upon completion of the charitable activity for which the grant was made. Final reports will include a detailed budget explaining how the funds were used and a description of the achieved outcomes of the charitable activity. Grant recipients will be asked to compare the actual results achieved with the anticipated results given in the original proposal. 

Final reports are due approximately 14 months after approval. The online final report form will be made available soon after your grant is awarded and may be accessed via the applicant dashboard on CFNIL's online grant portal. If your organization has been awarded a multi-year grant, your organization will have to complete a progress report between funding years.