Information for Grant Seekers
The Idaho Women's Charitable Foundation funds nonprofit 501(c)3 organizations serving southwestern Idaho (specifically the counties corresponding to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare Regions 3 and 4).
Selection Criteria
Nonprofits interested in making the Grant Committee aware of their work are invited to submit a letter of inquiry (LOI). LOIs must be received by December 1 for consideration in the following years grant cycle. IWCF funds projects that address at least one of the following criteria:
- addresses a critical or immediate community need
- supports the start-up of a new charitable venture
- creates an innovative approach to time-worn problems.
Under these criteria, requests for operating funds, scholarships, capital/building campaign contributions or endowment donations will probably not be rated very high if submitted as stand-alone projects. Please read the Letter of Inquiry form for more details on acceptable projects.
Areas of Interest
The Idaho Women's Charitable Foundation funds in the following interest areas: Cultural Arts, Financial Security, Education, Environment and Health; and may add new areas of interest deemed appropriate by the membership.
Cultural Arts -- Includes arts education programs for children, teens, adults and at-risk individuals, support for emerging or established arts groups. May include services such as arts classes for at-risk individuals, therapeutic arts programs for the disadvantaged/disabled, support for arts outreach programs, etc.
Financial Security -- Includes issues of poverty, homelessness, housing, self-sufficiency. May include services such as information and referral, work/job training, food/clothing collection/distribution, homeless shelters, transitional housing, financial assistance, case management/mentoring.
Education -- Includes the spectrum from infants to adults with issues such as early learning, literacy, public and private K-12, affordability/accessibility. May include services such as after school programs, mentoring, childcare/pre-school, teen programs, adult programs, parenting programs.
Environment -- Includes environmental issues (flora, fauna, land, air, water), resource conservation, mitigation, reclamation or public education.
Health -- Includes issues of domestic violence, child abuse, general health care, substance abuse, suicide, disabilities, wellness/ recreational programs. May include services such as information and referral, accessible health care, domestic violence shelters and programs, intervention services for abusive parents, preventive services for at-risk parents, substance abuse prevention/treatment, wellness/recreational services for children, youth, or adults.
Selection Process
The Idaho Women's Charitable Foundation Pooled Grants Program is managed by members who volunteer to participate on the Grants Committee, which runs annually from January through May
Step #1 -- Letters of Inquiry (LOIs) from interested non-profits are due by December 1, and are initially screened by workgroups in each of the five Interest Areas listed above. Since some projects can be considered under more than one area, we require that the submitting organization designate under which Interest Area they wish their project to be considered. Note that, unlike previous years, specific grant amounts will not be assigned to Interest Areas: all applications will be judged on merit, relative to each other, rather than within groupings.
Step #2 -- Each Interest Area group reviews the LOIs and selects 4-6 agencies to receive a formal request for proposal (RFP). Unsuccessful organizations will be notified in a letter that they have not been invited to submit a proposal. No unsolicited proposals are accepted. Successful organizations will be invited to submit a proposal, and will receive proposal guidelines and a deadline for submission.
Step #3 -- Three to four proposals per Interest Area group are selected for a site visit. After site visits are conducted, proposals are chosen by the Grants Committee to appear on a ballot that is sent to the entire IWCF membership for a vote. It is important to note that the entire Grants Committee, representing all Interest Areas, gathers at each stage of the process to discuss and share results.
Step #4 -- Based on the results of the all-membership vote, five organizations representing each of the Interest Areas, receive a pooled fund awards at our Annual Meeting held for members and guests each May. Award amounts depend on the size of the pooled fund.
Common Funding Questions
Scholarships -- IWCF cannot provide grants to individuals, only nonprofit groups. We suggest you contact Idaho Community Foundation which manages many funds that grant scholarships to Idaho students. Also, the financial aid office of the college you plan to attend usually has information on dedicated scholarship funds, usually tied to a particular field of study.
Assistance to Individuals -- IWCF cannot provide grants to individuals, only nonprofit groups. We suggest you contact Idaho Careline (dial 2-1-1 or on the internet) that can provide lists of organizations offering help with emergency rental, food or clothing needs.
Teaching Supplies -- IWCF encourages grant applications for projects over $5,000. Our timeline for evaluating applications is such that no funds are released until the end of this current school year. I suggest you contact your PTA, school district Foundation and/or the Idaho Community Foundation SW Unrestricted Grants program.
|