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Grant Guidelines

Requirements and Expectations

The following are the basic requirements for The Schenectady Foundation's grant process - an articulation of the Foundation's expectations for applicants.

Eligibility

Applicants must be non-profit corporations registered with the NYS Office of Charities Registration, and designated as a 501c3 tax-exempt organization by the IRS.

Generally, local governments - counties, cities, towns or villages - are not eligible to receive grants. Proposals representing single religious organizations are also ineligible.

Applicant Requirements

The following information is required of all applicant organizations:

501(c) 3 letter of determination issued by the Internal Revenue Service.
List of current board of directors.
Copy of the most recently filed Form 990 with schedules.
Organization's current fiscal year budget approved by board of directors.
Grant Proposal cover letter must be signed by organization's chief volunteer and chief professional officers.

Grant Type

The Foundation makes grants for capital improvements, equipment and for program operating expenses. Regardless of the type of grant requested, applicants must establish their ability to complete and sustain projects beyond the Foundation's funding. Grants may also be requested for a mix of capital and operating expenses.

Grant Size

There is no specific minimum or maximum size for grant requests. The Foundation expects to make a mix of grants in terms of size. Applicants may find their investment of time in the grant process is not conducive to small requests ($5,000 or less).

The Foundation will rarely be the primary or sole source of funding for any one project. At the same time, the grant amount requested should enable the organization to successfully complete the project.

Over the past three years the average grant has been approximately $60,000. The largest grant was $250,000, and the smallest grant was $15,000.

Multi-year Grants

The Foundation has made a number of grants payable over a period of time (usually not more than five years). Applicant organizations may wish to suggest a grant payment schedule if the request is significant or if the project is to be conducted in distinct phases.

Organizations may also apply for multi-year program operating grants. If funded, the annual grant payment is likely to be reduced over the period of the grant.

Matching Grants

The Schenectady Foundation has found it helpful to the success of projects to set grant conditions that challenge the applicant organization to reach beyond traditional or expected sources of funding. Matching grants are sometimes used to stimulate the organization's fund development efforts, and to help the project achieve a more diverse funding base.

Re-application

Organizations may apply for a new grant no sooner than one year following the date of the final payment on their previous grant. However, frequent repeated requests, particularly those outside of the Foundation's Grant Emphasis Areas, are discouraged.

Some organizations may be invited to reapply based on their demonstrated ability and capacity to manage projects that are responsive to the Foundation's interests.

References

What people outside of an applicant organization think about a proposed project provides valuable insight to both the applicant and the Foundation. The Foundation will seek the perspective of other funders, organization leaders, constituents and customers of the applicant organization to add value to its deliberations.

References are not intended as endorsements of the proposal. Generic letters of support from community or political leaders are of relative little benefit to the deliberations of the Foundation. Of greater use are the perspectives of people knowledgeable of the project and its ramifications for the community.