Friday, February 1, 2008

A Grant To Help Make Your Idea A Reality!

This grant program is looking for individuals, or individuals working with small, local organizations or groups, who reside in one of the 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, or Puerto Rico, to submit an idea for one of these same locations (no international projects, please).


To be eligible to apply you can be:

  • You must be 14 years of age or older at the time you submit your application online. It's okay to be affiliated with an organization, as long as you apply as an individual -- not on behalf of your organization.

  • A community member not connected to any organization, who is looking to connect people in the community to discuss common issues, form solutions, and take action together

  • A leader or employee of a small, grassroots organization or group, or a local elected official or government employee, who wants to create opportunities and places for people to come together to discuss ideas, form solutions, and take action


Three sets of financial grant awards will be given out and the maximum grant award totals will be as high as $35,000!

Brief applications will be accepted online and a group of people from diverse backgrounds and communities will review all the applications and select the top 100 proposals. Then these 100 applicants that were accepted will then be invited to pitch their ideas as a full proposal.

All applications must be sent through the foundation's online application process. No applications will be accepted through the mail, fax, or as an e-mail attachment. Applications sent by mail will not be considered and will be returned to sender.

Grant funds are to be used to implement the idea outlined in the application and full proposal. This is not a prize for good works already done, but fuel to help move a great idea forward. Grant funds will be paid out over the course of one year in a schedule to be determined by the foundation. Grant recipients who receive the higher level grant awards must also submit reports to the foundation during the project year -- content and timeline will be decided before award distribution.

While this is the pilot year for this program, the foundation is excited about applying this citizen-centered approach to philanthropy in the future. You can sign up here to stay informed about upcoming grant opportunities.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

hello; i'm 55yrs.old i'm disabilied from a work injury.waiting to hear from ssi. but don't want to live on just ssi . i'm still able to do thing. like i have a new product idea. i sent it to 3 companies and they researched it we are very happy in want they found. i have recieved a chance to get a small business grant.and i enrolled ito colorado technical university. i'm taking some business classes.i want to help and understand more about my business.but at the moment i'm can work so i have no income, homeless living at a mission and little or no medicial.i can recieve the grant in december. but i have no money to pay the grant writer.if i can get the money for the grant writer i can pay for my schooling and get my business started. i hope you can help me please.DP

Rose said...

I don't know how much the grant writer is charging you but it looks as though you may have to make some kind of arrangement with the grant writer if you want them to help you apply for the grant.

I don't know what specific grant program you are talking about but is it possible that you may be able to apply for this grant yourself?

I have seen countless grant programs where it is easy for the individual to apply for it themselves and this may be possible for you to do in this case.