APPLICATION PROCEDURES

Policy

The Foundation’s charter grants the Trustees broad discretion to consider support for charitable, scientific, literary and educational purposes. While the Trustees may elect to support any one or more of these areas, the Foundation’s primary emphasis has always been the support of private colleges and universities in California. This policy continues to this day. Foundation funds may not be used for indirect, overhead, or other similar costs.

Procedure

Potential applicants should contact the Executive Director to discuss proposal ideas and determine suitability of the request, the Foundation will consider proposals for academic purposes which represent a high priority for the institution. We recognize that each institution’s needs and priorities will differ.  Once an appropriate project has been identified, the applicant will be provided the narrative portion of the application in order to draft a proposal for review by the Executive Director.  The Executive Director will provide feedback. 

Once the proposal is ready for submission, the Executive Director will direct the applicant to submit the proposal through the Foundation’s online grant application hosted by CyberGrants and accessed here.

Submission of proposals in any other form will not be accepted.

For institutions which have never received a grant from The Foundation, a Letter of Inquiry is required.  This letter is reviewed by the President, and it is his decision whether or not the institution may submit a full application to the Board. 

The Foundation’s Board of Trustees meets on a quarterly basis to review and act upon grant proposals. While there are no specific deadlines to apply for a grant, the Executive Director will identify a cut off date for submission each quarter in order for the staff to prepare the agenda and materials for the Board meeting. Quarterly dates will be shared with applicants by the Executive Director during proposal discussions.

There is a two-year minimum hiatus between receipt of a grant and submission of a new grant application.

Please Note:  Contact with Foundation Trustees is strongly discouraged. However, we recognize that there are professional and personal relationships which may make contact reasonable and normal. It should be emphasized, however, that the application process remains the same for all qualified organizations regardless of relationships with Trustees.  All grant decisions are the result of careful staff analysis, followed by an assessment and vote of the entire Board of Trustees.

Special Projects

From time to time, the Trustees may elect to support non-profit organizations of special interest, which are within The Foundation’s broad charter, but which are not private, independent colleges and universities in California. Such grants are initiated by Trustees; unsolicited proposals are not accepted.