Grant Guidelines
Funding
LAFF accepts proposals by invitation only.
Grants are made in the following areas:
- Education
- Arts
- Human Services
Typical proposal categories:
- General operating costs
- Specific program costs
- Select capital campaigns
Grant sizes vary from $3000 to $20,000. Multi-year grants are rarely given. All grant recipients must have 501C3 or other IRS tax exemption status.
LAFF respects and admires all charitable organizations. Due to our small size, however, we must focus. Therefore, we do not fund:
- Political issues
- Organizations that are not people-focused
- Organizations having to do with criminals/people incarcerated
- Start-ups. We look for a track record
- Contemporary popular ideas that may or may not stand the test of time
Receiving a Grant
Grants are only approved as a result of a proposal delivered to the LAFF during the acceptance period of August 1 through September 30. Proposals received outside of those dates will not be reviewed. Submission of a grant proposal does not imply any certainty of a grant being issued. Proposal submissions may not receive any contact and explanation if the LAFF board declines to issue a grant. We discourage Proposal preparers and Letter of Inquiry (LOI) writers from contacting us in any way, as we expect your proposal/LOI to be developed after reading our website/examining our 990 form and doing other due diligence.
Proposals are sent to grant candidates in one of two ways:
Board Member Identification
If the Board member knows an organization well, said Board member can send a proposal form to the candidate. Board members are required to send proposals to an organization only if they know it well as a result of being a member of the organizations board, having extensive volunteer activity, having a history of personal philanthropic support of the organization or other means.
Therefore, when a board member certifies an organization as being a good candidate for proposal submittal, a high level of trust exists and the proposal is readily accepted by all. Should a grant be issued it is expected that the originating board member will stay engaged with the organization and oversee attendance to grant proposal commitments.
The proposal is more lengthy than a Letter of Inquiry, dealing with strategy, mission, annual budgets, program budgets if relevant, and any other information dealing with how the LAFF grant funds would be utilized and how success is measured.
Letter of Inquiry Submission
If the LAFF doesn't know an organization, said organization is free to submit a Letter of Inquiry (LOI). Sometimes a board member might suggest this to an organization, or the organization might submit due to some familiarity with the LAFF. The LOI form is found in this website.
Applicants are urged to consider brevity and accuracy. While we are very interested in what you do, we have limited time to reach decisions, and expect your documents to say what needs to be said. LOI submissions ought to be in the geography of one of our board members, normally, Chicago-land, Ann Arbor, Michigan, Southern South Carolina or Colorado. Rarely do we support anything outside of the United States. Our Board goes through a quick process to determine whether or not we like the LOI organization. If we do, a proposal form is sent to the organization. Should a grant be given, this first grant will be no more than $5000. We value longevity in our philanthropic relations and fully expect to make larger grants in the future. Please do not submit an LOI without understanding what we support, as it will speak to the quality of your organization.
LOI forms must be accompanied with a copy of the organizations 501C3 letter as well as a recent Budget. Recall that this is not a proposal and there is no guarantee that a proposal form will be returned to you. Failure to receive a proposal form is your signal that your LOI was considered not matching what the LAFF stands for. If not no communication or explanation will be made.