Grant Application Procedures

The Foundation encourages inquiries about the application of our funding guidelines to specific ideas in advance of the submission of formal proposals. Foundation staff welcome the opportunity to provide guidance, suggest alternatives and recommend partners.

Proposals are considered three times a year by the Foundation’s Trustees at a winter-spring meeting, a summer meeting and a fall meeting. Deadlines for submitting proposals for consideration at the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Trustees are March 15, July 15 and November 15. Proposals are due the next business day if a deadline falls on a weekend.

All proposals must include a climate change statement, a brief explanation of what the organization is doing or considering to reduce or to eliminate its impact on climate change. The Foundation’s website, www.GundFoundation.org, includes resources to assist grantees with this task. In this same spirit, we ask that organizations do not submit proposals in notebooks, binders or plastic folders and print proposals on both sides of each sheet of paper.

Applicants also must include a completed cover sheet, available at www.GundFoundation.org, which is signed by the organization’s board president and executive director. In addition, arts organizations participating in the Ohio Cultural Data Project should submit the George Gund Foundation report available at www.OhCulturalData.org with proposals. Proposals should also include:

Organizational Background

History, mission, types of programs offered, constituencies served.

Project Description

Justification of need, specific goals and objectives, activities planned to meet goals and objectives, project time line, qualifications of key personnel, methods of evaluation.

Project Budget

Anticipated expenses, including details about how Foundation funds would be used, and anticipated income, including information about other sources approached for funding.

Organizational Budget

Previous and current year budget and proposed budget for project year(s) showing both income and expenses, the organization’s most recent audited financial statement. Do NOT include IRS 990 forms.

Supporting Documents

List of current trustees, letters of support, readily available printed material about organization such as annual reports and brochures, IRS letter confirming Internal Revenue Code 501(c)(3) status and classification as a public charity or information confirming status as a government unit or agency.

The Foundation also will accept the Ohio Common Grant Form, available at www.OhioGrantmakers.org, if organizations are using it to apply to multiple funders. Faxed or electronic proposals are not accepted.

All grant applications and requests for information should be addressed to: The George Gund Foundation, 1845 Guildhall Building, 45 Prospect Avenue West, Cleveland, Ohio 44115 (telephone 216.241.3114).

All proposals are screened and evaluated by the staff before presentation at Trustee Meetings. Receipt of proposals will be acknowledged by mail.

Grant seekers may obtain information about other foundation and corporate funding sources at the Foundation Center Library in Cleveland, 1422 Euclid Avenue, or by calling 800.424.9836 for the locations of other Foundation Center offices.