— Our Application —

Prompts & Questions

Our Guiding Principles

The thinking that informs our application questions, documentation, and prompts.

  • We recognize that some grant applications can be long and tedious. We work to make our process as brief and straightforward as possible, aiming to eliminate redundant questions and integrate ‘smart prompts’ that only ask you questions if they’re applicable to you.

  • Through our process, we may work to understand the guiding values or beliefs of the organization, or evaluate if a given program or function supports and is aligned with our values.

  • When we bring your proposal to our Board of Trustees, you can count on us to represent you well. We ask questions to understand your ‘why’ and ‘how’ so we can share it accurately and truthfully.

  • We consider our grants to be an investment in our partners, who then serve and support our community. While we prioritize trust in our partners, we also work to understand how financial or operational challenges are being encountered and overcome, or how we can help in that space. Knowing the strengths, challenges, and opportunities of an organization help us to best and most effectively distribute funds toward greatest possible need and impact.

  • We aim to make our process as clear as possible, and to ensure an increasingly equitable application over time. As such, we expect that our questions and prompts will change over time.

Prompts, Questions, & Documents

The following questions and prompts are asked of applicants in the respective stages of our process. Typically at the start of each new calendar year, we update our application questions or revise them slightly. Those changes will be reflected below, as they are made. Additionally, the lists below may not be comprehensive and some administrative prompts (e.g. contact information, instructions) are excluded.

Preliminary Application

Updated December 14, 2023

Section 1: About You, the Applicant

  • Accessibility Needs

  • Contact Information

Section 2: Organization Classifications & Activities

  • Select organization classification (e.g. 501(c)(3), government entity, tribal government, etc.)

  • Select type(s) of lobbying activities

  • Name and articulate relationship with any affiliates or subsidiaries (if applicable)

Section 3: Organization Overview

  • What prompted the establishment of your organization? If more than ten (10) years ago, what continues to make your organization essential or important to the community? How do you know?  (3,000 characters max)

  • Tell us more about the community your organization aims to serve or support. If you already answered this question in the space above, feel free to skip. (3,000 characters max)

  • What are some key programs, initiatives, or efforts that are central to your work? Bullets (and brevity) are okay here! You will be invited to expand on these in the final proposal. (3,000 characters max)

    Section 4: Operational Equity

  • Describe action that your organization has taken and/or is taking to be further committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Especially consider how your organization targets areas like employee training, operations, programs, and strategic plans. (6,500 characters max)

    Section 5: Foundation Alignment

  • No prompts are required in this section; applicants are invited to contextualize any publicly available media, press, or information that may misinform alignment evaluation if needed.


    Section 6:     Financial Health

  • Attach your current fiscal year’s general operating budget — PDF required.

  • Attach Balance Sheet (i.e. Statement of Financial Position) — PDF required.

  • Attach your most recent Form 990 — PDF required.

  • Attach a Budget vs. Actuals Report for your last fiscal year — PDF required.

  • Optional: Attach your campaign budget if applying for a capital project — PDF required.

  • Enter your current fiscal-year end date.

  • For applicants with $1M+ operating budget, when was your last organizational audit?


    Section 7:     Operational Impact

  • Describe the impact of your organization, considering key factors like number of individuals served, depth of service or impact, scope of services, and assessment strategies. If applicable, you may also link webpages or online reports that address or support your response to this prompt. These resources -- or an attached annual report -- can be submitted in lieu of a written response, if desired. (6,000 characters max)

  • Select the state(s) and counties served by your organization.

    Section 8: People

  • How many people (#) support your organization? You will be prompted to enter the number of full time employees, part-time or season employees, volunteers, board members, and/or contracted personnel.

  • Enter name, preferred pronouns, and tenure of top executive(s) at the organization.

    Section 9: Organizational Need

  • Select your grant program (Rose or Daffodil)

  • Select your funding type (General Operating, Capital Initiative, Other)

  • Select your preferred grant term (1-3 years)

Final Application

Updated February 1, 2024

Section 1: Goals & Objectives

This section helps us to understand where an organization is going, what objectives it is working toward, and how the organization measures success over time. It is important to note that, though many organizations aim to grow, expand, or create, that may not be true of every prospective partner. In addition to objectives of growth or expansion, we also welcome objectives that capture sustainability, improvement, and depth.

  • Objectives: In the spaces provided, please capture two (2) special organizational objectives that your organization aims to engage or tackle throughout the term of this proposed grant. This might include particular programs (new or improved), a community initiative, capital improvements; hiring or compensation improvements; operational improvements, employee retention plans, etc.

    • Objective No. 1: In the space provided, identify an organizational goal or objective, any necessary context for its need, timeline(s), and anticipated outcomes. (10,000 characters max)

    • Objective No. 2: In the space provided, identify an organizational goal or objective, any necessary context for its need, timeline(s), and anticipated outcomes. (10,000 characters max)

  • Impact: Describe how you track, evaluate, and assess program or organizational impact. (7,500 characters max)

Section 2: Organization Financials

  • Secured & Solicited Funding: Please list and describe other active funders, including private foundations, community foundations, corporations, or major gift donors from the last 12 months. Please also distinguish between awarded, anticipated, and solicited funding (as applicable). (6,000 characters max)

  • Optional or Circumstantial Prompts:

    • Describe in the role(s) of key external organizational stakeholders, or those who help your organization to execute or meet your mission in a critically important way.

    • Supplemental Budget: If applicable, attach a program or department-specific budget. — PDF required.


Section 3: People & Culture

  • Provide the name and tenure of top executive(s)

  • Please provide a list (or link to) the names of your Board members, and describe the frequency of Board convening. (2,500 characters max)

  • Briefly describe how your staff, leadership, board members, and/or volunteers reflect or inform your relationship to the community you serve. 

  • Centering Equity for Staff & Board — Using an equity lens in training, recruitment, and policy development helps all organizations to enrich workplace culture, operational effectiveness, and overall outcomes for everyone involved. Please describe up to four (4) examples of how your organization centers equity and inclusion in its workplace trainings, staff/board recruitment, and/or policy development. These examples should be internally focused, considering impact on employees, leadership, and/or volunteers. (9,000 characters max)

  • Compensation & Employee Experience — We hope to see nonprofit organizations positioning their employees to thrive, paying competitive wages that set teams up for strong retention, top-tier recruitment, and diversification of talent. We know doing so can be challenging, but hope to use this information to better understand and support the collective position and experience of our applicant pool. The following prompts are multiple choice:

    • Compensation Audit: Has your organization conducted a pay equity assessment (or compensation audit) in the last 2-4 years? (Yes, No, Unsure, Does not apply)

    • Annual Adjustments: Does your organization provide cost of living increases, or comparable annual increases, to all employees? (Every year, some years, no/rarely, Does not apply)

    • Contribution Match: For full-time employees, does your organization provide employer match contributions to retirement accounts? (Yes, No, Unsure, Does not apply)

  • Volunteer Experience — Briefly describe the involvement and experience of organizational volunteers, as applicable. For example, you may share how volunteers are trained, what the scope of their duties include, or how they stay connected to the organization. If you feel you have addressed this prompt in other fields, you may leave this field blank; if you have a link to a relevant webpage that would sufficiently address this prompt, you may copy it below in lieu of a written response. ​(1,500 characters max)

Section 4: Funding Request Contextualization

  • In this section, we invite you to contextualize your funding request by specifying any desired rates of distribution, non-traditional awarding types (i.e. matching grant), and funding needs.

Important Reminder

These applications will be completed in our grant portal once you have access to it. You are welcome to begin drafting responses (as appropriate) in separate documentation, should you prefer to do so. We cannot guarantee, however, that all prompts will exist in our application exactly as they are listed above. With questions, please email us at grants@marielamfrom.org and we will be glad to help.