Focus on what the project will accomplish.

Accomplishments impact people and communities. Building a new building is not an accomplishment in itself. The building is only a tool for accomplishing some bigger goal for the community—helping homeless people leave the street or reducing juvenile crime by providing a safe environment for children after school.

Explain how the Foundation’s grant would complement the organization’s usual sources of operating revenue.

The grants made by all U.S. foundations compose less than 10% of all nonprofit revenues. Within that context, the Ben B. Cheney Foundation believes that grants should complement the usual and customary revenues that support the organization’s annual operating budget. For example, a start-up grant may help a program operate in the first few years as it strives to acquire those usual and customary revenues. In evaluating such a proposal the Foundation looks both at the needs for a new program as well as the plan for the program to attain those planned revenues.

Proposal letters should summarize fully developed proposals.

From time to time the Foundation receives proposal letters that summarize ideas for proposals rather than fully developed proposals. Such letters create the impression that the writer wants to test an idea, and if the idea receives a positive response, a full proposal will be developed.

This approach has two problems. First, the most compelling letters are ones that summarize full proposals because such letters convey a sense of depth and knowledge about the project. Testing an idea with a proposal letter usually results in a presentation that lacks such depth. Second, if a proposal letter fails to fully answer some key questions, staff will often call the organization. If the letter is based upon a fully developed proposal the organization usually has a good answer to the question(s) raised. If the letter is only testing an idea, follow-up questions usually create more questions because the organization hasn’t fully developed the proposal.

Proposal letters must provide timely contact information.

When you mail your proposal letter your greatest hope is that it the Foundation will respond positively to it. So as you complete your proposal letter, ask yourself if the letter clearly identifies a contact person for follow-up questions or for scheduling a site visit or an office visit.

Staff will usually contact the person who signed the letter if there is no other contact information provided. That may create a problem if the proposal letter is signed by a key volunteer that cannot be contacted through the telephone number(s) provided on the letterhead.

Preferably the last paragraph of the proposal letter should provide the contact information. In a small, volunteer-run organization this might be a board member. Organizations with staff should provide contact information for the executive director and/or the development director.

Submit your proposal letter as soon as possible, but not before the project is ready.

The Foundation hopes to assist as many grant seekers as possible. Yet the number of deserving projects makes this a challenge. Grant requests may be turned down or deferred if it appears that it is too early in the project for the Foundation to pursue a grant. Grant seekers can improve their chances if they follow three guidelines:

1. Capital campaigns outside of Tacoma/Pierce County should achieve a substantial percentage of goal (often 40% to 50%) before writing to the Ben B. Cheney Foundation. The Foundation wants to know that the project has local support.
2. If the project hinges upon a key commitment, be reasonably sure that commitment is in place before writing a proposal letter. Such commitments might be a large grant from a major foundation or a major government grant.
3. Fully develop the vision for what the project will accomplish. Building a building is not an accomplishment itself. The building is only a tool for accomplishing a larger community good.

Be prepared for your reporting responsibilities.

The first step to your next grant is your reporting on your current grant. When you receive a grant make sure that you plan for update reports to all donors. The Ben B. Cheney Foundation prefers reports in a letter. The narrative should outline both the progress toward the program objectives outlined in your formal application and an update on the budget submitted with the formal application. Reports should be made at least every six months until the project is completed.

Remember that your budget is only a plan.
While budgets are important, they are only tools for understanding bigger issues. Your proposal letter should outline the problem/opportunity your organization wants to deal with and how it plans to approach the situation. Naturally, that raises the question, “What resources do you need for this project?” A budget is a tool for answering that question.

In addition, no budget is complete without an income portion. This portion of the budget explains how you plan to garner the resources you need for the project. Often this is the most difficult portion of the budget.

Proposal letters only need to summarize the budget information with figures such as total project cost, the plan for raising needed resources, and a request for a specific amount from the Ben B. Cheney Foundation.

Consider the timing of requests within the context of several years.

As the number of requests to the Foundation grows there is an effort to increase the time period between consecutive grants. If your organization has a major project coming up in a year or two that you believe would be of interest to the Foundation, you may want to refrain from making other grant requests until that time.

The Foundation generally wants to see 20 to 24 months between when a grant has been made and the submission of another proposal letter. This timeframe applies to all grants, whether awarded through the small grant program or reviewed at a quarterly board meeting.

For more information you may email us at:
info@benbcheneyfoundation.org