Do Other Sources of Funding Impact Your Grantmaking Decisions?
Hi, I work for a Community Foundation in Vero Beach, Florida and we have a quarterly grant cycle process. Throughout our county we have about six other funders (our local United Way and several philanthropic neighborhoods) who have annual grant cycle processes.
Do you have a similar network of local funders? Do you typically ask if your applicants are receiving funds or are currently applying for funding from other sources? Does this impact your grantmaking decisions?
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In our application we ask if they are receiving funds elsewhere. We do have a similar network of local funders. I have found that the board or committee is still likely to support the organization but might match what the United Fund gave the organization. I hope this helps.
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@GracieMaxwell Thanks, this does help!
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That's an interesting question, @ChiakaNwosu. We ask what other sources of funding our applicants have (or expect to have) and we do have a network of local funders that shares data. We will occasionally reach out to another funder to see if they're interested in informally "partnering" on a grant which seems to align with their mission (each funder contributing similar amounts but in separate grants).
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Hi @LoriPerkins, thanks for your comments! I like the idea of "partnering" with other funders who would also be interested in supporting your grantees.
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I work for a private foundation and we are the only foundation in our county. There are three foundations in a neighboring county, but not all of them will fund applications outside of their county. If we see one of these foundations listed as a potential funder on an application, we often reach out to them to discuss the application. We always ask applicants if they are receiving other funds and ask them to specify is the funding is committed or pending. Since we are the only foundation in our county, we like to see funding support and collaborations from other sources and not be the sole source of funding for an applicant. It is important for applicants to show that they can sustain the program or project they are requesting funding for.
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Hi, @ChiakaNwosu!
Really great question! We ask on our applications if an applicant is receiving funding from other sources and to please list them out if they are. We do not use this against the applicant, our Board actually really likes to see funding come from other sources because it proves to them the program is likely to be more sustainable since we aren't the only funders. We like to see partners and collaboration. We do not require matching funds but strongly encourage applicants to have other sources of funding, but this is mainly because we offer small grants; our largest one is up to $10,000 for program support. The only time we may have to look deeper into other funding sources is when an applicant is receiving funding from our National Foundation. This is just to ensure there is not a duplication of USTA funds being used to support the same activities, rather, we want to ensure we are strategic and have more impact with our dollars.
Hope this helps! Have a great day 😊
-Cam
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