Grants/Scholarships

The site visit is an opportunity for The Denver Foundation to develop a deeper understanding of your organization and your proposal. The assigned program officer will get a chance to meet you face-to-face and discuss specific details about your organization’s programs, staffing, financial situation, board of directors, etc. It is also an opportunity for you to bring your organization “to life” in a way that just doesn’t happen by reading a proposal. While program officers necessarily ask a lot of questions, we strive to have the site visit be a two-way exchange of information. Site visits normally last about 1 ½ hours.

We invite collaboratives of all types to apply. These may be collaboratives of several nonprofit organizations, collaboratives that include schools or governmental entities, those that include resident groups and nonprofits, or nonprofit/business partnerships. By collaboration, we do not mean referrals between organizations, or an organization that contracts with another organization to provide a specific service for a fee. Funded collaborations will likely include shared financial investment by partners, shared planning and accountability, and/or shared staffing. The strongest collaborative applications will come from organizations and groups working together to achieve greater impact and do things in the community that they could not do alone.

For more information on collaboration, see the resource page of the Colorado Collaboration Award (http://www.coloradononprofits.org/collaborationaward/resources/) and the information on the Lodestar Foundation’s Collaboration Prize (http://www.thecollaborationprize.org/Home.aspx).

Note that collaborative applicants should use the special checklist here (LINK) when applying.

If you received a grant as the result of an application made in February 2012 you are eligible to apply for a grant in February 2013. If you received a grant as the result of an application made in June 2012 or October 2012 you are eligible to apply for a grant in August 2013. The above applies only to grants received in response to Community Grants Program applications; other grants, such as those from donor advisors or technical assistance grants, do not affect your eligibility. 

Not really, since funding depends on many factors. Program officers think of themselves as being advocates for the organization they are reviewing. Assuming the site visit goes well, if an advisory committee member attends the site visit your organization will have two advocates, rather than one, at the meeting where funding is decided.

Previously declined organizations are eligible to apply at either of our 2013 deadlines. We strongly encourage all organizations to review our new guidelines, and to contact us to talk about potential fit prior to submitting an application. For more information or to schedule a conversation with a member of The Denver Foundation staff, first check our website for details on upcoming pre-application workshops and open office hours, and then contact Alma Martinez at amartinez@denverfoundation.org or call 303.300.1790, ext. 155.

Too many people can overwhelm a site visit and also extend the time by quite a bit. We definitely recommend against having a really big group – say, more than three or four people. Your program officer will make suggestions about who you might include. Someone else from The Denver Foundation may accompany the program officer. That may be another staff member, a member of the advisory committee that will be reviewing your proposal, or a donor. If this is the case, the Program Officer will let you know who else will be coming.

Under very rare circumstances, we may consider more than one application per year. We do not recommend that organizations re-submit a previously declined proposal or request support for the same program again. However, if your organization has a separate program or request that you think will be a strong fit with The Denver Foundation’s priorities, we would be happy to discuss that potential request with you and advise you of its potential fit.