Review the descriptions of our grant programs to learn more about the unique characteristics, priorities, and eligibility requirements for each type of grant we offer. We encourage you to speak to someone on our team before applying. If we discourage you from applying, please understand we are trying to save you the effort of submitting a request that is very unlikely to be funded. Ultimately, though, you need to make the decision; our staff cannot decide for you which of your ideas to submit, or which grant program is the best fit.

Yes, generally a fiscal sponsor may be utilized to apply for a grant. A fiscal sponsor is not the same thing as a registered sponsor or a treasurer. It is always an organization, not an individual.

In some cases, an organization desiring to apply for a grant from Allegany Franciscan Ministries does not meet all the eligibility criteria (for example, does not yet have its 501(c)(3) designation). In other cases, the organization may be eligible, but does not have the capacity to complete all the requirements for a successful grant. We encourage these organizations to seek out a community partner that does have capacity and meets all eligibility requirements, to serve as a fiscal sponsor for the grant. The fiscal sponsor will then be the official applicant. Have a conversation with the appropriate Allegany Franciscan Ministries staff person regarding this arrangement prior to completing an application.

If a grant is awarded, Allegany Franciscan Ministries will enter into an agreement with the fiscal sponsor and will hold the fiscal sponsor legally responsible for the grant, including financial management, all reporting, and all other requirements. Allegany Franciscan Ministries recommends that the fiscal sponsor and organization enter into a formalized agreement with one another. The fiscal sponsor may or may not have any additional involvement with the grant other than managing the funds and ensuring that the conditions of the grant agreement are met. The fiscal sponsor may charge a reasonable administrative fee for their services; this fee is an acceptable cost to include within the grant budget.

Although we do not require specific levels or percentages for different expenses, we ask that you develop a budget, and request support, for expenses that are realistic and reasonable for the initiative. We believe that indirect costs are necessary for a project’s success, and we will support those expenses within reason (indirect costs are general or administrative expenses that are necessary to effectively deliver a project or program, but that are not readily identified with and attributable to a specific project.) We do allow organizations to identify costs that may be considered indirect; typically, we will honor that if it is outlined in the budget narrative. In addition, when a grant is for general operating support, the organization does not need to differentiate specific budget line items or indirect costs.

Please do not submit letters of support with your application; we do not believe in requiring the extra time and effort it takes to obtain these. We also strongly advise against submitting or attaching video links or other supplemental information with the application or emailing these materials to staff leads.

We do not share copies of submitted applications, whether successful or not. This is not because we wish to keep the application secret in any way; rather, we believe that the written application is just one component of a request. Trying to mimic another organization’s request would be a disservice to telling the story of your project. Be aware that just because we have funded a specific project in the past does not mean that a similar project would be funded in the future.

No, please contact the appropriate staff person at Allegany Franciscan Ministries. Our directors and committee members will refer all calls regarding applications back to the staff. Your relationship with a director or grants committee member will not impact our decision regarding your application; our conflict of interest policy requires that directors, staff, or volunteer committee members that are related parties to an organization not participate in the funding recommendation or decision for that organization.

Ours is a collaborative, consensus-based review process. Members of our staff team initially screen requests for basic eligibility and fit with our focus and priorities. For some grant programs, applications for eligible projects are shared with a grants committee, which then meets and reviews each request, developing recommendations through open dialogue.Our board of directors or CEO make the final decision to award each grant based on recommendations from staff or grants committee members. 

Yes, we will share feedback about your application and we encourage you to contact the appropriate staff person. Unfortunately, we do not have the resources to fund every request, competition can be very strong, and often we must choose one perfectly good project over another perfectly good project. We will make every effort to give you specific feedback. This feedback may help you to submit more successful proposals to other funders in the future, so we hope that you will engage in the discussion from a place of learning. We can also tell you whether we think a future application to Allegany Franciscan Ministries for the same or a different project might be more successful.

We do not have an appeal process. If we have declined your grant request, we encourage you to contact the appropriate staff member, who will be able to give you feedback and help you understand why the grant was not approved. Often projects that are eligible and a good “fit” are still not funded, simply because we have limited funds and had to make difficult choices, and we felt that other requests were better positioned to help us achieve our mission and vision.

We welcome feedback at any time; please address your feedback to the appropriate staff member as listed on the Staff Team page of our web site. Although we do not at this time have an anonymous comment/suggestion box, you may always direct your comment to our CEO (Eileen Coogan) at [email protected].

Additionally, we encourage applicants to visit www.GrantAdvisor.org and complete an anonymous review of Allegany Franciscan Ministries. We use this information to improve our grantmaking processes and communication.