February 1, 2002
Dear Friends,
The Asot Mishpat Fund is a new donor-advised fund of the Funding Exchange which includes activists as advisors in its grantmaking process. "Asot Mishpat" is Hebrew for "making justice," and the Fund was started with a contribution from an anonymous donor in December, 2001. Asot Mishpat Fund grants will be targeted to:
Small groups or projects working for institutional change at the local or statewide level who are seeking to increase their organizational capacity. Emerging or start-up groups are especially encouraged to apply.
"Small groups or projects" is defined as groups or projects with a budget of less than $500,000, with preference given to emerging groups and projects. Examples include a large social services agency which is seeking to launch its first advocacy project to educate legislators about the need to protect gay people from violence; or an all- volunteer coalition of LGBT groups which wants to hire its first staff person to organize an effort to identify and turn out enough pro-LGBT voters to influence the state legislative process.
"Working for institutional change" means that the organization has identified an institution that establishes policy which affects people's lives, or holds power in that political environment. Entities such as legislative bodies, educational institutions, healthcare systems, religious institutions, influential community or civil groups, government agencies, etc. are all examples. The applying organization will also have identified a strategy to change the policy or to alter the balance of power so that the institution is more responsive to LGBT people.
"Working at the state and local level" means that the activism is seeking to alter state and local institutions rather than local activism to alter federal institutions. Local chapters of national organizations are eligible to apply if the proposal conforms to these guidelines.
"Who are seeking to increase their organizational capacity" refers to the preference that the grant funds be used to expand programs or projects rather than to maintain current programs or projects.
Grant sizes will range from $15,000 to $25,000 and may be for one or two years. A total of approximately $500,000 will be granted over a two-year period, with the first set of grants announced in September, 2002.
We invite you to send in a Letter of Inquiry (via email, Postal Service, UPS, etc.) no later than March 15, 2002 to the address noted below.
Email: AndrewParkWA@aol.com
Street Address:
Asot Mishpat Fund c/o Andrew Park
1420 Locust Street, Suite 300
Philadelphia, PA 19102
How To Apply:
Please use the enclosed form ("Grant Inquiry Cover Sheet") to accompany your Letter of Inquiry, and fill it out completely. Attach a separate budget breakdown, and please identify the sources of your funding (government, foundation, individual contributions, etc.).
In your Letter of Inquiry, please provide a 1-3 page narrative that describes:
Thank you for your interest. We appreciate your activism and welcome the opportunity to work with you.
Best regards,
Ellen Gurzinsky, Executive Director
Funding Exchange
***************************************************************
GRANT INQUIRY COVER SHEET THIS COVER SHEET MUST BE COMPLETED IN FULL AND ALL QUESTIONS MUST BE ANSWERED IF YOU WANT YOUR APPLICATION TO BE CONSIDERED
Name of Organization ______________________________________________
Date of Founding __________________________________________________
Address _________________________________________________________
Telephone Number _________________________________________________
Fax Number ______________________________________________________
Does your organization have email? Please list. __________________ ? Personal ? Organizational
Does your organization have internet access? Yes__ No__
Does your organization have a Web address? Yes__ No ___
Please list. __________________________________________________
Two (2) Contact People and Phone Numbers. (Contact people should be staff or board members that can answer questions related to this application.)
(1) ______________________________________________________________
(2) ______________________________________________________________
Is your organization a non-profit? Yes__ No __
Does it have Tax-Exempt Status? Yes__ No __
The Funding Exchange will consider inquiries from all non-profit groups whether they have 501(c)(3) status or not. There is no requirement of a fiscal sponsor.
For a more in-depth description of the budget information FEX would like you to include, please see the budget section within the Grants Guideline booklet.
Most recent completed budget year: From _____________ To ____________
Total annual organization budget $ ___________ $ __________ in-hand (attach most recent completed budget.)
Amount requested $ __________
If you are requesting a grant for a specific project, please complete the following:
Length of Project From _______________ To ________________
Total annual project budget $ ___________ $ __________ in-hand
Amount requested $ __________
Have you ever received a grant from the Funding Exchange? Yes__ No __
If you have received grants please provide the following information for each grant.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th
Purpose: _________________________________________________
Amount: _________________________________________________
Source: _________________________________________________
Date: ___________________________________________________
The Funding Exchange is a network of 15 local funds. Is there is a Funding Exchange member fund in your area? Yes __ No ___
If there is, have you ever applied for a grant? Yes__ No _
If no, why not?
If you have applied and received a grant please provide the following information for each grant.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th
Purpose: _________________________________________________
Amount: _________________________________________________
Date: ___________________________________________________
How did you hear about the Funding Exchange?