The Taproot Foundation's resources are limited relative to the great number of worthwhile proposals received. On average, we are able to award grants to one out of every three nonprofit applicants.

Please review the following grant criteria. If you have questions regarding our grant criteria or any of our Service Grants, please contact one of our local offices and we will be happy to answer your questions.

We review grant applications quarterly. Applications are due according the following deadlines:

• September 1st
• December 1st
• March 1st
• June 1st

We use three sets of criteria to evaluate all Service Grant applications:

• Basic Eligibility: Based on our strategic intent, we have established a set of basic eligibility criteria. Rarely, if ever, will we consider applications from organizations that do not meet all of these.
• Institutional Strength and Readiness: When we review applications, we consider an organization's strength, need for the Service Grant and their ability to support the grant at this particular time.
• Quarterly Criteria: We offer Service Grants every quarter. In any given quarter, there may be variation in the availability of particular Service Grants, nonprofits served or geographical coverage.

To be eligible for a Service Grant, an organization should:

• Be a nonprofit charitable organization classified as a 501(c)(3) public charity by the Internal Revenue Service or operate under the fiscal sponsorship of a 501(c)(3).
• Have a mission that fits within one of these five categories:
  • Arts: Organizations that provide leadership or education in the art community, while making the arts more accessible to everyone.
  • Education: Organizations that strengthen our public education (pre-K and K-12) system or enhance the educational success of students.
  • Environment: Organizations that preserve or restore the environment.
  • Health: Organizations that improve people's physical or emotional health.
  • Social Services: Organizations that provide social services to those who suffer hardship or who have been unable to participate fully in the social and economic life of the community. Services usually target children and families, employment and training, the elderly, immigrants, the disabled, housing and homelessness, and foster and adoption services.
• Be of a size that you have the internal resources to effectively leverage a technical assistance project, as evidenced by factors such as having at least three full-time employees and a budget of at least $350,000. As described in the Service Grant Catalog, some Service Grants are best suited for larger organizations. In particular, staff requirements for the Leadership Development and Strategic HR are as follow:
  • Human Resources Capacity Build: at least 8 employees
  • Performance Management: at least 12 employees
  • Strategic Staff Development: at least 20 employees
  • Board Recruitment: at least 3 employees
• Be headquartered and provide direct benefits primarily or entirely to residents of our service areas:
  • New York City: Manhattan, Bronx, Queens, Staten Island, or Brooklyn
  • San Francisco Bay Area: San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda, Conta Costa or Marin counties
  • Chicago: Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry or Will counties
  • Seattle: King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties
  • Washington DC Area: District of Columbia, Montgomery and Prince George's counties in Maryland, and Arlington and Fairfax counties and the City of Alexandria in Virginia
  • Los Angeles: Downtown Los Angeles, West Hollywood, West Los Angeles, South LA, Commerce/South Gate, and Santa Monica/Venice Beach (check back in each grant round for expanded geographic coverage)
• Not be seeking funding for religious purposes. We may support agencies operated by religious organizations that serve secular needs.
• Have written policies and a track record of not discriminating on the basis of age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, ethnicity, disability, national origin, political affiliation or religious belief.
• Have a strategic plan if applying for the Key Messages and Brand Strategy, Naming & Visual Identity, Visual Identity & Brand Strategy, Performance Management, or Strategic Scorecard grants.

In addition to our basic criteria, we also review an organization's readiness to take on a Service Grant:

• Institutional strength and stability. This includes: healthy finances, strong mission and programs, proven results and stable staff.
• Fitness for the grant. Organizations need to demonstrate a clear need for the Service Grant and be requesting support that is consistent with our defined scope for that particular Service Grant. Descriptions and scoping information can be found on the Service Grant Catalog pages for the individual grants.
• Readiness for the grant. This includes: assurance that sufficient board and staff time is available for the Service Grant, a good decision-making structure and internal resources to execute the work.

For more insight into how we may explore these considerations in a grant review, please download our more detailed grant criteria document (pdf).

Next application deadline: March 1, 2010

Los Angeles:  The Los Angeles office will be accepting applications from nonprofits that meet our basic eligibility requirements and are located within the general bounds of Downtown Los Angeles, West Hollywood, West Los Angeles, South Central, Commerce/South Gate, Santa Monica/Venice Beach. Check back with each subsequent grant round to learn about our geographic and programmatic expansion.

Environmental organizations and applicants for Strategy Management and Leadership Development & Strategic HR Service Grants are strongly encouraged to apply, as well as eligible grantees from the following foundations:

 

• First5LA
• Blue Shield of California
• McCoy Family Foundation
• Dwight Stuart Foundation
• Bank of America Neighborhood Builders Program

San Francisco Bay Area:  The Bay Area office will be accepting applications from all nonprofits that meet our basic eligibility requirements. 

 

We welcome applications for all Service Grants types, however we expect to have an especially strong supply of volunteers for Financial Analysis, Competitor/Collaborator Analysis, Strategic Planning Prep, Strategic Scorecard, Performance Management, HR Capacity Build, Strategic Staff Development, Board Recruitment, Brochure and Annual Report Service Grants.

LGBT organizations are particularly encouraged to apply, as well as grantees of the following foundations:

 

• Blue Shield of California Foundation

 

Seattle/Puget Sound Area: The Seattle office will be accepting applications from all nonprofits that meet our basic eligibility requirements.

 

Applicants who are grantees of the following foundations are particularly encouraged to apply:

 

• Bank of America Neighborhood Builders Program
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Chicago: The Chicago office will be accepting applications from all nonprofits that meet our basic eligibility requirements.

Applications for Leadership Development & Strategic HR Service Grants are particularly encouraged, as well as grantees from the following foundations:

• Chicago Community Trust
• Topfer Family Foundation
• Community Memorial Foundation

 

New York City:  The New York City office will be accepting applications from all nonprofits that meet our basic eligibility requirements.  We welcome applications for all Service Grant types, however we expect to have an especially strong supply of volunteers for Competitor/Collaborator Analysis, Financial Analysis, Strategic Planning Prep, and Strategic Scorecard Service Grants. We expect Basic and Advanced Website Service Grants to be especially competitive. 

 

Additionally, the full catalog of Leadership Development and Strategic HR is now available.

 

Grantees of the following foundations are particularly encouraged to apply:

 

• Sidney Frank Foundation
• Bank of America
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

 

Washington DC Area: The DC Area office will be accepting applications from all nonprofits that meet our basic eligibility requirements. 

 

Applicants for Leadership Development & Strategic HR Service Grants are particularly encouraged, as well as grantees from the following foundations:

 

• J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation
• Freddie Mac Foundation

 

 

Taproot Foundation staff will use their discretion to award all Service Grants. The Taproot Foundation will notify all March-round nonprofit applicants of next steps via mail or email by early May.

All criteria are subject to changes or additions. If you have specific questions about whether your organization should apply in this round, please contact your local office:

Region	Name and E-mail	Phone
San Francisco Bay Area	Karli King	415-359-1423 x307
Seattle	Lily Osborne	206-790-7668
Los Angeles	Wendy Gonzalez	213-625-7701
Chicago	Hannah Clark	312-494-9074
New York	Aaron Zueck	212-522-1073
Washington, D.C.	Avrille Hanzel	202-626-8563