Q: What happens when we submit an Initial Inquiry to Meyer Memorial Trust?
A: All initial inquiries that are received by the 15th of each month are reviewed by the program officers, who identify questions, strengths, concerns, etc. of each proposal. Summaries of the proposals written by program officers go to the trustees at their next month's meeting, where they decide which applications will be investigated further. Applicants are notified of the decision by email right away. Applicants whose inquiries move to further study are invited to submit a full proposal. They have three weeks from the date of notification to do so.
Those approved for further study are assigned to a program officer. After the proposal and supporting financial documentation is received, the program officer arranges a site visit. The purposes of the site visit are to establish a face-to-face relationship, view the organization and/or project "in person," follow up on questions the trustees may have at the final review, and gather additional information as part of the due diligence process. The timing of the site visit depends on the program officer's workload and MMT's internal calendar. Within a month or two of the site visit, the program officer submits a summary report to the trustees. At their next meeting, the trustees discuss the proposal and make a decision about whether to fund it. Applicants are usually notified of the decision by phone or email within a day of the trustee meeting.
The average time for a final grant decision is about six months from the time the initial inquiry is submitted. The exception is capital requests over $200,000, which are reviewed twice a year in May and November.
Q: How are capital requests considered by MMT?
A: Capital requests of $200,000 and under are handled in the same manner as other Responsive Grants requests. Initial Inquiries for more than $200,000 are considered by the trustees each month, but are presented for final action twice a year: in May and November. To allow time for first review and due diligence, Initial Inquiries must be submitted to MMT no later than November 15th for the May meeting and May 15th for the November meeting. Submitting your proposal prior to those dates helps us schedule due diligence most efficiently.
Q: Would someone at MMT meet with us to discuss our proposal?
A: We typically do not meet with applicants before a proposal is submitted because our program staff isn't large enough to accommodate the number of requests we receive. However, program officers will briefly discuss your proposal idea over the phone or by email. We want you to know that you do not have to be "known" by us for your proposal to receive a full and fair consideration, nor do you need to personally meet with a staff member or trustee. If our trustees approve an Initial Inquiry and invite a full proposal, then we nearly always meet with the applicant at a site visit.
It is not necessary to meet directly or "lobby" trustees. Trustees receive thorough written information about your organization, the proposed project, and the context of the request. All eligible proposals are presented to trustees and they consider each project on its own merits. The vast majority of funded proposals do not involve direct contact with trustees.
If, after reviewing the material on our website, you still have specific questions about how to respond to our guidelines, we encourage you to call or email us.
Q: Can we present a list of ideas and ask a program officer to choose the one most likely to be funded?
A: Proposals submitted to MMT should be strategic, well planned, and reflect your organization's top priority for funding. Your organization's leadership can best judge what your organization most needs. If your proposal reflects strategic thinking and sound planning, it will receive fair and serious consideration.
Q: How much money should we ask for?
A: You should be thoughtful about the amount of money you request from MMT and be able to explain your need. MMT always prefers to be one of several funders of a project and rarely provides 100% of a project's funding. Look through our list of recent grants to get a sense of the amounts we have recently granted for similar projects.
Q: Why do proposals get turned down?
We want to be careful investors of MMT resources and look for projects that best address significant community needs. By far the most common reason for a decline is insufficient planning. Prior to submitting a grant application to MMT, your organization's staff and board should have tools and a roadmap in place, such as a strategic or business plan, multi-year income and expense projections, identified outcomes, and a fundraising plan.
Other common reasons for decline include few or no funds raised locally for the project and inadequate sustainability plans.
Please refer to the What We Look For section of this website to help you identify things we look for in a strong proposal.
Q: Are there things Meyer Memorial Trust does not fund?
A: Look to Grant Application Guidelines for each program to determine specific program limitations. The Trust generally will not favor proposals seeking funds for:
Q: Do you fund multiple-year grants?
A: MMT generally makes grants over one- or two-year periods, and in rare cases, three-year periods. Multi-year grants are most useful when a project needs a few years to get fully established or for organizational capacity building grants. Generally, multi-year grants are set up with declining amounts each year as other funds replace initial grant funds. It is crucial to demonstrate how you plan to sustain such a project.
Q: Do you make challenge grants?
A: We will work with an organization to structure a challenge or matching grant if it will help inspire others to give or increase the organization's ability to raise other funds for the project. While MMT capital grants are often awarded during a capital campaign, funds are not paid out until all other resources needed for the project are committed; therefore, organizations often use their MMT capital grants as challenge grants.
Q: How often should we apply for a Responsive Grant from MMT?
The only written rules about how often applicants may submit proposals are that an organization may not resubmit a declined proposal for at least 12 months from the date of decline and that we will only consider one proposal from an organization at a time.
That said, organizations should be thoughtful about how often to apply for a grant. A long-range plan can help an organization forecast its needs several years in advance. Plan to seek assistance from MMT when it is strategic to do so to accomplish a top organizational priority. Avoid applying to MMT for each project idea as it emerges. MMT also tends to favor organizations with diverse sources of support.
Q: Should we hire a grantwriter?
A: We believe it is not necessary to hire a grantwriter. If you have planned your project well, answer the questions in our application, and use the other resources provided on this website, you will cover all that we need to know about your proposal. It might be helpful to ask someone outside your organization to read your proposal to see if it is clear and understandable before you submit it to us.
Q: Does the Trust prefer to fund special projects rather than ongoing operations?
We fund special projects but also help good organizations become stronger through capacity-building support, bridge funding, and through funding general operating costs in the context of strategic proposals that advance organizational missions.
Q: What makes a good proposal?
A: A good proposal starts with a good idea that makes sense in relation to the mission of the organization. It can be for a specific scope of work or to help advance the organization's capacity to do its ongoing work. A good proposal is the result of solid planning by both staff and board members that identifies work that furthers the mission, reviews alternatives, addresses details, and realistically projects the project's future. A good proposal has a carefully detailed, realistic budget and a thoughtful sustainability plan, if appropriate.
Q: Our board members hate asking for money and want us to submit a capacity building proposal for a development director to do it for them. How will you view such a proposal?
One of the essential functions of a board is to give and/or raise funds. Outside funders, including MMT, expect board participation in annual giving and other fundraising efforts, albeit all board members may not participate at equal levels. Without board involvement in fundraising, a development officer will have limited impact and a capacity building effort aimed at increasing individual donations is unlikely to have much success. An interim step might be to apply for Grassroots Grants from Meyer Memorial Trust or another source to hire a consultant to work with the board on fundraising. (Always check references before hiring a consultant.)
Q: We want to increase our organization's contributed income, but we won't know how much we can raise until we try it. How can we project a three-year budget when we don't know how well it will work? Do people just make up numbers?
Sound project planning requires organizations to make “educated guesses” about how much money they will be able to raise each year in various categories (i.e., memberships, individual contributions, business contributions, foundations) or by various means (i.e., direct mail appeals, major donor campaigns, fundraising events). The more specifically you think this through, the more likely you are to be able to meet your targets. Organizations similar to yours in similar-sized communities may be willing to share their fundraising experiences. You can ask the advice of people close to your organization (board members, past board members, and donors or potential donors) who have had experience raising money for other causes in your community. It may be worth investing in some consulting help to project fundraising goals. (Before hiring a consultant, ask them to provide references from organizations similar to your own in similar communities and check those references.)
Q: Would you consider a proposal to pay for our first ever fundraising event?
No. The Trust does not make grants for specific special events or sponsorships.
Q: Your guidelines say you don't fund "projects that benefit schools that do not primarily serve economically disadvantaged and/or special needs populations." How do you define economically disadvantaged and/or special needs populations?
We do not have an explicit guideline defining "economically disadvantaged." Typical measures could include children who qualify for the national school "free or reduced price" lunch program or whose families have incomes at or below 200% of the most recent Federal poverty level. "Special needs populations" could include students with mental, emotional, or developmental disabilities, students deemed at risk by qualified educators, mental health or youth development professionals, or minority or immigrant children facing linguistic and cultural barriers.
Q: Are there any circumstances in which a public K-12 school can apply for MMT grants?
No. MMT continues to support public education through the Chalkboard Project, the Oregon Small Schools Initiative (OSSI), and other community and systems-level investments.
Q: Why do you fund private schools in your Responsive Grants program but not public schools?
In the past, Meyer Memorial Trust has supported both public and private schools through various grants programs. Through a deliberative process of re-evaluating our grantmaking during 2007, MMT determined to concentrate its support of K-12 education in Chalkboard, OSSI, and other systems-level investments. We will continue to support private alternative nonprofit schools that serve populations of low income and/or high needs children in our grantmaking region.
Q: Do you fund advocacy or lobbying? If so, what kind? How can we determine that our activities will not threaten our 501(c)(3) status?
MMT can provide grant funding for nonprofit social benefit organizations that do advocacy and lobbying; however, IRS rules stipulate that MMT funds cannot be used specifically to fund lobbying activities, which include direct and grassroots communications on specific pieces of legislation or ballot measures. MMT can fund general advocacy activities (e.g., community organizing, issue education, etc.) as long as Meyer funds are not used to advocate for or against specific pieces of legislation or ballot measures. Nonprofit organizations can actively advocate and lobby on issues related to their missions. The IRS has specific rules for nonprofit lobbying activities (as opposed to general advocacy) that nonprofits should be aware of and adhere to. For more information on nonprofit lobbying rules, contact the Alliance for Justice.
Q: What size organization is required to have an outside audit?
For organizations with annual operating budgets of $100,000-$500,000, we would like to see at least a review by an outside auditor; above $500,000, we would like to see an audit.
