Related FAQ

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 MMT funds are not used to advocate for or against specific pieces of legislation or ballot measures.

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.

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.

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.

You should be thoughtful about the amount of money you request from MMT and be able to explain your need. Remember that MMT nearly always prefers to be one of several funders of a project and almost never provides 100% of a project's funding. Look through our list of recent grants for similar projects in our Awards Database to get a sense of the amounts we have recently granted for similar projects.

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 generally have six weeks from the date of notification to do so.