ONLY ONE APPLICATION SUBMISSION ACCEPTED PER ORGANIZATION!

Guidelines for Regular Grants
A. The Foundation welcomes grant applications from qualified organizations. Proposals meeting the following criteria will be considered for grants from discretionary funds:

1. Grants may be made only to tax-exempt organizations under Section 501(c)(3) or 170(c) of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”). None shall be made to Private Foundations under Section 509(a) of the Code.
2. Normally an organization must have been in existence for at least two years prior to application for the grant and have achieved a record of effective service.
3. Grants will be made for the acquisition of capital asset items.
4. Grants will be made only in support of the following service purposes in order of priority:

            a. to animal protection organizations such as the Humane Society, the Society for the Prevention of  Cruelty to Animals, and rescue organizations.
           b. to other land and wildlife conservancy groups.
           c. to organizations committed to agricultural purposes
           d. to the preservation of land in its natural state, including wetlands.
           e. to opera, symphony, arts and other similar civic organizations.
     5.  If less than 50 percent of the applicant organization’s services are dedicated to the foregoing purposes, Regular Grants may be considered only for items which relate directly to such purposes.
     6. Regular Grants are normally limited to $20,000.00.

B. The Foundation generally will not make grants from discretionary funds for:

      1.  Programs or organizations focused primarily on a sport.

       2. Direct aid to individuals or for scholarships.

       3. Support of operational costs; such as administrative costs, general overhead, taxes, or interest payments, for retirement of debt, or for costs of capital items already acquired or implemented.

      4. Expenses incurred in performance of program services.

      5. Influencing legislation or elections.

      6. General educational institutions or sectarian religious organizations at any level. This does not, however, preclude consideration of requests from educational institutions and sectarian religious.

C. Consistent with the above guidelines, the Board of Trustees of the Foundation will make grants from discretionary funds in its sole discretion. Priorities for application of funds will take into consideration such factors as the quality of services provided, community needs for the services provided, significance of the capital needs for which the grant is requested, and the history of grants to the organization.


Guidelines for Major Grants
The Foundation's Major Grants program has been established to provide a mechanism for consideration of agency capital needs which are of such magnitude and nature that they cannot be met within limitations of one or a succession of Regular Grants. Major Grants are limited to a maximum of $50,000.00.
Foundation Guidelines for Regular Grants will apply, with the exception of A.5 and A.6
      PURPOSE OF THE REQUESTED GRANT
To make a significant contribution towards a tangible and enduring capital need (a useful life of at least five years with reasonable care), to support a new service, a sustainable expansion of an existing service, or replacement or renovation of a deteriorated capital asset.
      ELIGIBILITY

1.  At least 50% of the organization's services must be in support of purposes set forth in A.4 of the Foundation Guidelines for Regular Grants.
2. Except under special circumstances in the sole discretion of the Trustees, the organization may not have received a Major Grant from the Foundation with in the past three years.

      JUDGEMENT CRITERIA

1. Importance of the service need relevant to the Foundation's Purposes.
2. Significance of the requested grant in meeting this need.
3. Maturity of the planning underlying the planned service and grant request.

FUNDING CYCLE
Regular Grant and Major Grant applications are accepted from May 15 through August 15 of each calendar year. Grants are awarded the end of the second week of December of the year in which the Grant Application is made.