GRANT REQUESTS

There are no official forms to use in applying for a grant. If your letter of inquiry has been reviewed and approved for further consideration, you will be contacted by a program officer and asked to submit a detailed grant request. The request should take the form of a proposal and be accompanied by a cover letter on the letterhead of the applicant's organization. Include a letter from the president, executive director or appropriate Board representative if someone else submits the cover letter.

Requests for funding should include the following:

1. Brief cover letter describing the proposed project and the amount of money requested.

2. Proposal:
   • Overview of the organization, its mission, history, current programs, staffing (including résumés or bios of executive director and key staff), and any major changes that have taken place in the recent past or are anticipated to occur in the near future.

   • Description of the needs or problems that the project addresses, including agency or local statistics or other data that help illustrate these needs.

   • Description of the population to be served by the project (e.g., ethnicity, gender, age, socioeconomic status, geography) as well as target numbers.

   • Detailed description of the proposed project including objectives, and (where applicable) activities, staffing, consultants, volunteers, equipment, locations, timetable, anticipated results, possible obstacles and how it will be sustained beyond the current funding period.

   • Explanation of how the organization will determine whether or not, and to what extent, the project meets its proposed objectives.

   • Detailed line-item budget for the project including how Foundation funds would be expended.

   • Details of how the proposed project will be funded. List all sources of funding and provide the name or description of each source, the amount requested or contributed, and whether the funds are pending or committed. Do not identify individual donors by name; rather, provide the total amount contributed by all individual donors.

3. Other information or documents that need to accompany the proposal:
   • Copy of the organization's most recent IRS 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status determination letter reflecting the organization's current name.

   • Copy of the IRS Form 990 for the most recent fiscal year, including all attachments and schedules.

   • Current annual operating budget for the organization as a whole, itemizing revenues and expenses, and year-to-date actuals.

   • Audited financial statements for the two most recent years. If the organization is not subject to an audit requirement or has not yet received the most recent year's independent auditors' report, submit a compilation or year-end financial statements with budgeted and actual revenues and expenses.

   • List the major sources of the organization's revenue including government agencies, individual donors (in the aggregate), foundations and corporations, fundraising events, program fees, earned income, etc. Provide the name or description of each source and the amount contributed.

   • List of the organization's governing board, its officers and the affiliations of all members.

4. Any supplemental documents considered relevant to the request, e.g., brochures, pictures, diagrams, case studies, CDs, DVDs, videos, research studies, newspaper articles, or internal reports.

Letters of Inquiry and Grant Requests should be directed to:

Grants Administrator
The Ahmanson Foundation
9215 Wilshire Boulevard
Beverly Hills, California 90210

The Foundation is unable to accept electronically submitted letters of inquiry and grant requests, either by fax or via e-mail. Inquiry and request letters must be on agency letterhead and signed by the executive director, president or appropriate Board representative.

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