I. Timeline The Board of Trustees holds four meetings per year at which time grant applications are considered. Please note the new application deadlines for 2009. Applicants wishing to be considered at our quarterly board meetings should issue proposals by the following deadlines: Letter of Intent Deadline Proposal Deadline Board Meeting October 15 December 1 March January 15 March 1 June April 15 June 1 September July 15 September 1 December LOI Grant Cycles for year 2009 : Jan/June'09, Apr/Sept'09, July/Dec'09 and Oct'09/Mar'10 II. Letter of Intent Applying for a grant from The Valley Foundation is two-step process. Applicants must first submit a preliminary letter of intent. The letter should be no more than one to two pages in length and should describe: 1) Subject Heading (eg. SJSU-Project Title-LOI cycle) 2) General background and purpose of the sponsoring       organization 3) The specific program or project for which funding is      requested 4) The specific amount requested from the Foundation 5) The goals and anticipated results of the project The letter of intent should be submitted online using valley.egrant.org. First time users of eGrant will be required to register their organization. Please read note on the right colume. After registeration, the first step is to create a new application. Once the application is created, select "edit" to begin working on the letter of intent phase. You will be required to fill out essential background information and are then asked to attach the letter of intent. To attach the letter, press the browse button, scroll to the appropriate folder on your computer and select the file. Before submitting your application, review the application and make edits if necessary. When you are done, press the submit button. Please view your application and print it for your records. *IMPORTANT NOTE* REGISTRATION Please register under the organization's name, and it's abbreviation as the Login and NOT your personal name, when registering with eGrant. Make note of your login and password for your future reference.  Please submit the LOI as a Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat document (on your letterhead if possible) and exclude any spaces or special characters in the file name. The name of this file MUST  be yourorgnameLOI.doc. III. Full Proposal *IMPORTANT NOTE* When you return to eGrant to submit your full proposal, log in using the same login and password as you did when submitting the letter of intent. If you have forgotten either your login or password, email admin@valley.org. DO NOT create a new application when submitting the full proposal,  continue on with the same application with which you created the Letter of Intent. (LOI) If it is determined that the activity falls within the Foundation's current areas of interest, submission of a full proposal will be invited. Invitations will be issued via regular mail. If you receive an invitation, you should return to valley.egrant.org. When you start the application process, you will notice that a second phase has been added to your application. Select edit to complete the second phase. You will be asked to submit some general information about the organization, contact name for the grant request, program details, and budget information. Fill in all the fields. The final question asks for the percentage of healthcare or medical services your organization provides that benefits lower income households. The highest priority of The Valley Foundation is to provide targeted funding for qualified charitable organizations serving the health care needs of lower income households in Santa Clara County. If your program is concerned with the maintenance or restoration of the health of the body or mind, we are interested in knowing the percentage of your population served which is low income. Please refer to the HUD guidelines below to determine this percentage. Number of People in Family 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 30% of median $22,300 $25,450 $28,650 $31,850 $34,400 $36,900 $39,450 $42,000 Very Low Income (50%) $37,150 $42,450 $47,750 $53,050 $57,300 $61,550 $65,800 $70,050 Low-Income (80%) $59,400 $67,900 $76,400 $84,900 $91,650 $98,450 $105,250 $112,050 You will then be asked to upload several attachments. You may have all the attachment files ready before your log in and begin to complete the application. You may also save your work at any time and return to the application at a later date. The first attachment includes a list of project specific questions. Please answer these questions separately, using no more than a total of three pages for your responses. The required name of this document should be yourorgnameQs.doc. These questions are as follows: *IMPORTANT NOTE* : Attachment Files Make sure the name of your organization, or a suitable abbreviation, is in the title of each attachment file, and do not include any spaces or special characters.  For each grant cycle, we receive dozens of applications containing several attachments. In order to organize these files in the appropriate location, they need to be titled by the applicant's name and type of attachment, not "Valley Application" or similar nomenclature. For attached budgets, make sure that the budget numbers reported within eGrant match the numbers found within the supplemental attachments. Subject Heading (eg. SJSU-Project Title-LOI cycle.   Detailed purpose of this request: Describe the program for which the funding is being requested, and how the money will be used. (Please indicate in the first sentence the dollar amount being requested and a concise purpose of the request).  Why is the program/project unique? Why is it needed? Describe what changes will occur as a result of your project/ program. (Who will benefit, how many will be served) Summarize the organization's history, mission and goals. Indicate the geographical area your organization serves. List any other organizations in the area with a purpose and/or program the same or similar to that of yours. Describe the plan by which you intend to evaluate this project. If this is a capital request, please describe the item or items needed and their respective costs. If it is a capital campaign, describe the components of the drive and the separate dollar goals from each donor segment, i.e. corporations, foundations, and individuals. Describe your plans for sustaining the program (funding and other sources). List major corporate and foundation grants (related only to this project) and the amount of each grant solicited and their responses. i.e. pending, funded and the amount, either granted or denied.  The last step is uploading the supplemental attachments, which can be Microsoft Word, Excel or Adobe Acrobat documents. They are as follows: Appendix Required Title Description A yourorgnameA Complete program/project budget, including the specific amount requested from The Foundation. B yourorgnameB Current annual operating budget; including in-kind services and volunteers, with hours contributed. C yourorgnameC Current Board of Directors, listing business addresses and occupations. D yourorgnameD Current audited financial report. E yourorgnameE 501(c)(3) determination letter. F yourorgnameF A copy of the most recent IRS Form 990 Tax Return. IV. Site Visits Staff review of the proposal will usually include a site visit. After submission of the full proposal, the staff will contact each applicant to arrange a site visit. The site visit will be made by one or more of the Foundation's Board of Directors and it's Administrator. The applying organization must have its Executive Director and a Board Member present. If relevant, the Program Director and Grant Writer should also attend. V. Quarterly Board Meeting The staff will present to the Board the proposals it considers most appropriate for funding. At each meeting the Board will consider more projects than it will be able to fund. There may be times when a proposal is not reviewed on the agenda of the meeting for which it was intended but may be deferred to the next quarterly meeting. VI. Progress Reports The recipients of grants will be required to make periodic progress reports in the form of a one to two page narrative report. After grant approval, grantees will be required to sign a grant agreement which lists the due dates of these reports. The progress reports should include a narrative summary of the status of the project. The final report should also include a statement of disbursements of the grant funds. VII.  Reference for Communications purposes All correspondences and inquires on grant submissions should be referred by stating the Initals of organization-Grant # - Project Title - LOI cycle. To go to the online application, click here Updated 2009