Apply for a Grant
Grant Guidelines
The principles, program interests, and funding decisions of The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation are the purview of its board of directors.
The Foundation:
- Can only support organizations that are exempt from federal taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and publicly supported under Section 509 (a)(1), (2), or (3)
- Cannot provide grants to individuals
- Will not fund overhead or indirect costs
Application procedure
The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation accepts applications solely through its online grants-management system, which can be accessed via bradley.smartsimple.com.
The Foundation has a two-step application procedure.
- A virtual letter of inquiry (LOI) should briefly describe the project for which support is being sought. If the project falls within the Foundation’s current program interests, the organization may be invited to submit a full application.
- If your LOI is approved, a full application should include the following information:
- A thorough description of the project, its objectives and significance, and the qualifications and roles of participants
- The organization’s:
- Most current IRS exemption determination letter
- Current-year annual budget
- Project budget, if applicable
- List of board directors and officers
- Most recent audited financial statements
- Most recent IRS Form 990
- Any additional materials the applicant thinks will strengthen the case for support - reports, studies, or brochures, for example - which may be uploaded at the end of the application form
Review of Applications
Applications are reviewed by the Foundation’s program staff, but all grant decisions are made by the Foundation’s board of directors. The board meets four times annually.
Following are the deadlines for submitting full applications to the Foundation.
|
Full Application Due |
Board Meeting Month |
|
February 15 |
May |
|
May 15 |
August |
|
August 15 |
November |
|
November 15 |
February |
Applications received by these deadlines will typically be reviewed at the corresponding board meeting. There are sometimes exceptions, and applications are occasionally deferred to a later board meeting.
Many worthwhile projects do not fall within the Foundation’s program interests, and demands on the Foundation’s resources influence grant size.
All requests should be processed through our online grants management system:
Frequently Asked Questions
Why was my request to register as a new user declined?
Only users representing eligible organizations are permitted to register. Please see our Grant Guidelines for further clarification. If your organization is eligible, and you are having trouble registering, please contact applications@bradleyfdn.org.
All new users are verified by our staff. Sometimes, new users attempt to register with an email address that does not match the domain of the organization on whose behalf they are attempting to register. To prevent fraud and safeguard the privacy and security of applicant organizations, we do not allow this.
If you are an independent consultant working for an applicant organization, the organization must either create an official email address in your name or arrange for you to access the system using the credentials of a verified user.
My organization is already registered. May we add additional users?
Yes, as long as the additional users are verified employees of your organization. Please press the “register” button and follow the prompts.
How do we change our organization’s contact information or remove contacts who are no longer employed at our organization?
Please contact applications@bradleyfdn.org
I have already received grants from The Bradley Foundation. Do I still need to submit a letter of inquiry?
Yes. It is not possible to skip directly to the full application step; you must start with a letter of inquiry. If your letter of inquiry were to be approved, all information would transfer into the draft application automatically.
Does the Foundation have deadlines for full applications?
Yes. After consulting with many applicants, we have concluded that the clarity and certainty of deadlines benefits both applicants and the Foundation. Thus, we have reinstated deadlines for full applications. Our four quarterly deadlines are listed here.
Are there deadlines for letters of inquiry?
No. The Foundation considers letters of inquiry on an ongoing basis. The Foundation reviews LOIs regularly, but we cannot guarantee an immediate response. Please consider how much time you will need to prepare a full application in advance of the next deadline.
Is it possible to speak to someone on the Foundation’s staff before submitting an application?
Unfortunately, it is not. The Foundation’s staff does not have the capacity to discuss potential projects in advance of the submission of a letter of inquiry. We often receive the message that a potential applicant would simply like to know in advance whether they should invest time in preparing an application. The letter of inquiry step is designed for that purpose; it is intended to provide the Foundation with enough information to determine whether a project might fit our program interests.
