Jared Polis Foundation Gift Fund at The Community Foundation of Boulder County

Beginning in January 2009, Jared’s new role as a congressman representing Colorado’s second congressional district has him focused solely on serving his constituents while in Washington, DC and at home. However, Jared’s philanthropic giving has continued through a gift fund established at The Community Foundation of Boulder County.

The Jared Polis Foundation Gift Fund is managed by Gina Nocera, Executive Director of the Jared Polis Foundation, and funding requests will be reviewed by a small grants volunteer committee consisting of foundation, business and community leaders.

Areas of Interest:

Access to high quality education, includes early childhood, K-12 and lifelong learning and education, with a focus on programs that serve at-risk, underserved, and out of school youth.

Access to healthcare, with a focus on low-income or uninsured children and individuals.

Environmental protection and awareness, including programs that provide environmental education to youth and adults, and promote environmental protection and preservation.

Diverse/Healthy Communities, including programs that promote economically self-sufficient families, free individuals from harassment and violence, and advance inclusion.

To view our 2009 grantees please click here.
To view our 2010 grantees please click here.
To view our 2011 grantees please click here.

Types of Grants

Grants will be given only to public charities that are tax-exempt under section 501-(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and groups with 509-(a)(1) and 509-(a)(4) status are also eligible since both of these designations are sub-categories of 501-(c)(3) status.

Within our areas of interest, grants awarded will be the following types:
• General Operating Support
• Project/Program Support
• Challenge/Matching Support
We recommend new prospective grantees apply for program support; if your organization has received support from us in 2009, 2010 and/or 2011 then you may choose to apply for general operating support.

Grants are not made to the following:
• Capital improvements
• Individual Scholarship requests
• Events, annual campaigns, membership drives, or conferences
• Individuals
• Retirement of debt
• Loans
• Litigation
• Legislative lobbying or support of political candidates

Generally, grants are not made to organizations outside the state of Colorado. Exceptions may be made only at the discretion of the Grants Advisory Committee. The JPF gift fund supports non-profit organizations throughout the state of Colorado.

The Grant Process and Upcoming Deadlines

The grant process includes a one-page Letter of Interest (LOI.) The LOI should describe your organization’s mission, programs and target population served as well as the type of grant you are requesting. LOIs should be no longer than one to two pages. Along with the LOI, please attach your organization’s current-year operating budget and the 501c3 determination letter from the IRS.

The grants committee will review the LOIs and respond to all interested organizations two weeks following the LOI deadline, either inviting them to complete the Colorado Common Grant Application (CCG) or informing the organization that we will not be requesting a full application from them.

If your organization is invited to apply, please send all application materials (including introduction letter, summary pages, narrative and all required attachments of the Colorado Common Grant Application) electronically to gina@jaredpolisfoundation.org. All electronic submissions must be sent in PDF format or in a Zip file.

Organizations will be notified of funding within 45 days following each CCG application deadline. Please note we are unable to respond to emergency funding requests.

2012 Deadlines:

Please send all correspondence, i.e. LOIs and grant applications, electronically to gina@jaredpolisfoundation.org. We do not accept hard copies. We do not accept late proposals.

Please note: You will receive an email confirmation within 36 hours for all correspondence related to your grant: LOI and/or CCG application. If you do not receive an email confirmation we did not receive your electronic submission.

In 2012, the JPF Gift Fund grants committee has approved designated grant cycles per focus area; please see below to note the grant cycle in which your organization may apply. If you have questions on this new policy please contact Gina Nocera.

1st Grant Cycle: Education
LOI Deadline: February 1, 2012 by 5pm (MST)
Response to LOIs: February 15, 2012
CCG Application Deadline: March 15, 2012 by 5pm (MST)

2nd Grant Cycle: Diverse/Healthy Communities
LOI Deadline: June 1, 2012 by 5pm (MST)
Response to LOIs: June 15, 2012
CCG Application Deadline: July 15, 2012 by 5pm (MST)

3rd Grant Cycle: Environment and Health
LOI Deadline: September 1, 2012 by 5pm (MST)
Response to LOIs: September 15, 2012
CCG Application Deadline: October 17, 2012 by 5pm (MST)

Guidelines

We know the number of proposals received and the funds requested will exceed our available resources. Please know we appreciate all of your work, regardless of whether we are able to fund your request.
• Prospective grantees are encouraged to call with any questions. Please call Gina Nocera at 303.865.3980 or email Gina at gina@jaredpolisfoundation.org.
• Organizations are limited to one grant request in a calendar year.
• Our range of giving is $2,500 to $10,000. Please note that the majority of grants awarded will fall somewhere in the middle of this range.
• We are unable to meet personally with prospective grantees before an application is submitted. Once we have received your application, we will contact you if we need additional information.

The JPF grants committee has decided to change the gift fund’s 2012 guidelines to include “hiatus” years for those organizations that have received three years of continuous funding from 2009-2011. All of these organizations are welcome to apply in 2012, but we will ask them to take a funding hiatus from the JPF Gift Fund for 2013 and 2014. We are giving these organizations a full year’s notice so they can begin to identify other possible support networks. Our goal is two-fold: we hope to help all of the organizations diversify their revenues even more, and we want to provide an opportunity for Colorado nonprofits that fit one of our four focus areas to have a much stronger chance of receiving support from us in the near future—some of these organizations we’ve supported already for one or two years, and some will be entirely new grantees.

We are requesting all grantees use the revised Colorado Common Grant Application (www.coloradocommongrantforms.org).

If your organization receives funding support a copy of the Common Grant Report Format (CGRF) will be included with the funds. Please complete the summary sheet and respond only to the boxes checked when completing the narrative portion of the report. This report must be completed within 12 months after receiving funding. Your organization must submit a completed CGRF before it can apply for support in the following year.

To view our 2009 grantees please click here.
To view our 2010 grantees please click here.
To view our 2011 grantees please click here.

Contact

Gina Nocera
Jared Polis Foundation Gift Fund
P.O. Box 4659
Boulder, CO 80306
303.865.3980 mobile
gina@jaredpolisfoundation.org

The Jared Polis Foundation Gift Fund shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, age, national origin, disability, or sexual orientation, in any of its funding decisions.