How To Apply For A GMF Grant
(Questions? Contact our Executive Director, via email prior to sending the application.)
Answer each question. Head each of your answers with the question to which you are responding. These do not need to be separate pages for each question. Do not print and include the entire page of questions.
Respond to each question carefully and succinctly. Indicate whether or not your program addresses issues critical to Montana today.
A major goal for Ed Craney, GMF’s founder, was to improve commercial broadcasting in the state. Efforts to offer noncommercial programming funded by GMF to commercial stations are important and may improve the odds for receiving a grant. If providing programming to commercial broadcast stations is part of your plan, please provide details.
Provide a budget for your proposal (not your entire organization) in a format GMF trustees can easily decipher. Expenses and purposes must be clearly delineated. Be sure to list other sources of funding, if applicable. Some post secondary institutions take a percentage of each grant awarded to a program for operations/administration, unless the grantor specifically prohibits it. The Greater Montana Foundation does prohibit such a fee.
No portion of any Greater Montana Foundation grant may be used for operations or administrative purposes, unless expressly allowed in writing as intended to do so.If there are critical supporting documents, please include them. You may also include briefbiographies of principals who may be unknown to GMF; however we do not require a multi-page vita. It is also not necessary or helpful to include pages of recommendations, letters of support, photos, long lists of programs produced, etc. Do not include DVDs, CDs, etc. with your materials. If in doubt, ask the executive director first.
THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND BOARD’S REVIEW PROCESS
Deadline for receipt of application at GMF: Applications must be received (or postmarked if snail mailed) no later than midnight April 1, of each year.
When I receive a grant application, by email or snail mail, I first review it for eligibility and completeness. If there are questions, I will contact you.
I make copies of each application and include them in the board of trustees meeting manuals, which are provided to the members well in advance of the June annual meeting. We cannot include photos and extraneous documents.
Each member reviews and ranks the grants in advance of the annual meeting. If there are questions or any requests for additional information, I will notify you.
Each applicant is invited and highly encouraged to present in person during the board’s annual meeting. Instructions on how to do so, along with a time slot will be sent to you. Presentations, including Q&A, are limited to 10 minutes per applicant and time limits are strictly observed. Be prepared with a well-organized 10 minute presentation and plan for questions.
If you do not hear from GMF’s Executive Director by May 20 regarding a scheduled time for your presentation, please contact us ASAP. Rarely, but occasionally, a grant application is not received in the office.
