Inaugural Application Cycle

Application Cycles

Application Guidelines

The website portal is only open during these two four-month application cycles. The entire process (from initial registration to final approval) can take up to six months. Your submitted contact information on our website must be kept up to date throughout the entire process in order for you to receive communications from us on a timely basis regarding your application, including mailings of approved award checks. We must have the current contact person’s name, email address and an up-to-date mailing address in order to mail grant award checks and pertinent documents should your application be approved. It is your responsibility to keep our website updated with this information throughout the application process.

REQUESTS FOR GRANTS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED BY MAIL OR EMAIL. YOU MUST APPLY ONLINE.

THE ONLINE APPLICATION PROCESS INVOLVES THE FOLLOWING THREE STEPS:

1. REGISTRATION

If your organization has previously applied to be considered for a grant, you are already registered. Submit your new “Letter of Intent” when the portal is open using your existing credentials. In the event of a forgotten password, please follow the “Forgot Password” prompts to reset your password.

If your organization has not previously applied, the application process begins with an applicant registering their organization on our website during one of the four-month application periods indicated above. We recommend that the supplied organization name be identical to your 501(c)(3) filing. Upon successful registration, an automated “Welcome” email will be sent. If you do not receive the “Welcome” email, please email kelly@fjbrothertoncharitabletrust.org for assistance.

2. LETTER OF INTENT

A “Letter of Intent” should then be submitted, which will be reviewed by the Trustee. This is a brief overview of your proposal to help the Trustee quickly decide if the grant request meets the Trust’s charter and criteria. Applicants will be notified by email within 2-3 weeks regarding acceptance or denial. If accepted, the applicant will move on to the full grant application. If you do not hear back from us within 2-3 weeks after submitting an LOI, please email kelly@fjbrothertoncharitabletrust.org for assistance.

3. GRANT APPLICATION

If the Letter of Intent is accepted, the Applicant will complete and submit a full grant application before the application period deadline (either December 31 or June 30 depending on the current application period). Please note: all uploaded documents on the website during the application process must have filenames with only alpha/numeric characters. No special characters are allowed (e.g., periods, commas, dashes, underscores, asterisks, etc.).

Final decisions are made approximately two months after each grant application cycle deadline at the next semi-annual Advisory Board meeting. Advisory Board meetings are held in February and August, after which all approved grant distributions are processed. You will be advised by email of either approval or denial after the Advisory Board meets. It is imperative that you keep all of your contact information on our website up-to-date throughout the entire application process, which could be up to six months depending on your date of submission, in order to receive communications regarding your application.

If your grant application is approved, Progress Reports for all approved grants are due every six months after receiving a grant award and should be submitted through the online grant portal. Further guidelines regarding submission of Progress Reports for all approved grants will be sent with the grant award check.

PLEASE NOTE: The Trust receives many grant requests during each application cycle. It is highly recommended that you apply early in the four-month application cycle as grant requests submitted late in the cycle may not allow enough time for completion of the three-step online application process outlined above. If the entire three-step process is not completed before the deadline date, the grant application will expire.

Grant Restrictions

Foreign limitations: The FJ Brotherton Charitable Trust is legally restricted from contributing, in any manner, grant funds which would be utilized outside of the United States or its possessions. It does not fund non-United States-based charitable organizations nor the work of United States based organizations abroad.

United States limitations: The primary geographic areas of funding are the northeastern to southeastern United States. Exceptions to the geographic guidelines are granted only when the Trustee or an Advisory Board Member has personal knowledge of an organization which otherwise conforms to the trust’s guidelines.

The FJ Brotherton Charitable Trust does NOT approve grant requests to organizations lacking tax exempt status under I.R.C. Section 501(c)(3).

Further, as a matter of general practice, The FJ Brotherton Charitable Trust does NOT normally approve grant requests falling into the following categories:

• Conferences
• Day care programs for children or adults
• Documentaries, films and videos
• Legal aid programs
• Loans
• Moving expenses
• Public opinion polls, surveys and research studies
• Public policy and/or advocacy groups
• Senior citizens’ programs
• Soup kitchens and/or food banks
• Deficit financing
• Grants to individuals