Eligibility/NEW Partners

All interested 501 (c)( 3) organizations, who meet our focus area criteria are welcome to send a letter of inquiry by email to . The staff will review and respond with an invitation to apply, if the criteria are met and the Board would like to see an application. These emailed letters can be sent anytime during the year, and staff will review on a rolling basis. If the criteria are not clearly met, the organization will not be invited to submit a proposal. Unsolicited applications are not accepted. Organizations must be invited to apply by staff based on their review of the emailed letter of inquiry referenced above.

Current Grantee Partners

Application Review & Process

The Washington Forrest Foundation launches its application process by early July of each year. Partners who received funding in the prior year will receive notification by the end of June regarding whether they will be invited to submit an application for the coming year.

All current, invited partners must submit the Part I (LOI) by mid-August of each year irregardless of when they are submitting their final application.  This process ensures that we can both understand the scope of all requests for the year and manage appropriate funding levels throughout our fiscal year. Your assigned Grant Manager will work with you throughout the process to support you in meeting all deadlines. (See list of deadlines below.)

The Foundation Board meets to make grant decisions in September, October, December, February and April of each fiscal year. Our fiscal year is July 1-June 30 each year. Foundation staff will assign each organization’s request to a specific month/review cycle. Organizations will be notified to which month they have been assigned prior to the beginning of the coming year’s grant cycle.

By balancing the number of applications reviewed each cycle, approx. 10 organizations, the Board and staff are better able to engage and support each organization equitably. If organizations need to change their assigned month, they must discuss it with Foundation staff in advance of their completing the Part 1 (LOI).

Partners are encouraged to review the FAQs page for updates on Foundation expectations, partner benefits, and the application process.

1. The Foundation Board meets to make grant decisions in October, December, February and April of each fiscal year.

2. By balancing the number of applications reviewed each cycle, approx. 6-8 organizations, the Board and staff are better able to engage and support each organization equitably. All applicants must complete Part I (LOI) of the application by August 14, 2024 regardless of when you intend to submit for final approval. This helps the Foundation with our plans and also our ability to be responsive to you throughout the year.

Prior to your due date for your application(see below), you will need to complete Part II of the application which includes your Grant Report from the previous year. If you did not receive a grant the previous year, you can mark N/A in this section.

3. FY2025 Dates and Deadlines

July 10, 2024	Application Live
August 14, 2024	Part I /LOI Letters of Intent Submitted (for ALL partners)
September 25, 2024	October Meeting Applications due
November 13, 2024	December Meeting Applications due
January 22, 2025	February Meeting Applications due
March 12, 2025	April Meeting Submissions due

All due dates are for close of business (COB) on the due date.

Please stay in touch as you complete the application. You can log on at any time to work on it or to update contact information. This year, we will also continue to ACH our grant funds so please be in touch if you have not yet completed our form needed or if your bank information has changed.