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How to Apply for Grant

Community grants are awarded to organizations who help fulfill the mission of The Raymond John Wean Foundation's Community Investment program. Grants should be geared to better the communities and neighborhoods of the Mahoning Valley and can be funded at two different levels:

1. $1,000 and not to exceed $5,000   

2. Over $5,000

We are interested in projects that offer or address the following:

• New, innovative approaches to addressing issues.
• Inclusion and broad community involvement.
• Building upon the considerable assets of the Mahoning Valley.
• Striving for equity and supporting social justice.
• Leveraging additional resources, partners and ideas.
• Supporting the development of human assets and capital.
• Cultivating leadership in the community.
• Providing support to people and communities which are often overlooked or insufficiently funded.

All grant proposals should consider the above principles and priorities.  Specifically, grant proposals should be for efforts which contribute to:   

• Developing and implementing solutions to the problems faced by low-income people.
• Increasing the organization and development of neighborhoods in the cities of Youngstown and Warren.
• Improving the quality of life in neighborhoods.
• Increasing the ability of nonprofit agencies to do their work in a way that has impact in the community.
• Building of collaborations among and between groups that will lead to an improved quality of life for residents.
• Understanding between people and groups of people, particularly where there is a history of friction or enmity.
• Developing better educational opportunities specifically for those with limited access to education (no scholarship programs or individual scholarship proposals please).
• Affecting the economic growth in a manner that directly impacts the job-creation and development of jobs for low-income people. (Specifically, we are seeking efforts that are thoughtful, creative and differ from standard job creation efforts.)
• Developing leadership in under-served communities.

Grant requests OF $1,000 and not to exceed $5,000

The Foundation will accept applications for grants, not to exceed $5,000, anytime during the year. These requests will receive immediate review; generally, a decision is forthcoming within four weeks of receipt of the proposal. A Letter of Inquiry is not required for grant requests not exceeding $5,000.

Grant requests over $5,000

Interested organizations with grant requests over $5,000 should submit a Letter of Inquiry, which may be downloaded from this site. A response will generally be received within four weeks of receipt. The Foundation will then advise the organization if it is appropriate to submit a proposal.

Deadlines for proposals are:

Letter of Inquiry Deadline	Proposal Deadline	Board Meeting
December 1	January 15	March
March 1	April 15	June
June 1	July 15	September
September 1	October 15	December

If any of the above dates occur on a holiday or a weekend, the proposal may be postmarked on the next business day.

Organizations can only apply for one grant per calendar year.

Grant Limitations

The Foundation cannot consider grants to individuals and generally will not consider grants for:

1. Individual scholarships or grants, even if through an otherwise qualified organization
2. Sectarian religious activity
3. Endowment funds
4. Film or video production
5. Debt reduction
6. Foreign operations or expenditures
7. National fund-raising campaigns or mass mailing campaigns
8. Membership in civic organizations or trade associations
9. Veterans’ organizations or fraternal societies
10. Annual support to local or national offices of organizations whose stated purpose is to combat a particular disease or family of diseases
11. Organizations that do not provide services to Ohio's Mahoning Valley

Workshops

As part of our grantmaking to nonprofit groups, we provide useful sessions to potential grant seekers. We offer these sessions before each of our quarterly rounds of grant making. Please visit our events page for more information.

July 2009 Grantseeker PowerPoint Presentation

Letter of Inquiry

An initial contact for our giving programs must be made through a Letter of Inquiry. In order to properly process your request, we ask that you submit your form at least four weeks prior to the deadline date for invited proposals.

Please feel free to contact us if you have questions about this program or to obtain a hard copy of the Letter of Inquiry. Print out the form and return the completed form to The Foundation office via mail, fax or email.