Grantmaking Guidelines and Process

Purpose

The purpose of the Mighty Arrow Family Foundation is to honor the regenerative potential of business through meaningful philanthropy, investing, and advocacy.

Giving Areas

The Mighty Arrow Family Foundation has four main areas of focus for our giving and investing: Climate Change, Food Systems, Land & Water Stewardship, and Social Justice.

We do not have hard and fast rules about the types of projects and organizations that we fund, but some of the things we look for are:

Early Stage Organizations, New Projects, or “humps”: We generally prefer to fund organizations that are just getting off the ground, launching a new project, or going through an organizational change. While we seek these earlier-stage opportunities, we are still looking for evidence of a clear strategy and path to success. Priority will be given to organizations with annual operating budgets under $2M.

Equity and Inclusion: The project should demonstrate the inclusion of diverse groups from the organization’s community and geography in project development. We are not just looking for “who” will benefit, but “how” are marginalized groups involved in the work and decision making. We also consider whether organizations promote internal diversity in their hiring practices.

High-leverage Opportunities and Collaboration: We look for projects that are highly replicable or have the potential to have an out-sized impact. We also prioritize organizations that work in collaboration with other groups towards common goals and outcomes.

Root Cause/Systems Focus: Projects should seek to address root problems and bring about system change.   

Policy and Advocacy Component: We seek to support policy and advocacy in each of our giving categories. We cannot directly support political campaigns or lobbying.   

Please note: we have a limited budget for new grants each year. There are many excellent organizations doing work in our focus areas and we cannot fund them all.   

Geography  

Our grant making is focused in the Western United States, with a concentration in Colorado and California. Generally, we will fund projects that are place-based or specific to the Front Range of Colorado and the Bay Area in California. Other projects that have a regional impact across the Intermountain West or California may be considered.  Occasionally, we will fund projects with a national reach, if they have outstanding impact in our giving areas.

Grant Restrictions

We only give to non-profit organizations with a 501(c)3 designation or that have a fiscal sponsor with a 501(c)3 designation.  

We do not fund individuals, fundraising drives, or religious activities. In some special cases we may offer financial support for events that are very closely aligned with our interests. As a private foundation, we cannot provide support to political campaigns, and our dollars cannot be earmarked for lobbying activity.   

We do not accept unsolicited proposals. Our grantmaking process is described in more detail below.   

Type of Grant  

Most of our grants are general operating grants for three consecutive years. Because we do multi-year grants, we build relationships with organizations upfront to ensure a good fit and maintain a close relationship with grantees during the grant period (and beyond).  

While our grants are for general operating support, we do expect organizations to communicate their goals for the grant period and report on progress towards those goals. We reserve the right to terminate the grant if there is significant mission-drift or evidence of misuse of funds.  

Each Board member and the Executive Director also make smaller discretionary grants that may or may not be related to other Foundation activities.   

Grantmaking Process  

We do not accept unsolicited proposals. Grant applications are by invite only.   

Step 1: Letter of Intent  

The Letter of Intent will be reviewed by Foundation staff, who will screen for eligibility and fit within our current grantmaking priorities.  Please note: The Letter of Intent is a snapshot of the organization or project and should be crafted to be concise and interesting so that our staff can understand the project clearly. Being invited to submit a Letter of Intent does not guarantee that your organization will also be invited to submit a full proposal or receive funding.  This is a competitive process. Unfortunately there will be worthy projects that we will not be able to support. 

Step 2: Phone Interview 

If the LOI passes our initial screen, Foundation staff will follow up to schedule a phone interview. Letter of Intent along with notes from the phone interview will then by reviewed by the Board of Directors, and they will decide whether they would like to invite a full proposal.  

Step 3: Full Proposal  

If the Board decides that it would like to see a full proposal, Foundation staff will send a link to the application to be filled out online using the same platform as the LOI application. The full proposal is much more in-depth and will also require the submission of financial statements. Full proposals will be reviewed by the Board at a Board Meeting. Prior to the Board Meeting, other diligence measures such as phone calls or site visits may be requested. Please note that our staff engage in relationship-building as part of our diligence process, but the final funding decisions are made by the Board of Directors and depend on a variety of factors, including the Board’s current priorities, budget, and internal capacity. 

If the full proposal is accepted by the Board, Foundation staff will notify the organization, and send a grant agreement for electronic signature. Once the grant agreement has been signed, a check for the grant will be issued. Foundation staff will maintain a relationship throughout the grant period that consists of phone-calls, site visits, in-person meetings, convenings, etc.  

Contact Person  

Please contact our Executive Director, Jordana Barrack, with any questions about these grant guidelines, the grantmaking process, or anything else regarding the Mighty Arrow Family Foundation. 

If you are filling out an LOI or proposal, Jordana is very happy to answer any questions that you may have, so do not hesitate to reach out to her.   

This form will be submitted to the Executive Director of MAFF. She will respond to you if she is interested in learning more about your organization. Please do not submit multiple forms for the same organization or project.