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Community Issues

2008 Community Issues Grant Request for Proposals (RFP): PDF | Word
(If you don't have Adobe Acrobat Reader and would like to download a free copy, click here.)

Application Deadline:
Friday, August 29, 2008
(postmarked or delivered to our office by 5:00 p.m.)

These materials are also available via email by contacting Jewelle Gomez, Director of Grants and Community Initiatives, at jgomez [at] horizonsfoundation [dot] org. Please specify in your email that you are requesting a Community Issues RFP and which version you would like to receive.

Please note that five complete sets of proposal materials are required - one single-sided original and four double-sided copies. Staple each set once in the upper left corner.

Complete all materials using a typewriter or computer. We cannot consider illegible or incomplete proposals. In the interest of fairness, we regret that proposals dated after the postmark deadline or sent by fax at any time cannot be considered.

Please do not send a cover letter, letters of reference, or any attachments not specifically requested in this application - they will not be forwarded to the grant review panel. Our goal is to minimize the pressure on applicants to produce voluminous proposals.

If your organization has a logo, please email Horizons a high-resolution version of it (at least 300 dpi). We will use it in our newsletter if we fund your proposal.
 

How to Apply Workshops
Horizons will hold two "How to Apply" workshops, which will give you an opportunity to walk through the proposal preparation and granting process and ask any questions you have:
•   Wednesday, August 6, 6:00-7:30 p.m.
    Mexican Heritage Corporation, 1700 Alum Rock Avenue, San Jose
•   Wednesday, August 13, 6:00-7:00 p.m.
    Flood Building, Conference Room 838, 870 Market Street, San Francisco
•   Thursday, August 14, 6:00-7:30 p.m.
    Pacific Center for Human Growth, 2712 Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley

Please RSVP to jgomez [at] horizonsfoundation [dot] org or 415.398.2333 x116 if you plan to attend.

If you are unable to attend any of these workshops and have questions about this year's grant process or your organization's proposal, or if you have applied for a Horizons Foundation Community Issues grant in the past three years and would like feedback on your proposal(s), whether funded or declined, please feel free to contact Jewelle Gomez.

Eligibility
To be eligible for a 2008 Community Issues grant, your organization must:

The maximum grant award is $10,000, except for grants to increase giving, which have a maximum award of $20,000 (LGBT organizations with budgets over $1 million only). Please note that grant proposals from LGBT organizations with budgets over $1 million will be considered separately from other proposals. This change is to address the challenge that review panels have faced in comparing proposals from large and small(er) organizations. Please note that an organization may submit only one proposal for a Community Issues grant.

The following are NOT eligible for support:

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Funding Priorities
To help target our funding and achieve maximum impact for the LGBT community with limited resources, Horizons Foundation has designated three priority strategies and four priority issues to be addressed over the next several years. These priorities result from an extensive foundation-wide review and evaluation of Horizons' grantmaking.

Priority Strategies

  1. Policy, advocacy, and systems change - Organized efforts to effect change in government or private institutions and to educate leaders and others about LGBT issues. This year, special attention will be given to organizations strategizing around equal marriage rights.
  2. Increasing giving to LGBT organizations (for LGBT organizations with budgets of $1million or more) - Support for larger LGBT organizations to increase their own capacities to raise funds, especially from individual donors. (NOTE: LGBT organizations with budgets over $1 million may apply under this priority ONLY. No other organizations may do so.)
  3. Leadership development - Projects that address the needs of LGBT leaders through consultants or training in specific skill areas (such as management, board relations, or strategic planning) and are part of a larger organizational capacity building effort. (NOTE: This priority will NOT have specifically allocated funding in 2008, but will be phased in in the near future.)
Priority Issues
  1. Securing equality for LGBT people - Strategic work to serve and protect the civil and human rights of LGBT people within legal systems and institutions. Given its prominence and indisputable importance at this time in our movement, the struggle for civil marriage and equal relationship rights will be a major focus during this period.
  2. Supporting the equality, health, and empowerment of lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women - Organizations or projects that address the gender health disparities that dominate the healthcare culture and/or provide programs to engage and empower LBT women.
  3. Meeting the new challenge of the aging LGBT population - Organizations or projects that have programs for LGBT elders in all areas, including direct services, cultural programs, advocacy, organizing, and education. (NOTE: This priority area will be funded in 2008 primarily through our LGBT WISE program, not through this Community Issues process.)
  4. Achieving racial equity and full participation of people of color in the LGBT community - Organizations or projects that are based in, and focused on, the issues and needs of LGBT people of color, and/or that address the legacy of racial inequity, and/or that create bridges between people of color communities and non-people of color LGBT communities.

Please note that general operating support is still available to LGBT organizations. You do not have to design a new project - or designate an existing one - to address one or more of the priorities. For example, your organization's overall mission may directly address one or more of the priorities, such as an organization focused on LBT women, or people of color, or achieving equality for LGBT people.

In addition, we WILL still fund requests that do not fit into a specific priority, including for general support. Issues and populations not designated as priorities, such as the arts and youth, will continue to be considered in the same panel process. Our goal is NOT to push you to change your organization's mission or move you away from the important work you're already doing.

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Additional Considerations
Horizons will give special consideration to organizations based in the LGBT community and whose principal mission is to serve the LGBT community ("LGBT-primary organizations"). Non-LGBT organizations may apply for support of their LGBT programs, but should do so understanding that priority will go to LGBT-primary organizations.

Organizations and projects that are organized by, and work on behalf of, underserved segments of the LGBT communities will also be viewed positively in our considerations. These include programs that represent and serve diverse constituencies with respect to ethnicity, race, age, gender, gender identity, and physical and mental ability.

Horizons will also give special consideration to programs that have limited appeal to traditional funding sources-either because they are small, new, and/or non-traditional in approach or goals.

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For any other questions, please contact Jewelle Gomez, Director of Grants and Community Initiatives, at 415.398.2333 x116 or jgomez [at] horizonsfoundation [dot] org.