Our Current Grant Focuses

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The Goodman Family Foundation utilizes a two-step process. The first step is to submit a Letter of Inquiry (LOI) before the appropriate deadline. Our Board of Directors will review your Letter of Inquiry and will contact you, after the board meets, to let you know if it is appropriate to submit a grant proposal. If you are invited to submit a grant proposal, we will give you a deadline of approximately one month to make that submission.

We make grants to nonprofits doing work in California (Bay Area) and Oregon (Greater Portland area). We make grants for general support and for specific projects. We do not make grants to religiously affiliated organizations nor to organizations that have a religious curriculum. We do not make grants to individuals. We are not currently accepting applications for international work. Our typical grant size is $5,000.

Our Board selects new grant focuses in each of our four categories (Arts & Culture, Education, Environment, and Health & Human Services) yearly so please visit our website regularly. We select our focuses approximately one year in advance of a grant award.

Upcoming Grant Focuses and Deadlines

Fall grant cycle 2013 (grants made in October/November timeframe) - Currently accepting LOIs. LOIs must be received by June 3, 2013:

The Foundation is focusing on two areas in the Fall 2013 grant cycle...

Environment: (All requests should include an eco-systems management approach)
For Oregon projects: Support work to improve marine systems and reserves through protection, planning, and community engagement.
For California projects: Support work to improve the San Francisco Bay estuary ecosystem through science based research, protection, and/or restoration.

Health & Human Services: The Foundation is focused on improving access to affordable, healthful foods for low-income populations. We are looking to fund comprehensive programs that address 3 critical components: access, education and affordability.

Spring grant cycle 2014 (grants made in May/June timeframe) - LOIs must be received by Tuesday, January 7th, 2014:

The Foundation is focusing on two areas in the Spring 2014 grant cycle...

Arts & Culture: The Foundation wishes to provide two $10,000 grants (in total for this focus) to arts organizations for capacity building projects to improve the infrastructure of arts organization. Examples: building and implementing evaluation and assessment systems, develop individual and organizational skills across operational areas such as internal governance and leadership, strategic planning, professional development, financial and resource management or development, membership development, marketing efforts through creation of branding strategies, information technology training and software, and social media training.

Education: The Foundation wishes to encourage internships at nonprofits for college undergraduate or graduate students (grants paid out in June 2014 may be utilized for summer 2015 internships as needed). Examples: Organizations with programs that place college students at various nonprofits; A nonprofit that wishes to hire a college intern for a specific project. Grant requests should be around $5,000.

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Upcoming Grant Focuses and Deadlines

Next: How to Submit an LOI