New Proposal Requirements

Please submit electronic versions of your proposal and financial materials to both Betsy Buffington (betsy@ourconservationlegacy.org) and Julie Thibodeau (julie@ourconservationlegacy.org) by the date listed in your invitation. When your proposal has received final approval by Foundation staff, please send a hard copy of the full proposal and all attachments to the Foundation office at 679 E 2nd Ave., Suite 3, Durango, CO 81301.

Proposals should not exceed 6 pages and must include:

HEADING

• Name and address of organization
• Telephone and fax of organization
• Email and website address
• Name and title of contact person(s)
• Date you are submitting proposal
• Amount requested from the Foundation (to appear only in final document). The grant request amount will be determined following a review of the draft proposal materials and budget by Foundation staff.

STATEMENT OF NEED (UP TO 1 PAGE)
A brief statement of your organization’s need for support. In addition to receiving grant funds, groups that receive Capacity Building Grants will be provided with customized training, mentoring and staff support. Your statement should address what your most essential training needs are.

ORGANIZATIONAL DESCRIPTION (UP TO 1 PAGE)
This section should describe your organization’s current status as well as your plans for future development. We would prefer that the narrative include:

• Mission. A short statement of why your organization exists.
• History. A brief description of how the organization was formed and any major events in your development.
• Accomplishments. Highlights of the organization’s accomplishments.
• Structure. A short overview of the organizational structure – including your board and staff as well as volunteers and membership (include the size of your membership and volunteer base and some sense of its capacity). Also, please note any formal or informal relationships with BLM.

ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN (1-2 PAGES)
This section should describe your plan to build a sustainable organization. Program goals and activities will be covered in the following section; here you should focus on your plans in areas such as fundraising and revenue generation, staff and board development, membership, and other organizational needs. You may find it helpful to use bulleted lists in this section.

Your Organizational Development Plan should include:

• Goals and Objectives. What are your organizational goals for the next three years? How will this capacity enhance your ability to protect your local unit of Conservation System?
• Activities. What will you do to achieve those goals?
• Outcomes/Indicators and Benchmarks. Your outcomes and benchmarks should identify concrete ways to assess your progress and success in reaching your goals. Your success in meeting the criteria you identify will be a critical factor as we consider possible renewal of funding.

PROGRAM PLAN (1-2 PAGES)
This section should describe what your organization will do to protect your local unit of the Conservation System. In this section you should focus on your on-the-ground conservation and service projects; education and outreach; advocacy and other programs. In many cases your program will directly support your organizational development (for example a volunteer event may also be an opportunity to recruit new members). You should describe these relationships in this portion of the proposal. You may find it helpful to use bulleted lists in this section.

Your Program Plan should include:

• Goals and Objectives. What are you trying to achieve? How will your work help protect or restore the Conservation System? What will it accomplish on-the-ground or in the local community?
• Activities. What will you do to achieve those goals?
• Outcomes/Indicators and Benchmarks. Your outcomes and benchmarks should identify concrete ways to assess your progress and success in reaching your goals. Your success in meeting the criteria you identify will be a critical factor as we consider possible renewal of funding.

BUDGET
A short activities-based budget showing how Capacity Building funds will be used to achieve the programmatic and organization goals described in your proposal, including a breakout of how funds will be allocated to each staff person or project in cases where multiple personnel are involved or the grant consists of discrete projects.

A NOTE ON LOBBYING
The Foundation encourages its grantees to use all the tools legally available, including public advocacy and engagement with the political process. We are also interested in hearing about these activities in your written reports and proposals. However, it is important that your proposal accurately states what portion of the Foundation’s funding will be used to support lobbying activities. As a 501(c)(3) public charity the Foundation must track and report to the IRS the portion of our resources that go to lobbying and ensure that we do not exceed legal limits on the amount of funds spent on lobbying. Please specify in your Budget the amount of Foundation funds that will be used to support lobbying and note in the description of your work which activities will contribute to that total. In general, lobbying occurs when a person or group of people express an opinion to a legislator on a specific piece of legislation or on a legislative proposal or otherwise attempt to influence legislation. Lobbying also includes a communication that asks the public to speak to a legislator about specific legislation or a legislative proposal.

STATEMENT OF REVENUE AND EXPENSES
Please include your most recent Statement of Revenues and Expenses. Attached is a Statement of Revenue and Expenses template you may choose to use.

ATTACHMENTS

• Bylaws
• Supporting materials that reflect your organization’s work, including materials that are distributed to prospective or current members or that describe your programs and press clips (5 items maximum).
• Copy of your IRS determination letter or that of your fiscal sponsor if not on file with the Foundation. We also require a copy of the agreement letter between you and any fiscal sponsor, if applicable.
• Copy of your organization’s financial statement (either audited or un-audited) for the most recently completed fiscal year; if your group is not audited, you may submit your most recent 990 or whatever accounting report you use to review the previous fiscal year’s income and expenses.
• List of other pending foundation or government grant support for which you have applied. Please be specific, itemizing grants and noting whether they are committed, pending or potential and the date the grant was made or will be decided.
• Staff list, including brief biographies.
• Board list, including brief biographies