The letter of inquiry should be signed jointly by the executive director and the board chair. Please provide the name, address and telephone number of the individual bearing primary responsibility for the grant application (i.e., the organization’s point person on this inquiry/request).

Using one to three single-spaced pages, the letter of inquiry should specify the following:

• A brief discussion of your organization’s mission, history and activities
• The management issue to be addressed — A brief description of how you became aware of this problem or opportunity, including the board’s involvement to date. What special circumstances, challenges or changes have caused your organization to focus on management and organizational issues?
• An explanation of why you want to undertake your project at this time.
• A short description of the proposed project — What tasks do you expect to accomplish? What is your estimate of the cost of the project? How do you propose to use the funds? What processes and/or products do you believe will best address your current management/organizational challenges?
• The specific outcomes to be achieved as a result of the management assistance — In the long term, how do you see this project enhancing the effectiveness of your organization? What do you expect to be the impact of the investment of time and resources in addressing the management/organizational challenges you describe?
• The organizational leadership for the proposed project — Who from among your organization’s staff and board will provide leadership for the project?

We hope that the process of addressing these questions will help to clarify your organization’s immediate challenges with respect to management or governance. Your letter should help us understand the relationship between your proposed project and our primary goal: the effective management, sound governance and continuous learning and improvement of nonprofit organizations.

Additionally, please include the following attachments with your letter of inquiry:

• Completed Application (PDF) 
• Copy of the organization’s letter from the IRS designating 501(c)(3) tax exempt status
• Copy of the organization’s Ethics Code (if available)
• Current financial statement, listing year-to-date revenue and expenses compared to budget projections
• Two-year budget variance report
• Your most recent audit report
• List of current board members
• Copy of organization’s strategic plan (if applicable)
• 12 month cash flow (if available)

We will review the letter and communicate The Forbes Funds’ interest. If the project meets our Grantmaking Criteria , staff may schedule a site visit with the executive director and key board members and staff to discuss the proposed project.

The Forbes Funds makes every effort to acknowledge receipt of inquiries, proposals and final reports in a timely manner. During the review process, our staff members may ask various persons, including your organization’s board members, other organizations, grantmakers and members of the community, for information. If there are any of these sources that you do not wish us to contact, please let us know.

We believe in making the most effective use of both the organization’s and the foundation’s investments, and we appreciate your conducting due diligence in obtaining competitive bids from suitable consultants for your project.

If, after the site visit and due diligence, we determine that we would like to move the request forward, we will then ask the organization to

• Develop a RFP
• Get at least two bids
• Select a consultant and let us know who you have selected as consultant

Once the grant is approved, the grant monies are remitted based upon your submission of the related project invoices (e.g., invoices from the consultant). That is, typically the grantee first incurs the expense and then submits the invoice to The Forbes Funds for payment against the grant award — The Forbes Funds reimburses your organization. You can send us requests for payment on the grant award in installments. However, you must submit a copy of the final deliverable and complete our post-project survey before requesting final payment of the grant award. Also, bear in mind that your request is approved up to the amount indicated on the approval letter. The actual amount remitted to you will be based upon the actual funds spent on the project.

Confidentiality is an important value to The Forbes Funds. Management Assistance Grants (MAGs) are made to your organization, not to the consultant. You are the client, and you should make any report to us about activities during the grant period. We will not require your consultant to report to us on the work that it has done for you or to share information collected on your program.