First, please take some time to read the important Foundation updates for 2023 here. We also hope you'll spend time reading about the Foundation's guidelines and priority interests in our three focus areas of education, environment, and health. You can also review our grant history. Hopefully, this information will provide enough context to help you draw general conclusions about your organization's eligibility. The Foundation's staff is also glad to answer questions and talk with you in more detail about your eligibility and fit.
You are welcome to call the Foundation with questions or email Rachel Sprecher at rsprecher@rhdobbs.net to explore your interest in submitting a Letter of Inquiry.
Please do not include collateral materials such as press kits, annual reports, or folders with your Letter of Inquiry. These materials are expensive to produce and they are not needed for our review of your LOI.
Yes. While audited financials are preferred, we will accept year-end Profit & Loss statements for your most recent fiscal year and an operating budget for the current year in lieu of audited financials.
The Foundation's application must be completed in full including submission of all requested attachments. In 2017, the Foundation began using a grantee portal for online submissions. All applicants are required to submit their materials through the grantee portal. Access to the application is provided when the Foundation invites your organization to apply.
For our purposes the Foundation tracks specific indicators for each program area, these indicators are requested on the application and will be requested on your report forms should you receive Dobbs funding. They are:
Education - # of teachers/administrators trained, # of schools participating, # of K-12 students impacted
Environment - # of members, # of acres conserved, # of acres impacted by restoration activities, # of precedent-setting legal victories
Health - # of individual patients served, # of patient visits, # of dental services provided, # of medical services provided, # of mental health services provided, # of vision services provided, # of health education/prevention program participants.
To the extent your organization tracks other indicators to measure your success please feel free to include them in your annual service statistics report.
Please provide the name and contact information of the person to whom we should direct questions about your application or requests for additional information. In larger organizations, this is usually the Development Officer. In smaller organizations, this is usually the Executive Director.
Please submit one (1) digital copy of all materials through the grantee portal. Your attachments should not exceed 25 MB.
In most cases, your narrative responses should reflect the organization. In the case of university or hospital systems, please contact Foundation staff for guidance. In many instances, we will want the attachments to reflect the unit level that will benefit from Dobbs funding and the whole organization.
In the application portal you will note that some of the requested attachments are listed as optional. These are listed as such because not all organizations will have them (e.g., audited financials, strategic plan, etc.). If your organization has these documents they should be submitted. PDF Samples of our preferred format are provided in Step 3 of the How We Work section of this website.
Once the board has approved your request, you will be sent an award notification letter and the grant agreement. In most cases, these are delivered within 2 - 3 weeks of the board’s approval. If a grant has been approved on a conditional basis, the terms will be conveyed in your award letter. Grants are funded once the Foundation receives the original signed grant agreement and, if applicable, once your organization has provided documentation to the Foundation that any additional conditions imposed have been met.
In most cases, grantees are asked to wait at least six months after submitting a final grant report before approaching the Foundation with a new inquiry.
If you did not receive funding as a result of your previous proposal, you are encouraged to wait at least six months before approaching the Foundation with a new inquiry.