GRANT SELECTION CRITERIA

Capital Projects

The largest dollar amounts awarded as grants by the Boettcher Foundation are for capital projects - typically building construction, purchase or remodeling and improvements. The Trustees feel that capital expenditures represent substantial commitments to organizations that most often cannot be funded out of general revenues. Assistance provided in meeting such needs enables recipients to apply personnel and financial resources to their own programming needs. Furthermore, purchases made with capital funds provide a level of stability to the operations of the organizations involved and do not often necessitate ongoing fundraising for support.

Capital Challenges

Most frequently, the Boettcher Foundation's capital grants are made in the form of challenges, conditional on an applicant agency's ability to raise the balance of the funds needed for a project. The Trustees of the Foundation usually make such challenges after a significant portion of the total funds have already been raised, preferably from local sources. Although they have established no absolute guidelines as to how much this amount should be, the Trustees generally hope to see between 50% and 75% of the goal already in hand before they will consider a grant. Additionally, they expect to see a substantial percentage of that amount raised from those who are closest to the organization, especially the board, the local community and those who stand to benefit most from the completion of the project. Once a grant is paid, recipient agencies are not eligible to apply for funding for additional capital needs for approximately three years.

Large and Well-Conceived Projects

One final aspect of grants made by the Boettcher Foundation is worth mentioning, especially as its origins date to the desires of the Boettcher Family. In the early years of the Foundation, the Trustees determined that they "favored the making of grants of a significant size toward large and well-conceived projects rather than dividing the available funds into small grants to a vast number of recipients." In deference to the family's interests, but also because today's Trustees still believe that a limited number of larger grants eventually helps more people than numerous small ones, this policy has been continued.

Grant Exclusions

The Boettcher Foundation does not accept proposals, or provide grants, for the following giving interests:

• Operations
• Gymnasiums / athletic fields
• Housing
• Purchase of tables or tickets for dinners / events
• Individuals
• Large urban hospitals
• Out-of-state projects
• Media presentations
• Small business start-ups
• Open space / parks
• Conferences, seminars, workshops
• Organizations that primarily serve animals
• Debt reduction
• Pilot programs
• Endowments
• Religious groups or organizations for their religious purposes
• Scholarships
• Travel