Guidelines for Submitting Letters of Inquiry

All applicants must have a U.S. IRS 501(c)(3) certification and audited financial statements or charitable equivalency if international. In certain cases, the foundation will accept a fiscal agent ready to take full financial responsibility for a project. Be sure to scroll down on the vertical bar on the right side of this screen to read all of the application requirements listed below.

The two-page Letter of Inquiry must include the following:

1. Organization name, project title, a contact name, mailing address, telephone, e-mail, and website address.
2. A 100-word abstract of the proposal (what is this about, why is this important).
3. A description of the project: Background, Specific objectives, Approach, and Anticipated results with appropriate citations of scholarly literature, reports, and case studies to justify any assumptions. Please do not include hyperlinks. If necessary, we prefer reference to a URL.

List of references cited are outside of the page limit. References (full copies of papers, reports, press mentions, case studies cited, list of members, etc.) should be available as PDFs on request.

In addition, please include (maximum of 3 pages total):

1. A simple line item project budget, along with a simple organization budget (projected or previous year; one number for revenue, one number for expenses).
2. A list of secured funding sources for the project (grants received, earned income, etc.).
3. A copy of the applicant or fiscal sponsor's 501(c)(3) determination letter from the U.S. IRS or the name of the certified charitable organization if international. PLEASE NOTE: If the applicant is a 501(c)(3) but will not be able to provide recent Audited Financials, a fiscal sponsor will be needed if a full proposal is requested.

No additional materials or information should be included.
Please adhere to the page limits as described.
Please forward the LOI as one document in Letter paper format (8.5 x11") with minimum margins of 0.8 inches using no less than 11 point font to grants@vkrf.org. The 501(c)(3) letter may be a separate file attached to the same email. Document file names and email subject lines should include the name of your organization. Do not forward to individual staff members.

LOIs that do not follow this format will not be considered.