The Ann Sherry Foundation

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Policies and Guidelines

It is the Foundation’s desire to keep the application and administration process as simple as possible.  Any individual, community group or organization is eligible to apply for funds.  The applicant does not have to be designated as a 501(c)(3) organization in order to receive funds.  The Board generally meets in October, January, April, and July to act upon proposals that have been received in the preceding period.  Proposals received by the first day of October, January, April, or July are normally considered at that month's meeting.  Upon selection of an applicant for funding, the Foundation will offer to enter into a contract with the applicant or organization.  Depending on the circumstances, the Foundation may either reimburse actual costs incurred or provide advance funding, however, in no case will the liability of the Foundation exceed the lesser of actual costs incurred or the grant award amount. 

Criteria that will weigh most heavily in the evaluation of proposals:

• The degree of creativity and innovation of the proposed project
• The likelihood of successfully accomplishing the stated goals
• The educational soundness of the proposal.

The Foundation will:

• Provide grants up to $2,500 per year
• Normally limit funding to a period not exceeding three years
• Only cover actual costs incurred.

The Foundation will not fund projects:

• Which involve lobbying or the political process
• Which involve religious instruction or have a significant religious component
• Whose primary purpose is to purchase equipment for use in a school.

Projects will be of greater interest to the Foundation if:

• There is little or no indirect expense (General and Administrative) charged to the Foundation
• The cost to the Foundation per client served is relatively low
• The project involves cost sharing, use of Foundation funds to match other grant requirements, or brings substantial volunteer or in-kind resources to the effort, however applications where Foundation funding represents a very small portion of a large project are rarely funded
• The project is of a nature that the public school system is unable or unlikely to provide funds
• Funds are not requested to pay scholarships or tuition, except as an incidental component of the project
• They include a plan to use the funding only as a pilot or startup and will seek other sources of funding to continue the project
• The project is in the central Ohio geographic area.

The Foundation expects annually and at the end of the project that a report be submitted to the Foundation.  The report shall include, but not be limited to, identification of the number of clients served, a description of the services provided, a discussion of the practical effects of the project and an assessment of the effectiveness of the project in meeting its goals.