Nickle Family Foundation
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is the chance that my application will be successful?
What can I do to improve our chances?
Where are you in your grants cycle?
How often can our organization
apply?
I understand you specialize in funding
the arts?
Will it help if we offer you a
naming opportunity?
What is the chance that
my application will be successful?
Even if your request is precisely in
line with our guidelines, it will almost certainly be competing against dozens
of others. In recent rounds, between
three and four dozen applications have made it through to the decision stage,
and these typically oversubscribe our available funds by some 10 times. Our Directors try to help as many
organizations as possible, but we are far from able to fully fund every
request.
What can I do to improve our chances?
As with many things, first impressions are vital. Your two-page letter will
form that first impression. Try as hard as you can to put yourself in our shoes
-- we may have never heard of your organization, or perhaps even your cause.
Give us context -- why do you exist, who do you serve,
and why is it important? Ultimately you have to convince our Directors that
your need is more pressing than the needs of dozens of other organizations.
Nickle Family Foundation has given grants as small as $100 and as large as $560,000. You should ask for the amount of money you genuinely need -- our directors reserve the right to give less than you request (or more, or nothing at all).
That said, in recent years the most common amounts approved have ranged between $5,000 and $10,000.
Where are you in your grants cycle?
Our schedule varies slightly from year to year. In general, grant requests are considered at two Board meetings each year, typically in May and October. Background material is distributed to Directors no less than two weeks before each Board meeting. As such, our "deadlines" are usually in mid-April and late September. Please contact the Foundation (at (403) 244-4237, or info (at symbol) nicklefoundation.org) for specific upcoming dates.
Click here for the current estimated deadline.
How often can our organization apply?
Our Foundation does not have a set rule about how frequently we will grant to the same charity. In general, approaches more frequent than three or four years from approval of the most recent grant are given a lower priority. However, if circumstances are such that the need is urgent, you are welcome to make your case.
The Foundation's discretionary granting budget is on the order of $450,000 annually. Typically a few multi-year commitments from previous rounds, as well as grants made to-date in the current year, reduce the amount available.
I understand you specialize in funding the arts?
No, our Foundation does not restrict its funding activities to any one sector of the community. Instead, our funding priorities change over time in response to the Directors' perceptions of need within the community. We fund broadly across the sectors of social services, culture, education and health. In 2004 social services accounted for 28% of grants, with health and education each accounting for 23%. In 2006 social services rose to 44%, education was 23%, and health had declined to 14%.
Will it help if we offer you a
naming opportunity?
Recognition is important to some donors more than others. While as a rule we expect to be recognized in the same way as anyone else making a donation of comparable size, publicity and naming opportunities are not motivating factors. We would prefer that applicants save those sorts of opportunities for the donors for whom it is important. For the same reason, we will NOT consider requests for sponsorship.
Nickle Family Foundation