Yes. Unless you have a fiscal sponsor, your organization must be recognized as a 501(c)3 or 509(a)2 under IRS guidelines.  In addition, as a private foundation, we may not grant to an organization for a total of more than two-thirds of its annual budget (see "public support test" under IRS guidelines).  Entities without their own nonprofit status, or smaller nonprofits without a large operating budget, may need to apply through a fiscal sponsor to be eligible for a grant. 

Please review the program guidelines and contact the Program Officer (preferably by email) most closely associated with your area of work to ask any questions about program priorities. If you are new to the Foundation, you are encouraged to contact the Foundation at info@parkfoundation.org before submitting an application.

Before developing a proposal, prospective grantees should read Program Interests to determine the potential for funding. Emails to program staff are also welcomed to help assess fit with program interests. Proposals are reviewed on a quarterly basis; please see the application deadlines.  Letters of Inquiry (LOI) are accepted at any time. Once an LOI is submitted, please do not submit a full proposal unless contacted by a staff member.  If you have recently (within the last year or two) received a grant from Park Foundation, it is not necessary to submit an LOI before submitting a renewal proposal.  Please contact your Program Officer with any questions.

The Board generally meets 10 – 12 weeks after proposal deadlines. You should hear within a few days of those meetings. In the case of a decline, an email will be sent notifying you of the decline.  If a grant is approved at a Board meeting, a Grant Agreement will be sent out to the organizational contact for review and signature.  Upon return of the signed agreement, the funds are generally disbursed by check within a few weeks.

To submit a proposal online go to our online portal and set up an account, then follow the steps to create your proposal for submittal. Once your proposal is completed and submitted to the Foundation via our electronic portal, you will receive an email acknowledgment from our Grants Manager that informs you that your proposal has been received. If you have any trouble accessing the portal or submitting your proposal, please contact our Grants Manager for assistance.

Although we encourage you to use the portal on our website, if necessary, a proposal may be submitted by email (info@parkfoundation.org, or a last resort by mail to : 140 Seneca Way, Suite 100 Ithaca, NY 14850

To create an account go to the Grantee Portal fill in your email and click “New Applicant”, follow the steps to create a new account.

On the Park Foundation portal sign-in page click "forgot password".  A page will appear where you can enter the email you used to set up the account.  An email will be sent to you with a temporary password.  Once you sign in with your temporary password, steps will appear showing you how to create a new password.

Please keep an eye out for upcoming changes, as mentioned above, with new reporting formats posted this Fall.

Final reports are due at the end of the grant period and currently include a narrative and financial report. Grantees that applied to the Foundation via the online portal will find the required report form in their account. Hard copies can be found here: Report Form Standard Final pdf, Report Form Standard Final docx, CN Grantee Report Final pdf, CN Grantee Report Final docx. In the case of multi-year grants, an interim report may be requested as well.