Grants
How we fund
At this time our Letter of Intent (LOI) process has been paused for new organizations. Over the past five years, our Trustees have been transitioning to funding a smaller number of organizations while increasing funding to those who are invited to apply.
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The Schlessman Family Foundation awards grants to nonprofit organizations in the seven-county Metro Denver area -- Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson counties.
Grants are NOT made to individuals or to fund scholarships for specific individuals.
Support for fundraising events, conferences or workshops will not be granted.
Research grants will not be supported.
Direct support is not granted to:
Public, independent, private or charter schools.
Churches or religious organizations. However, we do fund faith-based organizations that are providing services and programs that help disadvantaged populations.
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You can send an update to contact@schlessmanfoundation.org with the following:
Impact Report and NOT an Annual Report with a narrative which will be uploaded to your record for review. During the Trustee consideration process of adding more grantees you may be contacted and potentially invited to re-apply -
Our foundation team is continually adding organizations that could be a good fit with our priorities and would be happy to hear about your mission.
Please complete the form on the contact page
Types of Grants
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Grant Range: $10,000 - $60,000
Annual invited grantees are eligible to apply for an additional $5,000 from last funding amount received.
Grants are primarily for General Operations, with a focused narrative on a specific program if needed, and will work with the foundation team.
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Grant Range: $10,000 - $40,000 (Annually)
Invite Only. Organizations selected will receive notification in September.These grants are 3-year cycles with no off-cycle restriction at this time.
The goal is to have all grantees on multi-year grant cycles, each year 10-15 organizations are invited for this process.
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Grant Range: $100,000
One-time gift but can be used as a multi-year distribution.
Invite Only. Organizations selected will receive notification in September.
The goal of the booster grant is to help organizations with sustainability, increase fundraising, promote matching opportunities, and help advance missions.
Grantees selected for the process will only submit one proposal and if not selected will continue to receive an annual gift.
Ineligible if:Grantees currently receiving funds for a Capital Campaign
Grantees currently receiving a multi-year grant above $50,000
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Grant Range: $1,000,000 - $2,000,000
Invite only process and organizations selected will receive a notification for a Capital LOI invite and instructions May - June.Capital Campaign grant is a 5-year pledge.
Capital Campaign LOI’s are reviewed by Trustees July - August
Organizations selected to submit a full proposal will receive a notification in September.
During the Capital Campaign 5-year pledge organizations will continue to receive annual grant due to the understanding funding is in two different budget areas.
Foundation will NOT fund the pre-development stage and Endowment portion of a campaign.
Foundation is open to being a first donor.
Grant Cycle
Our annual process for funding organizations.
Annual Cycle for Funding