As each funding cycle passes and more and more people become aware of The FairWays Foundation, our Grant Committee find their job increasingly more challenging. Each year we receive a growing number of strong applications with champions to support them, and the variety of projects we review for funding continues to grow as well!
If you’re considering applying for a grant, you might be wondering what it is that we look for and what will increase your chances of success. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when putting together your application for the next grant cycle.
- Ensure your project can be categorized by one of our pillars
The FairWays Foundation is built upon three pillars which guide our work and the types of environmental project we consider funding. We ask that your project falls within the scope of one (or more) of these three categories:
Conservation – preservation of natural resources in their original state
Stewardship – implementing responsible management of natural resources
Education – instructing others on the importance of protecting our natural resources and how they can help
- Pay close attention to application accuracy
While we’ve designed our application process to be as simple as possible for an individual to complete, we do require a certain amount of detailed information for our Grant Committee to make appropriate decisions on funding during the grant review process. Please take your time when filling out your application to ensure that you fully understand the questions and provide all the information requested. We also offer additional supporting information and resources on our website that may be helpful to review prior to completing your application.
One of the keys to a successful application is providing a detailed and complete budget for your project. Applications with missing or vague budget information are the ones most likely to not move on to funding. Please pay particular attention to this section of your application and follow the guideline instructions provided to ensure that your budget is completed accurately and fully.
- Outreach, PR, education and more!
One of our main goals as an organization is to share the positive work going on in the green industry to help enhance conservation. We want to get the word out as broadly as possible about the projects we support, and we ask that you do the same. There is a great opportunity to broaden your own reach and success by educating the surrounding community about the positive environmental impacts taking place with your project, as well as uniting groups of people in appreciation for the outdoors and the benefits to our wellbeing that spending time in nature provides.
Your project will stand out to our Grant Committee if you detail how you will involve your local community, the benefits associated with different groups of people getting involved in either helping the project come to life, or taking advantage of the final outcome. Perhaps you have volunteers already lined up to help with the project; maybe you will conduct field trips for school children; perhaps you have a marketing plan to share the story with local newspapers – all of these would be beneficial in strengthening your application.
- Watch out for capital improvements
One thing that we do not fund is capital improvements. A capital improvement is the addition of a permanent structural change or the restoration of some aspect of a property that will either enhance the property’s overall value, prolong its useful life, or adapt it to new uses. A capital improvement must endure for more than one year upon its completion and be durable or permanent in nature.
For example, if you carry out renovations to a fairway stream and re-build or add a new bridge, we would be unable to fund the bridge element of the project. Other examples would be items such as solar panels, machinery (we encourage applicants to hire any machinery required to complete a project if they don’t already have use of it), buildings, and storage facilities.
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