Grant FAQ

We are happy to discuss ideas before submission, but once a call for proposals has been released we cannot discuss the work of the potential applicant. We can review the current funding priority and answer any questions related to funding priority. We encourage grant seekers to reach out to our grants office at grants@caring4denver.org to discuss questions about our open call for proposals, found on our website at caring4denver.org.

Organizations that are eligible include:

• Charitable organizations designated by the IRS as tax-exempt under IRC Section 501(c)(3) or under other sections of the U.S. tax code (or fiscally sponsored by a 501(c)(3) entity)
• Faith-based organizations if they are designated by the IRS as a tax-exempt nonprofit organization (and grant-funded program does not require participation or membership in a specific religion, or seeks to advance a particular religious faith or belief)
• Indian or Native American entities
• Government-supported entities, including schools, museums, or libraries
• City and County of Denver or State of Colorado agencies

Applicants must have at least one year of tax returns and financial statements.

Organizations that do not meet eligibility will be required to work with a fiscal sponsor.

Organizations which have no or a pending 501(c)(3) status (or fewer than one year of tax returns and financial statements) are required to work with a fiscal sponsor. If you have not secured a fiscal sponsor at the time you submit an application, you may still submit an application, but you will need to have a formal agreement in place with a fiscal sponsor before any grant award is final.

A fiscal sponsor is an organization that shares a similar mission as yours and is a 501(c)(3). The fiscal sponsor can accept tax-deductible donations on your behalf and is responsible for financial oversight of your project. The fiscal sponsor must be eligible to receive grants from Caring for Denver Foundation and is subject to approval.

Nonprofit organizations with fewer than one year of tax returns and financial statements (or which have no or a pending 501(c)(3) status) are required to work with a fiscal sponsor. If you have not secured a fiscal sponsor at the time you submit an application, you may still submit an application, but you will need to have a formal agreement in place with a fiscal sponsor before any grant award is final.

A fiscal sponsor is an organization that shares a similar mission to yours and is a 501(c)(3). The fiscal sponsor can accept tax-deductible donations and grants on your behalf and is responsible for financial oversight of your project.

If you have a fiscal sponsor but your own organization has a 501(c)(3) designation, we require that you have your own board.

The fiscal sponsor must be eligible to receive grants from Caring for Denver Foundation and is subject to approval.

Yes, there are a few:

• A written agreement between the applicant organization and its fiscal sponsor must be submitted before any grant award is final. The fiscal sponsor’s financial documents must also be submitted (as described in the grant application).
• The fiscal sponsor must be able to report on project finances from funds granted by the Foundation separately from the fiscal sponsor’s own financial reports.
• An applicant organization with a 501(c)(3) designation utilizing a fiscal sponsor must have its own board of directors representing its community interests and may not use the fiscal sponsor’s board as its own board.
• Fiscal sponsors may work with more than one applicant to the Foundation simultaneously.
• Any fiscal sponsor fee included in the grant budget will be capped at 15% of total direct costs when combined with any indirect costs requested.
• Fiscal sponsors must be eligible to receive grants from Caring for Denver Foundation and are subject to approval.

Your organization does not have to be located in Denver. However, based on the founding ordinance, we accept applications for programs or projects that serve the residents of the city and county of Denver. Programs or projects with a broader geographic focus may apply; however, the proposal must address its relevance to and the impact on people living within the City and County of Denver. We can only consider grant funding for the portion of your program or project that serves Denver residents. Entities must demonstrate they have a strong Denver presence.

Based on our founding ordinance, we accept applications for programs or projects that serve the residents of the city and county of Denver. Entities must have a strong Denver presence.

We consider the following individuals to be City residents:

• An individual physically residing full time in the City
• An individual experiencing homelessness presenting in the City and intending to stay in the City
• An individual, under 21 years of age and in the custody of Denver Human Services (“DHS”)
• An individual, under 18 years of age and in primary legal and residency custody of a City resident
• A non-City resident who is placed in a mental health or substance misuse program while in a City Jail

Grantees will be required to sign a document of affirmation that funds will be used to support residents of the City as part of the grant agreement for funded proposals.

If you are interested in what other areas we will be funding, view our strategic funding areas.

We are only accepting requests for program/project support (not general operating support) at this time. 

Eligible organizations may apply to Caring for Denver for matching funds or a local portion of funds to support another grant application to a different agency, organization or foundation; however, any such application will be subject to the same review process as any other grant application. The grant award will be contingent upon the applicant receiving the primary grant for which a match or local portion is being sought. If you are applying for a matching grant, please indicate that on the grant application under “Funding Request Type.”

We are only accepting requests for program/project support (not support for facilities) at this time.

Requests for equipment will generally not be considered. The Foundation uses the federal definition of equipment (as stated in 45 CFR Parts 74 and 92) that equipment is an article of “tangible nonexpendable personal property…having a useful life of more than one year and an acquisition cost of $5,000 or more per unit.” However, supplies necessary for a proposed project (e.g., computers or tablets for applicant staff) may be considered, so long as the acquisition cost per unit is less than $5,000.

Currently we do not typically fund program-related investments.

Our founding ordinance prohibits us from using our grant dollars to supplant existing funds. Grant recipients may not replace existing federal, state, city or other local agency funds with funds from Caring for Denver. However, our funds may be used to supplement existing funds to replicate or expand the scope of an existing program or project.

No. We will accept one application per organization or gancy in an open Call for Proposals. However, your organization or agency may be listed as a partner on more than one request.

City and County of Denver departments/agencies, your application must be approved by the CFD Review Committee.

Generally, we are not seeking to fund an organization in more than one funding area in the same calendar year or any organization that has three open grants. Additionally, Caring for Denver Foundation will accept one application per organization in an open Call for Proposals.

Yes. We will need to understand how the proposed program is different from what we are currently funding. Note that generally, we are not seeking to fund an organization that already has three open grants.

Yes. Make sure the request aligns with the Call for Proposals for our open funding area and falls within our funding requirements – you can find those here. While we cannot answer specific questions about your declination, please contact us with any questions about our open funding area.

Yes. Any such application will be subject to the same review process as any other grant application. The award of such grant will be contingent upon the applicant receiving the primary grant for which a match or local portion is being sought. On the grant application, the applicant should select the “Matching Grant” option when prompted to select the “Funding Request Type.”

We do not have a minimum or maximum amount that can be requested.

Organizations should request a reasonable amount of financial support to implement your project or program.

We prefer to not be the sole funder for any project/program. We generally prefer that our funds not exceed 1/3 of an organization’s budget as it can create issues with the IRS and threaten an organization’s nonprofit status via the public charity support test (sometimes referred to as “tipping”). We encourage applicants to develop diversified funding streams comprised of individual, government and private funding sources for projects and programs.

Yes. We are open to receiving both single and multiyear proposals for up to three years. We recognize that some types of programs and projects may be more successful when the grant is awarded for a period longer than one year. 

We are limited in the amount of funding we have to award in any one funding area, which will be a factor in determining whether single or multiyear grants are offered in response to proposals. First, we look for fit related to impact on mental health and/or substance misuse and how well the proposal responds to the call for proposals. Then, we factor in the funding amounts to make a final decision.

When submitting a multiyear request, the budget and budget narrative must include the costs for each year.

No. In fact, we encourage all board members to refer all calls regarding requests to staff. View our Conflict of Interest Policy for more information about how we handle potential conflicts.

Periodically, we will issue a call for proposals to alert organizations that we are accepting applications for a new funding area. We will have one funding area open at a time. We will notify our mailing list which includes individuals registered through our Grants Portal. If you are not registered for our Grants Portal but wish to be added to our mailing list, submit a contact form.

To find out which funding area is open for applications now, visit our website.

If you are interested in what other areas we will be funding, view our strategic funding priorities report available at caring4denver.org/about/reports.

All applications must be submitted online through our Grants Portal. Prior to submitting an application, your organization must complete the eligibility screening and register in our grants portal. More detailed instructions can be found at caring4denver.org/grants.

Yes. Our application is online in our Grants Portal. Potential applicants should create an account and log in to their account to review the application questions and required uploads. You can also view the application questions by finding and downloading our Word version of the application.

A video discussing potential requested documents is available on our Resources page.

No. Our online application is available on our online Grants Portal.

Each Call for Proposals will include a specific due date. Refer to the timeline information at caring4denver.org/grants when applications are due.

This document is where you detail and briefly describe the budget line items for each year you are requesting funding for your project/program. This narrative helps our staff understand why the applicant needs the funds requested from Caring for Denver and how the funds will be used.

Caring for Denver requires the use of our Budget Narrative Form. Instructions are included on the grant application and on the document itself.

We recommend completing the Budget Narrative Form first, then complete the Line-Item Budget Form with the figures from the Budget Narrative Form. Ensure the figures on these two documents match each other and match the amounts on your grant request/application form.

A video discussing this and other requested documents is available on our Resources page.

Applicants may request indirect costs as part of their proposed budgets (find the Line-Item Budget Form and the Budget Narrative Form on the Grants Resources page). Indirect Costs—sometimes referred to as “overhead”—can help with the general operation of your organization. This includes the costs of doing business that are not necessarily directly tied to grant-funded program/project activities but are necessary for the function of the organization that runs the program/project (e.g., rent, utilities, technology, and non-programmatic employee salaries including accounting, grant writer, IT, and management).

If requested, these are limited to a maximum of 15% on direct costs (including salary and frige benefits of directly employed staff, program supplies and equipment, and other program-related costs), when combined with the fiscal sponsor’s fee (if applicable). Indirect costs may not be requested on the contractors, consultants, and/or partners line item on the Line-Item Budget Form.

Any fiscal sponsor fee included in the grant budget will be capped at 15% on direct costs  when combined with the indirect costs.

A video discussing the Line-item Budget Form and other requested documents is available on our Resources page.

Personnel/Staff (also called FTE or Full-Time Equivalents) are employees that work for the applicant organization and complete tha tax Form W-4 when they join the organization At tax time, they receive the tax Form W-2. Others are payments you are making to another organization, company or person based on a contract/partnership you have with them. Non-employees may be working on your project/program; if they are not your organization’s employee, those expenses should be included in the Contractors, Consultants, and/or Partners line under Other Expenses on the Line-item Budget Form and Budget Narrative Form. Additional instructions are included in the application itself.

A video discussing the Line-Item Budget Form, Budget Narrative Form, and other requested documents is available on our Resources page.

Each of Caring for Denver Foundation’s Call for Proposals has a registration due date and an application due date. We require that applicants have an account and apply for funding in the Grants Portal.

 New users must register for an account prior to the date specified on the current Call for Proposals. This date is typically a few days prior to the application due date. If you have questions or encounter any issues prior to the registration due date, contact us at info@caring4denver.org. Due to our procurement requirements, we cannot accept late registration requests. If you submitted a registration in the Grants Portal after the due date associated with the current Call for Proposals, it will be processed later so you can apply during a future Call for Proposals.

All grant applications must be submitted in the online Grants Portal. The grant request form/application requires form fields and several document uploads. Allow plenty of time to gather necessary information and required documents. If you need assistance, have questions about our available funding or the application process, or need to arrange an alternate application method (e.g., email or paper submission), reach out to Grants and Operations Manager, Tish Gonzales, at grants@caring4denver.org. Due to our procurement requirements, we cannot accept late grant applictions. If you are a user in our Grants Portal, you are on our email list and will be notified about future funding opportunities.

To withdraw your grant request at any time, contact your assigned program officer or our grants office at grants@caring4denver.org or 720.647.6375.

If you have questions or need assistance with our Grants Portal, contact our grants office at grants@caring4denver.org. Your email will be returned during business hours.

To register, go to caring4denver.org and click on the Grants Portal button near the top of the page. Then, click the “Create an account now” button. Complete the Eligibility Quiz and submit your information. You will receive your username and password within 2 business days.

You can access the grants portal by going to caring4denver.org and clicking on the Grants Portal button near the top of the page.

After you submit your registration, we will process your request within 2 business days. You will receive an email with your username and password. If you do not receive this email, please contact us at 720.647.6380 or info@caring4denver.org.

If you have already signed in to the portal and have forgotten your username and/or password, request to reset your password by going to caring4denver.org and clicking on the Grants Portal button, then click the “Reset or create password” link.

Your username is not your email address. You received a username specific to your account when your registration was confirmed after you signed up.

If you do not receive this email, please contact us at 720.647.6380 or info@caring4denver.org

1. Log in to the Grants Portal.
2. Click on the Organizations link on the left side of the screen.
3. Select the organization from the list.
4. Click the Edit button on the top right side of the screen.
5. Change the information you need to change, then click the Save and Close button.

If you need assistance, contact our grants office at grants@caring4denver.org.

To gain access to past grant applications and other documents in your grants portal, please contact our grants office at grants@caring4denver.org so we can manage access. Include the name and email addess of the person who should no longer be connected as well as the full name and email address of the indiviual(s) who should now have access.

A representative of a fiscal sponsor organization only needs one account in our Grants Portal but may be connected with multiple projects/organizations.

First, create an account in our Grants Portal. When completing the registration information, use the information for your fiscal sponsor’s organization rather than your project’s information.

If you already have a Grants Portal username and password but do not see your fiscal sponsor organization’s project(s) in the Portal, contact our grants office at grants@caring4denver.org and we can connect your account to the projects.

A grant writer only needs one account in our Grants Portal but may be connected with multiple projects/organizations.

First, create an account in our Grants Portal. When completing the registration information, use the information for one of your client organizations.

If you already have a Grants Portal username and password but need to be connected with more than one of your client organizations in the Portal, contact our grants office at grants@caring4denver.org. After receiving approval from the applicant organization, we will connect your account to those organizations.

The Grants Portal prohibits certain special characters in file names for documents uploads. The characters include &$@=;:,?+%`'”><~#| and two or more consecutive blank spaces.

If your documents contain these characters, the Grants Portal will display an error (“Invalid characters in the file name”) and will not allow you to upload that particular document. If this occurs, rename your document and attempt to upload again.

For example, if your document is named Income & Expense Statement May 2023 the file will not upload because of the & in the file name. Rename the file with an “and” instead of an “&” and it should upload with no issues.

If you continue experiencing issues with document uploads, contact our grants office at grants@caring4denver.org.

Once your application is complete, it will be assigned to program staff for review. Your program officer may need to speak with you further and may request additional information and documents and/or request a site visit. The program officer may work with you on defining, refining or creating specific metrics for your project or program. These metrics will be used as indicators to assess impact and determine if programmatic modifications are needed.

During the course of the application review, applicants are also asked to share with the program officer any new information that may significantly affect the proposed project.

We will process applications as quickly as possible. The timeframe for completing our review of grants varies based on a number of factors, including the volume of applications received in response to a Call for Proposals. Refer to the Call for Proposals document for the deadlines and timeline for that grant cycle.

A program officer or grants manager will contact you after a decision is made. Please refer to the timeline on the Call for Proposals to which you responded for the timing around notifications.

We will email you an award letter, informing you that your request has been approved for funding (in some cases, the amount may be different than your original request). This letter will also provide guidelines for communicating about your grant.

Your program officer will then reach out to review and refine objectives, and next steps.

You will then receive an email with the grant agreement outlining the terms and conditions of accepting the grant. We will schedule a time to discuss the terms of the agreement to ensure that any special terms and conditions are acceptable.

Once we have received your signed grant agreement, your first payment will be released. We process payments twice each month.

See the Call for Proposals document for the deadlines and timeline for your grant cycle/focus area including anticipated start dates.

To read more about what to expect as a grantee, see the Current Grantees section below.

Your program officer is your main contact at Caring for Denver during your grant period. Here is an overview of what to expect over the life of your grant:

• First month – You will review and refine objectives with your program officer. This will include discussing how you plan to evaluate your program and what information you intend to collect. This will be captured in an evaluation framework document.
• As needed – Fulfill or address contingencies or special provisions outlined in your grant agreement document (not all grants have these).
• Mid-year discussion/check-in – You will meet with your program officers after the first six months of your grant period. This will be an opportunity to engage in reflection regarding how the project is going. We will discuss successes, challenges, and insights. We will utilize the evaluation framework document to help guide the discussion. Grantees are also encouraged to discuss any grant modifications (amendments) you may need at this time.
• End of year and/or final reporting – This will include both a discussion and a written submission. The discussion will be similar to the mid-year check-in. the written submission will include the completion of a form provided in the Grants Portal and a report on the use or expenditure of grant funds. Grantees are also encouraged to discuss any grant modifications (amendments) you may need at this time.
• As needed – Check-ins or discussions with your program officers can happen as you want or need them. Program officers are available to address challenges, answer questions, celebrate successes, or to receive ongoing updates. They can also discuss grant modifications (amendments) you need at any time.

Your current and previous grant requests are available in the grants portal. You can access the grants portal by going to caring4denver.org and clicking on the Grants Portal button near the top of the page.

Once you are logged in, find the Grants section and view your active or closed grants by clicking on one of those headings.

For most grants, we require a Mid-Year Learning Call at approximately the 6-month mark and at the end of the grant year, an End of Grant Year Report and End of Grant Year Learning Call. If the grant is a multi-year grant, interim reports are required yearly. In some cases, we may require more frequent reports, which will be specified in the grant agreement.

To learn more about evaluation at Caring for Denver Foundation, view our Evaluation Touchpoints document.

Your grant reports (e.g., End of Grant Year Report, Special Provisions Report) need to be submitted in the Grants Portal.

All reports, including the ones you’ve submitted and the ones your program officer may have submitted on your behalf (e.g., Mid-Year Learning Call Report) are available to view in the Grants Portal.

You can access the grants portal by going to caring4denver.org and clicking on the Grants Portal button near the top of the page.

Once you are logged in, find the Reports section and view your reports due by clicking on that heading.

We are a learning organization and want to partner with our grantees in learning what works and does not work so that we can extrapolate the learning across organizations, projects and the community. Because we are focused on learning with our grantees, our report is structured to capture your results and what changes you may want to test to improve or sustain program activities to increase the likelihood of accomplishing your project milestones and improving any metrics or measures you have identified with your Program Officer. Approved grantees will be able to view the grant report in our Grants Portal prior to signing their grant agreement.

All contingency fulfillment documentation must be submitted online through our grants portal available at caring4denver.org by submitting a Contingency Report or a Special Provisions Report in the Reports section. We will not accept this documentation via email, US mail or in person unless you have received prior approval.

To request an amendment to your current grant, notify your assigned program officer. They will start the amendment process for you.

Reasons for amendments include:

• A change in deliverables or scope
• A change in grant objectives
• Changes in the budget that represent more than 10% of the total award or if requesting funding for an expense not previously approved
• No-cost extensions to the grant term

If you have received an amendment approval email, you will see the grant amendment in the Grants Portal in the Amendments section on the left side of the screen.

If you have completed or are nearing the end of your current grant, you can apply for funding to continue or expand your work during the next open Call for Proposals for that funding area.