Your organization becomes a client!

Foundation for Nonprofits asks all organizations seeking assistance to apply to be a client no matter how minimal the services requested are. Foundation for Nonprofits is not interested in finding you just any board member, our goal is to find you the right board member. The information we request in the application is intended to give the Foundation for Nonprofits team the insight we need to facilitate that right match.

You must be:

• Be certified as charitable organization as defined under §501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and
• Headquartered in Arizona.

Generally, Foundation for Nonprofits does not accept the following types of organizations as clients:

• Organizations that discriminate with regard to staff, employment, governing board, or service based on race, color, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, gender identity, age, disability, national origin, or veteran status;
• Political, labor, or fraternal organizations; or
• Schools: public, charter, private, colleges, universities or their support organizations (including but not limited to: Booster Clubs, PTA/PTO’s, athletic teams, bands, performing arts groups, alumni associations, or school foundations).

Despite these general guidelines, Foundation for Nonprofits knows that each organization is unique and evaluates every client application on its individual merits. Occasionally, Foundation for Nonprofits has and will make an exception to the exclusions listed above for organizations that demonstrate a long-term commitment to serving the larger community and advocating for those in need. If you are unsure if your organization would qualify to be a Foundation for Nonprofits client, please email us at info@foundationfornonprofits.org and a member of our staff will be happy to discuss your organization’s eligibility.

The Foundation for Nonprofits client application is mostly made up of short answer questions. In addition to these short answer questions, we request PDF copies of your Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws, a list of current board members, resumes for the team member who will be our point of contact, your Executive Director and Board Chair, and your most recent board meeting minutes. You may wish to gather these document before starting the application. (For security purposes, all documents are required to be in PDF format.)

When reviewing client applications, the Foundation for Nonprofits team is looking for sincerity and wholeheartedness, not perfection. A few typos will not impact your client application. Please focus on sincerity and clarity over perfection.

When a member of the Foundation for Nonprofits team refers to a “grant” we are referring to a grant of services to a nonprofit organization.

FOUNDATION FOR NONPROFITS DOES NOT ACCEPT APPLICATIONS FOR CASH GRANTS.

ANY APPLICATION SPECIFICALLY REQUESTING FUNDING WILL BE IMMEDIATELY REJECTED.

Before your application is reviewed, a member of the Foundation for Nonprofits team will reach out to you via phone to clarify any questions they have about your application and to gain clarity with regard to the services being requested. Their notes and your application are then reviewed by our board of directors. If your application is approved, you will receive an engagement letter signed by Foundation for Nonprofits leadership that describes the scope of services being offered. Once your organization’s leadership has signed and returned the engagement letter, you will be an official Foundation for Nonprofits client and the work will begin!

Foundations for Nonprofits understands that your organization may find it a little inconvenient to have to go through a process before you can utilize The Queue to find a match. The Foundation for Nonprofits team thought long and hard about how to balance the interests of all the parties involved before deciding to go with the route we chose. With over 23,000 nonprofits in Arizona, the Foundation for Nonprofits team knows that there are organizations that need some preparation before they welcome new board members, that there are organizations that lack the technology skills to use The Queue effectively, and that there are organizations that may use The Queue for ignoble purposes. By limiting access to client organizations and offering matches instead of large lists, Foundation for Nonprofits protects the privacy of the individuals involved and prevents the data from being misused. Individuals won’t join The Queue if they don’t trust us, so all individual information is treated as confidential until a match is made. This policy also benefits client organizations too. Doing a basic search of The Queue would return a long list of potential board members. Culling that list down to 2-3, if done properly, would consume a large amount of staff time and be expensive. When Foundation for Nonprofits gives you a list of candidates for your board, Foundation for Nonprofits staff will have whittled the list down based on our knowledge of your organization and the individuals on the list to find matches instead of mere candidates.

Feel free to reach out to us at info@foundationfornonprofits.org or (480) 269-3740. A member of the Foundation for Nonprofits team will be happy to answer any questions you have.