The Tiger Woods Foundation, Inc.:
Grant-making Policies & Procedures
Welcome! The Tiger Woods Foundation, Inc. is a
501(c)(3) charitable organization, established in 1996 by Tiger Woods and his father Earl
Woods.
The Foundation envisions a world where people of varying backgrounds, histories,
races, languages and ethnicity can all reach their highest potential and participate fully
in the economic and social mainstream of society.
The Foundation pursues its goals by
supporting programs that focus on creating positive environments for underprivileged
youths and that emphasize the importance of parental involvement and responsibility in the
lives of children.
We are actively seeking grant opportunities among organizations and
individuals that provide creative, exciting, positive outlets in furtherance of our own
goals.
If today's youth are to maximize
their potential, our collective love, guidance and support must constitute the framework
for this realization. The Tiger Woods Foundation is in a unique position to positively
influence both parents and children.
If we help parents realize the significance of their
role in the lives of their children, while simultaneously, teaching children to believe in
themselves, to dream big dreams and that, through hard work and determination, it is
within their own power to make their dreams come true, our fondest goals will be realized.
The whole of society will be the beneficiary.
Please carefully read this Tiger Woods Foundation grant proposal manual. Herein are
contained the grant-making policies which communicate the program areas and objectives
that the Foundation supports.
If read and followed, these policies and procedures will
assist applicants in developing proposals that more clearly communicate their goals and
objectives; thusly enabling both the Foundation and the applicant to be more successful in
addressing shared concerns.
Together we can take the first steps in making a difference in
the lives of the fathers, mothers, and children around us.
Grant-making Policies
Statement of Purpose
The purpose of the Tiger Woods Foundation, Inc. is to create or positively influence
environments; thereby, enabling children and youth to develop to their maximum potential.
To achieve this result, the Foundation will endeavor to:
- Improve the well-being of economically and socially- disadvantaged urban families;
- Actively encourage and promote parental responsibility and involvement in the lives of
children;
- Celebrate and promote the spirit of inclusion in all aspects of human endeavors;
- Function as a catalyst for positive change by identifying and responding to community
needs through Foundation- initiated grant programs.
- Special attention will be given to community programs designed to strengthen the
relationship between parents and children.
Grant-making Policies
Geographic Focus
While the Tiger Woods Foundation's charity extends to families at large, it
particularly embraces the conditions that contribute to the welfare of children and
families residing in urban American cities.
Population Focus
The Foundation's population focus is on Children, Youth, and Families. Grant-making,
therefore, will be concentrated around program areas directly associated with Children,
Family Health and Welfare, Education, Parenting and Youth Development.
Evaluation
The Foundation will measure the success and effectiveness of its efforts through
evaluation. As a condition of their grants, grantees will be required to report annually
on the progress and effectiveness of their program. To facilitate this process, evaluation
components will be included in all Foundation-funded project packs.
Children, Youth, and Families
The goal of the Children, Youth, and Families area of interest is to enable families
and communities to develop children and youth to their maximum potential. The Foundation
seeks to accomplish this goal by supporting projects that share the following basic
guiding principles.
Guiding Principles:
Services
Projects should involve or improve the delivery of services to children, youth, and
families.
Prevention
Projects should promote and provide early, sustained intervention to address the problems
of children and families.
The Family Unit
Lives of children can be improved by helping parents meet the child's needs. Projects
should focus on the needs and functioning of the family as a unit and build relationships
of trust and respect between children and their families.
The Community
Projects should view children and families in the context of their environment and tailor
services in and to the needs of the community.
Comprehensive and Flexible
A child's social, emotional, financial, educational, and health needs are interrelated.
Services should be comprehensive, flexible and responsive, as well as sensitive to the
participant's needs.
Family Strength
Services should build on family strengths to meet the needs of children.
Disadvantaged
Projects should tailor their services to respond to the distinctive needs of those at
greatest risk.
Access to Service
Projects should facilitate access to services.
Cultural Diversity
Projects and services should respect cultural differences in society.
Cooperation and Coordination
Projects should cooperate and coordinate with other service providers to be responsive to
the needs of children and families.
Effectiveness
Service delivery projects should be based upon models whose effectiveness is supported by
research and evaluation.
Accountability
Projects should emphasize participant outcomes, long-term change and development and be
accountable by evaluating program effectiveness.
Training
Persons who administer programs that are funded by Tiger Woods Foundation should be
qualified professionals or paraprofessionals or should receive training, technical
assistance and institutionalized support for such, especially when new and cooperative
projects are begun.
Program Areas
The Foundation's grant-making program for Children, Youth, and Families is concentrated
in four program areas. Within each program area, grant-making centers on specific
objectives.
Child and Family Health & Welfare
Objectives
- Improve and promote infant and maternal health.
- Improve child and adolescent health and development.
- Prevent substance and alcohol abuse.
- Prevent youth and family violence.
- Prevent child abuse and neglect.
- Enable children and families to have access to the necessities of life.
Education Objectives
- Improve school readiness of children and youth through effective parenting, parent
literacy, day care, early childhood and preschool education.
- Prepare youth for successful transitions from school to work and to productive adult
lives.
- Improve ways schools are organized and managed with a focus on the developmental needs
of children, parental involvement and accountability.
Parenting Objectives
- Educate parents on the proper parenting roles.
- Strengthen the role of parents in raising their children.
- Develop and promote the parents' responsibility as a role model.
- Strengthen communication skills between parents and children.
- Educate parents to accept full responsibility for parenthood.
Youth Development
Objectives
- Develop maximum human potential through cultural studies, recreation, physical fitness
and other productive leisure activities.
- Encourage youth volunteerism, community service, mentoring, and intergenerational
relationships.
- Build self-esteem, life skills, positive values and expand life option opportunities.
Type of Support
Within the four program areas, the Foundation will provide:
- Support for new, pilot or demonstration projects where credible plans for replacing
Foundation funds and institutionalizing the project (e.g., incorporating the project into
core services) are presented.
- Project support for expanding or refining existing projects that have proven successful
and where feasible, plans for replacing Foundation funding and institutionalizing the
project are presented.
- General support for the purpose of helping organizations build capacity, plan
strategically, train staff and become more self-sufficient when their basic mission
encompasses one or more of the Foundation's program areas.
- General support for collaborative and partnership projects, involving public and private
sectors, for the purpose of helping government improve the way it delivers services.
- Support for applied research studies and evaluations involving local service providers
and public policy analysis that will make a substantial contribution toward improved
delivery of services.
- Capital support for construction or renovation of facilities that are essential to the
success of a program, which has already received Foundation support; and where the capital
project improves the organization's core services and furthers the objectives of the
Foundation's program areas.
General
Considerations
Grants are approved in the children, youth, and families program areas for a one-year
period and are not renewable unless the grant applicant requests, and is awarded, a
multi-year grant. If a multi-year application for a grant is submitted, the time period
for support should match the duration of the pilot or demonstration project. If a
multi-year proposal is for the purpose of expanding an existing project, it should be for
a period of time to allow replacement funding to be secured and the project to be
institutionalized. multi-year grants for these program areas generally range from three to
five years.
- Tax-Exempt Status/Certain Government Entities
The Foundation will only
consider applications from organizations that have been determined to be tax exempt under
Section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and which are not private foundations as
defined in Section 509(a) of the Code.
- Number of Grants
Generally, only one grant commitment will be made to an
organization during a calendar year. Exceptions may be made, on a case by case basis, for
large organizations with multiple divisions or departments. The Foundation may consider,
on a case by case basis, two grant applications in one year when the projects or programs
fall within different program areas. The Foundation will consider another grant
application in situations where the Foundation has made a multi-year grant commitment to
an organization in a prior calendar year even though the prior grant has not been
completed. Exceptions also are made in cases where a grant commitment is made pursuant to
a Foundation-initiated program. Applicants may submit a new application, for a different
purpose, if a previous application has been denied in the same calendar year.
- Grant Term
The standard period for a grant is one year. The Foundation
understands that many important projects may require several years of support; in which
case, the initial grant application must be for a multi-year period. The Foundation will
not support projects for more than one year unless a multi-year grant is approved during
its initial year of funding. multi-year grants are made based upon plans and budgets that
generally range from three to five years unless otherwise stated under the applicable
program area. After a multi-year grant is approved, the Foundation will consider a request
to increase funding for subsequent grant years only in the event of a substantial change
in circumstances.
- Amount of Support
With respect to general support, the Foundation generally
will not provide more than 25 percent of an organization's general operations. In
considering a project, the Foundation expects others to support the project including the
organization itself. This support may be in the form of in-kind support. "General
support" usually refers to support of the organization's general administration and
core services, and "project support" usually refers to projects that are not a
part of an organization's general administration and core services.
- The Foundation does not...
- Make grants which, in the opinion of the Foundation, may jeopardize an organization's
public charity status because the amount of the request is too large in relation to the
level of past Internal Revenue Service qualifying public support revenues.
- Make grants to organizations that had IRS qualifying public support revenues of less
than $100,000 for the preceding year, or to new organizations that do not have an
operational and financial history.
- Make grants to organizations whose financial statements and position are not audited in
accordance with generally accepted accounting principles by independent accountants.
- Make grants in amounts less than $10,000. The Founder, President, or Executive Director
has the authority to issue discretionary grants in an amount not to exceed $10,000, to an
individual or entity in one calendar year.
- Support sectarian religious activities or sectarian religious facilities. Churches or
religious organizations may apply for support for activities that benefit the larger
community, not just their own members or adherents.
- We do not make grants to purchase, construct or renovate facilities or buildings owned
by units of government. In renovation and construction projects, the facility must be
owned or leased for long term by the applicant organization. We will only support other
capital requests, such as those for buildings, land, or equipment, when they meet certain
stringent criteria (Subject criteria may be obtained upon request).
Capital projects
must help to meet a compelling community need, advance Foundation priorities and offer
broad social benefit. When we do participate in a capital project, our support is
contingent upon funding from other sources. We generally do not authorize payment until
the organization has raised a significant percentage of its total dollar goal.
- Make grants for endowments, annual fund drives, fundraising events, basic research, or
support for past operating deficits.
- Make grants in response to generic fundraising requests and applications that do not
follow the Foundation's grant application procedures.
- Provide loans.
- Provide grant support to organizations that unfairly discriminate against people because
of their age, race, creed, gender, national origin, handicap, or ethnicity in policy or
practice.
- Provide support for travel for individuals or groups when it is the proposal's primary
focus.
- Provide support for community services such as police and fire protection.
- Fund staff positions for governmental agencies.
- Generally fund publications, audiovisual projects or video productions. However, we may
consider them when they fall within a promising project.
Foundation-Initiated
Programs
The Foundation will also initiate grant-making. Foundation-initiated
projects will be designed to address identified community needs and encourage and support
efforts to meet these needs. Generally, the project must address a specific problem or
constituency of particular interest to the Foundation. The initiative may involve a
long-term commitment. The initiative needs to be within the Foundation's current areas of
interest or be the type of support normally provided by the Foundation.
Grant-making Procedures
Grant Application Procedures
Grant applicants are encouraged to carefully read this guide to the Foundation's
grant-making policies and procedures. Only those projects that fall within the
Foundation's geographic and population focus, program areas and objectives, and those
which meet appropriate criteria will be considered for Foundation support.
Initial inquiries
Questions regarding grant-making application policies and procedures should be
directed, either by telephone or in writing, to the Foundation's Executive Director. The
Foundation strongly discourages contact with individual members of the Board of Directors
regarding grant-making application policies and procedures. The Foundation does not
provide the applicant with an assessment of the application's chances for approval other
than to advise that an applicant's projects clearly fall outside the geographic focus,
program area objectives, or type of support.
The applicant also may submit an initial letter of inquiry, the purpose of which is to
determine whether the proposal meets the criteria of the Foundation's polices to merit
submitting a full application. The letter should provide sufficient information for the
Foundation to determine whether the project falls within the geographic focus, program
area objectives, type of support, and guiding principles set forth in the policies. The
letter should address any of the general considerations that may be relevant. The letter
should be no longer than three pages. The Foundation will then advise the applicant
whether the project will be considered by the Foundation. The Foundation will not assess
the application's chances for approval. An initial letter of inquiry is not required or
advantageous to receive a grant.
Applications
The Tiger Woods Foundation does not have a standard application form. Applications
should be clear and concise. Please do not fax applications to the Foundation. When
applying for a one-year grant or the first year of a multi-year grant, please send one
complete application, which includes all of the following elements:
- Cover Letter, which includes a statement of authorization, signed by both the
chairperson of the board or president of the organization and by the individual
responsible for the program.
- Title Page, containing the name of the organization as it appears on the current IRS Tax
Exemption letter and the name of the department, division or subsidiary administering the
grant; the organization's address and telephone number; the name of the President or
Executive Director, the individual responsible for the project and the contact person for
the project if different; the amount of grant support requested; the time period for
support and whether requesting support for one year or for a multi-year period; the name
of the project; the program area to which the proposal is directed; and the type of
support requested.
- Summary of Proposal, no longer than two pages which summarizes the essential elements of
the proposal and is separate from a cover letter.
- Proposal, no longer than eight pages that covers the following points in a clear and
concise manner.
- Purpose of the project stated in one sentence.
- Need for project and problems it addresses.
- Goal of the project, the measurable objectives, the results to be achieved, how the
project's goals meet the problems it addresses, and how the project's goals meet the
stated objective described within the relevant foundation program area.
- Project plan and description which includes project history and past accomplishments;
target population to be served including number, age, location; timeline; specific project
activities and how these activities will achieve the project's goals and objectives and
the objectives of the Foundation's program areas. Requests for general support should
state how the grant will help the organization achieve its goals and the objectives of the
Foundation's program areas.
- How many people, and who, will be served
- Names of cooperating organizations
- Project staff and/or consultants
- Any advisory groups
- The specific community need or policy issue you will address
—— Or ——
- The contribution your project will make to the community
- The activities you propose to tackle the problem
- Why your organization wants to do the work
- Why your plan is cost-effective
- Expected immediate and long-term results
- Other providers of this service in the area
- Distinctive features of your project
- Expected contribution to knowledge in the field
- Relationship to your agency's overall program
- Professional support or other evidence of project's value
- Organization Description, including a short history of the organization, current mission
and goals, a description of services, past accomplishments, capacity of the organization
to engage the target population and execute the proposed grant. The information should
include the makeup of the organization's board, staff, and current clients or participants
by race, ethnic minority groups and gender.
- Revenue Plan, including a list of other funding sources approached and amounts both
requested and received to date.
- Evaluation Plan, summary including the goals of the evaluation, the evaluation's
audience and a description of how the answers to the evaluation question will be used.
- Continued Support, including both the plans for generating project support following the
conclusion of the Foundation's funding and for institutionalizing the project into the
core services of the organization. If multi-year support is requested, state the reasons
why more than one year of support is necessary.
- Budget for the total project and for the Tiger Woods Foundation portion, itemized using
standard accounting revenue and expenditure categories; a budget covering the Foundation
portion and a budget of applicant organization if general support is requested. The
Foundation prefers budgets that fully itemize direct and indirect expenses but will allow,
in unusual circumstances, indirect expenses stated as a percentage of the total project
budget. The budget also should itemize the evaluation component. If the request is for the
first year of a multi-year project, submit a budget for each year of requested support.
- Demographics of Organization and program participants submitted by the applicant should
include a description of its ability to collect demographic information about its
organization, program staff and program participants relating to participant numbers,
racial and ethnic minority groups, gender, age or age groups, residency or location,
income level and disabled or handicapped.
- Audited Financial Statement, including balance sheets, statements of revenue, expenses
and the most current Form 990. If current audit is unavailable, submit current non-audited
financial statements and most recent financial audit.
- Staff, including the names and qualifications of the principal persons responsible for
implementing the project, project supervision, and project evaluation.
- Board of Directors, including officers with their occupations or affiliations.
- Copy of organization's proof of tax-exempt status in the form of its current Section 501
(c)(3) determination letter and classification under Section 509(a) and any updates or
amendments.
- Letters of Support from cooperating organizations where cooperation is integral to the
success of the project.
- Evaluation and Strategic Plans of the organization or of the projects similar to the one
for which funding is requested.
- Organization Brochure and most recent annual report.
Multi-Year Applications
The initial multi-year application should include all of the above application
elements. The application for funding in subsequent years should be no longer than eight
pages and include all of the following elements:
- Application Amendments and updates to any element of the first year's application,
including changes and updates to the grant period, projects goals, project plan and
activities, the organization and its leadership, revenue plan, evaluation plan, project
budget, staffing and tax-exempt status.
- Progress Report covering project activities to date and persons served, progress toward
achieving project goals, status of evaluation, and progress toward generating continued
support and institutionalization of the project.
- Expenditure Report covering expenditures to date and a comparison of expenditures to the
original budget. The grant balance should be carried forward to the budget for the
subsequent year.
- Budget for the year of requested continued funding. The budget should include any
carry-forward from the previous year's grant payment.
- Board of Directors, including officers with their occupations or affiliations.
- Current audited financial statement and most recent IRS Form 990.
- Current Annual Report of the organization.
The Foundation reserves the right to discontinue funding a multi-year grant by
canceling the commitment beyond the current year should the project's performance be
determined to be unsatisfactory, or if an application for renewal is not received or does
not conform to the above requirements.
Send one copy of the completed application to:
Tiger
Woods Foundation, Inc.
7506 Slate Ridge Boulevard
Reynoldsburg, OH 43068
Attn: Grants
Application Review Procedures
There are no deadlines for submitting applications. Selected applicants may be asked to
submit proposals by a specified date at the discretion of the Foundation. Grant requests
will be considered only when all of the grant application information is completed.
Generally, three months is needed to process completed grant applications. However,
additional time will be necessary if a letter of inquiry is submitted. The Directors of
the Foundation review grant applications four times each year, generally in March, June,
September, and November. Grant applications will be assigned to the next available Board
of Directors meeting agenda based on the date on which the application is completed and
the volume of grant applications received.
Both telephone pre-application inquiries and initial letters of inquiry regarding the
Foundation's program policies, application procedures and the grant-making process should
be directed to the Foundation's Executive Director. The Foundation strongly discourages
contact with the individual members of the Board of Directors regarding specific
applications. Inquiries regarding a specific application, already submitted to the
Foundation, will be directed to the staff person assigned to administer the application.
Should further information be required, the Foundation will contact the applicant's
organization. An interview or site visit may be conducted or additional information and
supporting data may be requested. Inquiry by the Foundation staff is not a guarantee of
favorable consideration. Program staff will not provide the applicant with an assessment
of an application's chances for approval.
Applicants will be notified in writing when their application has been received and
again when the Directors have made a decision. Occasionally, applications are deferred
until the next Directors meeting pending further staff investigation.
The Foundation normally will not reconsider applications for programs that already have
been denied unless the applicant is invited by the Foundation to revise and resubmit the
application. Organizations whose applications have been denied may submit an application
for another program during that same year.
Because of the volume of materials, the Foundation cannot return items (e.g.,
videotapes, organizational materials and publications) submitted with an application.
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