Resources for Applicants & Grant Partners
Reach Out. We Want to Hear From You.
The Roundhouse Foundation is committed to supporting our grant applicants and existing partners. Review the information below to learn more about our process and reach out to us with any questions.
Roundhouse Foundation’s Grant Opportunities
There are multiple opportunities to apply for funding with Roundhouse Foundation:
- Small Grants Under $2500
- Open Call for Proposals – Spring and Fall Cycles
- Special Opportunities designated by Foundation Trustees
Learn more about each of our current Grant Programs.
Learn more about what drives our grantmaking:
Learn more about what we seek in proposals, partners, opportunities:
Our Grants Portal
Roundhouse Foundation no longer accepts paper grant applications. Watch a 4-minute tutorial video on how to use our new grants portal.
Technical Issues with Grants Portal / Foundant
If you are experiencing technical issues upon submitting your application, please review the common problems below:
If, upon pressing submit, you are receiving an error code that Documents/Uploads are missing, but you have uploaded all of your documents: Please save, log out, log back in, and try submitting again. This normally resolves the issue.
If, upon pressing submit, you are receiving an error code that you are over the character count, but no fields show you are over the character count: This is an HTML issue. Sometimes when you copy text from a website or a word document into the application, the HTML code in the background also gets submitted into the text boxes and causes the word count to go over the limit. You will need to copy and paste your narrative answers without formatting. We suggest that the question answers get copy/pasted from a notepad as notepad does not have HTML in the background. Click here to learn how to paste without formatting
If you are experiencing a different error: Please save, log out, log back in, and try submitting again. This normally resolves the issue.
If you have tried all of the above and are still experiencing issues submitting your application, don’t frustrate yourself. Please contact us. We will get back to you as soon as we can.
We recognize technical errors occur — even on the day of a deadline! If you are experiencing a technical issue after hours and need support, please ensure your application is complete and send an email to the Roundhouse representative you have been working with or our grants manager, Chaney Coman, and we will work with you to solve the problem during our next business day.
Budgets and Financial Resources
We are happy to provide a sample project budget template to inform the level of detail we are hoping for in the project budget. Applicants do not need to use the template provided, but the budget should include itemized income and expenses. Download the sample budget template.
All of our grant applications, budgets, and other attachments are submitted through our online application system. Once organizations create an organizational profile and begin a particular application, they will provide budget information to Roundhouse either directly into the application (fill-in boxes) or via submission of attachments. For each application, we will request the relevant project budget and your organization’s annual budget be submitted as attachments.
The following pages may be helpful when preparing your budget and financial documents.
- 5-Step Guide to Budget Development – Fiscal Strength for Nonprofits (PDF)
- 10 Step Annual Budget Checklist – Propel Nonprofits (Guide)
- Budgeting for Nonprofits – National Council of Nonprofits (More Resources)
- Proposal Budgeting Basics – Foundation Center (Free Webinar Tutorial)
Reporting
Reports provide an opportunity for organizations to reflect on grant projects and share insights and lessons learned. Annual reports help Roundhouse analyze our funding strategies, assess our overall impact and inform our future planning. We encourage grantees to be open and honest in sharing their challenges, frustrations and feedback as well as their successes. The lessons you learn in facing obstacles are as valuable to us as your successful outcomes.
Grant partners must complete a final report in order to be eligible for future grants. Partners are assigned digital grant reports through our online Grants Portal. Roundhouse Foundation no longer accepts paper reports.
Written Reports
Follow these steps to submit a report:
- Log into Roundhouse’s Grants Portal. If you can’t recall your organization’s login information, click the “forgot your password” link on the login page, enter your email and instructions to create a new password will be sent to you.
- Once logged in, you will find report deadlines, along with other action items that need attention, listed on your Dashboard. To complete these action items, click the blue “Edit” button next to the report you’d like to complete.
Reports generally take two to four weeks for review and processing. We may contact grant partners during that time if we have questions. If you don’t hear from us, assume the report is approved.
Verbal Reports
As an opportunity to expand accessibility and potentially ease burdensome reporting requirements on our grant partners, we offer the option for grant partners to self-select a verbal grant report meeting rather than submit a written grant report. The option for a verbal report is available for our applicants awarded a grant through our spring or fall Open Call process. The selection is indicated in the grant agreement.
Scheduling the Meeting
For those partners who select a verbal report, a Foundation representative will reach out at the end of the grant period (typically 12 months after the grant was awarded) to schedule a meeting via Zoom, phone call or in-person. The meetings are typically 30-minutes to 1-hour in length. Should you like to schedule the meeting earlier or request an extension, please let us know.
During the meeting, we hope to discuss topics like the questions below. We hope you will be prepared to reflect on the success and challenges of the project during the grant period, but you do not need to prepare anything in particular.
- What went well with your work during the grant period? What didn’t?
- How did you respond to unanticipated challenges?
- Were all of the funds used?
- Program future?
- What would you recommend to others who are trying to do the same work?
- Any other questions at the discretion of the Foundation representative and grant partner.
Following the meeting, the Foundation representative will complete a verbal report form in our grants portal with notes from the conversation. The grant partner will have an opportunity to review the report, add any additional notes/documents and submit. The reporting form can be accessed in the Foundation’s online grants portal at any time.
While the Final Grant Report meeting is the only reporting requirement, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us prior. Our team values opportunities to receive project updates, to help think through challenges, or to learn of ways we can support your work.
Requesting an Extension / Change to Project Budget
Things change and unforeseen issues arise! If this is the case and you need extra time to submit a grant report or the project requires additional time for completion, please notify Roundhouse staff and we will work together to determine the best next steps.