For Grant Seekers

Checklist for Eligibility | Application Form | Application Guidelines | FAQ

Checklist for Eligibility

1. Your group is a non-profit with active 501(c)(3) status. If you’re not sure, you can check at https://candid.org/.
2. Your group has an Employer Identification Number (EIN). This can also be found with: https://candid.org/.
3. Your grant proposal’s primary focus is one or more of the following:
   
   • Literacy
   • Children
   • Arts
   • Social Justice
   • Environmental
4. A Non-discrimination statement adopted and accepted by your board
5. Your group operates in the US. The foundation grants nationwide, with the majority of grants going to local counties.

We Grant To	We Do Not Grant To
Non-Profit organizations with 501(c)3 status and valid EIN (Employer Identification Number). You can check at candid.org	501(c)4, 501(c)5 or any other status
Public Charities or organizations sponsored by a public charity	Private foundations or operating foundations
Government agencies operating publicly available charitable programs. (i.e.public schools, libraries)	Any other type of government agency
Local (Maryland/DC/West Virginia) and National (United States) programs	Programs and organizations operating outside the US
Inclusive organizations, especially those working with underserved communities and people with low income. Must include a non-discrimination statement adopted and accepted by the organization's board on application.	Organizations who require religious participation. Organizations who discriminate against any federally protected class.
Organizations working in the fields of Literacy, Children, Arts, Social Justice, and the Environment.	Organizations who do not fall into our focus areas.
Direct Benefit to the public and people in need	Individuals, or organizations who only offer benefits for private groups.
Accessible Programming. Services are available to the public. Services are either free, affordable, or need-based scholarships are offered.	Schools that charge tuition without offering scholarships. Organizations who do not offer at least some free or affordable programs. Programs that are not accessible by the public.

Registration / Sign In / Application Form

• Before applying, new users must register with Fluxx. If you have previously registered with our portal, you do not need to do so again.
• User registrations are normally processed by staff within 1-2 weeks. This is not an automatic process.
• Registrations / change to registrations will not be possible 2 weeks prior to an application deadline, please see the application calendar for details / clarification.

Our grants management system is located at:
https://nrf.fluxx.io/user_sessions/new

• Previous Users: Login on the left side with the username and password emailed to you. (Your username is not your email address - it typically has the format firstname_lastname)
  • If you get an "Invalid Credentials" error, please check to make sure you are using your username and not your email address.
• New Users: Click on the Get Started link on the right side.
• If you have difficulty registering, or your password reset does not work, or you have not logged in in the last 3 years and believe your account was made inactive, please contact us at: registration@norarobertsfoundation.org. Please include your organization's name in your email. This is not an automated process. We will manually search for your account, this may take a couple days.
  • If you get "Invalid Credentials, please ensure you are using your username, and not your email address to log in.
• Multiple Users are encouraged for each organization. Each user needs to register with their own email address. After approval, all users connected to the application can view and edit it. At this time only two people from any organization can be connected to an application.
• Users may register for multiple organizations. If you are involved in grant writing for multiple organizations your username can be linked to multiple organizations. When you register for any organization after your first, we will reach out to confirm it's the same you and once you confirm, we will connect you.
• Please add the norarobertsfoundation.org domain to your address book. Otherwise, you may not receive important communications.

Application Guidelines

All applications not meeting the requirements for eligibility will be declined.

Even if your group does meet all the requirements, the Nora Roberts Foundation has finite funds and administrative capacity, and may not be able to donate to your group for this year.

We do not accept any applications outside of the Fluxx portal.

Summary
The most important part of the application is the 2-3 sentence summary. The summary should answer the following questions:

1. What is the organization's purpose or mission?
2. How does the project or organization uniquely and directly benefit people in need in one or more of our focus areas (Literacy, Children, Arts, Social Justice, Environment)?
3. What would a donation to your organization be used for?
4. If you received a grant from us in the previous year please EITHER include a brief summary of how the funds were used with an additional 2-3 sentences OR attach a report in any format as a Request Document.
5. If you include Request Documents, please note this in the summary.

Non-Discrimination Statement

• Your non-discrimination statement/policy should be one adopted by your organization's board and followed by all members of your organization. The policy should be available for the public to view (either on your organization's website, or sometimes found in a handbook, or posted in another public location).
• Please include the date of adoption of your organization's Non-Discrimination Policy and a link or proof of public availability.
• You can copy and paste the text of your Non-Discrimination Statement/Policy into the field in the application, or attach the statement. (If you attach the statement, please indicate so in this field. (i.e. see attached policy))

Budgets are required for any request of $10,000 or more. The budget does not need to follow a specific format, you can simply attach the program or organization budget to the application. (Please note that there is an attached budget in the summary).

Otherwise Request Documents and Organization Documents are not required.

Filenames may not use the following characters:
& $ @ = ; : , ? + % ` ' " > < ~ # |
Additionally files should not include two consecutive spaces in their name.

Request Documents are documents pertaining to the program or project you are applying for and often change year to year. These documents can be removed by applicants. For example, a program/organization brochure, budget, impact reports, annual reports, testimonials, or other reports. If there is something in a request document that is vital to your application request, please include a reference in the Summary.

Organization Documents are documents that pertain to the organization permanently. Your organization can upload these documents, but in order to remove them, you must submit a request to registration@norarobertsfoundation.org. Please include your organization and, if possible, application ID number.
Example Organization Documents include Mission Statements, IRS 501c3 determination letter, Non-Discrimination Statement, Organization History.

Application Timeline

We accept applications online year round, and review and make decisions on applications once per quarter.
We only accept one application per organization per year, and only make one grant to an organization per year.