W.W. Reynolds Foundation

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W.W. Reynolds Foundation Grant Eligibility & Guidelines.

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The Foundation’s purpose is to support primarily qualifying organizations and educational institutions including universities, colleges, high schools, elementary schools, alternative schools, and web-based schools that conduct research, develop courses and teach students the free enterprise economic system that built the United States of America.

 

To achieve this purpose: 

• The Foundation may provide financial and other assistance to qualified academic scholars, organizations, and other educational institutions to develop educational materials for the intended purpose of the Foundation. 

• The Foundation may provide financial and other assistance to develop, improve, update, revise, house, and make publicly available the educational materials described above, through whatever media is available at the time, to students, educational institutions, and other educational organizations in a manner that achieves the purpose of the Foundation. 

• The Foundation may provide financial and other assistance to qualified organizations to recommend to educational institutions and individual educators the educational materials to support ongoing teaching and development activities and other activities that encourage the use of these educational materials for the benefit of students. 

 

Preferences: 

The Foundation has a preference to fund programs that use gaming or hands-on approaches to put the students in role-play situations or put students in various roles to illustrate how free markets work, civics, personal financial literacy, and how complex business decisions are made. 

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As the Foundation looks at possible programs to support, careful consideration is given to what is taught and who is teaching the program. 

 

The Foundation Hopes to Support: 

• Programs that empower people to achieve success and self-sufficiency in their lives and take them to scale by expanding them across the country.

• Entrepreneurial-focused organizations that hope to start a new innovative program or project.

• Programs involving the study of liberty in our nation and around the world. 

• Public policy research organizations and think tanks that create a presence for and promote libertarian ideas in policy debates. 

• Organizations whose mission is to originate, disseminate, and advance solutions based on the principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace. 

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Key Qualifications of Organizations that Merit Funding:  Organizations funded by the Foundation must demonstrate the following: 

• Belief in Free Market values. Organizations funded by the Foundation must believe in and practice free market values with limited government intervention. 

• Strong Business Principles. Organizations funded by the Foundation must apply sound business principles to their work and governance. They must have a strategic direction and plan, defined goals, aligned management and board, strong financial management, and a clear vision of what they are trying to do. 

• Strong Grant Agreements. Organizations funded by the Foundation must be willing to enter grant agreements that maintain the Foundation’s control over approval and decision-making for as long as possible to assure the funds are used as intended and that the direction of the organization remains consistent. Clear benchmarks must be outlined and met before future funding is released. 

• Investment in People. Organizations funded by the Foundation must inspire a high level of confidence in their ability to achieve success in their missions. 

• Ties to Colorado. Organizations funded by the Foundation ideally provide programs or services in Colorado. The Foundation may support select programs with a nationwide focus if those organizations strongly align with the donor’s intent and fit within the W.W. Reynolds Foundation Grant Program’s funding areas.

• Non-Profit Status. Organizations funded by the Foundation generally need to have 501(c)(3) status or government equivalent. The Foundation may support other qualifying organizations within the guidelines of the Foundation's 501(c)(3) status.

• A Clearly Specified Program or Project. Organizations funded by the Foundation must demonstrate a need for a specific program or project, general operating support, or capital campaign.

 

What We Look for in a Grant Request:  The proposed project or program should demonstrate:

• Alignment — The proposed project or program should be strongly aligned with the Values articulated in the Donor Intent Agreement.

• Geographic Focus —The proposed project or program should have a geographic focus in Colorado, although not required.

• Entrepreneurism — The proposed project or program should reflect innovative programs or projects. 

• Personal Responsibility — The proposed project or program should encourage individualism, individual responsibility, and independence.

• Other Funding: The proposed project or program should provide evidence of other funders supporting the organizations or projects, although not required.

• Challenge Grants — The proposed project or program should request payment of funds after raising a significant amount of funds from other sources, although not required.

• General Operations— The proposed project or program should request support for general operations rather than providing capital grants.

• Impact — The proposed project or program should aim to have a significant impact on its community. Grant applications should demonstrate strategic, high impact, and a clear evaluation plan with specific measurable results that will be reported at the end of the grant period.

• Performance — The proposed project or program should be evidence-based, studied, or otherwise proven to be effective.

 

Areas We Do Not Fund: We do not fund programs unless they are aligned with our specifically designated funding areas. Without limitation, we do not fund, among other things, the following:

• General education, scholarships, and youth development programs that do not fit the description above

• Arts & culture

• Religious organizations

• Health-related causes

• Human services

• Animal welfare

• Disaster relief

• Environmental programs

• Veteran's programs

• Political causes

• Anything that is legally prohibited

• Social issues or causes

• ESG initiatives or social responsibility programs 

• Endowments

• Organizations that lack a clear sense of purpose or organizational structure

• Universities or other large institutions that do not share the Foundation’s values and focus on individual liberties and responsibility

• Organizations, projects, or programs that depend heavily on government funding. This is not intended to disallow funding to universities or public schools if funding is for specific programs and educators that fit the Foundation’s purposes and intent as outlined above

• Universities and public schools for their general operations

 

How to Apply:

Step 1: Please carefully review our Eligibility & Guidelines information on this page. 

Step 2: If you believe your request is a solid fit with our eligibility criteria and guidelines, please complete this Screening Form.  Next, enter your contact information on our Contact page.

Step 3: Once we receive your contact information and review your Screening Form, if your organization is determined to not be a good fit, you will receive an email indicating that you should not apply for a grant. If your organization is determined to be a good fit, you will receive a Grant Application Submission Form. After you complete and return this, you will receive an email confirmation. Your Grant Application Submission Form will be reviewed by a Foundation representative, who may reach out for additional information.

Step 4: Following our review of your Grant Application Submission Form, we will contact you to let you know whether or not you should proceed and submit a formal grant proposal.

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If you have questions about our Grants Program Eligibility & Guidelines, please contact us via our Contact page.