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Guidelines for Grant Awards

Grants Relating to Safety At Sea

     The Foundation encourages applications which relate to raising awareness of safety on or around boats, both sail and power, or assist in education on good safetly habits, techniques and equipment and boat design and construction.

Grants Relating to the Environment of the Sea

     The Foundatioin seeks applications for grants which would support the design, construction, equipping, maintenance and operation of boats used for coastal and blue water crusiing to the end that such boats would have minimal impact on our oceans, support coastal land conservation or whicih encouirage boaters to adopt a commitment to stewardship of our oceans.

General Considerations

     So that the impact of its grants can be measured and meaningfully assessed, it is the approach of the Foundation to lend financial support to well-defined, distinct proects, rather than constriubte to the general operating funds of an applicant organization.

     For similar reasons, the Foundation prefers that its grants fund projects, either in their entirety or in substantial part, rather than a small part of a large-budget undertaking. 

     Bonnell Cove is not a large foundatioin and its grants are generally limited to up to $10,000. While we accept and will consider application from non-profits of any size, we wish our grants to be impactful to the recipients. For this reason, we have a bias for making grants to orgranization which lack very substantial operating budgets.

Application Procedures

     All applicants must be tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code and must be classified as "not a private foundation" under Section 509(a). Applications must include the following:

      A. General:

          The Bonnell Cove Foundation Grant SummaryForm, whcih briefly describes the organization, the project and its costs.

     B. The Organization:

          1. A brief history of the organization and its mission, including major accomplishments;

          2. A description of the services the organization provides and the persons served, where appropriate;

          3. A list of the organization's Board of Directors and top staff members, including resumes of the Chair, Executive Director, President or equivalent positions;

          4. Evidence of IRS tax-exempt status;

          5. Copies of audited financial statements for the two most recent years, the current year's operating budget and the organization's most recnet Form 990 and all attachments.

     C. The Project:

          1. A detailed descriptioin of the project, its budget, intended purposes and beneficiaries, the potential impact of the project and the qualifications of personnel with major project responsibilities;

          2. A discussion fo the amount requested, including strategies for obtaining additional funds from other sources and a statement of funds which have been received or pledged. Applicants are asked to indicate how the major elements of expenses were estimated, over what period of time the funds are to be spent and how the proect will be continued and supported after the requested grant period.

          3. The method and criteria of assessing the project's effectiveness for purposes of both internal evaluation and for reporting to the Foundation.

     Proposal Deadlines

          The Foundation's Board meets twice annually - in March and October - to consider grant proposals. Proposal deadlines are February 1 for the March meeting and Septmeber 1 for the October meeting. Proposals received after the deadlines will be reviewed during the following funding cycle. Applicants will be notified by letter  of the Board's decision. Applications should be submitted to: Secretary, Bonnell Cove Foundation, 1 Scott Lane, Mystic, CT 06355. Applicants are asked to submit their grant packages by mail. However, the Grant Summary Form may be submitted by email at bonnellcove@gmail.com. 

     Post-Grant Reporting

          Grantees are expected to submit a report to the Foundation on the progress of the program or project  and the use of the funds granted within one year of the date of the grant and annually thereafter until the project has been completed.

     Grant Summary Form

Found below.