LOI Process
Eligibility
Your organization must be a 501(c)3 non-profit or have a fiscal sponsor and have a primary mission tied to building connection in the world. Organizations are evaluated on a case-by-case basis through an application process, due diligence, and conversations. We take into consideration mission alignment, reach, approach to work, and population served. We encourage you to review our grants list and our current partners for insights into our grantmaking priorities. The following requests are typically outside of our guidelines:
Lobbying and activities to influence specific legislation
Endowments
Individuals
Sponsorships
In addition to the above, we do not support organizations that discriminate against groups or individuals or organizations that promote religious doctrine in the delivery of programs and services.
Grant Process and Timelines
We are still developing our systems and process for making grant recommendations and appreciate your patience as we determine the smoothest way forward for our grantees, team, and DAF provider.
The average grant process takes approximately three months from start to finish. For most organizations under consideration for funding, a typical process is as follows:
Our team reviews LOIs and discusses potential organizations monthly.
If there is interest, we will email to schedule an introductory conversation. After the meeting, our team will extend an invitation to apply for funding or will share the decision not to move forward at this time.
Prospective grantees complete an online application, usually with a deadline at least one month prior to the appropriate grant meeting date. In 2018, we will meet three times to make grant recommendations in June, August and October.
Shortly after our grant recommendation meeting, the program team will notify grantees if we are moving forward in the process to recommend a grant to Fidelity Charitable. This notification is not in any way a pledge or promise to a grantee. Fidelity Charitable performs its own due diligence and can approve or deny any of our recommendations.
Within two weeks, Fidelity Charitable will send grant award letters and funds to approved grantees.
