Grant applicants must agree when submitting an online application to the Foundation's reporting and grant terms as outlined below in order to be considered for a grant award.
1) Agreement that the Grantee will provide by email in Word format within 14 calendar days of the Foundation notifying the Grantee of its grant award a brief written description of the Grantee organization and summary of the Grantee’s funded case for the Foundation to place on its website and blog or other online postings.
2) Agreement that the Grantee will discuss quarterly by telephone the progress of their grant funded case with the Foundation.
QUARTERLY REPORTING SCHEDULE
3) Agreement that the Grantee will submit to the Foundation in Word format a Six-Month Report with the progress of the grant funded case no later than April 15th of the year following the date of the award of the grant. This short report -- no longer than two pages -- details the status and progress of the case over the first six months of the grant period (October 1st – March 30th) and is submitted in conjunction with the Second Quarter Timesheet (see Number 6 below). The Six-Month Report, which will be posted on the Foundation’s website, should include:
a) A summary of the general direction/progress of the case.
b) Significant decisions in the case, including attachments.
c) Progress anticipated in the next six months.
d) Links to media coverage, if any, of the case.
e) Photos, if any, of the case for which the Foundation has permission to use in its electronic and published materials, with descriptions and attributions.
f) Names of attorney(s) whom the Foundation can contact if the Foundation requires further information.
4) Agreement that the Grantee will submit to the Foundation in Word format a Year-End Report on the anniversary date of the award of the grant but no later than October 15th of the year following the date of the award of the grant. This short report -- no longer than two pages -- details the status and progress of the case over the second six months of the grant period (April 1st – September 30th) and is submitted in conjunction with the Fourth Quarter Timesheet (see Number 6 below). The Year-End Report, which will be posted on the Foundation’s website, should address the six items required in the Six-Month Report, as outlined above in Number 3.
If a grant will be sought for the subsequent year, then the Year-End Report must be submitted by August 1st. If that report is not submitted by August 1st, a grant for the subsequent year will not be considered.
5) Agreement that the Grantee will submit to the Foundation a First-Quarter Report and a Third-Quarter Report with a brief update – no longer than two paragraphs – on the status of the case for which the grant was given with any timely and noteworthy updates from the preceding quarter. These reports, submitted in conjunction with the First-and-Third-Quarter Timesheets, respectively (see Number 6 below), will be shared via the Foundation’s website and social media accounts.
QUARTERLY TIMESHEET REPORTING
6) Agreement that the Grantee will submit a quarterly timesheet with the daily time records of the previous quarter’s work on the grant funded case. The timesheet should be submitted in a spreadsheet and include:
a) hours worked each day by tenths of an hour by each attorney who worked on the case for which the grant was received
b) description of each task performed by that attorney.
c) date that the work by that attorney was performed.
d) hourly billing rate for that attorney
e) total hours worked and total time charges for the case for the preceding quarter
The hourly billing rate for the attorney(s) working on the grant funded case must abide by the following rate matrix:
Years Out of Law School | ||||
1-3 | 4-7 | 8-10 | 11-19 | 20+ |
$416 | $490 | $617 | $694 | $815 |
(These standardized hourly rates are a combination of the United States Attorney and Laffey rates often used by courts to determine an award of fees for a fee petition. The above matrix is only for the purpose of reporting expenditure of grant funds and for the Foundation to determine the time amounts spent on a grant awarded case and to ensure uniformity amongst grantees. The matrix values are not intended to replace hourly rates that a grantee organization uses for filing fee petitions.)
f) If your organization’s grant application included expenses, please report the amount spent on the expenses in each quarter.
A sample time sheet including case expenses can be found here. This information allows the Foundation to see how its grant funds were being utilized and attributed to the case for which the grant was awarded.
TIMESHEET SCHEDULE
The timesheets span the one-year period from the date of the grant award beginning on October 1st and ending on September 30th and are submitted in the following schedule:
1) First Quarter Timesheet, covering the first quarter of the grant, October 1 – December 31st, is due January 15th:
2) Second Quarter Timesheet, covering the second quarter of the grant, January 1st – March 31st, is due April 15th.
3) Third Quarter Timesheet, covering the third quarter of the grant, April 1st – June 30th, is due July 15th.
4) Fourth Quarter Timesheet, covering the fourth quarter of the grant, July 1st – September 30th, is due October 15th.
7) Agreement by the Grantee that all funds not spent during the Grant period, October 1 to September 30, on the case by the Grantee for which the grant was awarded, as demonstrated by the time records submitted to the Foundation, will be returned to the Foundation by October 31st following the end of the grant year cycle.
8) Agreement by the Grantee that should the Grantee violate or fail to carry out any provision of this Agreement, the Foundation may demand, in addition to any other legal remedies it may have, the return of part or all of the unexpended grant funds, which the Grantee shall repay to the Foundation within 15 business days of receiving written notice from the Foundation.
9) Agreement by the Grantee to return and to recoupment by the Foundation of the grant funds should the case for which the grant was given not proceed in a significant way at any time and to inform the Foundation within 21 days of this occurrence. Unless the Foundation agrees after such notice to fund another case to replace the case for which the grant was given, the Grantee agrees to return the grant funds within 15 days business days after receiving a written request from the Foundation.
10) The Foundation will send the Grantee by e-mail the award of the grant. Attached to this e-mail will be the Grant Agreement. The Grantee must sign and return a PDF copy of the signed Grant Agreement within three calendar days of the date of the notice of the grant (including the date of receipt). Upon receipt of the signed PDF Grant Agreement, the Foundation will issue and mail the grant award check to the Grantee along with a countersigned copy of the Grant Agreement.
11) Agreement by the Grantee that after the grant year cycle is completed to provide thereafter the Foundation in subsequent years by email in Word format with written update(s) on the progress of the grant-funded case within 14 calendar days of the Foundation’s request where such request will be made no more frequently than once a year.
12) Agreement by the Grantee that the grant is not earmarked to be used in any attempt to influence legislation within the meaning of Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3) and no agreement, oral or written, to that effect has been made between the Foundation and the Grantee.
13) Agreement by the Grantee that it shall not use any portion of the funds granted to participate or intervene in any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office, to induce or encourage violations of law or public policy, to cause any private inurement or improper benefit to occur, nor to take any other action inconsistent with Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
14) Agreement by the Grantee that it shall notify the Foundation immediately of any change in: (a) Grantee's tax-exempt status and/or (b) Grantee's executive staff or key staff responsible for achieving the grant purposes.
15) Agreement by the Grantee to the fullest extent permitted by law to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the Foundation, its officers, directors, trustees, employees and agents, from and against any and all claims, liabilities, losses and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) directly, indirectly, wholly or partially arising from or in connection with any act or omission of Grantee, its employees or agents, in applying for or accepting the grant, in expending or applying the funds furnished pursuant to the grant or in carrying out the program or project to be funded or financed by the grant.
16) Agreement by the Grantee that this agreement shall supersede any prior oral or written understandings between the parties and constitutes the entire agreement of the parties, and that this agreement may not be amended or modified, except in writing signed by both parties.
All grant applications should be submitted using the online form. Interested applicants should review the Application Overview, Grant Criteria, Application Scoring Criteria, and Reporting and Grant Terms (above) pages of the website before completing and submitting the online application. This information, including the online application, can be accessed using the buttons below.