Application Preview

For current grantees and for new applicants invited to apply:


In order to help you submit your proposal to the Dodge Foundation through the online application process, we have provided an outline below of the questions you will be asked to respond to. For your information, we have identified those sections of the application that will be provided to the Dodge Foundation Board of Trustees.

Questions presented in the online application:

1. Please supply a brief organizational history that includes the mission of the organization and information on key personnel. This section is provided to Dodge Trustees and may not exceed 250 words.

2. For Current Grantees Only: Please provide four or five concise bullet points that feature the highlights and the impact of the work funded with last year’s grant. This section is provided to Dodge Trustees and may not exceed 250 words.

3. Write a narrative of approximately 1,500 words (about 2 to 3 pages) that describes the main purpose of the proposed grant and incorporates:

  • The primary focus of the work for the upcoming year, including communities served or engaged in your activities.
  • Your vision of success and your plans for evaluating your work going forward. Please describe any assessment tools that will be used in the process.
  • Organizational challenges and opportunities, including strategies for addressing them.
  • Whether the work includes any new or existing collaborations or partnerships.
  • For Current Grantees only: Any important aspects and impacts of the work over the past year not addressed in your bulleted responses to Question 2. (If this year’s grant request is not related to last year’s project, please describe the motivation for the shift in focus). 

4. In a bulleted format, as specifically as possible, please describe the anticipated outcomes of the proposed activities. We are interested in short term and long term outcomes, including quantitative and qualitative impacts. Where applicable, success measures should be expressed with benchmarks that may include percentage changes or numeric targets.

Examples include the following:

  • The number of towns adopting x,y,z program will double from 35 to more than 70.
  • New x,y,z marketing techniques will increase attendance by 25 percent.
  • High quality movement and music activity will be integrated throughout the day in all 36 preschool classrooms in x,y,z school district.
  • Increased arts engagement in our community through after-school programs, staged readings at senior centers, workshops and residencies at schools and other venues, and pre-show discussions and talk backs at performances.

This section is provided to Dodge Trustees and may not exceed 250 words.

5. Please provide one or two illustrative stories that further help us understand how your work is helping to foster creative lives and/or sustainable communities in New Jersey.  

We will also ask you to provide:

  • A list containing Trustee names and affiliations.
  • Detailed organizational budgets (expenses and income) for the current and proposed fiscal years and, if applying for a specific project, a budget for that project.
  • The most recent Audited Financial Statement or 990.
  • Photos (optional): up to five images (preferably in jpg or png formats) that are representative of your work and for which Dodge has permission to publish on our website or in any Dodge publications. Please be sure to include any applicable photo credits.