Adding a New Grant Cycle
*Please note that all grant cycle intake forms should be completed 5 business days prior to the announcement date/launch to allow the JustFund team to review and approve the RFP.
To set up a new grant cycle, login to your account and click on the GRANTS tab on the left hand side of the top menu bar. Then, click the ADD NEW GRANT CYCLE button. The user must have the “Manage Grants” permission turned on in their account to be able to set up a grant cycle.
Fill out each section of the grant cycle intake form. Hit NEXT to continue through the form.
Step 1: Set-Up Info
Please fill out the following sections of the RFP:
- Grant Cycle Name: This is the name your applicants will see when they apply
- Anticipated Grantmaking Budget for this Grant Cycle: This is an estimate of the total amount your fund plans to grant out.
- Types of applicants: What types of applicants are eligible to apply.. Please note that if you plan to accept applications from both 501c(3) and 501c(4) organizations, then you will need to run two separate grant cycles.
- Grant Cycle Format: Deadline-based means that your funding decisions will all be made by a certain date. Rolling means that your team will be making decisions on an ongoing basis while your grant cycle is active.
Step 2: Key Dates and Deadlines:
Please fill out the applicable dates to support your RFP. The RFP will be visible to applicants on Announcement Date.
- Grant Cycle Announcement Date: Applicants will be able to apply to the grant cycle on the indicated announcement date/time. JustFund requires that all announcement dates be scheduled Tuesdays - Fridays at 6:00 AM Pacific Standard Time to ensure that JustFund staff are available to provide assistance.
- Deadline Date: The RFP will no longer be available to applicants after the deadline date/time. JustFund requires that all deadline dates be scheduled Tuesday through Thursday with the application period closing at 5:00 PM PST/8:00 PM EST.
- Decisions Announced: This is the date your applicants should expect a decision from the grantmaking body. This date is visible to applicants when applying.
- Grant Disbursement Date: This is an internal date indicating when your fund plans to issue out the funds to grantees.
These dates and times are set to follow best practices and ensure staff are available to provide any necessary technical support.
Step 3: Filling out your RFP
Please fill out the fields in the intake form to create your request for proposal (RFP) page. You will be able to preview your RFP before it becomes live.
- Background: Enter your Fund’s “Background” which includes important information regarding your fund, grant cycle and any other important information that the applicant should know before they apply to this opportunity.
- Eligibility for Funding: Enter any criteria regarding the applicant’s eligibility to apply for this grant. For example, does the applicant need to have 501c(3) status, does their work need to pertain to the southeast region of the country, or does their work need to serve BIPOC-led communities?w. Once the applicant is ready to apply, they will receive a pop-up confirmation to agree to the explicit criteria set here by your Fund before they continue with their application.
- Grant Award Range: Enter information around the anticipated grant award range for this grant.
Next, please enter the contact information for your RFP. This contact would be the one who applicants might reach out to for any questions around the funding opportunity. The JustFund team will support all technical questions by the applicants.
When building your RFP, you also have the option to include 3 optional or required supplemental questions in addition to the information collected in the applicant’s Common Application. To add a question, click the “Add question” button. You’ll then see the pop-up that indicates whether you’d like to add a narrative style question or allow a checkbox response. You can then toggle the “required” button if this question is required, or keep it toggled off which will keep the question as optional.
For the “Application Specific Attachments,” you can indicate “Yes” or “No” here. If you click “Yes” then you’ll be able to ask for the specific attachment you’d like the applicant to upload. If you require a recent 990 or IRS determination letter, you can request that information here. Applicants can upload a document, or add a URL as their response.
Lastly, in this section, you have the option to indicate the RFP Public Visibility. Once your grant cycle is live, your RFP will be visible to all invited applicants through their JustFund login if the cycle is closed, or visible to the entire JustFund community if the cycle is designated as open.
To make your RFP visible to applicants without a JustFund login, so that you can utilize this link for your marketing needs, update the visibility settings below. Applicants are required to login to JustFund before they can apply to the funding opportunity. Only organizations who are invited to apply to this RFP will be able to when they login to their JustFund platform.
Step 4: Notifications
Please indicate whether you'd like JustFund to send out automated invitation emails and reminders for your grant cycle.
Step 5: Invitations
You will need to select if you are running an Open or Invite-Only cycle. If you are running an invite-only cycle then you will see the INVITE APPLICANTS search table pop up.
If you are running an Invite-Only cycle then you will see the “Search for Existing Applicants” search box. Please enter the applicant name, contact name, fiscal sponsor, email address or tax ID to search through the JustFund network to search if the applicant already has a JustFund account. If they do, they will show up in the Search Results and you’ll be able to click the “+” button and once they login to their RFP they will have access to the Funding Opportunity to apply.
If you do not see the applicant after you’ve searched via the recommended filters, you can scroll towards the bottom of the page, and “Create a New Applicant Account.”
To Create A New Applicant Account, please enter the required fields, such as applicant name, tax status, contact email address, contact first name and contact last name. You also have the option to add multiple contacts for an organization. Once you add this new applicant, when your RFP is live on the announcement date, they will receive an email inviting them to set up their credentials on JustFund.
If you are running an open grant cycle, you do not need to follow any of the previous steps, but instead, just click “Submit.”
Step 6: Submitting your grant cycle intake form
Once you click SUBMIT, you can go to GRANTS and click PREVIEW to view the RFP as it will appear to your applicants.
Your grant cycle will be approved and live on the announcement date listed on your grant cycle intake form.
Editing Capabilities:
Note: If RFP has not been submitted, you can always click the Edit icon on the Grants page to be brought to the latest saved iteration and continue editing.
Once in “Approved” Status, the funder will be able to edit ALL intake form content and dates up until 48 business hours prior to the announcement date of the RFP.
Grant Budget and Key Dates will be the only editable fields once RFP is active.
Important Considerations:
If your deadline date is being extended, please login to the JustFund platform and edit the deadline date on your RFP.