Grant Cycle Management: Setting Up Your RFP
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      3. Grant Cycle Management: Setting Up Your RFP

      How do I set-up a new grant cycle?

      Adding a New Grant Cycle 

      Note: All grant cycle intake forms should be completed 1 business day prior to the announcement date/launch to allow the JustFund team to review and approve the RFP.

      To set up a new grant cycle:

      1. Log in to your account
      2. Click on the Grants tab on the left hand side of the top menu bar
      3. Click the Add New Grant Cycle button
      4. Note: Manage Grants permissions in the user account must be turned on 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: The name your applicants will see when they apply.
      • Anticipated Grantmaking Budget for this Grant Cycle: An estimate of the total amount your fund plans to award to grantees. 
      • Types of Applicants: The category of organizations you’re accepting in the grant cycle. Note: If you plan to accept applications from both 501c(3) and 501c(4) organizations, 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 the announcement date. These dates and times are set to follow best practices and ensure staff are available to provide any necessary technical support.

      • 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 PM PST/8 PM EST.

      • Decisions Announced: The date your applicants should expect a decision from the grantmaking body. This date is visible to applicants when applying.

      • Grant Disbursement Date: The internal date indicating when your fund plans to issue funding to grantees.

      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 an overview about your fund, grant cycle, and any other important information that the applicant should know before they apply to this opportunity.

      • Eligibility for Funding: Enter applicant eligibility criteria for the specific grant cycle. For example:
        • Does the applicant need to have 501c(3) status
        • Are you granting to organizations in specific regions of the country?
        • Does an applicant’s work need to serve BIPOC-led communities? 

      Once the applicant is ready to apply, they will be asked to confirm that they meet the specific criteria set by your fund before they continue with their application.

      • Grant Award Range: Enter information around the anticipated grant award range for this grant.

      Contact information
      Please provide contact information of someone who applicants can reach for questions around the funding opportunity. The JustFund team will support all technical questions by the applicants.

      Additional questions and attachments
      You have the option to include three 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. A pop-up window will ask whether you’d like to add a narrative style question or allow a checkbox response. You can then toggle the Required button to indicate whether the question is required or optional.

      To request an application-specific attachment:

      1. Choose “Yes” 
      2. Enter name of the attachment you’d like the applicant to upload, such as a Form 990 or IRS determination letter. Applicants can upload a document, or add a URL as their response. 

      RFP visibility
      Once your grant cycle is live, your RFP will be visible to all invited applicants through their JustFund account 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 account, update the visibility settings. Note: Applicants are required to log in 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 

      Choose whether your grant cycle is an open or invite-only cycle in Step 4 of the grant cycle setup form. 

      Invite-only
      If you choose the invite-only option, the Search for Existing Applicants table will appear. 

      1. Enter the applicant's name, contact name, fiscal sponsor, email address, or tax ID to search JustFund’s network. If the applicant already has a JustFund account, their organization will appear in Search Results.

      2. Click the + button to add the applicant to the grant cycle; once the applicant signs in to their JustFund account, your RFP will appear on their home screen and on the Funding Opportunities page. 

      If the applicant does not appear in the search results, please scroll to the bottom of the page and click Create a New Applicant Account. 

      1. Then, enter the applicant’s name, tax status, and contact information in the Create New Applicant Account form. You can add multiple contacts for one organization. When your RFP goes live on the announcement date, the applicant will receive an email inviting them to sign into their new JustFund account.

      If you are running an open grant cycle, click the Submit button at the bottom of the page.  

      Step 5: Communications

      Select the Invitation Email Template to send an invite to all applicants added to your grant cycle. Each applicant will receive an email invitation on the launch date for your grant cycle. You can confirm the grant cycle launch date and time by returning to Step 2: Key Dates and Deadlines. 

      If an Invitation Email Template has not been created yet, click the Create Template button. After creating and saving the Invite Email Template, you will return to the Communications stage of the grant cycle setup form. Then, ensure the new invite email template is selected and click Submit to submit your grant cycle intake form.

      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
      If the grant cycle has not been submitted and still needs to be revised, the funder can click the Edit icon on the Grants page to continue editing the last saved version.

      From the announcement date onwards, the grant cycle will be considered Active. From this point through the deadline date, all grant cycle elements can be edited except for the following: 

      • Grant Cycle Format (Open vs. Invitation-Only)
      • Announcement Date
      • Supplemental Questions
      • Attachments

      Once the cycle is Closed (the deadline date has passed), the funder still has the option to set up check-ins with prospective grantees and adjust any of the key dates (except for the announcement date). Along those lines, note that adjusting the deadline date will reopen the cycle. 

      Important Considerations
      If your deadline date is being extended, please log in to the JustFund platform and edit the deadline date on your RFP.