About The Sontag Foundation's
Grants for Northeast Florida

We call Northeast Florida home. That's why it's important to us to see the area grow healthier, safer and stronger for our neighbors and family through the support of local nonprofit organizations. Once a year we accept applications for grants to support programs leading to the self-sufficiency of individuals living here. 

Our funding impacts:

• Vital Social Concerns. Targeting programs that focus on supplying the tools and enhancing the skill sets needed for individuals to live self-reliant and productive lives.
• Health/Medical. Knowing that good health is immensely important to a person's ability to be self-sufficient, we support programs and initiatives which meet the medical needs of underserved individuals in our community.

The Sontag Foundation is not currently funding in the following program areas:

the arts, animal rights, environment, athletics, building funds, capital campaigns, sponsorship of fundraising events, long-range program support, subsidizing general operating budgets or any programs operating OUTSIDE the seven-county area of Northeast Florida

Eligibility Requirements

In order to submit a preliminary or subsequent request for a grant from The Sontag Foundation, applicant organizations must meet each of the following eligibility criteria:

• The organization must be defined as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Service Code.
• The organization must be a local agency providing programs in Northeast Florida, which for the purpose of this funding opportunity includes Baker, Clay, Duval, Flagler, Nassau, Putnam, and St. Johns Counties.
• Deadline for submission of Preliminary Grant Requests and Subsequent Grant Requests for 2013 funding has already passed. Information regarding the application process for 2014 grants will be posted Fall, 2013.
  

Funding

Each year, The Sontag Foundation offers an opportunity for nonprofit organizations in Northeast Florida to apply for program grants.

• Monetary range of individual grant requests must be between $25,000 and $100,000 for any given year. Proposals requesting funding outside these limits will not be considered.
• Grant amounts will be determined by the program needs detailed in the request and an evaluation of the corresponding budget.

Evaluation criteria include:

• Quality and feasibility of program
• Relevance to The Sontag Foundation's desire to foster individuals' self-reliance
• Identified program addresses a specific need and will have a significant impact on the self-sufficiency of individuals being served
• Evidence of measurable gains in the self-sufficiency of individuals served
• Relevance to the community's needs and applicant organization's expertise
• Appropriateness of budget request
• Evidence regarding a plan for sustainability of targeted program beyond the duration of The Sontag Foundation grant

Application Process & Timeline

• The 2013 application deadline has already passed. Information available through "Apply for Grant" tab on side navigation panel is representative of past grant applications.  Forms will be revised for 2014 grant cycle and will be posted in Fall, 2013.
• The Sontag Foundation utilizes a two-step application process.  Our goal is to minimize the paperwork an organization must complete to ascertain if their program needs are a good fit for Sontag funding.
• Prior to contacting us, please read our FAQ and instructions for completing applications.
• For 2013 grants, applications (Preliminary Grant Request OR Subsequent Grant Request) were submitted electronically in proper format in early October.
• The Sontag Foundation reviewed all preliminary applications; organizations were notified of the status of their request the first week of December, 2012.
• Selected organizations were then invited to submit a full application.
• Deadline for electronic submission of full applications was mid-January, 2013.  This second stage of review was by invitation only and followed favorable scoring of preliminary request. Organizations were not allowed to bypass the first stage of review.
• Site visits, an integral part of the information-gathering and decision-making process, were conducted in February.
• Grants were disbursed in March 2013