Tips for using the online system

You will first create an account for your organization. The system will walk you through each screen step-by-step with the information that will be required. Some helpful tips:

• Have your nonprofit’s federal tax ID (EIN) available. This is used for identifying your organization.
• Enter your organization’s correct contact information, including mailing address, which may be used for grant payments, if your organization receives a grant.
• You will be asked if you are the executive leadership contact (e.g. President, CEO, Executive Director). If not, that is fine, but you will be asked to also enter the contact information for that person at your organization.
• The email address you use when setting up your account is also very important. The email will be your username for logging into the system and will be the email to which important communications will be sent during the process, such as confirmations or submitted documents.
  • It is also helpful, especially when first engaging with the system, to check your email’s spam/junk folders when expecting an email from our system. Occasionally, such emails initially land in those folders until you acknowledge that the email should not be marked as “junk.”

The preferred browsers for the online system are Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. You will have the most success with using the system if using one of those browsers.

Please note that when submitting forms via our online system, such as applications and grant reports, you will be occasionally asked to upload certain documents. The system does not support Apple product file types such as .numbers, .pages, etc. It is critical to upload supported file formats. Those supported file formats, such as .doc, .xls, and .pdf (MS Word, Excel documents, PDFs, etc.), will be noted within the application when an upload is available. If you are using other, unsupported file types, save as one of the supported file types, such as PDF, before uploading.

Once you have set up your online account, you may start applying for funding opportunities!

• It is critical to thoroughly read the posted Request for Proposals (RFP) to which you are applying/responding. The RFP will contain important guidelines and eligibility criteria specific to that opportunity. In addition, it may contain information such as an access code that will be needed to access the application form, once you are logged into the online system.

Once logged in, you should land on your Applicant Dashboard.

• At the top of the screen, you should see menu selections, including an orange “Apply”. Click the orange “Apply” link or the “See Opportunities” link under Organizational History. Either will take you to a refreshed screen.
• The screen will refresh. At the top of the new screen, you will see a box to “Search or enter Access Code”. Type in the access code precisely as it is provided in the RFP. It will be case-sensitive. There should not be any blank spaces entered before or after the code.
• Once you have typed in the code correctly, click “Enter”.
• The page will once again refresh, and you will see reference to the application. There will be a summary of the application and the dates during which applications will be accepted. If the application is currently open, there will be an “Apply” button beside the application.
• Click the “Apply” button to access the application form.

Tips for completing an application in the online system

• It is helpful to read all instructions throughout the application carefully before applying to familiarize yourself with the layout and what information will be required.
• The system will have instructions throughout related to what is expected for answering the questions, along with character limits for narrative responses. It is important to note that the system uses character, and not word counts, for determining limits on your responses. Spaces are counted as characters. Please note that the limits are maximum allowed limits on characters. You should not feel like you have to fill a response to the maximum allowed limit. If you are able to fully express your response in less space than the maximum allowed amount, that is fine!
• There will be some places where you will enter responses within tables provided in the application form, such as budget information. Of those responses, you will not have to upload separate documents.
• You may save your application form and return to it at a later time to finish and submit. Don’t forget to come back online, complete and submit the application prior to the publicized application deadline. There will be a “Submit” button at the bottom of the page. Click that when you are ready to submit. You will receive a system-generated email confirmation of your submitted application. Be sure to check your spam/junk folder if you don’t promptly receive a confirmation, as the email may have landed there.
• If you are coming back to submit your saved application at a later time, you will simply log back into the online system. You will not have to go back through the steps above clicking “Apply” and entering the access code. Your previously started and saved application will be waiting for you on your “Applicant Dashboard”!
  • From your “Applicant Dashboard”, a draft application will be accessible in the Action Needed section, along with a reminder of the due date.
  • Click that to reopen the form, complete and submit.
• At any time, after you have submitted the application, you may also go back to your “Applicant Dashboard” and find the application. Once an application has been submitted, and while it is under review, it will be accessible to view in the No Action column of your Dashboard.  You may click the request from that section to reopen, view, and print the submitted application. Once you reopen the application form, there will be a button toward the top of the page labeled “Application Packet”, with an Adobe PDF icon. Click that button to open a PDF file. You may save that to your computer, and/or print the full application you submitted.
• As always, let us know if you have questions along the way, and we are happy to help!

Tips for writing the application

• Make sure that you are answering all required questions in the application and answering the question that is asked- being both thorough and direct to what is being asked.
• Before addressing the specific questions within the application, think about whether you can answer the “Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How?” of your work. If you can answer those, you will likely have the information that is being sought within the questions of the application proposal.
• Practice answering the questions, perhaps out loud to yourself or someone else, in order to gauge how it sounds – is it appealing?
• When possible, you should also include both compelling descriptions of your work as well as more solid, technical information. In other words, are you telling the story in a compelling, narrative way, while also supporting it, when possible, with data to back it up?
• Try steering clear of industry-specific jargon and acronyms. Assume that the reviewers reading your proposal do not know anything about your industry and the jargon used daily within your field. Speak clearly, as if telling someone you think does not have the background experience you have with your work.

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions may be found here.

Additional tutorial videos on how to use the online system can be found here.