Information For Potential Grantees

• Expansion or improvement of existing, demonstrably successful programs
• Creation and implementation of new, innovative approaches
• Core operations improvement including:
  • Strengthening internal operations to help organizations better fulfill their missions
  • Fundable activities MAY include (but not limited to) capital expenditures, capital improvements, capacity building, and technical assistance
• Exploring and implementation of possible mergers or strategic alignment with other organizations that result in greater efficiencies and benefits to the community
• Reasonable administrative/overhead expenses (as a percentage of overall budget, generally up to 10-12% based on actual costs
• Grants may be short term or multi-year and will depend on the project complexity, other funding and implementation schedule

• General operating support (i.e. unrestricted funds for any use)
• Deficit funding
• Individual scholarships or fellowships
• Single-occurrence conferences, seminars, or workshops (except as they related to core operations improvements
• Fundraising events (e.g. annual dinners, tournaments)
• Sponsorships
• Endowments

• Government (public) institutions, agencies, or projects
• Individuals
• Religious organizations for sectarian purposes or propagation of faith
• Funding to organizations that make grants to others (which is rare), cannot be re-granted to other organizations/programs
• Lobbying or advocacy for specific political candidates or legislation

We accept and process Letters of Inquiry (LOI) and applications on an ongoing basis, which means there are no set deadlines. All grant applications must be submitted through our online grants portal.

Our Board of Trustees review and approve grants at least quarterly 

We encourage all applicants to discuss applications with a program officer before submitting an LOI and throughout the process as necessary to align with the Board's decision-making calendar and to ensure all eligibility criteria are met. 

Step 1: Review eligibility requirements 

Step 2: Create an online account (new users only) or log in to your existing account on the online grants portal.

Grant Portal tips: 

• Most application and grant notifications are sent via email.  Contact us with changes to your contact information or if you have staff changes to stay current on your application notifications or grant requirements. 
• When you create a log-in for our grants management portal, it will be specific to the user/email. If yo would like multiple individuals at your organization to have access to the same applications or grants concurrently, consider using an organization email (grants@organization.org) rather than an individual's email (jsmith@organization.org).

Step 3: Submit a Letter Of Inquiry (LOI)

You will be able to save your form and return to it later to edit and submit it There is no time limit to the session; you will not be timed out

Step 4: If your LOI is approved, you will be invited via email to complete a full grant application in our online grant management portal.  You can save your application and return later to complete it. There is no time limit to a session.

Step 5: Notification/Status of your application 

If your application is declined, you will be notified by email with a summary of the reasons for the declination. Contact your program officer or info@oishei.org for additional information.

If your application is approved, you will receive an update from your program officer and receive a Grant Award and Agreement via email.  Please review the Info for Current Grantees to understand reporting and other requirements.

Step 6: Reporting requirements: All grantees are required to comply with our reporting requirements. Please see the Info for Current Grantees page for details.