Multi-Year Advocacy Grant

The preliminary application is the first part of the grant application. The full proposal is the final part of the grant application. Deadlines for both parts of the proposal are located here.

The information you entered on your preliminary application will populate into the appropriate fields in your full proposal. If needed, you will be able to change this information in the full proposal. Please remember to update and save your application after making any changes.

Statement of Inclusiveness

1. Please include your agency’s statement of inclusiveness indicating that services are provided without discrimination. This should be more than just your agency’s hiring practices. (100-word limit)

Media Contact Information

1. Enter the name of the staff member that handles media and communications.

Needs Assessment

1. Provide demographic information regarding your core constituency. What are the specific health needs or challenges faced by this population that can be addressed through public policy or systems change advocacy? Please provide citations for research or data source. (500-word limit)
2. Give evidence illustrating community need for your organization’s advocacy work and detail how the community or the state will benefit. If you are successful in your advocacy efforts, how many people in Tennessee could be directly impacted? Please provide citations for research or data source. (500-word limit)
3. Please describe specific policy or systems issues related to health care access and/or preventing childhood trauma that your organization wants to address through systems change advocacy. What challenges or opportunities do you see in the next three years and how is your organization well-positioned to address them? (300-word limit)

Advocacy Game Plan

1. Describe your organization’s advocacy experience and how this work was accomplished. This may include previous work in public policy, advocacy to shape or improve programs, or institutional systems change advocacy – all of which go beyond individual advocacy services for your direct clients. Please share your most recent accomplishments and lessons learned. (300-word limit)
2. How has your organization previously worked with coalition partners to advocate for policy or institutional changes? Please describe the partnership and the role(s) played by your agency. (200-word limit)
3. Describe the community or constituency for whom your agency advocates and illustrate your experience in reaching, engaging, and serving this population. Please describe how they are/will be involved in setting or executing the agency’s advocacy strategy. What niche do you fill that is different from other associations or agencies serving the same population? (200-word limit)
4. Please complete this sentence: “Through advocacy, our agency seeks to improve health for Tennesseans by… (100-word limit)
5. Drawing from your strategic plan, please outline your organization’s health advocacy goals over the next three to five years. What are the strategies you plan to use to achieve each goal? How will you evaluate success? Please explain how those goals aim to increase access to health services or prevent childhood trauma (Adverse Childhood Experiences or “ACEs”). (500-word limit)
6. How does your agency propose to build or maintain these capacities in order to meet your systems change advocacy goals? Please ensure responses align with the advocacy goal tracker. (500-word limit)
7. What skills can you rely on other agencies to bring to collaborative work? Who else should be at the table? What are the specific area(s) of strength that your organization contributes in coalition work with other agencies? (250-word limit)
8. Will you be able to achieve your advocacy goals with existing staff? Will your organization need to hire or reallocate staff time to do advocacy work? Please explain. Include a professional biographical sketch for any new proposed staff. (200-word limit)
9. Identify additional current sources of funding that can be used to support agency’s advocacy work. Please describe the length of the funding relationship and likelihood of continued funding. Describe your plan for revenue to support advocacy. Please also describe any additional matching or in-kind support that the agency receives for advocacy. (300-word limit)

Financial Information

1. What is the total amount of support requested from The Trust?
2. Year 1 Request Amount
3. Year 2 Request Amount
4. Year 3 Request Amount
5. Identify additional current sources of funding that can be used to support the organization’s advocacy work. Please describe the length of funding relationship and the likelihood of continued funding. Describe your plan for revenue to support advocacy. Please also describe any matching or in-kind support the organization receives for advocacy. (300-word limit)

Data Integrity (250-word limit)

Please list the following:

1. Accounting software used by the agency
2. Describe how the software is backed up, including frequency and where backups are stored
3. Name and title of person(s) with access to enter data into the accounting software
4. If the accounting software is accessed by more than one user, please indicate if each user has a unique login and if there are any limits to user access.

Safeguarding of Assets (250-word limit)

1. Describe how agency checks and credit cards are physically secured
2. Name and title of person(s) with access to agency checks, credit cards, or online payment portals.
3. If online payment portals are utilized, please describe current user access and how new access is authorized
4. Please include the name and title of person(s) authorized to sign checks or approve online payments on behalf of the agency. Please indicate when dual approval is required.
5. If the agency uses credit cards, please describe the review and approval process for charges made by employees (including the name and title of person(s) responsible for reviewing the CEO’s charges). How is approval documented?

Processing of Transactions (100-word limit)

Please list the following:

1. Name and title of person(s) responsible for approving invoices for payment
2. Name and title of person(s) responsible for processing payments and issuing checks or online payments
3. Name and title of person(s) responsible for receiving funds for deposit
4. Name and title of person(s) responsible for processing deposits and remitting funds to the bank
5. Name and title of person(s) responsible for approving employee timesheets, leave forms, and payroll changes
6. Name and title of person(s) responsible for processing payroll. Please indicate if a 3^rd party payroll company is used or if payroll is processed internally.

Review & Reporting (100-word limit)

Please list the following:

1. Name and title of person(s) who prepare the monthly bank reconciliations
2. Name and title of person(s) who review the monthly bank statements and completed bank reconciliation reports (please indicate if reconciliation reports are not reviewed)
3. Name and title of person(s) who review payroll reports
4. Please describe how frequently board members review agency financial statements and what reports are provided.

Required Attachments

1. Organization’s 3-year Strategic Plan, approved by the Board of Directors (please highlight advocacy goals and related work)
2. Summary results from Bolder Advocacy Capacity Tool. This free tool can be found at this link.
3. Advocacy Goal Tracker and Three Year Plan
4. Unaudited Profit and Loss Statement/Statement of Activities (P&L) with aggregate year-to-date data rather than month by month statements. P&L for the year-to-date period should show AT LEAST six months of activity AND be through the most recently completed quarter.
5. Unaudited Balance Sheet/Statement of Financial Position as of the date that the Profit and Loss Statement ends. For example, if your P&L is for January 1 – December 31, 2017, the Balance Sheet should be as of December 31, 2017. Click here for an example of the financial statements that are required.
6. Organization Chart with employee names and titles (Please upload your chart as a pdf file).
7. Letter(s) of Support from current or potential coalition partners

Please contact Meredith Benton at (615)284-8271 ext. 116 for questions about Advocacy Grants.

We evaluate Advocacy Grants based on responses to the following questions.

1. Does this agency (*articulate a plan to) advocate for policies that have been demonstrated or reasonably assumed to improve the health of individuals throughout Middle Tennessee?

2. Do the agency’s (*intended) advocacy efforts coincide with the mission and values of The Trust to promote just health policy, respect, and access to care for vulnerable populations?

3. Do the advocacy goals of the organization include systemic changes that address an existing deficiency within the community?

4. Does this agency have clear and realistic advocacy goals in its strategic plan and capacity-building benchmarks in its proposal? *Does this agency articulate a clear commitment to and realistic expectation for engaging in strategic planning for advocacy? Do the deliverables from their CNM contract address the support they need?

5. Are the infrastructure and leadership present for the successful execution of the agency’s strategic plan (*to take on systems change advocacy work?)

6. Is the agency well-positioned to address a specific timely policy issue or opportunity for systemic change?

7. Does this agency (*intend to) work collaboratively with community partners to develop and execute advocacy strategies? Do they have a history of collaborative partnerships?

8. Has the agency engaged a broad base of constituents, clients or supporters in their advocacy strategy? (*Do they have a network of clients, members or constituents that they plan to engage?)

9. Does the agency appear to be sustainable and the organization financially viable if The Trust’s funding were to end?

Multi-year Advocacy grantees are required to submit annual and final reports. The following questions are included in those reports. To submit your annual or final report, please log in to your account and select “requirements.”

1. Is your agency still focused on these advocacy goals? Has anything changed in the environment to cause your agency to shift priorities or modify initial strategies? Please explain.

2. For each of your capacity-building benchmarks above, please describe, in the same format as they are listed, your current progress toward meeting these benchmarks. How do your new results from the Advocacy Capacity Tool compare to the baseline results that accompanied your original proposal? Have you made progress on the core capacities you identified as priorities? Are you on track?

3. Have you made any revisions to your original capacity-building benchmarks? If yes, please list the changes that you would like to make. If your goals have changed or priorities have shifted, do you need to build new core capacities in order to implement new strategies? If so, please describe.

4. How does advocacy fit within the core mission of your organization? If this is a new direction for your agency, what have you learned about incorporating advocacy into your work? What would you tell other nonprofit agencies contemplating whether to engage in advocacy on behalf of their clients or patients?

5. Please describe any training, professional development or volunteer engagement activities your agency has implemented that have better prepared your staff, board, clients or constituents to engage in advocacy work.

6. Have you developed any advocacy “best practices” that you would like to share with us?

Required Attachments

Please submit the following documents with your Annual Report:

1. The most recently prepared financial statements including a Profit & Loss statement and a Balance Sheet. The statements should be for the same time period and may be internally prepared. Profit & Loss statements should include at least six months of activity. If your most recent financial statements do not include at least six months of activity, please provide statements for your most recently completed fiscal year.

2. If your organization receives an audit, please upload its most recent audit to https://givingmatters.guidestar.org/

Click here for an example of the financial statements that are required.

Please submit the following documents with your Final Report:

1. The most recently prepared financial statements including a Profit & Loss statement and a Balance Sheet. The statements should be for the same time period and may be internally prepared. Profit & Loss statements should include at least six months of activity. If your most recent financial statements do not include at least six months of activity, please provide statements for your most recently completed fiscal year.

2. If your organization receives an audit, please upload its most recent audit to https://givingmatters.guidestar.org/

Click here for an example of the financial statements that are required.