Fund For Lake Michigan

We encourage you to read the following and to contact us if you have any questions or need additional information.

  • In 2019 the Fund will accept pre-proposals on a rolling basis throughout the year.   You can submit a pre-proposal to the Fund on a time-frame that works best for you and your project.
  • We will make grant decisions four times a year at our quarterly board meetings (March, June, September and December).  
  • We estimate that a grant request will take two to five months to process from the time we receive a pre-proposal to when we issue a grant contract. 
  • We will continue to use a two-step grant making process (a pre-proposal followed by an invitation to submit a full proposal). We have also simplified and streamlined both the pre and full proposal applications.
  • All grant materials – including pre-proposals must be submitted electronically through Foundant, our online grant management system.  Instructions for accessing our grant portal and submitting a pre-proposal can be found below.
  • We plan to award between $750,000 and $1,000,000 in grants each quarter.
  • Applicants may submit more than one pre-proposal during the year. However, we encourage you to prioritize your applications and to give serious consideration to the timing of your requests.

We have also streamlined and fine-tuned our grant application forms to make the application and review process clearer and easier for all parties.

  • We have created different application forms for non-profit organizations and government agencies that reflect differences in their legal and tax status, organizational structure and governance.   
  • We have shortened and simplified all of our application materials, have eliminated questions related to governance and finance if the information is readily available elsewhere (on IRS 990 forms or in audited financial statements, for example), and have reduced the amount of documents that must be uploaded with your application.
  • We will require a more detailed application and review process for new grantees. The process will be streamlined for organizations and agencies that have received a grant in the recent past, are up-to-date on their reports and are otherwise in good standing with the Fund.