Our Grant Guidelines
Reader’s Digest Partners for Sight Foundation is committed to providing support that directly improves the lives of blind and visually-impaired individuals, helping them realize their full potential in society. To this end, we would like you to be aware of our grant-making initiatives. If your organization is working to help blind and visually impaired individuals realize their maximum potential, we can help you make a difference.
Available Grants
Grants are available to organizations working on both a local and a national level. For direct service support, priority is given to organizations located in the Maine to Washington, DC corridor. We also fund programs located in other areas of the country, but for the most part, we prefer that these programs be national in scope.
Grants are generally made for program start-up or improvement, but in some cases, general operating support is provided.
Actual grant amounts, if approved, will vary according to the need and scope of the recipients’ requests. Although exceptions are made, first-time grant recipients generally receive $5,000 to $25,000. You can review examples of our past grant awards at Our Partners Page.
Eligibility Requirements
Grants will be made to not-for-profit organizations serving blind and visually impaired individuals.
Grants are available for programs that include:
- Clear objectives and measurable results
- Sound budget with the potential to attract funding beyond the life of a Partners for Sight grant
- Evidence of the program’s ability to make a difference in the lives of the people it is intended to serve
- A strong communications strategy to publicize the program
Exclusions – Grants will not be made to:
- Individuals
- Organizations that do not have 501(c) (3) tax-exempt status
- Lobbying Organizations
- Charities operating outside of the United States
Proposal Review Process
Grant proposals are accepted anytime during the year, however, be advised that decisions are made at the Foundation’s quarterly board meetings (March, June, September, December). There is no guarantee that your grant proposal will be approved for presentation at one of the Foundation’s quarterly meetings and timing of all presentations is at the Foundation’s discretion.
How to Apply:
Potential grantees are strongly encouraged to contact us directly prior to submitting an application to ensure your program/project fits within our current funding priorities.
If your program/project meets our current funding objectives, we will invite you to send us, initially, a two to three page summary of the proposed program/project discussed. This summary should include:
- Name, address, website and tax status of the requesting organization
- Name, title, e-mail address and phone number of the primary contact
- Name of the program/project
- Short program/project narrative including:
- program/project description
- amount of request
- need to be addressed
- potential number of people to be impacted
- how the program/project will be implemented, and specifically how it will gain traction and how success will be measured
- arguments that show long-term sustainability is possible
- top-line budget (attached separately in Excel format only – NO Pdf files)
- any other information you feel relevant to our evaluation
If you are selected to proceed to the next phase, we will request that you submit a more detailed grant request which includes, but is not limited to, project narrative and budget, as well as a complete set of the most recent audited financials for your organization.
Please e-mail all documents to:
Dianna Kelly-Naghizadeh
Grant Program Manager
[email protected]
