RUTLAND CORNER FOUNDATION GUIDELINES

Background and Purpose

Rutland Corner House Inc., provided transitional housing and services to women in need in the greater Boston area for over 100 years. When we as directors decided to close Rutland Corner House and sold its property in 1996, we decided to continue the mission by establishing a foundation to provide support to organizations serving women in transition.

Assessing the range of challenges facing women previously served at Rutland Corner House, we decided to focus the foundation's attention on underlying causes rather than treatment of symptoms. Consequently, we plan to focus our giving on the needs of young adolescent girls (ages 10-15) in an effort to strengthen their self-esteem, independence and self-sufficiency, their range of life choices and their overall chances for leading healthy and productive lives as adults. In doing so, we hope to help young women develop the tools to address some of the root causes that have contributed to the failure of some women to thrive as adults. We are interested in supporting organizations that can meet the needs of underserved girls with the potential building on girls' strengths and encouraging and promoting girls' empowerment, achievement and leadership. We will consider organizations whose mission, programs or research respond to this focus in a variety of fields or subject matter, including but not limited to education, leadership development, health, mental health, violence prevention, community service, access to and aspiration towards skills training, higher education or career exploration.

Who is Eligible to Apply?
Rutland Corner Foundation will make grants to 501(c)(3) organizations or groups represented by a fiscal agent with IRS-approved 501(c)(3) status serving the greater Boston area. In order to insure that we are building the region's capacity to serve its young girls, we expect that we would ordinarily fund organizations that are also located in the region as well. We encourage applications from organizations collaborating on programs to make maximum use of available community resources. We expect that the organization's staff and board will reflect the population being served in racial and gender dimensions.

What Kinds of Support Do We Offer?
Our annual grants will range from $5,000 to $15,000 for support of programs and projects that fit our guidelines. We will also consider start-up or operating support designed to increase the capacity of organizations working in core areas of interest to the foundation, provided the organization can demonstrate a sound financial plan and long term goals with appropriate benchmarks. Although we will not ordinarily consider multiple year commitments, we will permit funded organizations to seek continued funding annually for up to a maximum of three years for the same program or initiative.

We do not provide support for endowment, capital expenses or fundraising. We do not offer support to individuals, or for scholarships, fellowships, loans or tuition reimbursement. We do not fund activities outside the greater Boston area, generally described as falling within the Route 128 loop.

How Do You Apply?
The foundation will consider applications in a two-step process, beginning with a summary or initial letter of intent. Your initial applications should include:

• Letter of intent including information about the organization and the activity proposed for funding (see below);
• A copy of your IRS 501(c)(3) letter, or your fiscal agent's, accompanied by a signed letter of authority from the fiscal agent; and
• A cover letter signed by the Executive Direct, Board chair or both, of the applicant organization.

We encourage you to use the Associated Grantmakers of Massachusetts (AGM) Common Proposal Form "Cover Summary" (available at www.agmconnect.org) as your letter of intent. If you prefer not to use this form, please include the information requested there in your letter of intent, which should not exceed two pages. If we feel you have a strong chance of receiving funding, we will request a proposal for further review. In that event, you will receive complete instructions for submission of a proposal, using the AGM Common Proposal Format.

Review may include a request for a personal interview. Final decisions will be made and grants paid before the end of April each year. A calendar or deadline accompanies these guidelines. Please send you initial application to:
Rutland Corner Foundation
c/o Hemenway & Barnes
Donor Services Office
60 State Street
Boston, MA 02109

If you have questions, please call 617.557.9778. We have minimal staff and respond ourselves to all mail and telephone inquiries. Please be patient as we may not be able to respond to your inquiries as promptly as we would like, but you will hear from a member of our Board.

Rutland Corner Foundation Calendar 2002
January 11 - Deadline for submission of letter of intent materials
January 28 - Notification of foundation action on initial application
March 1 - Deadline for submission of full proposal
April 30 - Notification of foundation action on full proposals and grant payment.

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