Durfee Foundation's Grant Application for New Organizations

Durfee’s Springboard Fund supports Los Angeles community leaders in launching new, grassroots efforts to enhance their community. In pursuit of this goal, the fund provides unrestricted two-year funding to new organizations (under 5 years old) addressing all types of issues.  Durfee highly values an open and accessible application process.

“Doing the homework” can be challenging in this context. Springboard organizations are often not 501(c)3s. They might be social enterprises, movements that have no intention of becoming nonprofits, or under fiscal sponsorship. While applicants are invited to submit links to their websites or other video material, many applicants do not yet have websites, or their websites are very rudimentary.

As a result, it can be difficult, if not impossible, for Durfee to gather information about these early-stage organizations without their help. Consequently, this application asks applicants to do some advance work.

Durfee augments Springboard applications with its own homework.  If, for example, an applicant is working on LGBTQ issues, staff will ask members of Durfee’s network who work in the field if they have information about the organization, and perhaps review the application and give feedback.  If the applicant progresses further in the process, Durfee staff will schedule a phone call or Zoom meeting with the applicant to get to know them better, and visit them at their site.

Durfee staff revisit the Springboard application annually to ensure that it asks only for information that is both useful and used.