Frequently ASked QUestions
General Program FAQ:
Q. What is the annual budget for your Competitive Grants Program?
A. We typically allocate approximately half of our overall program budget to the Competitive Grants Program. That amount, which will vary year to year, will be divided evenly between our three funding regions. In 2021, each region has a budget of $50,000.
Q. What size grants do you typically award?
A. Moniker is a relatively small family foundation. As a result, our uniform grant sizes will generally stay within a range of $5,000 to $10,000, depending on the budget each year. Specific grant sizes may vary by region and will be announced on our Program Details web page prior to the start of each region's application period.
Q. Does Moniker award multi-year grants?
A. Although we recognize that multi-year support is popular and we understand the associated advantages for the grantor and grantee, we unfortunately no longer fund grants over one year.
Q. Have you established a preset budget or quota for each focus area that you fund?
A. Our board does not utilize a consistent budget or quota for each focus area at this time, but we have committed to funding at least one organization per focus area in each of our three funding regions every year.
Q. I submitted my application prior to the deadline in my respective application month, as required. What happens next?
A. Our Foundation Leadership will review your application in the month immediately following the solicitation. By the end of the review period, we will announce the organizations that will be moving on to Pitch Day. If you are not contacted after the end of the review period (dates listed on Program Timeline web page), please reach out to your respective regional representative.
Our Southwest Region Pitch Day in 2020 has been cancelled. Refer to our Program Details web page for more information.
Q. I applied to your Competitive Grants Program last year and was not awarded a grant. I am hesitant to apply again this year because I feel that our application will be rejected again. What do you recommend?
A. First of all, please make sure that your organization's primary focus area is represented by at least one of the following categories: Education, Health & Human Services, Arts & Culture, or Environment. In the past, organizations that stretched their focus area to fit within our program guidelines were generally unsuccessful. The number of applicants increase each year, so our board is increasingly unlikely to fund organizations that are "on the bubble", so to speak. Fortunately, for a few of the organizations that were guilty of this in the past, the recent expansion of our focus areas will eliminate that barrier. For others, however, the success rate will probably remain the same or decrease further.
If focus area is not an issue, we recommend contacting your specific regional staff person to discuss the matter. We will make every effort to be honest and straightforward so that we do not waste your time or that of ours. If we do not feel that your organization is a good fit for our program, we will not hesitate to let you know. Alternatively, we will tell you if our reviewers expressed interest in your organization and previous requests, in which case we would recommend to reapply.
Grantee Portal FAQ:
Q. I worked several hours on my application and then logged out of my Portal to finish at a later time. When I logged back in to finish, I could not find my application in my Grantee Portal. Where did all my work go?
A. Unfortunately, if you did not save your application prior to exiting your Grantee Portal or before leaving your computer for an extended period of time, your work is likely lost and unrecoverable. Additionally, if you did not check to ensure your work was actually saved after pressing the "Save" button (a notification will appear at the top of the page if your work was not saved properly), then your work is likely lost. To avoid any possible losses, we recommend that applicants complete their applications entirely on a separate Word document and copy/paste the information when ready to submit. This is a good practice in addition to the aforementioned reasoning because of Word's superior functionality, and because you can save an additional record of your work and easily access the document in the future for reference. If you choose not to do this, which is entirely acceptable, please make sure to save often and double-check that you have properly saved your work prior to exiting or leaving your computer.
Q. I cannot find the "Save" button on my application in Fluxx to save my progress. Moreover, the website does not seem to be functioning properly. What can I do to fix this problem?
A. First, before you attempt any of the following suggestions, copy and paste your work into a separate Word document to make sure that you do not inadvertently lose everything. Next, make sure that you are using Google Chrome as your web browser for working in Fluxx. If you are not, download Google Chrome for free, log in to your portal, and try again. If you are using Chrome, try refreshing the page or logging out and back in. If you are still having trouble, please contact our Foundation Leadership. If you choose not to complete your application in a separate Word document, we recommend that you save your work early in the process to ensure that the function is working properly, and save frequently throughout the process to avoid significant losses.
Q. The "Save" button is visible on my application form, but when I click it, the application does not save. What am I doing wrong?
A. Within the application form, we have required fields. In order to properly save the application, there must be text in those fields. If you are working on the application a little bit at a time, you will have to enter at least one character (e.g. "A") into each field and make drop-down menu selections so that you may save the document. If this does not solve the problem, check to see if there is a notification at the top of your application indicating why the document is not saving, and if there is, follow the notification instructions. Again, to avoid problems like this, complete the application in a Word document and then input everything into the application when ready to submit.
Q. On the application form I see a "Save" button, but I do not see a "Submit" button. How do I submit the application?
A. The "Submit" button will not appear until the document has been saved. When you are ready to submit, click "Save" and then click "Submit". If that does not work, please make sure that you are using Google Chrome. If not, prior to leaving your portal to switch to Chrome, copy/paste your work into a separate Word document to avoid any losses.
Q. I completed the registration process and received an email with my username and a link to create my password, where do I go to access my Grantee Portal?
A. There is a link to the Grantee Portal login page on the How to Apply web page. This is the same link that you used to begin your application process. We recommend that you bookmark the login page so that you can quickly access your Grantee Portal in the future.
Q. My login information is not working. What is the problem?
A. The username and password must be inputted exactly as provided/created. On occasion, the username and/or password will have random spaces or characters that are difficult to distinguish. Therefore, we recommend copying and pasting the username and password into their respective fields to be exact. If this does not work after a few attempts, please contact our Foundation Leadership.
Q. I accidentally deleted the email that provided my login information. How do I access that information?
A. Notify our Foundation Leadership via email and we will supply you with a new username and password. We recommend saving the initial email or saving your login information in a secure location.
Q. I am unclear about a section/field on the application form. Where do I go for answers?
A. If you made it this far, you are on the right track! If you are unclear on basic application terminology, we always recommend a quick Google search first. However, if Google doesn't help, please don't hesitate to contact our Foundation Leadership. We are always looking to improve our application process and grantmaking software at The Moniker Foundation, and in order to do so effectively, it is extremely helpful to know about any issues that you are experiencing. Don't be shy, we can take it!
Q. What is the annual budget for your Competitive Grants Program?
A. We typically allocate approximately half of our overall program budget to the Competitive Grants Program. That amount, which will vary year to year, will be divided evenly between our three funding regions. In 2021, each region has a budget of $50,000.
Q. What size grants do you typically award?
A. Moniker is a relatively small family foundation. As a result, our uniform grant sizes will generally stay within a range of $5,000 to $10,000, depending on the budget each year. Specific grant sizes may vary by region and will be announced on our Program Details web page prior to the start of each region's application period.
Q. Does Moniker award multi-year grants?
A. Although we recognize that multi-year support is popular and we understand the associated advantages for the grantor and grantee, we unfortunately no longer fund grants over one year.
Q. Have you established a preset budget or quota for each focus area that you fund?
A. Our board does not utilize a consistent budget or quota for each focus area at this time, but we have committed to funding at least one organization per focus area in each of our three funding regions every year.
Q. I submitted my application prior to the deadline in my respective application month, as required. What happens next?
A. Our Foundation Leadership will review your application in the month immediately following the solicitation. By the end of the review period, we will announce the organizations that will be moving on to Pitch Day. If you are not contacted after the end of the review period (dates listed on Program Timeline web page), please reach out to your respective regional representative.
Our Southwest Region Pitch Day in 2020 has been cancelled. Refer to our Program Details web page for more information.
Q. I applied to your Competitive Grants Program last year and was not awarded a grant. I am hesitant to apply again this year because I feel that our application will be rejected again. What do you recommend?
A. First of all, please make sure that your organization's primary focus area is represented by at least one of the following categories: Education, Health & Human Services, Arts & Culture, or Environment. In the past, organizations that stretched their focus area to fit within our program guidelines were generally unsuccessful. The number of applicants increase each year, so our board is increasingly unlikely to fund organizations that are "on the bubble", so to speak. Fortunately, for a few of the organizations that were guilty of this in the past, the recent expansion of our focus areas will eliminate that barrier. For others, however, the success rate will probably remain the same or decrease further.
If focus area is not an issue, we recommend contacting your specific regional staff person to discuss the matter. We will make every effort to be honest and straightforward so that we do not waste your time or that of ours. If we do not feel that your organization is a good fit for our program, we will not hesitate to let you know. Alternatively, we will tell you if our reviewers expressed interest in your organization and previous requests, in which case we would recommend to reapply.
Grantee Portal FAQ:
Q. I worked several hours on my application and then logged out of my Portal to finish at a later time. When I logged back in to finish, I could not find my application in my Grantee Portal. Where did all my work go?
A. Unfortunately, if you did not save your application prior to exiting your Grantee Portal or before leaving your computer for an extended period of time, your work is likely lost and unrecoverable. Additionally, if you did not check to ensure your work was actually saved after pressing the "Save" button (a notification will appear at the top of the page if your work was not saved properly), then your work is likely lost. To avoid any possible losses, we recommend that applicants complete their applications entirely on a separate Word document and copy/paste the information when ready to submit. This is a good practice in addition to the aforementioned reasoning because of Word's superior functionality, and because you can save an additional record of your work and easily access the document in the future for reference. If you choose not to do this, which is entirely acceptable, please make sure to save often and double-check that you have properly saved your work prior to exiting or leaving your computer.
Q. I cannot find the "Save" button on my application in Fluxx to save my progress. Moreover, the website does not seem to be functioning properly. What can I do to fix this problem?
A. First, before you attempt any of the following suggestions, copy and paste your work into a separate Word document to make sure that you do not inadvertently lose everything. Next, make sure that you are using Google Chrome as your web browser for working in Fluxx. If you are not, download Google Chrome for free, log in to your portal, and try again. If you are using Chrome, try refreshing the page or logging out and back in. If you are still having trouble, please contact our Foundation Leadership. If you choose not to complete your application in a separate Word document, we recommend that you save your work early in the process to ensure that the function is working properly, and save frequently throughout the process to avoid significant losses.
Q. The "Save" button is visible on my application form, but when I click it, the application does not save. What am I doing wrong?
A. Within the application form, we have required fields. In order to properly save the application, there must be text in those fields. If you are working on the application a little bit at a time, you will have to enter at least one character (e.g. "A") into each field and make drop-down menu selections so that you may save the document. If this does not solve the problem, check to see if there is a notification at the top of your application indicating why the document is not saving, and if there is, follow the notification instructions. Again, to avoid problems like this, complete the application in a Word document and then input everything into the application when ready to submit.
Q. On the application form I see a "Save" button, but I do not see a "Submit" button. How do I submit the application?
A. The "Submit" button will not appear until the document has been saved. When you are ready to submit, click "Save" and then click "Submit". If that does not work, please make sure that you are using Google Chrome. If not, prior to leaving your portal to switch to Chrome, copy/paste your work into a separate Word document to avoid any losses.
Q. I completed the registration process and received an email with my username and a link to create my password, where do I go to access my Grantee Portal?
A. There is a link to the Grantee Portal login page on the How to Apply web page. This is the same link that you used to begin your application process. We recommend that you bookmark the login page so that you can quickly access your Grantee Portal in the future.
Q. My login information is not working. What is the problem?
A. The username and password must be inputted exactly as provided/created. On occasion, the username and/or password will have random spaces or characters that are difficult to distinguish. Therefore, we recommend copying and pasting the username and password into their respective fields to be exact. If this does not work after a few attempts, please contact our Foundation Leadership.
Q. I accidentally deleted the email that provided my login information. How do I access that information?
A. Notify our Foundation Leadership via email and we will supply you with a new username and password. We recommend saving the initial email or saving your login information in a secure location.
Q. I am unclear about a section/field on the application form. Where do I go for answers?
A. If you made it this far, you are on the right track! If you are unclear on basic application terminology, we always recommend a quick Google search first. However, if Google doesn't help, please don't hesitate to contact our Foundation Leadership. We are always looking to improve our application process and grantmaking software at The Moniker Foundation, and in order to do so effectively, it is extremely helpful to know about any issues that you are experiencing. Don't be shy, we can take it!