The Amelia Peabody Charitable Fund grant-making process is conducted by the Board of Trustees in an impartial manner and decisions are made in the sole judgment and discretion of the Board. Decisions are made based on the information provided in your proposal. If the trustees have questions or require more information to make a decision, you will be contacted.

The Amelia Peabody Charitable Fund receives many more applications than it can fund.  Even though a grant request meets the Fund's criteria, it may not be funded because of more pressing needs, because the Fund has recently funded a similar request, or other reasons. 

Primary Considerations
The trustees review all complete applications. Final grant award decisions are based on their judgment, discretion, and the following general considerations:

• Mission Specific. The Board seeks to apply funds where they will make the most difference in furthering the philanthropic legacy and interests of Amelia Peabody.

• Geography. The Board focuses its giving in Boston and in the greater New England area. (For social service and youth service organizations, Massachusetts only.)

• Urgency of Need. The Board favors projects and programs where the need is time-sensitive and is evident to the community served, and where a large area or number of people will benefit.

• Lasting Impact. The Board favors initiatives with measurable, significant, and lasting impact.

• Specific and Focused. The Board funds specific needs to achieve a specific objective.   As a matter of policy, general fund-raising, annual drives, salaries, startups, or operating budgets are not funded.

• Likelihood of Success. The Board looks for well conceived and researched projects with specific and well defined outcome(s).   A logical implementation plan, with a realistic and appropriately detailed supporting budget,  appropriate, realistic timeframes, multiple sources of funding for the undertaking, and the credibility of the organization are important elements in evaluating the proposal.

• Proportional and Appropriated. The Board expects the dollar amount requested to be in proportion to size of the project, the size of the organization, and to the Fund.
  
  
• Well Leveraged. The Board looks favorably on organizations that can secure funding from multiple sources to achieve their objectives.  The Board does not grant “lead gifts” nor is it the sole funder of any initiative.  Often, when approached “too early” in the fundraising effort, the Board will offer a “challenge grant” in which funds are released when the grant seeker has secured a certain amount of funding from other sources.

• Community Support. The Board looks for evidence that the organization and its work are valued by the constituents it serves and surrounding community.

• Soundness of Organization. The Board favors supporting transparently managed organizations with good oversight and relatively low administration and other overhead expenses.