Application Guidelines

In general, the foundation supports organizations that believe in good nonprofit practices including sound financial management, developed governance practices, and clarity of mission. Attention to gender, diversity, and outcomes are important. Grant recipients will be asked to document their organization in these terms as part of the review process.

An application will be reviewed by the Board and a smaller number will be asked for additional information, often including a site visit. Unfortunately, the foundation cannot fund all of the worthy requests we receive.

The Foundation does not make grants:

• to annual appeal campaigns
• to religious activities
• to political campaigns
• to individuals

Please refer to our funding priorities page for important information about our granting decisions.

Registration & Applying

Access to the system requires that applicants first register their organization with the NonProfit Portal. Login credentials will be issued to individuals listed in the registration form. Organizations only need to register once, but can add new individuals to their account at anytime. Any changes to the contact information and/or users, including adding or deleting individuals can be made by emailing Maryellen Ferro. The Nonprofit Portal is a shared online application system with the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation. If your organization has already registered with the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation, you DO NOT need to re-register separately for the James A. & Faith Knight Foundation.

The James A. and Faith Knight Foundation will accept grant applications through the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation’s (AAACF) NonProfit Portal. Grant decisions for the James A. and Faith Knight Foundation are made independently from AAACF. All questions relating to Knight Foundation funding should be directed to the Knight Foundation at info@knightfoundationmi.org.

USER INSTRUCTIONS: To access system User Instructions (for registration and application processes), please click here.

SAMPLE APPLICATION: To access a sample of our application, for PDF please click here or for Microsoft Word please click here.

FINAL REPORT FORM: Please use this final report form for grants by our foundation. An additional final report form will be located on the NonProfit Portal. The form can be located in the Application History section under Application Requirements.

For those with limited availability to computers and on-line systems, please use the sample application above as a template for your application. Please send three copies of your application to our office for consideration. We highly recommend using the on line application process for proper tracking of your application. This includes information snap for information about costs associated with finishing a proposed book project, such as permissions
.

*** For grant consideration in 2024, the application process (through the NonProfit Portal) will open April 1 through September 30, 2024. ***

Any grants received after the deadline date, will be deferred to the first quarter of 2025.