Apply for a Community Grant From Bellevue Rotary
We support service organizations in Bellevue and throughout the neighboring Eastside cities. We emphasize funding needs that strengthen organizational sustainability.
FY 2024-2025 Grant Applications are Closed
Bellevue Rotary’s fiscal year runs from July through June. Most of our consideration of grant proposals occurs in the first half of our fiscal year, i.e., late summer/early fall. We will welcome your proposal for fiscal year 2025-2026 in that timeframe.
Community Service Grant Process
The first step is to submit your requests responding to the criteria described in the “Grant Evaluation Criteria” section below.
After that, a member of the grant committee will contact you to learn more about your request and start the evaluation process.
The committee will meet periodically throughout the fiscal year to review and evaluate grant requests that have been received.
The Community Grants Committee brings its recommendations to the Bellevue Rotary Foundation Board of Directors for final approval.
This process will be repeated until the funds allocated for the year have been granted.
Early submission of grant requests is therefore encouraged.
Bellevue Rotary’s fiscal year runs July-June with most grant activity occurring in the first half of the fiscal year–usually August through December. Please keep that timing in mind for proposal submissions.
Recommended Grant Proposal Contents
Please include the following information with your grant requests:
Organization information. Name of organization, contact person, address, telephone number, email address, and EIN number.
Brief overview of the organization. What it does, who it serves in the community (including demographics, if available), size of the organization, how long the organization has been in the community, and representative projects or services.
Details of the specific project or service for which the grant is being requested. To maximize chances of a successful grant application, please be sure to review the criteria we use for evaluating grant proposals in the “Grant Evaluation Criteria” section below.
Budget. Total estimated budget of the proposed project or service. This is so that we understand our portion of the overall initiative and how much it is dependent on other funding sources.
Benefit. Describe how the grant from Bellevue Rotary will benefit the Bellevue community and/or the greater Eastside in general.
Timing. Please clarify when the funds are needed and any other important timing considerations.
Financial statements. Please also provide the organization’s most recent audited financial statements. If the organization does not receive a financial statement audit, please provide the most recent Form 990.
Volunteer opportunities. While not part of the grant evaluation criteria, please describe how members of Bellevue Rotary can volunteer for your organization, either individually or as a larger group. This can either be on an on-going basis or as part of special events or activities that occur periodically.
If you have questions, please contact the Bellevue Rotary Community Grants Committee at [email protected].
Submission. Send the grant request via email to: [email protected], or via US mail to:
Bellevue Rotary
Attn: Community Grants
P.O. Box 523
Bellevue, WA 98009
Grant Evaluation Criteria
Our criteria for evaluating local grants includes the following elements.
Local. The project or operations must be community-service oriented and beneficial primarily to the residents of the City of Bellevue and the neighboring Eastside cities.
Sustainable. We approve grants that contribute to sustainability of the service organization, i.e., grants for services that are programmatic in nature or capital projects. We do not fund grants for on-going operating expenses such as overhead, rent, utilities, salaries, and so on.
Diversified. Our philosophy is to provide grants that are large enough to make a difference and small enough to allow us to support a variety of needs within our community. As such, we request that grant requests be limited to $5,000. A request for additional funds may be submitted and our grant committee may consider larger requests should funds be available. However, all requests should specify a funding option that can be satisfied for $5,000 or less. We give priority to requests from organizations that have not received funding from the Bellevue Rotary Club for the past two consecutive years.
Immediate. The project or services must be completed or delivered within a year from funding.
Learn About Our Local Impact
Rotarians talk about the “opportunity to serve,” and it truly is privilege to be in a position to help others. This video describes some of the ways we have been fortunate enough to support our community.
