The Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation funds nonprofit organization grants.

Our funding impacts
300-400 organizations every year!

We carefully consider the many requests we receive. Please make sure your request aligns with our eligibility criteria. The Prepare section below will help you decide.

Our cycles

We open for the coming spring cycle
in fall of the previous year.

We open for the coming fall cycle
in spring of the same year.

Watch our home page for specific opening dates & deadlines.

Application Steps

All eligible organizations must submit:

  1. a letter of inquiry (LOI);
  2. an application, if invited to apply;
  3. all required materials through our online application portal.
  4. Check our Grant Request Schedule for specific open and close dates.

prepare

Make sure you are eligible and work in one of our focus areas.

submit a Letter of Inquiry (LOI)

Access our online portal during open LOI cycles and submit your LOI.

if invited apply

If invited, return to the online portal to complete and submit a grant application.

Prepare

Make sure your request aligns with our grant eligibility before you submit an LOI.

Organizations must meet the following criteria. If not eligible, please do not submit an LOI.

  • Have IRS Tax-Exempt Status
  • Grantees must have tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS Code.
  • Grantees must organize and operate for charitable purposes.
  • Serve the geographic locations we support

Organizations should serve communities in the counties we serve. Requests for grants serving counties other than these are by invitation only.

  • Work in our focus areas
  • Education (including scholarships)
  • Human services
  • Health and medicine
  • Addiction and substance abuse recovery
  • Biomedical research
  • Debt retirement
  • Endowments
  • Environmental causes
  • For-profit businesses
  • Government agencies
  • Hospice care
  • Individuals (except through our scholarship programs)
  • Labor organizations
  • Lobbying, advocacy, or political campaigns
  • Mental health providers other than those focusing on prevention and early intervention services for children and adolescents
  • Neurodegenerative diseases
  • Performing and fine arts organizations
  • Publicly funded K-12 schools with the exception of charter schools
  • Sectarian religious causes
  • Special events or conferences
  • Sports or athletic organizations
  • Disease-specific organizations
  • Mental health prevention and early intervention services for children and adolescents
  • Higher education and post-secondary institutions
  • Individual, high-performing private and charter K-12 schools
  • Programs and projects outside of our geographic priority areas

If you have not received an invitation from the Foundation as described in the bullet points above, please do not start or submit an LOI or application.

  • Not a recent grant applicant

Organizations may apply for funding only once a year. For example, if you submitted an LOI in the spring, you must wait until the next year’s spring cycle to again submit an LOI.

The Minnesota and Florida counties listed below remain important to the family. While we fund some national programs, our priority is to invest in these counties.

  • Anoka
  • Carver
  • Dakota
  • Hennepin
  • Ramsey
  • Scott
  • Washington
  • Charlotte
  • Collier
  • Glades
  • Hendry
  • Lee

We partner with efficient and results-oriented organizations. Organization proposals should be focused on measurable results in one of three areas.

LOI

  • Leaders that make a difference,
  • Successful,
  • Sustainable, and
  • Do work with long-lasting impact in our focus areas.
  • All LOI submissions are reviewed after the deadline.  Requestors will be notified of the next step in the funding process via email on published dates in the LOI form.
  • See our Grant Request Schedule.

Apply

  • Open and close dates for LOIs and applications are published on our Grant Request Schedule.
  • Don’t miss a cycle! Bookmark our Grant Request Schedule and visit it often.
  • Dates are not flexible due to the volume of requests received.
  • If you miss a cycle, you are eligible to submit in the next cycle.
  • Review our Resources for Organization Grant Writers to:
    • preview our application or download practice forms,
    • learn about writing S.M.A.R.T. objectives,
    • learn about challenge and matching grants,
    • update your contact information (for returning grantees), and
    • understand category descriptions.
  • To save you time, your submitted LOI will auto-fill some data to your application.
  • When you’re ready to apply, head to our online portal.

Our review process takes about six months. Here’s what happens.

  1. We review submitted applications.
  2. Program officers schedule and conduct site visits.
  3. Program officers make funding recommendations to the board.
  4. The board makes funding decisions during that cycle’s board meeting.
  5. Program officers contact grantees about the board’s decision.
Apply here

Banner picture courtesy of Cookie Cart.