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Challenge Grant

Application Process

The Kresge Foundation requests a five-page letter of intent, fact sheet and gift chart from grantseekers to begin the application process for a facilities-capital challenge grant. We accept applications on a rolling basis; there are no deadlines.

In your letter of intent, please address the four bullet points listed below. Before you begin your letter, it is often helpful to review the information provided on the pages titled: What We Do and Our Values Criteria.

Additionally, the reference document, Am I Ready To Submit?, may be helpful. It is located in the Resources box on the challenge grant page.

All letters of intent will be evaluated in terms of our values criteria. Please know that no one value or subset of values carries disproportionate weight. Rather, it is the collective influence of multiple values exemplified by your organization and your project that interests us most.

Letters should not exceed five type-written pages and should be accompanied by a gift chart and fact sheet. Both forms and instructions are located in the Resources box in the upper right-hand corner of this page. All applicants are required to submit the letter of intent, gift chart and fact sheet online to be considered for a grant.

The link to the Apply Online page is found in the gray bar at the top of this page.

Writing your letter of intent

In your letter of intent, please:

  • Provide a brief overview of your community and the role your nonprofit organization plays in it.
  • Explain how your organization and the project you are proposing fits within the relevant Kresge fields of interest and explain with specific examples how your organization and project are advancing Kresge’s values.
  • How does your project support your organization’s mission?
  • Tell us about your fundraising campaign, including an overview of your campaign plan and how the campaign plan supports the long-term financial sustainability of your organization.
About your capital campaign

Our primary focus when evaluating letters of intent is the extent to which an organization and its proposed project advance our values. Your capital campaign plan is of secondary importance. We look for projects with fundraising plans that include appeals to several constituencies for a significant number of gifts. A proposal that includes a fundraising strategy to approach only a few prospects is not likely to be funded.

Some of your top private leadership gifts should be committed before you submit your letter of intent to Kresge. If your private fundraising goal is quite large, having more than 50 percent raised might be appropriate.

We have no minimum or maximum for campaign goals, but if your campaign goal is less than $1 million, we may conclude that the project is most appropriately supported by your local community.

For additional information, please visit the FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions – page, which is linked from the top of the challenge grant page.

Next steps

You will be sent two e-mail acknowledgements when we have received your letter of intent, gift chart and fact sheet. Once a full review of your materials has been completed – in four to six weeks - we will notify you whether your letter received a favorable or unfavorable response.

If your letter of intent receives a favorable response, you will be asked to submit a full proposal. In it, we will ask for additional information on your organization, project and campaign, along with several supporting attachments.

To learn what is asked in the full proposal, visit the FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions – page, and specifically the question: If my letter of intent is deemed favorable and I am asked to submit a full challenge grant proposal, what will this entail?

In the correspondence requesting the full proposal, we also will give you the name and contact information for the program team member assigned to your project, as well as a due date for submitting a full proposal and the date the program team plans to take your proposal before our Board of Trustees.

If you have questions, e-mail the Grants Inquiry Coordinator or call 248-643-9630.