Jovid Foundation

Grant Submission Guidelines

The Jovid Foundation is a philanthropic foundation incorporated in 1990 in the District of Columbia. The Foundation’s officers are: President, Joan Maxwell; Vice President/Treasurer, David Maxwell; and Secretary, Doris Blazek-White. The Foundation’s Executive Director is Bob Wittig.


Program Interests

The Jovid Foundation's primary interest is in supporting District of Columbia nonprofit organizations that help District residents in or at risk of long-term poverty to become more self-sufficient. Because the Foundation is small and seeks to make a positive difference, it is particularly interested in funding neighborhood-based efforts that provide programs and services to low-income DC adults that help them obtain and retain employment. In addition, a small number of grants may be made from a discretionary fund.

The Foundation makes grants only to organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code. The Foundation does not make grants to individuals or for projects that are sectarian in nature.


Application/Grant Procedures

The Foundation has a two step application process:

  • Letter of Inquiry (LOI)
  • Full Proposal (only accepted if invited after LOI review)

Letter of Inquiry

Because the Foundation does not have the staff to review lengthy submissions, it does not accept unsolicited proposals that are already fully developed. The Foundation requests a letter of inquiry (LOI) describing the proposed project. Even if your organization has received funding from Jovid in the past, a new letter of inquiry must first be submitted.

Please note that only one LOI may be submitted for
consideration during a twelve-month period.

The Foundation accepts the Washington Grantmakers’ Common Grant Letter of Intent format (www.washgrantmakers.com). If an organization does not use the Common Grant Letter of Intent, it must provide the following information in the LOI:

  • Organization name
  • Executive Director and Key Contact Person (if not Executive Director)
  • Organization's federal tax-exempt number
  • Mailing address / phone / fax / website address / Key Contact Person’s e-mail address
  • Brief organization description
  • Brief description of specific program(s) for which funds are sought. Description should identify the target population to be served and the total number to be served during grant period
  • Outline of expected outcomes during grant period
  • Amount sought from Jovid
  • Total program budget (no detail needed with LOI; program budget not needed for general operating requests), and
  • Total organizational budget (no detail needed with LOI).
  • Attachments:
    Current year-to-date profit/loss statement and balance sheet. If the organization’s fiscal year recently ended, please also provide financials for the previous fiscal year.

The letter of inquiry must not exceed three pages (not including financial attachments) and should be received at the Foundation by 5:00 p.m. as shown in the schedule shown below.

The LOI may be faxed or e-mailed to the Foundation. However, it is the responsibility of the organization to ensure that the fax or e-mail has been received at the Foundation by the 5 p.m. deadline. LOI’s received after 5 p.m. will be held until the next LOI round for consideration.

To assist applicants, the Foundation’s Executive Director welcomes phone calls before submission of letters of inquiry.

Full Proposals

If the Foundation determines that the letter of inquiry merits in-depth consideration for funding, the applicant will be asked to develop a detailed proposal. An invitation to submit a full proposal does not constitute a grant commitment by the Foundation.

If a proposal is requested, Jovid encourages applicants to use the Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers Common Grant Application (www.washgrantmakers.com). However, if an organization does not use the Common Grant Application, please contact the Foundation’s executive director to discuss proposal information that must be submitted in order for the Jovid Board to fully evaluate your request.

For proposal submissions, please note the following:

  • Proposals must be received at the Foundation by 5:00 p.m. as shown on the schedule shown below. Proposals may be submitted either on paper or by e-mail. Proposals may not be faxed.
  • For proposal submissions by e-mail:
    • The proposal and all attachments (including any spreadsheets) must be combined into one PDF or Word document. If there are one or two attachments (i.e., IRS nonprofit determination letter, 990 form, audit, etc.) that are not available electronically or are difficult to combine with another document, please contact the Executive Director to discuss prior to submission to determine if electronic submission is still allowed.
  • For proposal submissions by paper:
    • Only one copy of the proposal and attachments need be submitted.
    • Please do not staple or bind proposal or attachments.
    • Submit all information on letter-sized paper (8 1/2 x 11 inches).

It is the responsibility of the organization to ensure that the e-mail or paper proposal has been received at the Foundation by the 5 p.m. deadline. Proposals received after 5 p.m. will be held until the next proposal round for consideration.

The date a request is received by the Foundation does not necessarily guarantee its review at the next Board meeting. To ensure a thoughtful review, the Board will sometimes defer review of a request to a subsequent Board meeting.

2012 Timetable

Letter of Inquiry Due by 5 p.m. on Tuesday: If Proposal Requested Due by 5 p.m. on Tuesday: For Consideration at the:
January 10th, 2012 February 14th, 2012 March meeting
April 10th, 2012 May 8th, 2012 June meeting
July 10th, 2012 August 14th, 2012 September meeting
October 2nd, 2012 November 6th, 2012 December meeting

Contact Information

Bob Wittig
Executive Director
Jovid Foundation
5335 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Suite 440
Washington, DC 20015

Phone: (202) 686-2616
Fax: (202) 686-2621

e-mail: jovidfoundation@yahoo.com

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