The Mary Morton Parsons Foundation Grant Application Process

Step 1: Check Your Eligibility

To receive a grant from The Mary Morton Parsons Foundation, organizations must meet the following criteria:

Be exempt under IRS Section 501(c)(3)
Not classified as a private foundation as defined in Section 509(a)
Be an organization located in the Commonwealth of Virginia
Be seeking support for a capital project in one of our focus areas
Not have received a grant payment from our foundation in the last five years
Not have submitted an unsuccessful application to our foundation within the last 12 months

Additionally, The Mary Morton Parsons Foundation does not consider grants to support:

Individuals
Public sector agencies. State and local government majority-supported entities are not eligible for Foundation support; however, exceptions may be made for a limited number of institutions. The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Science Museum of Virginia fall into this category
Endowment funds (including scholarship funds, debt reduction, or funding of deficits)
Research
General operating expenses associated with ongoing programs or activities or other general administrative expenses
Churches or religious programs without a secular or community service focus; except for historic preservation
Local chapters of national associations and societies, mass mailings, and umbrella organizations

Step 3: Submit A Grant Application

The Mary Morton Parsons Foundation uses an online application to collect grant proposals. After submitting a Contact Form and speaking with the Executive Director about the proposed capital project, only those invited to continue in the process will be given access to the full application.

Please review the grant guidelines to ensure you have all the necessary information required to complete a proposal prior to beginning the application. You can preview the full application here here. For more information on completing the application, please refer to the GoApply Users Guide.
The Mary Morton Parsons Foundation has two grant cycles each year, one in the Spring and one in the Fall.

Step 4: Grant Application Evaluation

After the application cycle ends and we have received all grant applications via our online portal, we evaluate each complete proposal. We first review all proposals to determine eligibility under the Foundation guidelines and to ensure that proposals are complete. In some cases, the Executive Director may request additional information, but is not obligated to do so.

The Foundation’s Board of Directors meets each spring and fall and makes funding decisions as a group. Those decisions are communicated to applicants in writing by the Executive Director promptly following the Board’s meeting.

We regret that the volume of applications precludes the Foundation from critiquing unsuccessful proposals.

Step 5: Grant Reporting

Grant reporting helps The Mary Morton Parsons Foundation maintain relationships with past grant recipients and quantify the impact of our investments. For this reason, grantees will be asked to report on their grant's funding. Most grant recipients will have to report within 6-12 months following receipt of the Foundation’s grant payment, but awardees should consult their grant award letter to verify and submit their reports on time.

Grant Reports will cover:

Project outcomes
Budgetary outcomes
Timeline outcomes

We look forward to hearing about the impact your organization is making in our region.

Go to Application Portal