Submission Period -- Requests are accepted typically from August of the prior year until the spring deadline which is now February 15th by 5pm. This is to allow the board more time to review requests before the meeting. The absolute latest requests will be accepted is by February 15th at 5 pm. There are no exceptions other than if February 15th falls on Saturday or Sunday, proposals will be accepted until the following Monday by noon. All documentation must be received by our offices by the February 15th deadline to be considered this includes the online Application form and all supporting documents. Submissions received after the deadline will not be put before the board. Only the application form itself will be accepted via email and only by email, all other supporting documents will only be accepted via conventional mail, overnight or hand delivery (it is strongly recommended if you are in the area any time before the deadline to drop the documents off directly to our offices directly to us or through the mail slot to the right of the door).
Geographic and Financial restrictions--Only nonprofits with a 501(c)(3) recognition will be considered or governmental agencies that are to be treated as nonprofits will be considered. There is currently an imposed geographic restriction limiting charities that may submit through the offices to only organizations with offices located within one of the five (5) counties being considered and all fiscal/financial management of funds granted by the Foundation must be fully managed within said counties and all services being supported must be restricted to only the five (5) counties in Texas being considered. Please understand that if financial management, the office is located or services provided for which you are seeking support are being done out of the five counties being considered (Tom Green, Kerr, Travis, Fort Bend and Harris Counties) funding will not be considered. Should you have any questions as to your organizations possible qualifications or any other issues should be addressed to Mrs. Patricia Stilley, Executive Director (713) 237-1117 extension 301 or e-mail pstilley@stfdn.org. Phone calls are preferred.
Typically, if submissions are sent early, even in the Fall prior to the deadline the only numbers that may need to be changed are the receipts since the time of submission (if by around the first of February you find your receipts have increased by at least 10% or more since the Fall submission) you may simply call the offices and I would be happy to update your application form for you. We can only update your form prior to the deadline, after the deadline it is fixed.
FAQ’s on PDF compatibility --Please do not access the application form, Related Party Questionnaire, nor the Foundation Source form for religious organizations under a group ruling through any search engine other than regular Google as they are no longer compatible with online PDF's. It is best to set your search with plain Google as it is the only current search that is compatible with online PDF’s. Should you encounter any difficulties, please call our offices and ask for Pat Stilley.
The most common questions on the form that are misunderstood are under “Organization Operating Budget”. The first question requesting the “Total Expenses” for the year are all expenses the organization has with the exception of capital and endowment. Please be sure to include all in kind donations that have a dollar value (can be declared as a tax deductible contribution for donors) in “Total Expenses” as well as in your Receivables. Under the Total Expenses also include all benefits or “perks” afforded to employees such as: insurances, housing, cell phones, vehicles, free admissions to services or events, etc. These should be given an accurate dollar value and included in the Total Expense figure, Payroll Related Expense figure and also under the Three Highest Paid Employees Benefits areas. All administrative, fundraising and programming expenses should be included in the operating budget. The second question requesting “Total Payroll and Related Expenses” for year should include all gross earnings for all paid employees (full time, part time, hourly, salaried, contract workers and even interns receiving a stipend) along with fringe benefits and payroll taxes for the year including proposed employees for the year (soon to be hired). Please be aware, if a funder is underwriting their earnings they should still be included under expenses and the funding received to cover their salary should be reflected under receivables/revenue. Total receipts for the year should include all receipts up to the time of submission that the organization has received to include pledges. If you are requesting funding for general operating support of the organization it is not necessary to complete the project/program budget area. However, if you are requesting for a particular project or program we do require that all questions on the application form be completed including operating questions. Only put dollar amounts in areas requesting for amounts. Please do not put words in those areas. Under “Three Highest Paid Employees” regarding their gross pay and benefits—any benefits an employee receives as a privilege of employment such as; insurances, housing, vehicle, cell phone, or any other form of “perk” for the position should be included under benefits at the dollar value.
Related Party Questionnaire—this must be completed, it can be found on our site under the “Related Party Questionnaire” tab. Incompletion or omission can result in not being considered or funded. This is a legal requirement. The form is now a PDF format and can be found on the site. Please have your staff and board review the current list of our Board prior to completing the form. Please complete the form from the site and print it off signing it once printed. Please include it when mailing your supporting documents or having them hand delivered to our offices.
Do not answer any question “SEE ATTACHED”. Applications with “SEE ATTACHED” as answers will not be considered. We ask that basic information be supplied on the application form. The application form is the only part of your request that is seen and read by the Board of Trustees -- therefore it is critical that this information be supplied fully and correctly.
As always we prefer phone calls and invite you to call our offices should you have any questions what so ever. All supporting documents should be mailed to:
Mrs. Patricia Stilley,
Executive Director
Sterling-Turner Foundation
5850 San Felipe Street, Suite 125
Houston, TX 77057-3292
After submission but before the deadline, if you should find any questions on your application form that need to be changed please phone the office and speak with Pat Stilley at extension 301. Please do not resubmit the application form without being instructed to do so by Mrs. Stilley. Once your application form is received you will receive a confirmation of receipt for the form only. If you do not receive a confirmation via email within one to two days following your emailed application form submission, please contact the office. Do not assume it was received until you receive a confirmation via email. To confirm receipt of the supporting documents please call the office and speak with Jeannie Arnold at extension 302. The office phone number is 713-237-1117.