Our Application Process
Timeline
Please read the request for proposals prior to submitting your letter of interest.
The LOIs recieved between September 14th and October 16th are reviewed by our Program Officers. Recommendations are made regarding which applicants should submit a full application.
We will contact selected organizations via phone and provide a link to the full application.
The grant applications from invited organizations are reviewed and site visits may be made. After program officers have made their recommendations, our board of directors review and approve funding decisions.
Grant awards are publicly announced through our e-newsletter, website, and a press release. Grantees are sent grant agreements.
Once a grant agreement has been made, funds are disbursed to the grantee.
The Community Grants Program is a competitive grant program offering support for efforts within two focus areas identified as high priorities for low-income students in Washington state:
- Low-income students need to be college-ready when graduating from high school; and
- Low-income students need support once in college to help them successfully complete their degree programs.
Applications are evaluated on a variety of factors affecting College Spark’s mission and focus areas, including the percentage of low-income students served.
Three primary objectives will guide our decision-making:
- The project shows potential to provide sustainable, long-term benefits: for example, projects that work within existing systems to bring about systemic change or show promise for replication;
- The project is based on research-tested assumptions that support college-readiness or retention strategies or offers viable evaluation methodologies such as assessments including control groups; and
- The project outcomes will produce learning opportunities for others. We look for projects that take an innovative approach to solving a problem and have a clear plan for sharing information.
The challenges faced by low-income students are complex, and we seek to support a range of approaches that reflect the diverse needs of low-income students. To develop a diverse grant pool, we may consider additional factors such as the fulfillment of specific regional or audience needs; the applicant’s capacity to complete the project effectively; the organization type and geographic access; the comprehensiveness of the program’s services, particularly for requests including financial aid; the establishment of clear deliverables and measurable objectives; and, for large, multi-year requests, the participation of multiple partners.