The Mary E. Ober Foundation is a grantmaker that values and provides Strategic Philanthropy.  Our goal is to build relationships with and fund organizations that focus on leadership, sustainability and strong community impact.

Numbers are important, but people are more important.  The Mary E. Ober Foundation seeks organizations that have a vision for serving the community at a level that is beyond service numbers.  We desire to see long-term impact, and work with those that are a catalyst for change in the areas we identify as core to our mission.

Because of our value on relationships and community change, we do not have a grant cycle, and do not accept unsolicitied grant requests.  Instead, we employ a process that may result in a Request For Proposal:

RFP Approach Steps:

Step 1. Contact the Mary E. Ober Foundation by e-mail, phone or letter, to discuss your organization, program or project.Those organizations receive invitation to submit a letter of inquiry to the Foundation.  Be prepared to discuss:

• Mission, vision, leadership, sustainability, measured outcomes and community impact for your organization.

Step 2. After the initial discussion, you MAY be invited to submitt a 2 page letter of inquiry including:

• Brief project description, numbers served, and outcomes
• Why you are applying
• Why your project fits with our mission
• Rationale and the purpose of the project
• Project cost estimates

Step 3. After review of the Letter of inquiry and your organization, you MAY be invited to submit a full proposal.

Step 4. Interview by foundation or board member, full proposal submitted.

Step 5. Full proposal reviewed and summarized for full board decision.

Proposal Deadline: Request For Proposal Process – Rolling deadlines

Awards Given By: within 3 months of approval of award

Range: $1,000 to $20,000 in most cases

Multi-Year: Will entertain based on project review

Interest Areas:
Faith Based or Faith Friendly organizations serving the areas of:

• Marginalized & disenfranchised support
• Social justice
• Homeless and near-homeless
• Youth in crisis situations
• Character development
• Education
• Health/emergency services
• Leadership & sustainability
• Families – educating strong core values

Age of Organization: Open

Geographic Focus: National perspective with core focus on Indiana

Faith: Christian Organizations (if faith based)

 

Strategic philanthropy, as defined by the Mary E. Ober Foundation Board of Directors, possesses the following core characteristics that guide grantmaking investments.

· Return on Investment: Impact. Embraces evaluating outcomes and impact, not just inputs or outputs. The strategic focus is one that looks at outcomes for those served as well as the overall impact of social change in the community. Impact looks at the change that occurs directly due to the not-for-profits intervention. The Foundation will focus on investments that catalyze outcomes that drive impact.

· Leadership. Grantmaking will focus on organizations that have a desire for strong board leadership, that grow servant leaders within their organization and within those they serve. The Foundation will focus their resources to develop strong boards that hold the vision of the organization.

· Sustainability. Grantmaking will be directed toward investments that will facilitate high quality programs supported by effective donor development, resulting in long-term sustainability for the organization.

· Mission Focus. Grantmaking will be focused on those organizations and projects that cross the nexus of their mission with that of the Foundation. Grantmaking will be driven by the Foundation’s desire to fund organizations that will drive a deeper realization of their mission for long term social return. Our focus is on helping the organization multiply itself to become stronger, sustainable and have high impact on the community.

· Family Mission. Grantmaking will strategically facilitate the Foundation’s own sense of heritage, mission and vision, bringing to bear the unique abilities, relationships and viewpoints of a Family Foundation on its partners and grantees.

· Deep and Excellent. Foundation grantmaking will focus on fewer organizations but with deeper investment and the potential for longer investment horizons. We reserve the right to invest for as many years as we see needed to accomplish our strategic vision for the grantee organization and our grantmaking, thereby maximizing social change.

· Proactive, not reactive. Foundation grantmaking will be driven through a Request For Proposal process (RFP) rather than an open deadline to all.

· Relational. The nature of the Foundation is to enter in to long-term relationships with organizations that hold strong core values and deliver social change within their area of mission.