Thank you for your interest in the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. Before you can submit a formal grant application, you must meet basic eligibility requirements for funding and then submit an Online Grant Proposal via our website. After submitting an Online Grant Proposal, your proposal will be reviewed by foundation staff and you will receive a response to your proposal via e-mail within six weeks. Please note that all unsolicited proposals must be submitted online.
We encourage you to review the foundation's priorities before starting an Online Grant Proposal. Please refer to the foundation priorities section and the master grant list page on this website for more in-depth explanations.
Eligibility Requirements
Before starting an Online Grant Proposal you will be asked a series of brief questions about your organization and proposed project. The questions have been designed to determine if your organization and project meet basic eligibility requirements for Michael & Susan Dell Foundation funding. Answering the eligibility requirements questions should take less than five minutes.
Online Grant Proposal
If your organization and proposed project meet the foundation's basic eligibility requirements, you can fill out an Online Grant Proposal. This entails more specific questions about your organization and the proposed project. The Online Grant Proposal can take anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour to complete depending on the complexity of your proposal and your level of preparedness. You will not be allowed to save work in progress. If you don't have time to finish your proposal after you have shown that you meet eligibility requirements, you must start the entire process from the beginning, including the eligibility requirements. We do not accept attachments or files with a proposal. Once you have completed your Online Grant Proposal, you will receive an e-mail confirming receipt by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation.
Information requested by the Online Grant Proposal includes:
- Organization operating expenses
- Organization total revenue
- Funding requested
- Overall project budget
- Number of children served by the project
- Problem Statement: Define the problem or issue you are working to address. This should be primarily data or numeric evidence documenting the problem in your geographic area and target population. (Limited to 500 characters)
- Project Description: Provide a summary of your grant request and the overall project this grant will be funding. (Limited to 1500 characters)
- Request Summary: Provide a brief description of how the funding will be spent. Be specific about what this grant will fund. Please include a summary of the overall project finances. (Limited to 500 characters)
- Success Measures: Briefly summarize how you will measure the success of your program. This should be primarily data or numeric evidence directly related to the problem you have defined above. (Limited to 500 characters)
To help you prepare for completing an Online Grant Proposal, we have created a Grant Planning Worksheet that you can download. The worksheet includes instructions, plus all the information required by the Online Grant Proposal. Please note that the worksheet is for planning purposes only. You must complete your Online Grant Proposal via this website. You will not be permitted to return the Grant Planning Worksheet instead of completing the Online Grant Proposal.
Grant Planning Worksheet 2-7-2008 Grant Application
Foundation staff will review the Online Grant Proposal and respond via e-mail within six weeks. If we find the proposed project to be aligned with the mission of the foundation, you will be asked to complete a formal Grant Application for funding.
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