19 survey respondents
Location: 1528 Walnut St Ste 1002, Philadelphia, 19102 PA
EIN: 23-1365325
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8 hours
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2017 Deadlines:
Types of Grants Awarded:
Geographic Focus:
For Fiscal Year
Total Assets:
Total Grants:
Change in Assets FY :
Amount of Grants to Minnesota Nonprofits:
Largest Grant:
Smallest Grant:
Average Grant:
Reviewer 454 - Grant Applicant - applied in 2017
Make sure your mission aligns with the Fels Fund's priorities. Be sure your application reflects the passion and commitment you have for your work! Understand your constituents and the context of your work in terms of the Philadelphia landscape and be able to clearly describe your work.
Positive leader in the field, Gives more than money, Culturally sensitive, Insightful, Friendly, Builds relationships, Likes site visits, "Gets" nonprofits and issues, Responsive
Pennsylvania
Current or former grantee
Funded for amount requested
2017
Good
Excellent! Staff were really helpful!
Good
The Fund has set important guidelines for their work, prioritizing important initiatives in Philadelphia.
Continue doing site visits to learn more about organizations you might fund. It's important for both the funder and the grantee to feel invested in one another. Thank you!
We just received our first grant so I will be better able to answer this question as the year progresses.
They are really good communicators in terms of the grant-making process, very encouraging and thoughtful.
7
Thank you. We look forward to hearing about your progress.
Reviewer 3428 - Grant Applicant - applied in 2017
n/a
Positive leader in the field, Gives more than money, Risk taker, Culturally sensitive, Insightful, Friendly, Builds relationships, Responsive
Pennsylvania
Current or former grantee
Funded for lesser amount
2017
Good
The Samuel is very accessible and willing to discuss any issue associated with the granting process
Good
Please continue the good work
Fels is vey committed to its mission
committed to ethnic and refugee communities.
5
Thank you.
Grant Applicant - applied in 2017
The Executive Director of the Fund is very approachable and also extremely helpful. I suggest calling and seeking an appointment. Your session will be most productive if you have at least the basic outlines of what you are seeking funding for and why you are seeking the funding.
Positive leader in the field, Gives more than money, Risk taker, Culturally sensitive, Insightful, Friendly, Builds relationships, "Gets" nonprofits and issues, Openminded, Responsive
Pennsylvania
Current or former grantee
Funded for amount requested
2017
Good
Good
I have been amazed at how helpful this funder has been. The Director spent a lot of time brainstorming with me, discussing pros and cons and helping me to ensure that my application was the strongest that it could be. I wish all funders were this approachable and this helpful.
Please keep doing what you are doing. It is so frustrating to complete ridiculously long applications that ask redundant and unhelpful questions for a measly $4,000. I am so grateful for this foundations willingness to truly invest in our work.
I just wanted to say that the fact that I did not check off "Likes site visits" doesn't mean that I didn't like this - it just hasn't come up in the most recent application. For someone that spends as much time as the ED does really getting to know our work, I don't think a site visit is necessary.
Really understanding the work and making the effort to gain even better understanding when it was necessary to do so.
10
Thank you for this review. To clarify, we do site visits but it depends on the scope of work described in the application and availabilities. Occasionally, we will give a grant and conduct a site visit at a later date. We are open to creative ways to learn about applicants.
Grant Applicant - applied in 2017
Contact the fund staff—they are eager and willing to discuss opportunities for funding and, more broadly, feedback on your work.
Positive leader in the field, Gives more than money, Culturally sensitive, Insightful, Builds relationships, Likes site visits, "Gets" nonprofits and issues, Responsive
Pennsylvania
Current or former grantee
Funded for lesser amount
2017
Good
This funder knows their stuff. Do not beat around the bush or gloss over the rough stuff. Be honest and expect them to be, too.
They are operating under new priorities so it is hard to assess at this time.
Listen and dig in. They are willing to visit and spend time with the organizations/groups they may potentially support or already support.
19
Thank you.
Grant Applicant - applied in 2017
The Fels Fund has recently shifting its funding priorities, so it's important to make sure you're up to date about their new priorities. Given that this was the first year of using a new online system, there were a few glitches. Most significantly for us, we never received an official invitation to submit the full proposal until after a site visit, by which point the deadline was only 3 days away. While Fels Fund representatives indicated that invitations had previously been sent electronically, there must have been an issue with the online grant system as we never received the online invitation. This meant we had to push very hard to meet the deadline at very short notice; although they were willing to extend it for us in recognition of the communication difficulties, we felt it was important to make the original deadline as we didn't want any special treatment.
Culturally sensitive, Builds relationships, Openminded, Responsive
Pennsylvania
Current or former grantee
Funded for amount requested
2017
Good
Our advice would be to reach out to staff via email and don't wait for an automatic response from the online grant portal. Staff was very responsive and helpful.
Good
The Fels Fund has a long tradition of supporting social justice. While it's difficult to say at this juncture how successfully they are accomplishing their philanthropic goals as they only recently shifted their funding priorities, based on our experience with this current round of funding we are highly optimistic. They support good organizations doing important work, and we appreciate the shift from a larger number of smaller grants to a smaller number of larger grants because it helps organizational stability and the continuity of programming.
This funder's commitment to social justice and community empowerment really stands out.
8
Thank you for your feedback. Yes, there have been a few glitches in our system and we appreciate your patience with this process. We understand that glitches occur and try to be as flexible as possible with applicants when issues arise.
Reviewer 974 - Grant Applicant - applied in 2017
A prospective applicant should definitely reach out to have a conversation about fit before applying. This is a very helpful process.
Positive leader in the field, Risk taker, Culturally sensitive, Insightful, Friendly, Builds relationships, Likes site visits, "Gets" nonprofits and issues, Openminded, Responsive
Pennsylvania
Current or former grantee
Funded for lesser amount
2017
Good
The Fund staff were accessible and responsive and very supportive of me as a first time applicant, both with understanding their process and the funding priorities of the Fund.
Good
Giving time to potential new applicants to answer questions is helpful as is giving guidance on the size of the grant request.
Doing the LOI is a helpful way to conceptualize and fine tune your grant request and then if invited to apply, you are well on your way to completing the full application.
Looking at the list of grantees, it's clear that the Fund is in the know about which organizations are carrying out projects that support their initiatives.
8
Thank you for your feedback.
Grant Applicant - applied in 2017
The team at Fels is extraordinarily responsive, thoughtful, and collaborative. Seeking a meeting prior to submitting a funding inquiry may be helpful, just to check alignment with Fels' current funding priorities.
Positive leader in the field, Gives more than money, Risk taker, Culturally sensitive, Insightful, Friendly, Builds relationships, "Gets" nonprofits and issues, Openminded, Responsive
Pennsylvania
Current or former grantee
Funded for lesser amount
2017
Good
Throughout the application process the team at Fels was accessible and responsive. Technical questions were answered almost instantaneously and substantive questions also received a quick reply.
Good
Being new to an organization that is funded by Fels, I'm eager to learn more about how it connects its grantees.
Fels is very strong on soliciting feedback and, similarly, providing actionable feedback to its applicants and grantees.
More than 15
Thank you. We are asking for ideas on how we can support our grantees beyond grant dollars. Please feel free to send your thoughts.
Reviewer 315 - Grant Applicant - applied in 2017
Having a conversation with the Executive Director in advance of developing an application was definitely worthwhile.
Positive leader in the field, Risk taker, Culturally sensitive, Insightful, Builds relationships, Likes site visits, Responsive
Pennsylvania
Current or former grantee
Funded for amount requested
2017
Good
Both the Executive Director and the office support staff were extremely accessible and helpful. They were responsive to questions and provided invaluable guidance.
Good
In my conversations with the ED, it was very clear what the foundation's priorities were and what the Trustees' reactions might be to our proposal. She was also very clear about the intersection of their priorities and my agency' efforts.
Keep it up. It's very refreshing to have a funder so involved. I found the application questions challenging and though provoking, but right on target.
Their focus is very specific. Pay attention.
Two things actually: They are responsive to emerging community need (i.e. adapting to the current political climate). And they are engaged with us as a partner in the work we are doing.
10
Thank you for helping us do our work better.
Grant Applicant - applied in 2017
The staff is helpful and want the grantees to succeed. They are open to conversation and helpful throughout the grant process.
Positive leader in the field, Culturally sensitive, Insightful, Builds relationships, "Gets" nonprofits and issues, Responsive
Pennsylvania
Current or former grantee
Funded for lesser amount
2017
Good
Good
The application process was clear and quick.
5
Thank you for taking a moment to review us.
