Frequently asked questions: Building Health Equity in Butler County RFP

No. At a minimum, the applying organization (that would serve as the grant lead) needs to be in and primarily serve Butler County. The project itself should focus services on Butler County.

bi3 will consider proposals from public entities. We encourage applicants to be clear about how private philanthropic dollars from bi3 will fill gaps or address barriers that cannot be addressed with public funding.

If the organization has separate 501(c)(3) nonprofit status and provides broader community support, it MAY be eligible through this grant program. Please reach out to us to discuss further. If the organization does not have separate 501(c)(3) status, it would likely be ineligible unless the program partners with TriHealth.  

In 2023, bi3 and its strategic partner TriHealth engaged a consultant to conduct a health and healthcare needs assessment. The populations of focus for this RFP align with the populations identified as having some of the greatest health needs and barriers to care in Butler County. Eligible proposals and projects must center at least one of the populations of focus.

Eligible proposals and projects must have an intentional focus on at least one of the identified populations. The population(s) of focus should be the primary service population, but not necessarily at the exclusion of others. Feel free to reach out to us if you would like to discuss your proposal further.

We understand that your proposal may cut across multiple funding priorities (e.g. maternal mental health). We ask that you select the funding priority that most closely aligns with your work.

There is no limit to the number of LOIs an organization can submit. It is unlikely, however, that bi3 will support multiple grants to one organization under the same RFP.

We have intentionally made the funding priority descriptions broad to allow for a broad scope of work to be supported. We look forward to developing a better understanding of the work happening in Butler County aligned to the focus areas. That being said, the closer the alignment to the funding priorities, the better. If you have questions about your proposal or project, do not hesitate to reach out to our team.

This RFP is open to both existing programs and new programs and approaches, so long as they are far enough in development or execution to produce measurable results within the grant cycle.

So long as your organization’s primary location/home base is in Butler County, you are eligible. As we are aiming to support Butler County-rooted organizations, we are not currently opening this proposal up to organizations primarily based in other counties that may have satellite offices in Butler County.

New organizations with at least one year or more of operating history are welcome to apply. All organizations invited to submit a detailed proposal will be evaluated on the adequacy and appropriateness of the budget and the organization’s capacity to support the proposed scope of work. Organizations will be required to submit financial documents, including a balance sheet, income statement, statement of cash flows, statement of functional expenses, and the most recent IRS 990. bi3 will also request the most recent audited financials (if available). If you have questions about the size of your grant request in relation to your organization’s size please reach out to bi3.

In order to be considered for a grant, either the organization or the organization’s fiscal sponsor must have 501c3 status. bi3 will consider fiscally sponsored proposals and projects on a case-by-case basis. Any group looking to leverage a fiscal sponsor should contact bi3 before beginning the application to vet basic alignment.

In most instances, a grant to primarily cover the healthcare costs of staff would not be eligible or competitive in the process. Within a broader project-based funding request, organizations can allocate up to 25% of the budget to cover indirect costs, which could include healthcare coverage. Recognizing the limited grant period (one to three years), your organization should consider how to sustain that coverage afterwards.

Most of our grants will fall within the $250,000 – 500,000 range. We are not likely to award grants far below $250,000 and even less likely to award grants above the range.

bi3 trusts that applying organizations know best what it will take to carry out their proposed work. Funds cannot be used for capital campaigns, healthcare levies, lobbying or political campaigns, endowments, or grants to individuals. Outside of those ineligible uses, funds can go toward supporting direct costs of the project (or costs the organization would not otherwise incur if the project or initiative did not exist) along with indirect costs (up to 25% of the requested grant amount).

While there is not a limit on the percentage of the budget that can be used for staffing costs, we encourage applicants to consider how they will sustain these staff positions after the grant period ends.

No, there are no rules or restrictions on the percentage of a program’s budget covered by bi3 funds. As with the answer above related to staffing costs, we encourage applicants to think about how the program will be sustained after the grant period ends.

Funds should be used to support people within Butler County.

Indirect and administrative costs of up to 25% of the grant request can be included in the budget. So, if your direct project costs come to $275,000, you could request up to $68,750 in indirect costs for a total grant request of $343,750. We recognize that incorporating indirect costs may push your budget above the $500,000 upper threshold. We will consider these requests on a case-by-case basis.

Currently funded bi3 grantee partners may apply for funding under this RFP so long as the proposal or project differs from what is currently funded.

The Letter of Intent is meant to be a concise introduction to your organization and project, not a comprehensive grant proposal. Aligned to our trust-based philanthropy practices, we aim to save grantees from spending time on unnecessary paperwork in the early vetting stages.

bi3 is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. We view data as an essential tool to practice this commitment. The data collected will help us understand how your organization reflects the communities it serves. This information is intended to help us understand the characteristics of bi3’s grant partners and equip our staff with critical information to track our progress toward bi3’s DEI commitment. Preference and prioritization criteria alone will not be used to decide the organizations invited to the detailed proposal phase, and not aligning to all criteria will not eliminate applications from consideration. These metrics will only strengthen already strong LOIs.

We understand that organizations may be at different phases of their racial and/or health equity journey. Organizations that have not considered racial or health equity at any level will likely not be strong candidates in the process given our explicit focus on equity and the identified populations of focus. 

Of course! Our team is here to answer your questions, whether they are general or technical in nature. Use the contact information provided to connect with the appropriate staff member.

Note: All LOIs and applications must be submitted through the online grants management system (Foundant). Due to our limited staff capacity, it is unlikely that we will be able to make exceptions to this rule or submit applications through the system on your behalf.

Once you save the LOI in the system the first time (it can be completely blank), you will see a “collaborate” button appear in the top right corner of your Foundant screen. If you click on that button, you will be able to invite individuals using their email addresses to work on the form with you. Please see this article for a step-by-step review of the process.

Once notified of their grant award, organizations selected for funding will have opportunities to connect with one another (in addition to our broader grantee base). We will provide more details about this in our grantee onboarding process. bi3 will not facilitate connection opportunities during the RFP stage. However, we always encourage cross-agency collaboration. 

Yes. The evaluation criteria are weighted in the review process. For the LOI, the primary criteria of eligibility and strength of alignment (both in terms of funding priority and focus population); clarity of purpose, goals, and potential impact are more heavily weighted than the preference and prioritization criteria.

Feedback will be included in decision-letters at both phases of the process.

Yes! Please visit the “Our Grants” page on our website to learn more about our current and past work and partners.