Stage 1 includes submission of the following four items:

• Information form
• Letter of nomination
• Brief proposal answering the questions below
• Preliminary budget

Questions may be directed at any time to the NPO staff. Applicant questions will also be answered during two conference calls scheduled in May 13 and on May 20, 2008. Details and registration information will be posted at this website.

Ten sets—an original plus nine copies—of all Stage 1 materials must be mailed to the LFP Program Office at:

Local Funding Partnerships
c/o Health Research and Educational Trust of New Jersey
760 Alexander Road
Princeton, NJ 08543-0001

Each set must include a copy of the information form, the letter of nomination, the five-page brief proposal and the one-page budget. Faxes and e-mails will not be accepted. No additional materials such as brochures or videos will be considered.

At this website you may see examples of current projects and their local funding partners at Search for a Project, read the answers to Frequently Asked Questions about the application process, and download a pdf version of the Call for Proposals.

Information form

• Creating and printing the information form, the first page of your Stage 1 Brief Proposal package, is a 2-step process.
1. You must enter requested data into a web form on this website.
2. Approximately 1-2 business days after your data has been submitted, you will receive e-mail instructions for printing the final form which will include your unique applicant number assigned by the LFP office. Printing this copy is also done at this website.
• Create your information form here.

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Letter of Nomination
A local grantmaker must prepare an original letter of nomination recommending the local applicant’s project. The letter should affirm the grantmaker’s endorsement of the initiative and intention to work with the applicant and all potential funding partners to obtain the funding necessary to match RWJF funds. We welcome information regarding the nominating funder’s involvement with the development of this initiative, with the applicant agency, with other local coalition partners and with other interested local funders.

The letter of nomination should include the name and address of the local applicant and the name, telephone number and e-mail address of the contact person at the grantmaking (nominating) organization.

The local applicant for grant funds, in consultation with the nominating funder, must prepare a brief proposal answering the questions below and a one-page preliminary budget. The applicant must also file the online information form and include a completed hard copy in the application packet.

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Brief Proposal
The brief proposal is to be written in a question-and-answer format, answering the following questions in the following order. The total narrative—including the answers to all five questions—is not to exceed five pages. It should be printed in 12-point font, double-spaced with at least one-inch margins on all four sides of each page.

1. How would this project improve health or health care for people in your community who have been made vulnerable by social factors?
   
   Clearly describe the intervention you propose in the context of the need in your community, the number of people to be served and the systems you hope to influence. Demonstrate your capacity to execute the program and how the intended community’s health will be improved if you succeed.
2. How have local funders been engaged in the development of this idea?
   
   Discuss how local grantmakers became aware of this initiative and how they have been involved as your plans progressed.
3. How will collaboration with other organizations help to achieve the goals of your project?
   
   Explain how different groups will work together to address the identified health or health care problem. Include any ways in which you are already working together, as well as any roles or responsibilities you expect specific groups to assume in order to implement your plan.
4. How is this project innovative?
   
   Define how your intervention offers an original approach that addresses a complex, persistent problem in health or health care for people made vulnerable by social factors. Include any elements that would make the program a new national model with the potential to create meaningful improvement in other communities.
5. What, if any, additional information you wish to share?

If the applicant has previously received funding from RWJF, the brief proposal must clearly describe the difference between the proposed project and the project funded earlier. If any other proposal has been submitted to RWJF to support this project, report the status of that proposal.

Further explanation for each of these questions is available at Frequently Asked Questions.

A PDF copy and a Microsoft Word copy of these five questions are available for printing.

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Preliminary Budget
The one-page preliminary budget should:

• cover the entire three- or four-year period of the grant;
• estimate the total consolidated budget of the project;
• include funds from RWJF, matching grants and any other revenues; and
• be in a columnar format.

A sample budget is available in pdf form. View a quick list of eligible and ineligible budget items.

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