APPLICATION PROCEDURES AND GUIDELINES

Requests made to the A. J. and Sigismunda Palumbo Charitable Trust should include a cover letter along with the Grant Application Form.  Supplemental materials that provide background information of the sponsoring organization, a listing of the Board of Directors/Trustees/Officers/Administration (as applicable) of the organization, the most recent financial statements (monthly or quarterly), the latest year-end financial statements (including income and balance sheet statements), and the current year’s budget (if available) should be included.  Printed materials such as brochures are recommended.

Special Note: The Trust does not fund operational expenses or indirect costs.                                                                                                                                                                                                    

 The Trust may only consider requests from organizations that are exempt from income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the federal income tax code and are classified as not being a private foundation under section 509(a)(3) of the federal tax code.  Each applicant must present evidence of its charitable, tax-exempt status by submitting a copy of the current IRS determination letter.  The request must also include information indicating that any contributions made to it by the Trust will meet the requirements of a “qualifying distribution” as defined by the Internal Revenue Code and that it will not be considered a “taxable expenditure” by the Trust and its trustees.

The Board of Trustees meets in March each calendar year to consider and to act upon (either favorably or unfavorably) each request submitted and acknowledged as having been received on or before November 30* of that preceding year.  Decisions on all requests will be made known by a letter through the mail after the trustees have met and considered the proposal.

Those who receive a grant from the Trust are required to submit a Common Grant Report by December 31 (of the year of the grant) indicating how and when the grant funds were expended.  If the funds will not be used and a report cannot be submitted by December 31, the organization must submit (instead of the report) a letter indicating the progress of the program/project and request a waiver to extend the deadline of the final report until June 30.  The request for the extension must be received by December 31 and will be reviewed before the extension is granted.  However, the final Common Grant Report must be submitted no later than June 30 (of the year following the year of the grant). Failure to submit a final grant report will result in the organization being ineligible to apply for another grant for a period of two years.  Specific requirements for the Common Grant Report will be provided by the Trust when the grant is given.  

A site visitation by the Executive Director or a trustee may be scheduled after a grant has been approved.  This visitation, along with the Common Grant Report, will confirm the status and measure the ultimate success of the funded program or project.

Preference will be given to requests submitted by organizations located in the Western Pennsylvania area but will not necessarily be restricted to that area.

The Grant Application should be mailed to:

John W. Kowach, Executive Director

A. J. and Sigismunda Palumbo Charitable Trust

1659 Rt. 228, Suite 4

Cranberry Township, PA  16066

(The application information can be emailed, but a hard copy must also be mailed to the address above.)

*The date for submitting a grant application is November 30, and the application will only be considered if all of the information is submitted on or before the deadline.