VFW FOUNDATION S HOME DEPOT FOUNDATION COMMUNITY IMPACT GRANT COMPLETION GUIDE ATTENTION: VFW POSTS -- TO APPLY FOR A HOME DEPOT COMMUNITY IMPACT GRANT, BEGIN BY GOING TO THE FOLLOWING WEBSITE: https://corporate.homedepot.com/grants/community-impact-grants Please, read through all information on the page before beginning the application so you will become acquainted with the process and the general rules. Do not worry that your Post is not a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. You can still apply as a 501(c)(19) nonprofit veteran s group. Toward the bottom of the web page, you will see a bold line that says, We are now accepting applications for the Community Impact Grants program. You may access an application using the links below and select NONPROFIT APPLICATION NOT GOVERNMENT APPLICATION. PLEASE NOTE: All questions must be answered exactly like the screen prints on each of the following pages. Failure to do so might jeopardize your Post s ability to receive a grant. Once you have begun the application try to complete it without saving, using the Save and Finish Later option does not always work correctly. Once you have clicked NONPROFIT APPLICATION you will arrive at the screen below. Click the New Applicant?, button circled in red above.
You will be brought to a page that looks like the one depicted below. Enter an email address you frequently check, create a password with at least five characters and click continue. Click the continue button to proceed.
At the next page you must enter a valid tax ID number to continue. Again, this does NOT need to be a 501(c)(3) tax number but can be your Post s 501(c)(19) number.
Once you have entered your nine digit EIN (Tax ID Number) you will be brought to the page seen below. Make sure to answer all of the questions as shown or you will not be able to proceed!
Once you have entered the correct answers you will be brought to Part 2 of the application. The header for the page looks like this:
The first section of Part 2 is, ORGANIZATION INFORMATION, a set of questions about your Post s name, contact information, and purpose. Let s look at the first three questions asked. Please note how the Legal Name of Organization field is completed in this example. Always write your
Post s name here as displayed in the example or how it is show on your annual tax statement. The second question is where you might write VFW Smith-Parker Post 99999. Most Posts are 501(c)19s, outside of a small handful which are 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4). If you are not sure what your Post s tax status is, check your most current tax status, IRS determination letter or call your Department. Be sure you select the correct answer before proceeding. The next five questions are all regarding your Post s basic contact information. Be sure to select a state abbreviation code via the dropdown box and use your Post s nine-digit zip code. If your Post does not have a website, just use www.vfw.org. The remaining questions are in regard to your Post s purpose. The first of these questions is Please select the organization type that best describes your organization. Make sure to select Veterans Organization. The next question pertains to your Post s mission statement. If your Post does not have an official mission statement then use VFW National s: Our Mission: To foster camaraderie among United States veterans of overseas conflicts. To serve our veterans, the military and our communities. To advocate on behalf of all veterans. Be mindful of the 100 word limit.
Next, the application asks directly for your Post s history and purpose. It says, Please briefly describe your organization s history, basic goals, and/or purpose.. This may require some writing skill on your part. Here is an example of how this question may be answered: VFW Post 1234 was founded in 1945 by returning World War II veterans. Our members, both male and female, range in age from 18 to 80+, and represent a broad cross section of our community. We are a Post in good standing with the National VFW which since 1899 has promoted the rights and dignity of U.S. combat troops and ensured that they are properly compensated for the personal sacrifices made to defend the freedoms of all Americans. Once you have completed the history and purpose question, you will need to provide your annual budget. It is advisable to check with your Quartermaster and/or Account to find the correct figure. Note the annotation, Please do not add text symbols, only numbers. Also you will need an exact dollar and cent figure, such as 50,000 and 00 in each respective box. Do not try and use a rage such as, 50-2000, it will not work. The last question in the ORGANIZATION INFORMATION Section is, What is the primary population group your organization serves? Select Veterans/Military from the dropdown menu. Once you have completed the ORGANIZATION INFORMATION Section, you will come to the ORGANIZATION PRIMARIY CONTACT Section. This section should have information about whoever has been decided to handle grants at your Post. It is often times the Commander or Quartermaster. Please note that the description reads This is the primary contact for your organization, not necessarily the contact for this project; the person listed here will be consistent for all grants awarded to your organization and is usually the person that signs the grant agreement (e.g. President, CEO, Development Director, etc.). The section following this one is PROJECT CONTACT INFORMATION. It is advisable to that the person who will oversee the discharging of any potential grant award from Home Depot Foundation should also be the person completing this grant request. While this is not always possible, it is more convenient. Again, make sure to use a nine-digit zip code. Please turn to the next page for an example of how to fill this section out.
The PROJECT CONTACT INFORMATION section should reflect the personal information of the person filling out the grant, or who will be handling the receiving of potential grant funding and reporting. It is NOT necessarily the Post Quartermaster or Commander unless that is the person filling competing the application. The application describes the Project Contact as, This is the primary contact or lead person for this project; this person is responsible for the project and is the primary contact for all communications and reporting requirements. Once again, be sure to use a nine-digit zip code. If you are not a Post officer, simply write Post Grant Contact in the title section. There is an option on the request There is a box you can click that says, Click here if the Project Contact is the same as Organization Primary Contact, if one person will be handling everything, this will transfer information from the Organization Contact section to this one without you having to enter everything in again. Please see the next page of this guide for an example of how this section should be filled out.
Following the contact information sections, you will find the PROJECT INFORMATION section. This is where you will answer questions regarding what your Posts needs funding for and how the project will be executed. The first question asks for a project title. Note that it should be fewer than fifteen words. It is recommend to keep this brief. They provide some examples in the question description. For our own example we are basing our project on the construction of wheelchair ramps, and have named this project Wheelchair Ramp Construction.
Next, the Home Depot Foundation wants to know how much you are requesting and subsequently asks how much your project is budgeted for. For this example we are requesting the maximum of $5,000 and our project budget is $6,000. Remember to not use dollar signs or commas. Try to identify a project that is no more that $8,000. In other words, if your project cost $50,000, Home Depot Might wonder how the Post will come up with the rest of the money (beyond the $5,000 maximum they give.) The next question is about your project s description. This question can only be answered in 200 words or less. As you can see from the example, you should make sure to mention how this project will help members of your Post and community. Home Depot Foundation provides this Community Impact Grant as it is intended to make your community a better place to live, do your best to make the case how your project will achieve that goal! In the next two fields, Home Depot asks for the project s start and end date. Be sure to make the project start date at least six weeks from when the day you submit your application. Also, your project s end date must be no later than six months from when you receive funding. Most projects should take a month or less to complete. When you arrive at the next question, simply enter your Post s city and states in their respective fields. After doing this, answer the next question Is your project location(s) considered to be part of a major metropolitan area? If the answer is yes, answer with the name of the metropolitan area closes to you or
answer N/A if you do not live near a major metro. All VFW applicants will answer the question; Please select the type of facility your project will be improving. The exact same way is the question, click the dropdown menu and select Community Building-Community Center (e.g. VFW, YMCA, Etc.), as shown below. The next question will vary from Post to Post.. Are you constructing a shed? Then select new Construction Are you removing dead trees from your property and purchasing landscaping equipment? If so, select Outdoor Beautification. Choose the answer that best fits the purpose of your project. For our wheelchair ramp example, Modifications to Increase Accessibility or Safety, has been chosen as shown below. You will need to describe how volunteers will be utilized to complete your project. To receive funding you must use volunteer labor. These can be Post members as well as other community members. This grant does not pay for contractors. Try to include language about how no one will be paid for the completion of your project as done below. Enter the total number of volunteers needed to complete your project below. It is recommended to enter at least eight, so Home Depot knows you have enough manpower to complete the project. The following question ask you to select your target population group. All Posts should select Veterans/Military from the dropdown menu. Once selected, the following message will appear below the question:
Next you will get a series of questions about your Post s nonprofit activities. The first of these asks for the total number of veterans potentially served by the completion of your project. Be sure to include all of your members in this figure as they will all benefit directly from increased accessibility of your Post, etc.. Also include all those whom might benefit from additional support contributed to VFW National programs and others who might be aided by your relief fund efforts, but be factual though. The question following the one about veterans benefiting from your project is about housing rehab and construction. This question does not apply to a VFW Post make sure to write 0. In this field. You will now be asked a question about which specific type of veteran population your project will serve. Select the option that best describes who the project will benefit. As a wheelchair ramp, our example, benefits anybody who requires the use of a mobility device, such as homeless disabled, elderly and generally disabled, the Homeless/Disabled/Elderly answer has been chosen below. Make sure not to choose None of the above, as your project will certainly help at least one of these special population types if not all of them, as demonstrated in the example. These are all of the questions that you will need to answer in regard to your project and organization. You will now need to select which Home Depot store you would redeem your gift cards at, which should be the store closet to your Post. If you already know this information go ahead and enter it in. Most likely you will need to use the store locator to identify the store number, but you may call the store as well. Review the image below and click on the word here (circled in red for easy identification) to open the store finder web page. Please turn to page to the next page of this guide for more instructions on using the store finder.
If you click here on the application, the website depicted below will open in a new tab on your browser. In this example it shows a map of the Kansas City metropolitan area but should display the area from your location Enter your zip code or city and state in the box circled in red under the Store Finder heading and click the magnifying glass icon. Once you have taken this step, a list of stores nearest to the location entered will appear under the search field (marked in a red rectangle in the below image), the store number will be to the right of the store name (indicated by double blue underlining in the example below).
Once you have determined the store number, city and state enter the information as depicted below. Ensure that all of the fields in on this page have been completed and click the Review, button at the very bottom of the application page. You may also click Save and Finnish Later, but we have received many reports that this does not always work and highly advise to complete this application in one session. After clicking next you will be brought to the attachments page, which looks like this:
Be sure to upload your Post s IRS determination (Or first page of your previous year s 990, which Home Depot Foundation also accepts) letter using the Choose File button. Once you click the button a prompt will come up allowing you to select the file from your computer. Choose the correct file and hit enter and then click the upload box. If you have correctly uploaded the file, the page should look something like this:
Now that your determination letter is uploaded click the Review button below. The review page will display all of the information you have uploaded and entered. Carefully review each entry and then click submit at the very bottom of the page. Your request has now been submitted! Best wishes and good luck with your request! P.S. Please contact Jason Couch at jcouch@vfw.org or 816-968-1174 if you have any questions at all concerning the application. I would be happy to help you!