Tips for Submitting a Successful Grant Application

We receive ongoing requests for grant funding. Please understand we cannot fulfill every grant we receive as we are a small, grassroots nonprofit with a very small budget, and COVID has impacted our fundraising and memberships. Please submit a clear, concise application to have the best chance at being selected. For this reason, we are sharing the microgrant applications by invitation only to respond to natural disasters and critical needs only.

Here are some tips are created to help you submit a compelling and relevant application:
  • Think through your application and take the time to explain the project in simple terms - be thorough but clear. Write out your mission, project, and estimated timeline and proofread before you submit.
  • We cannot fund any grants that to not match the HWB vision and values, or that would put our nonprofit status in peril. 
  • We will fund projects that comply with our requirements as a nonprofit and that promote visibility of HWB in your community

Reasons your application may not be approved:
  • We have distributed all of the funds available already. 
  • The application was not filled out correctly or not detailed enough.
  • The project's social change or community action benefit is not communicated well.
  • The project does not align with the rules and regulations HWB must adhere to in order to maintain our 501c3 nonprofit status
  • The project budget is too large.
  • The timeline is not feasible for our current grant funding.
  • The project excludes marginalized peoples or is not inclusive and respectful of colonization, community self-determination or local traditions and culture
  • We had a large number of applicants and selected those that showed a clear community & HWB benefit.
  • You are not a current member of HWB.
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Grant Guidelines
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Microgrants Can:
  • Help your Chapter start a free clinic, host events, or promote your group at conferences or festivals
  • Help ensure sustainability of your work by building resilience or fundraising ability.
  • Support projects with a clear target audience, and a plan to reach and impact that target audience in a positive way!
  • Support projects that do not expect to earn profit, or where any income will be used for a purely charitable effort. 
We encourage projects that: 
  • Show a clear connection and visibility of Herbalists Without Borders 
  • Projects that are already active within Herbalists Without Borders
  • HWB Projects organized by members and Chapters (Such as Trauma Trainings, Medicinal Seed Saving, Community Gardens, Free People's Clinics, Community Apothecary)
We are unable to fund:
  • Projects that are not organized by at least one current HWB Member or Chapter.
  • We do not make grants to projects where the primary benefit is to the grantee or to any one individual.
  • We cannot support projects that influence the outcome of any specific election for candidates to public office, inducing or encouraging violations of law or public policy or causing any improper private benefit to occur.
  • Payments to the grantee or a member of the grantee’s family for their time or services.
  • We do not award grants that require grant payments via Moneygram, Western Union or any other cash-based payment systems and can only make payments outside the USA using bank wire transfer or Paypal to the account of the person or organization applying for funding. PayPal transfer is preferred. If you are in another country with rules about money transfers, we will try to work with you, but some transfer systems have large fees, and HWB does not have the funding to pay for large transfer fees. We prefer paypal. 
  • Funds to purchase vehicles - if you are starting a mobile clinic, please apply for the supplies and stocking needs, not the actual vehicle!

Note: Funds request is in USD (US Dollars). To find out the equivalent for your currency based on the current exchange rate in order to calculate your request, visit this calculator: Currency Exchange Calculator.

Thanks again for your vision and we look forward to reading your application!
​Good luck and thank you for your work in the world.
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