2025 INSTITUTIONAL
GRANT CYCLE
The Tinker Foundation’s Institutional Grants program provides project funding to organizations working to improve the lives of Latin Americans. We strive to award much of our funding to organizations in the region.
CYCLE 1
Opens January 9
Democratic Governance, Education, and Sustainable Resource Management
- Letter of Inquiry Open Date:
January 9, 2025 - Letter of Inquiry Close Date:
January 20, 2025 (11:59 pm ET) - Full Proposal Submission Date (by invitation only):
March 27, 2025 (11:59 pm ET) - Final Decisions:
June 2025
Important Note
Tinker will open one grantmaking cycle in 2025
For more information please read this update.
WHAT
WE FUND
The Foundation funds research and advocacy, experimentation, scaling up of promising interventions, and exchange of knowledge and models – with the overarching goal of contributing to large-scale change in policy and practice. We award grants through three program areas that we have prioritized during the last decade because of their importance to the region. Click on the links below to learn more about our current priorities in each program area.
Funded activities may include, but are not restricted to, community engagement and capacity-building, applied research, measurement and evaluation activities, and workshops and conferences related to the Foundation’s areas of interest. We welcome collaboration among organizations in Latin America and prefer to fund institutions that are actively engaged with a broad array of stakeholders impacted by the identified challenge.
While the Foundation supports advocacy and policy-based work, as a private foundation we are unable to support certain types of activities related to legislation and lobbying. Please refer to the Overview of U.S. Lobbying and Political Campaigning Rules for Grantees prior to submitting letter of inquiry or proposal. Guidance on how to obtain funding for advocacy from private and public foundations is available from the Bolder Advocacy initiative.
ELIGIBILITY
CRITERIA
The Tinker Foundation provides grants only to organizations that are charitable in nature, i.e., with a United States 501(c)(3) tax status or its equivalent if the organization is located outside the U.S. Organizations from Latin America do not need to have United States 501(c)(3) status.
The project must be focused on the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries of Latin America, including:
- Argentina
- Bolivia
- Brazil
- Chile
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- El Salvador
- Guatemala
- Honduras
- Mexico
- Nicaragua
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Uruguay
- Venezuela
The project must fall under one of Tinker’s primary program areas:
Our funds may not be used for:
- Individuals, including individual research
- Direct or grassroots lobbying (see our Overview of U.S. Lobbying and Political Campaigning Rules for Grantees)
- Annual or other fund-raising appeals
- School tuition or scholarships, or child sponsorships
- Support for building construction or major equipment purchases
- Production costs for film, television, and radio projects
- Art museum collections, films, and exhibits
- Endowments
HOW TO APPLY
This Quiz allows us to determine if your organization qualifies for support from the Foundation.
Letters of inquiry will provide a brief description of your proposed project as well as an estimate of the project budget. See our blog post for a deeper exploration of our LOI process.
We invite a limited number of proposals from the LOI process, and not all requested proposals will receive funding. Applicants should follow the instructions for submitting a proposal.
APPLICATION DETAILS
Once you have reviewed the requirements for each step of the process, go to our Online Grants Portal to access the letter of inquiry and/or proposal form. Please note that the actual letter of inquiry and proposal forms are available only when the grant cycles are open.
The letter of inquiry (LOI) form on our online grants portal, Fluxx, begins with a series of eligibility criteria questions, shown here. Organizations that pass the eligibility quiz may proceed to the LOI section. If you have an individual login for your organization, you may submit an LOI directly within the portal using the login platform. You do not need to complete the eligibility quiz.
It is our policy to fund organizations with a charitable purpose, i.e., with United States 501(c)(3) tax status or its equivalent if the organization is located outside the U.S.
Project activities must take place in our areas of geographic interest.
We will fund only those projects aligned with our programmatic priorities.
Tinker does not fund these activities or entities.
The Letter of Inquiry (LOI) allows us to assess the appropriateness of the project and determine if a full proposal is warranted. We require an LOI to limit the time and effort applicants might otherwise spend preparing a full proposal that is not likely to be supported.
Please review the following guidelines before preparing your LOI and before accessing the site. Allow sufficient time to enter data into our online grant portal, Fluxx. Please note the actual letter of inquiry form is available only when the grant cycles are open.
There are two ways to access the letter of inquiry (LOI) form:
- WITHOUT LOGIN CREDENTIALS: You may submit an LOI by clicking the green button on our online Grants Portal page when the LOI period is open (see dates above). The form includes a series of eligibility questions to verify your eligibility. If you pass the eligibility requirements, you may submit an LOI during the open application period. The questions for the eligibility quiz and the letter of inquiry are available on our website. NOTE: You do not need login credentials to submit an LOI.
- WITH LOGIN CREDENTIALS: If you have an individual login profile for your organization, you may submit an LOI by logging into the online Grants Portal when the LOI period is open (see dates above). NOTE: If you have login credentials but choose to submit the LOI using the method described in #1, you must be logged out of the portal.
LETTER OF INQUIRY REQUIRED INFORMATION
Basic information about the organization
If your project includes a partnership of multiple organizations, one organization must assume responsibility for completing the application and receiving and managing the funds.
If your organization and/or project is working with a fiscal sponsor or agent, provide information about your organization/project. [Fiscal sponsorship is a formal arrangement in which a 501(c)(3) public charity sponsors a project that may lack tax-exempt status per the United States Internal Revenue Service.]
You will be asked to provide the following information in Fluxx:
- Does your organization have 501(c)(3) status in the U.S.? (If yes, you will be asked to provide the organization’s EIN).
- Does this application have a fiscal sponsor, or will another organization manage grant funds on your behalf? (If yes, please provide the fiscal sponsor/agent’s name)
- Organization name
- Legal Name
- Organization Mailing address
- Organization Email
- Organization Website Link
- Organization Phone Number
Basic primary contact information for the project
If your project includes a partnership of multiple organizations, one organization must assume responsibility for completing the application and for receiving and managing the funds.
If your organization and/or project is working with a fiscal sponsor or agent, provide information about your organization/project. [Fiscal sponsorship is a formal arrangement in which a 501(c)(3) public charity sponsors a project that may lack tax-exempt status per the United States Internal Revenue Service.]
You will be asked to provide the following information in Fluxx:
- Prefix/Suffix
- First and Last name
- Job Title
- Work phone (and extension if applicable)
A concise description (“title”) of your project (not a sentence!)
The project summary should include a brief overview of the activities and goals of your project, along with some contextual background information. Ideally, the summary should be no more than two pages (roughly 1,000 words) using single-spaced 12-point font. The system allows you to exceed that page length if necessary, but we strongly prefer a concise letter of inquiry. For this reason, in the LOI process, we do not accept additional information, such as graphics or other digital files. You may add/embed links to external sites within the summary to provide context (e.g., photos, videos, reports, etc.).
To avoid any problems with internet connectivity, we recommend that prepare your summary in a Word document and paste it into the online application. After doing so, please review the online form to ensure that paragraph breaks and other formatting elements have been maintained.
Country or countries where project effort is focused. (Please see the eligibility criteria section of our website for a list of eligible geographic areas. )
Yes/no
Yes, no, or N/A. We define international as grants you have received from outside the country you legally operate in. Enter N/A if you are a U.S.-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
Enter the anticipated expenses for the current fiscal year. If you are a university, you may enter your department/center budget.
Please include the total amount required to conduct the project over the total duration of the project.
Please include only the amount requested from the Tinker Foundation for the project’s duration.
The project start date should correspond to the Foundation’s approval cycle. Our Board of Directors meets in June and December to make grant funding decisions. Grant funds are generally distributed within two weeks of our regularly scheduled meetings.
We provide support for a maximum of 36 months.
Select Democratic Governance, Education, Sustainable Resource Management, or Other. Please read our program area guidelines and choose the correct program area.
Select from a menu.
After reviewing all the letters of inquiry, we invite a limited number of organizations to submit a full proposal. The proposal allows us to understand each project more deeply and confirm its fit with Tinker’s programmatic priorities. Although we limit the number of proposals we accept, an invitation to submit a proposal is not a guarantee of funding. In practice, we typically fund one-third to one-half of the proposals we receive. Final decisions are based on our assessment of the programmatic relevance and potential impact of each project, as well as institutional strategic and financial considerations.
Please review the following guidelines before preparing your proposal and before accessing the site. Allow yourself enough time to enter data into our online grant portal, Fluxx. Please note that the proposal form is available only when the grant cycles are open and if you have been invited to submit a full proposal.
The Full Proposal in our online grant portal consists of five required sections with the following required information.
1. Organization and Contact(s) Information Verification
-
- Questions on proposal form:
- Does this grant include a Fiscal Sponsor? (yes/no)
- Does this grant include a Fiscal Sponsor? (yes/no)
- Organization record form (There may be more fields on the form itself but the following fields are required)
- Organization Contact Information
- Mailing address
- Phone number/fax
- Website link
- Primary Contact
- Financial and legal contact information
- Organization Contact Information
- Year legally incorporated
- Organization Mission
- Brief description of history, goals, and recent activities (limit to 500 words)
- Social media links
- Number of full-time staff
- Most Recent Annual Organizational Budget (in U.S. dollars)
- Fiscal year start and end dates
- Board Members
- Enter Board member’s name, employer, job title, and country of residence
- Tax Information
- Legal Name of Organization
- U.S. Tax ID/Class (if applicable)
- Country where charity is incorporated
- Local charity number (non-U.S. organizations)
- Organization Documents
- Most recent audited or unaudited financial statements (it may be in a language other than English)
- Current organizational operating budget (please include both revenue and expenses; it may be in original language and currency)
- A list of recent donors to your organization (Specify amount awarded and year granted. Provide contact information for at least one donor.)
- 501(c)(3) status. U.S. organizations must upload their most recent 990
- Organizations without 501(c)(3) status/non-U.S. organizations must upload the institution’s by-laws, charter, and/or other governing documents (it may be in a language other than English)
- Organizations without 501(c)(3) status/non-U.S. organizations must submit a certificate of registration or other evidence of their non-profit/charitable status (it may be in a language other than English)
- *Applicable only if your organization/project has a fiscal sponsor or agent*: Upload the mutual agreement between the parties.
- Organization Contact Information
- Organization record form (There may be more fields on the form itself, but the following fields are required)
- First and last name
- Title
- Questions on proposal form:
2. Project Information
-
- Project Title:
- A concise description (“title”) of your project (not a sentence!)
- Project Summary
- Brief description of objectives, target audience or beneficiaries, methodology, and plan for disseminating results
- Project start date:
- If your grant is approved by our Board of Directors, project funding will be released within four weeks following our regularly scheduled Board meetings in June and December.
- Project duration (in months):
- Tinker will fund projects for a maximum of three years.
- Total project budget (annual and cumulative), in U.S. dollars.
- Total amount requested from Tinker (annual and cumulative), in U.S. dollars
- Project Title:
3. Geographic Region(s) Focus
-
- Country or countries where project effort is focused. (Please see the eligibility criteria section of our website for a list of eligible geographic areas.)
4. References
-
- Names and contact information of up to three individuals that Tinker could contact about the value of the project and the organization’s capacity to conduct it. (These individuals should not be directly involved in the project.) Briefly indicate the perspective they would be able to provide. Please do not submit letters of reference unless requested by Tinker staff.
5. Proposal Documents
-
- Narrative, generally between 10 and 15 pages in length. Upload to Fluxx as a single document. The narrative section should include the following information:
- Background and contextual information on the issue the project is addressing. Provide context on how your relationship with the communities or people affected by your work and how their perspectives inform the proposed project.
- The project objective and its practical and/or policy-related significance
- Description of the evidence base informing the design of the project (e.g., how you are drawing on your organization’s own experience and/or that of others, established models, etc.) and any key hypotheses you plan to test through the work. Indicate if the project seeks to experiment with new tools or approaches.
- Plan of work describing the specific activities to be conducted. Indicate factors that could potentially delay the plan, change the length of time required to complete the project, or alter the human and financial resources required. This may be presented in a table or workplan format.
- Anticipated outcomes of the project, both short- and long-term, and how these will be assessed. Describe how will you determine if the project is on track and whether progress is being made toward short- and long-term outcomes. If the project includes plans for formal monitoring and/or evaluation, describe the mechanisms and tools to be used. Supplemental materials may be included as an appendix or uploaded separately.
- Relevant experience and capabilities of the organization for the execution of the project. Include brief descriptions of the qualifications of the project director and other project personnel. Curricula vitae should be submitted as attachments. If the project requires the organization to build or incorporate new capabilities, please explain the plan for doing so.
- Plan for dissemination indicating the target audience(s) and how it (they) will be reached and engaged.
- Address any additional questions requested by Tinker upon inviting the proposal.
- Tinker Project Budget. Use the Tinker-provided template and show the total project costs and amounts requested from Tinker. The annual amounts requested from Tinker should be expressed in whole numbers rounded to the nearest thousand. For example, a request should be $35,000, not $35,254.20, or $36,000, not $35,854.20.
- Budget categories will include but are not limited to personnel, travel and per diem, meetings and publications, and equipment and supplies
- Line items labeled “other” or “miscellaneous” should be explained in the budget narrative.
- Indirect costs must be project-related expenses and cannot exceed 15% of the project budget unless otherwise approved by the Foundation. Indirect costs may include only those costs attributable to implementing grant-funded activities. Program officers analyze indirect cost requests as part of their overall review of project budgets and approve them on a case-by-case basis.
- Capital expenses. Please note that we rarely fund capital equipment purchases on any single tangible item with a useful life of more than one year and a value equal to or greater than $5,000. If you have any questions, please contact us. However, if your organization has 501(c)(3) status, capital purchases are allowable at the discretion of the program officer and are analyzed as part of the overall review of project budgets. If you have any questions, please contact us.
- The Tinker Foundation does not fund activities that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service defines as lobbying. For more information, see our Overview of U.S. Lobbying and Political Campaign Rules for Grantees.
- Project Budget Narrative. Use the Tinker-provided template to provide context for the requested project budget.
- Curricula vitae of the project director and other key project personnel.
- Narrative, generally between 10 and 15 pages in length. Upload to Fluxx as a single document. The narrative section should include the following information:
TINKER FOUNDATION
Online Grants Portal
FAQs
How do we learn more about Tinker Foundation's past grants?
Information about our previous grants can be found in the Grants Database.
What are typical grant amounts?
Generally, we award grants for up to three years with annual payments that range between $50,000 and $150,000. Amounts and duration may vary by program area so be sure to review individual program strategy statements for the most current information. We also welcome requests for smaller grants to support more bounded projects or to complement other resources.
What is your capital expense policy?
We rarely fund capital equipment purchases on any single tangible item that has a useful life of more than one year and a value equal to or greater than $5,000. If you have any questions, please contact us. However, if your organization has 501(c)(3) status, capital purchases are allowable at the discretion of the program officer and are analyzed as part of the overall review of project budgets. If you have any questions, please contact us.
What percentage of a project budget can we request?
In some cases, we will serve as the sole funder of a project but we are receptive to and supportive of co-funding arrangements that allow us to contribute to a project that may exceed our funding capacity.
What is the maximum duration of a project?
We may provide support for a maximum of three years.
Do you provide general support grants?
Given our size and strategy, the Foundation currently focuses its grants on project support. However, you may consult with one of our program officers to discuss the specific needs of your organization.
Are there deadlines for submitting my funding request?
Yes. The deadlines for the current year are posted on our website and our online grants portal.
If we already have an open grant, can we apply for support for another project?
We prefer to close out a prior grant before considering a new request. However, requests to submit a new application while an organization has an open grant may be considered on a case-by-case basis. Contact your program officer to discuss.
Does the Tinker Foundation accept applications for projects in multiple countries or with regional impact?
We welcome proposals addressing regional, transnational, and comparative approaches.
Can Tinker Foundation grant funds be used to meet donor matching requirements?
Yes. The Foundation encourages grantees to seek matching or additional funds to diversify funding sources and fully fund the cost of the project.
Whom should we contact at Tinker if we have questions during the application process?
Contact our Grants Manager (Grants[at]tinker[dot]org), with any administrative questions regarding due dates, reporting, or the online portal (Fluxx), etc.
Contact the program officer to discuss project details or if you have substantive questions regarding the project.
Can the Tinker Foundation make a grant to organizations other than United States 501(c)(3) public charities?
Yes. Tinker Foundation will assume expenditure responsibility for grants to non-501(c)(3) entities. For more information on expenditure responsibility, please click here.
Does the Tinker Foundation support fiscally sponsored projects?
Applicants with a fiscal sponsor are eligible for funding.
Do you make grants to for-profit organizations?
In most cases, no. We do not accept unsolicited inquiries from for-profit organizations.
Does the Tinker Foundation make grants to individuals?
No.
Does the Tinker Foundation make grants to network/partnership/consortium organizations?
Yes. However, one organization must assume administrative and fiscal responsibility for the entire project. Consulting contracts or agreements between the network/partnership/consortium organizations are required.
Can Tinker Foundation Funds be used for lobbying activities?
Tinker Foundation grant funds may not be used for lobbying expenditures. Please review the Overview of U.S. Lobbying and Political Campaigning Rules for Grantees.
How should we proceed if the project fits into more than one program area?
Select the program area that best fits your project. Foundation staff will coordinate internally to confirm program alignment.
What is a letter of inquiry?
Can I submit the letter of inquiry in a language other than English?
Who reviews the letter of inquiry?
How can I access the letter of inquiry form?
There are two ways to access the letter of inquiry (LOI) form.
1. WITHOUT LOGIN CREDENTIALS: You can submit an LOI by clicking the green button on our online Grants Portal page when the LOI period is open (see dates above). The form will show a series of eligibility questions that will verify your eligibility. The eligibility test questions and LOI are available on our website. NOTE: You do not need login information to submit an LOI.
2. WITH LOGIN CREDENTIALS: If you have an individual login profile for your organization, you can submit an LOI by logging into the Grants Portal. This is possible only when our LOI period is open (see dates above). NOTE: If you have login credentials but choose to submit the LOI using the method described in #1, you must be logged out of the portal.
I am a fiscally sponsored project. What information should I include in the letter of inquiry?
If the project is working with a network/partnership/consortium of organizations, what information should I include in the letter of inquiry?
Can I submit multiple letters of inquiry for different projects?
Should the letter of inquiry describe the concept of a new project or do you fund projects that are already in progress?
What if we are uncertain about the level of funding at the letter of inquiry stage?
We have a letter of inquiry that appears to fit within Foundation guidelines. Should we set up a meeting with Foundation staff to present our idea?
Why can’t I add information for more than one contact for the letter of inquiry?
It would be helpful to add multimedia to describe my project. Will I be able to do this?
What happens once the letter of inquiry is submitted?
Would I be able to receive feedback if my letter of inquiry has not been successful?
Would I be able to apply again if my letter of inquiry was not successful?
I am a fiscally sponsored project. What information should I include in the proposal?
If your organization/project is fiscally sponsored, the project and the fiscal sponsor will need to submit organization documentation. [Per the United States Internal Revenue Service, fiscal sponsorship is a formal arrangement in which a 501(c)(3) public charity sponsors a project that may lack tax-exempt status.]
Can I submit the proposal in a language other than English?
As a matter of general policy, materials should be submitted in English except for some of the attachments as indicated in the proposal guidelines. However, if this presents a significant challenge, please reach out to your program officer to discuss. In some cases, Tinker Foundation program officers may accept proposals in Spanish or Portuguese.
Some of the project details have changed since I submitted the letter of inquiry. Can I modify the letter of inquiry?
Although you cannot modify the letter of inquiry, you will be able to provide new information and/or updated numbers in the proposal stage. Inform the Tinker program officer if the project has changed significantly from the concept described in your letter of inquiry.
Do you have a project budget template or can we use our budget format?
Tinker uses a project budget template that asks for the total project costs, amounts requested from Tinker, and other funding sources (if applicable). Budget categories can include but are not limited to personnel costs including fringe benefits, travel and per diem, meetings and publications, and equipment and supplies.
Can we include bank transaction costs in the budget?
You may request funds for bank transaction costs.
Can we include annual salary increases in our project budget?
If your organization provides annual salary raises, you may reflect that in your budget.
What happens once the proposal is submitted?
Once a proposal is received, proposals will be reviewed by the program staff. In some cases, Tinker staff may contact you with questions. All final funding decisions are made during the Tinker Board of Directors meetings in June or December.
Would I be able to receive feedback if my proposal has not been successful?
We strive to give feedback to all proposal submissions as we understand the time and effort it takes to submit a full proposal.
Do I need to complete the proposal in one session?
At any time during the application process, you may click the “save” button, exit the system, and return at another time to complete your submission.
How do I return to an incomplete proposal that I saved but have not yet submitted?
To access a saved proposal in progress, log into the Grants Portal using your username and password. We recommended that you bookmark the page to return easily to your work.