Objectives of our New Grantmaking System
On February 1, 2010 the Foundation re-opened its doors to new funding requests. We are very excited about the improvements we have made, and we believe that they will accomplish the major objectives that we established for our restructuring:
- To create a more dynamic grantmaking system, with a focus on the competitive assessment of proposals
- To make our grantmaking more strategic by placing a greater emphasis on solicited proposals in specific areas, while continuing to give serious consideration to unsolicited proposals
- To give our senior program staff more time to design strategic, large-scale initiatives
- To make our grant application process more efficient and user-friendly
- To draw a much clearer connection between Sir John Templeton's philanthropic vision and the work of the Foundation
Please explore our website to learn more about these important changes, but here are a few highlights:
- Core Funding Areas - We have reorganized and simplified the categories of What We Fund into five Core Funding Areas.
- 2010 Funding Priorities - We have created fourteen special Funding Priorities for the coming year, divided between our two grantmaking cycles (see below). Note that the Foundation will continue to accept funding inquiries based on the full range of our Core Funding Areas.
- Grantmaking Calendar - We have established two grantmaking cycles for the year, with specific submission windows. Online Funding Inquiries will be reviewed in a competitive environment with other requests received during the same cycle.
- Templeton Portal – We have improved our online portal for grant applications and grant management. The Templeton Portal is now open for the submission of Online Funding Inquiries.
