Gill Foundation | Advocates for LGBT Equality

Submission Instructions:

• Installment disbursements are made at the discretion of the State Equality Fund donors, and are contingent on timely receipt of reports, satisfactory progress toward the outcome(s), and the viability of plans.
• To review your original outcome(s) and benchmarks, please reference the most recent letter from the Gill Foundation titled “State Equality Fund Outcomes and Benchmarks.”
• Cycle 1 reports are due by April 15^th of each grant year, Cycle 2 reports are due by September 15^th of each grant year.
• Submit all reports by the specified date to Grantreports@tides.org and stateequalityfund@gillfoundation.org, and include your grant ID in the subject line.
• For program-related questions, beyond financial or administrative, contact Elizabeth Akalin at stateequalityfund@gillfoundation.org.

Compliance Instructions: For additional details on Compliance Instructions, please refer to the attached Legal Compliance Checklist

• Because no portion of the grant may have been used for partisan electoral/candidate work, do not include any discussion of this in reports submitted to the State Equality Fund.
• References to direct or grassroots lobbying activities may not be discussed in your report outside of the lobbying question.  Lobbying activities discussed in this section should be qualified with a statement indicating that the information is included for contextual purposes only, and no State Equality Fund grant dollars were used for lobbying activities.
• Please do not refer to affiliated 501(c)(4) entities when describing activities conducted by your 501(c)(3) organization.  Your 501(c)(3) entity is the grant recipient.
• Please submit an Allocated Project Budget indicating actual expenses and income for the year you are reporting on.  Please ensure that the document is titled “Allocated Project Budget”, and an officer has signed, dated, and indicated his/her title on the document.  The budget must clearly indicate a section for lobbying, even if the amount is $0.  If your original grant included an outcome seeking a state, county, or municipal legislative policy change, and your lobbying allocation is $0, please explain on the budget how you have pursued the legislative outcome without spending money on lobbying.
• If your organization operates using a fiscal sponsor, please note that your fiscal sponsor must submit or otherwise approve your report.  An officer of your fiscal sponsor must also sign your Allocated Project Budget.

Progress Report Requirements: For multi-year grant recipients only

Progress Reports are required for each year of a multi-year grant except the final year.  For your progress report, please submit the following:

A) Basic Information:

1. Operating name of organization:
2. If fiscally sponsored, name of fiscal sponsor:
3. Name of organization as printed on IRS 501(c)(3) Determination Letter (if different):
4. Name, telephone, and e-mail address of Executive Director:
5. Name, title, telephone, and e-mail address of contact person (if different):
6. Mailing address, fax number, and physical address (if different):
7. Website:
8. Reporting period:
9. Re-print your outcome(s) as stated in the most recent letter from the Gill Foundation titled “State Equality Fund Outcomes and Benchmarks”.  This is the outcome for which you were funded:

B) Report Narrative: Please answer the following questions in a narrative, not to exceed four pages. Reprint each question as a header for each section:

1. As it relates to your organization and the achievement of your outcome(s), what, if anything, has changed?
2. As it relates to the achievement of your benchmark(s) and/or outcome(s), what non-lobbying strategies worked?
3. As it relates to the achievement of your benchmark(s) and/or outcome(s), what non-lobbying strategies did not work?
4. If the original proposal discussed lobbying activities, and in order to provide report context, discuss these strategies. Please state that lobbying activities are included for contextual purposes only, and that no State Equality Fund grant dollars were used for these activities.
5. Have you achieved your outcome(s)?  Please Answer Yes or No.  If the answer is no, explain why and when it will be achieved.
6. Is there anything else that should be reported?
7. If you could communicate directly to the State Equality Fund donors in a couple sentences, what would you say?

C) Attachments: Please submit the following documents as attachments to the narrative:

1. Your organization’s most recent audit
2. Your organization’s current-year budget
3. The most recent Allocated Project Budget showing actual expenses and income.  Please note the above Compliance Instructions when formatting your Allocated Project Budget.
4. Legal Compliance Checklist

Report Attachment: Legal Compliance Checklist

Please return this form with your report.  Your executive director should initial all items on this form after your report is assembled, indicating compliance.  These are the most frequent mistakes we see.  Please carefully review each item.

1. Correct Name Use: I have carefully reviewed all documents to be submitted with this report to ensure that the name of an affiliated 501(c)(4) is never mistakenly used when the reference is to our 501(c)(3) organization.  Initials: ________
2. Lobbying References Qualified: I have carefully reviewed all documents to be submitted with this report to ensure that there is no reference to direct or grassroots lobbying outside of the lobbying question.  In addition, no lobbying references appear without the express qualification that the information is presented for context only, and that no State Equality Fund grant dollars were used for lobbying.               Initials: ________
3. No Careless References: I have carefully reviewed all documents to be submitted with this report to ensure that the following terms are not used except to refer to lobbying or non-electoral activities, and that all such references are appropriately qualified if even allowed:  candidates, civic engagement, election, district, legislator, grassroots (this implies grassroots lobbying to the IRS), lobby day, target, voter, and voter list.  References to specific legislation, specific legislators, and to meetings or contact with any legislator should also be qualified as lobbying or contain an explanation to demonstrate that no lobbying is involved. Initials: ________
4. No Partisan Electoral References: I have carefully reviewed all documents to be submitted with this report to ensure that they contain no reference to efforts to support or oppose a candidate for public office, including any of the following: partisan voter identification work, partisan or single-issue voter guides and voter education, partisan voter registration, partisan get-out-the-vote efforts, partisan or single-issue candidate debates or forums, and partisan candidate education.  If non-partisan voter registration activities are included, there is a qualification that no State Equality Fund grant dollars will be used for that activity.  Initials: ______
5. Allocated Project Budget: An “Allocated Project Budget” is submitted indicating actual expenses and income for the year that I am reporting on.  That exact name appears on the document, and officer has signed, dated, and indicated his/her title.  If we operate using a fiscal sponsor, an officer of our fiscal sponsor organization has also signed the budget.  A section for lobbying is included, even if the amount is $0.  If our original grant included an outcome seeking a state legislative or municipal change, and our lobbying allocation is $0, we have included an explanation on the budget as to how we have pursued a legislative outcome without spending money on lobbying.   Initials: ________
6. Correct Grant Making Entity: While Gill Foundation programmatically staffs the State Equality Fund on behalf of its donors, I understand that Tides Foundation is the grant making entity and that it is incorrect to refer to this as a Gill Foundation report or grant.  Initials: ________