Food Security Instagrants

An Instagrant® can be awarded to local governments, hospitals, schools, nonprofits, for-profit organizations, chambers of commerce, libraries, churches, and other organizations working to address rural food insecurity in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, or Wyoming.

• Eligibility Requirement 1: Entity. Local governments, hospitals, schools, nonprofits, for-profit organizations, chambers of commerce, libraries, churches, and other organizations can accept an Instagrant®.
• Eligibility Requirement 2: Working in Food Insecurity. The entity is currently working to address food insecurity (or has an existing project that addresses food insecurity).
• Eligibility Requirement 3: A rural place. The proposed project will primarily support a community in a rural county, based on USDA’s nonmetropolitan classification.

Projects must address food insecurity in one or more rural communities of the Mountain West states of Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, or Wyoming. Projects in counties designated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service as rural will be considered eligible. We will consider projects led by organizations working in nonrural counties, or on a statewide or regional basis, only if the applicant(s) demonstrate how the project will benefit rural residents; they must also demonstrate understanding of the rural community and how they are well-positioned to design and implement the project to meet local needs.

We will use the USDA’s definition to distinguish urban and rural counties. Generally speaking, counties that are coded as 1 through 3 in the Rural-Urban Continuum Codes are considered nonrural. However, some counties that contain an urban area—or part of one—also have a large rural presence, and we will consider projects in these counties on a case-by-case basis.

Fiscally sponsored projects are eligible for funding. Informal community groups or organizations that do not yet have formal designation from the IRS as a nonprofit may be funded. If a project will be funded under a fiscal sponsorship, projects will need to provide the following information: (1) the fiscal sponsor’s name; (2) the fiscal sponsor’s tax ID (EIN); (3) the fiscal sponsor’s mailing address; (4) the primary contact for the project at the fiscal sponsoring organization’s name, title, and email address; and (5) an email message to LOR confirming the fiscal sponsor has agreed to serve in this role.

Nonprofits of all types, and businesses or other organizations with a charitable set of activities are eligible for an Instagrant. We know a variety of organizations are working to address food insecurity, but all projects must have a charitable purpose, rather than an individual or business benefit, to be eligible for an Instagrant.

Please note that projects led by businesses cannot result in a financial or general operating benefit to the business. In other words, all expenditures must be for the implementation of a project that benefits the community in a charitable way rather than for business improvement efforts. As such, businesses will be required to provide information about their operations including their legal status (like articles of incorporation, trust agreements, IRS documentation of classification or determination, or an organizing charter), and documentation of fiscal responsibility (like a copy of the latest IRS tax return or the most recent audited financial statement or bank statements), fiscal year start/finish dates, and areas of service. At the conclusion of the grant, businesses would need to provide itemized documentation demonstrating the charitable use of the funds. If such documentation has not been maintained or all of the activities were not charitable in nature, the business will receive a 1099 form at the end of the tax year and would need to treat the portion of the grant used for non-charitable activities as taxable income.

Organizations awaiting a 501(c)(3) determination letter and not-for-profit organizations that are not 501(c)(3)s, including 501(c)(4), 501(c)(5), 501(c)(6), 501(c)(7), 501(c)(19) are eligible for an Instagrant as long as project expenses are only for a charitable purpose. These entities include social clubs, associations, business leagues, social welfare groups engaged in lobbying, and chambers of commerce. The documentation requirements outlined in the previous paragraph would apply to these types of organizations as well.

Individuals and private foundations are not eligible for an Instagrant. But private foundations are encouraged to reach out to LOR’s chief business development officer, Alex Dunlop (alex@lorfoundation.org), if they are interested in supporting rural food insecurity projects.

Projects that are ineligible for a food insecurity Instagrant are those that:

• Exist as data collection-only projects or those that are exclusively focused on planning or developing a strategy.
• Use the grant funds to increase volume or capacity without demonstrating a change in operations that leads to improved delivery of services.
• Engage in lobbying or electioneering. LOR Foundation grant funds may not be used by an organization to intervene in any election or support or oppose any political party or candidate for public office, or to carry on propaganda, or otherwise to attempt to influence any legislation, within the meaning of Section 4945 of Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and the Treasury Regulations.
• Are designed to address a state or federal policy reform. While we are interested in understanding policy barriers to addressing rural food insecurity, an Instagrant is focused on addressing an operational issue of on-the-ground concern.

Proposed expenditures, e.g., equipment, meeting supplies, marketing, travel, etc. Note that professional services cannot include compensation costs for existing staff’s current work. If the project includes additional costs for part-time employees and/or non-exempt staff overtime, those should be noted separately in the proposed expenditures.

Activities and timelines, to include:

• The activities required and timeline for making the change funded by this grant.
• The expected timeline for when the change funded by this grant will result in a measurable change in the organization’s delivery of services.
• The expected date when the organization anticipates being able to report on the measurable change in service provision and the project’s impact.
• A plan for measuring the impact of the grant, as aligned with the Project Impact definition below.

A description of anticipated project impact, specific to the program the organization is focused on with the Instagrant, which should include:

• Current measures of service such as how much food the program delivers or serves, or number of people it serves.
• Current measures of operational requirements such as the current cost of operating the program, number of staff/volunteers needed, or other nonmonetary requirements.
• Future measures of service provision such as changes in food or people served as a result of the grant.
• Future measures of operations improvements such as ongoing costs of operation, staff and volunteers needed, or efficiency of reaching people following the expenditure of an Instagrant.

We will use several standards to assess potential projects for an Instagrant.

Standard 1: Aligned. The proposed project has a clear solution to address a rural food insecurity challenge as aligned with LOR’s Instagrant funding priorities:

• Address food insecurity through new projects or changes in operations that help organizations adapt their operations in order to make every dollar go as far as possible in addressing hunger. The project provides a solution responsive to an organization’s circumstances and the rural community it serves and helps reduce operating, purchasing, packaging, or distribution costs so that more people or more food can be served.

Standard 2: Measurable. The proposed project contains a clear plan to measure and report on the impact of the change.

• Measurement plan uses an approved metric, the plan would produce the pre/post-change data, and awardees can report on other forms of impact (e.g., storytelling) on their systems or the individuals they serve.

Standard 3: Feasible. The project has a high probability of success.

• The project has a clear, well-developed, and realistic plan for implementation. Activities, timeline, and budget are aligned, and there is strong evidence that the team has the capacity to successfully execute the project.
• The prospective grantee has an awareness of risks to the project’s success and has reasonably mitigated or accounted for those risks.

Standard 4: Learning potential. The project is likely to help others, including funders and practitioners, learn about this type of solution to rural food insecurity.

• The project presents a solution that solves a core challenge in an interesting way that presents a compelling case for further investment in the specific project (or ones like it).

Projects must be able to report on:

• Current measures of service (such as number of people served, pounds of food delivered, meals served, or number of items donated)
• Current operational costs or requirements, such as the number of staff or volunteers required, for the specific program supported by the grant.
• What the Instagrant funded specifically that helped reduce operating, purchasing, packaging, or distribution costs.
• How the Instagrant-funded solution helped make every dollar go further in addressing food insecurity through some change in process or operations.
• Changes to the delivery of service and associated operational costs made possible by an Instagrant.

Instagrant recipients will need to provide a short update via email or phone/Zoom call three months after starting the project to keep LOR informed about immediate successes and challenges. The final report will include specific measures of impact as outlined above. The final report will also ask for qualitative insights. At LOR we believe telling stories of rural people can be an effective way to encourage increased funding and resources from policymakers or other philanthropic organizations. As such, we will ask for your insights and stories of impact beyond quantitative data as well as your willingness to engage with media outlets who take an interest in this work.