Northeast Delta Dental Foundation Application Guidelines

From the Foundation’s Operations Manual

The Foundation shall evaluate each application for contributions, grants, or scholarships on its merits.

In keeping with the spirit of the mission, vision, business, and value statements of Delta Dental Plan of Maine, Delta Dental Plan of New Hampshire, and Delta Dental Plan of Vermont, the Foundation aspires to partner with community organizations and programs that share its passion for increasing access to, and quality of, oral health care in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Northeast Delta Dental Foundation contributions, grants, and scholarship funding are awarded to organizations that:

• Have nonprofit 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) status or are governmental or academic institutions.
• Do not discriminate by race, sex, religion, color, creed, age, national origin, or any other protected class.
• Are involved in projects or activities that address one or more of the stated objectives of Northeast Delta Dental Foundation’s funding guidelines.

The Foundation shall evaluate each application for contributions, grants, or scholarships on its merits, in keeping with the following guidelines:

• Only applications requesting funds related to oral health will be considered.
• Awards may take the form of financial, technical, or human resources, or some combination of the three.
• Award objectives will concentrate on supporting the following types of oral health initiatives:
  • Educational programs enhancing the awareness of good oral health, with particular focus on children, the elderly, the indigent, or other populations with identified oral health needs.
  • Oral health care programs that are preventive in nature and are aimed at decreasing the incidence, prevalence, and severity of dental disease.
  • Dental clinics or centers established as a 501(c)(3) or Federally Qualified Health Center working to make oral health care more accessible and affordable to people in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Most typically, this takes the form of helping with the costs of equipment and dental supplies.
  • The education of dental health professionals through scholarships and the continuing education of dental health professionals through financial support, particularly to enhance the availability and retention of such dental health professionals in the states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.
  • Research efforts that will improve oral health by enhancing the art and science of dentistry, address an oral health disease or issue impacting one or more of our states, or that will lay a sound groundwork for oral health initiatives.
  • Improve dental health workforce through scholarship and loan repayment programs.

Contributions

The Foundation prefers to make contributions based on a one-year commitment. However, in certain circumstances the Foundation may commit to make contributions for a period of years. The Foundation shall consider the programs and services offered by the applicant/organization, its constituents, its accountability, and its fundraising practices.

Contributions generally shall be awarded in the form of grants for: (1) charitable programs to extend the benefits of dentistry to indigents and groups found to be dentally deprived; (2) educational programs for the advancement of dentistry and oral health; and (3) programs designed to promote the oral health of the public; and (4) dental research projects promising to lead to improving the quality of dental care delivered; in each case, in the states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

In determining whether the Foundation should support a particular organization, the Foundation Advisory Committee shall ascertain what other funding support the organization is receiving, including corporate support from Delta Dental Plan of Maine, Delta Dental Plan of New Hampshire, and Delta Dental Plan of Vermont, if applicable.

The Foundation Advisory Committee shall also consider whether the mission of an applying organization relates to a particular oral health need identified to be a focus of the Foundation, Delta Dental Plan of Maine, Delta Dental Plan of New Hampshire, and Delta Dental Plan of Vermont.

The Foundation will not support initiatives unrelated to oral health.

Additional Information

Award Frequency and Amount

Typically, grants are awarded for one year, and an organization receives no more than one grant a year. Applications for additional years must be submitted annually, accompanied with an annual outcomes report.

Grants of more than $5,000 are less typical than those most often awarded by the Northeast Delta Dental Foundation. Especially as the amount of the grant for which the applicant is applying increases, the expectation is that the information required during the application process will be well documented and detailed, with particular attention to how the Foundation will be recognized for its financial support.

Application Process

First-time applicants may contact Northeast Delta Dental with questions before submitting an application, but please only do so after a thorough review of the guidelines provided to all applicants.

Please do not contact Northeast Delta Dental about working with you to establish an oral health program on the basis of which you will apply for funds. Regrettably, while we would be happy to help you, we do not have the staffing resources to work with you to set up your oral health program. We most often award grants to oral health programs that are established. If not established, they should be well planned and have other funders committed before you apply.

The applying organization has the sole responsibility for completing and submitting the Northeast Delta Dental Foundation application truthfully and accurately.

No request for Foundation funds will be considered without the submission of a completed application.

Please use our online application process only, and please do not submit the same documents in hard copy. To be environmentally sensitive, we are cutting down on our paper processes.

Often additional information to support an application is requested after initial review, especially for first-time applicants; and a site visit may be requested.

Timing of Grant Awards

All applications are reviewed by the Foundation Advisory Committee. Applications of $2,000 or less will be considered throughout the year and may be approved by that committee.

Applications of over $2,000 will be referred to the Foundation Board of Directors by the Foundation Advisory Committee with their recommendations. Currently, the Foundation Board of Directors meets twice annually. The deadline for applying is approximately six weeks before a Board meeting, but applicants are encouraged to submit their applications even further in advance in consideration of the high volume of administrative work that reviewing applications requires.

Meeting dates and associated deadlines vary from year to year. The deadline for the next Foundation Board meeting is posted on our website.