Rockwell Fund, Inc.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Rockwell Fund Does and Does Not Support

My organization is not in the Houston area. Is it eligible for a grant?

While Rockwell Fund has no legal restriction against making grants outside of Houston, it does not do so with the exception of our rural library program and a few others. Applicants from outside the Houston area are encouraged to first submit an Inquiry Letter to determine whether the Trustees would be interested in entertaining a complete proposal.

What kinds of organizations do you support? 

Rockwell Fund makes grants only to organizations that are described in Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3) (and that are not private foundations or types I or II support organizations) and, occasionally to qualified publicly owned service providers such as universities, hospitals and the like.

What fields of interest are funded? 

While our special emphasis is education, we also fund community health and human service projects. We make relatively few grants in the arts, civic, environment and historic preservation areas. As in the case of applicants for grants outside of Houston, applicants in the areas of art, civic, environment and historic preservation are encouraged to submit a proposal letter before going to the effort of a full grant application.

My arts organization wishes to apply for a program that will target school-aged children.  Would that place our application in the education category? 

We categorize such requests according to the status of the applicant. If the applicant is a performing arts organization, we consider it within our budget for the arts. If the applicant is an organization primarily devoted to education, we consider it in that category.

What type of support is funded?

Most of the awards made by Rockwell Fund are for general operating support, program or project support. Less often, grants are made for capital improvements. Grants are rarely made for endowments.

Do you fund specific target population groups such as the elderly, children, persons who are homeless, persons with AIDS, victims of domestic abuse, etc.?

We fund all of these in addition to the general population. We do not limit our funding to any particular groups.

Are there geographical areas, projects and program areas for which Rockwell Fund will not make grants? 

As a rule we do not fund the following: 

  • Individuals
  • Underwriting for benefits, dinners, galas, golf tournaments or other fundraising or special events
  • Direct mail or other mass solicitations
  • Annual fund drives
  • Medical or scientific research projects or organizations that target a specific disease
  • Parochial or private primary and secondary schools
  • Construction of houses of worship
  • Government agencies
  • Grants that impose the exercise of “expenditure responsibility” upon Rockwell Fund, for example, private operating foundations or certain support organizations
  • Organizations outside of Texas, including those outside of the United States

Can I get a college scholarship from Rockwell Fund?

We do not award scholarships directly to individuals. We have, in the past, endowed scholarship funds at universities. Some of those funds bear the names of our foundation or one of the members of its founding family. Those institutions select the individual scholarship recipients.

How to Apply

Our organization has never received funding from Rockwell Fund. Before submitting a grant request, may we discuss our needs with your staff to see which one has the best chance of being funded?

We invite you to review our website to become acquainted with the kinds of organizations and projects that Rockwell Fund supports. Our mantra is “ask for what you need the most.”

Organizations that have never received a grant from Rockwell Fund are invited to submit an Inquiry Letter, which is much shorter than a full grant proposal. Your inquiry will be reviewed by our Trustees, and if it seems feasible and aligns with one of our areas of interest, we will invite a full proposal.

The number of requests we receive, together with the relatively small size of our staff, leaves limited staff time available for face-to-face meetings with prospective applicants. Staff conducts in-depth reviews of applications and will contact an applicant if further information is needed.

Will you make a site visit?

Once an organization has submitted a request to Rockwell Fund, staff will determine if a site visit is needed. Staff generally conducts site visits to recurring grantees every two to three years.

Does Rockwell Fund favor funding projects over general operating support?

No. All requests are considered on a case by case basis.

What size grants does Rockwell Fund make?

Grants size is dependent on the project. Please review our grant history for examples of our grant size for various projects.

Do you accept grant requests sent by e-mail or fax?

No. We encourage you to send grant requests by regular mail or by delivery service if you wish.

What information, documents and forms do I need to send?

Our grant guidelines, along with a checklist of the items to be submitted, are included on our “Grant Application Checklist”.

Where do I send my application?

Judy Ahlgrim, Grants Administrator
Rockwell Fund, Inc.
770 S. Post Oak Ln., Ste. 525
Houston, TX 77056

Timeline for Decisions

What are your deadlines?

Complete grant proposals will be accepted any time throughout the year. Generally speaking, your proposal will be considered at the first or second quarterly meeting following the completion of your application.

How will I know if you received my application? 

We acknowledge receipt of every proposal by email or postcard within a week.

How long does your review process take? 

A grant request is not regarded as complete until our Grants Administrator has determined that all of the required materials described in the proposal checklist have been received. Requests will ordinarily be considered within twelve weeks of their receipt, although it may be considered on a longer time frame if the staff or trustees believe it warrants further study.

Rockwell Fund seems like the best fit for our request. Should we apply to other funding sources?

Rockwell prefers to award grants to organizations that have multiple sources of support.

After I send in my request, how long will it be before I know if I get the grant?

Denial and grant agreement letters are mailed generally within one week after a grant decision meeting.

Once Decisions are Made

My application was denied.  What was the reason?

Competition for grant funds is intense and we are unable to fund every request that we receive. The staff and Trustees look for organizations that best meet the areas of interest outlined in the grant guidelines. No record is kept of the reasons for an application’s denial, and none is provided to applicants. If the Trustees or staff have views or information that they believe would be useful to an unsuccessful applicant, these are conveyed personally, usually through a Program Officer.

How often may applications be submitted? 

Whether an application is approved or denied, a subsequent application will not be considered until one year after the first was submitted.

Miscellaneous

To what organizations have grants been made in the past? 

Please see our 2007 Grants and Program-Related Investments Page.

Does Rockwell Fund publish an annual report?

We do not publish an annual report; however, much of the information usually found in an annual report is located on or linked to our website. Grant information is available in the Grants section.

Who are your trustees? What are their addresses?

A list of our trustees is located in Our Leadership page. Mail for all trustees should be sent to them in care of Rockwell Fund, Inc., 770 S. Post Oak Lane, Suite 525, Houston, Texas 77056.

Is your foundation related to Rockwell International, Rockwell Space or the Norman Rockwell Estate?

No. Despite the similarity of our names, there has never been a family or business connection between our foundation and these three entities.  For our history see Our History page.