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Who is eligible for grants from
us?
We must comply with certain laws under which we are
incorporated as well as the by-laws we vowed to live by when we attempted to obtain that incorporation. You
may see more of these legal requirements, if you desire, on our web-page for Legalities
We also have spent much time investigating the BBB (Better Business Bureau's) standards
for charitable organizations and then greatly reduced (because of our San Miguel
locale) most of these standards, but that still leaves us with our minimum eligibility
requirements shown below.
It is critical for any person representing any organization that wishes to be in our grant program to
know that we will have NO administrative staff of our own until after the death
of our Founder, and therefore if the requirements
stated on this web-site are NOT met, second opportunities to apply for grants will most probably not be
available, as we have huge limitations on our time availabilities. We are
anxious to make grants to all eligible organizations, and we are
more than happy to increase these grants, year after year. But, in
the interest of fairness, each organization must do its part and provide
us with information under the accountability provisions required by our
greatly minimized version of the BBB
standard of accountability.
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Each new grantee organization MUST:
- be a non-profit organization located in San Miguel de Allende
- be an operating organization (e.g. Feed the Hungry) and not a conduit
(like we are, or like S.M.E.F. is) Why?
- see ****#1
- have an already existing organization structure and a history of operations and be able to demonstrate your "staying power"
- possess the ability to receive our grants in US dollars in checks made
payable to "whatever the name of your organization is" -
see ****#2
- at all times, now and in the future, have a contact person whose first language is English and who is
also totally conversant in Spanish ****#3
- be able to fulfill our requirements (be sure you read 1st
year requirements and future requirements
before you state you can do this) because we have no administrative time to
waste ****#4 and #5
- be willing to meet the Foundation's
requirements as stated on this web-site (be sure that you read why this info
before you state whether or not you are willing to do
this) ****#4
and #5
- have email capability so that all communication (except for your annual certification
letter) between the various grantees and
this foundation will be accomplished using emails and attachments This
will include everything except the payment of grants which will be made by check
delivered to a location in the centro area. This is necessitated
by the time-efficiencies inherent in email. ****#4
- be aware that we will be forced to cease contact and/or grants with any organization
that wastes our time or their own time by not meeting any of the above
requirements ****#4
Additional credit will be given to organizations that:
 | aid San Miguel children |
| aid San Miguel Mexicans in the categories of education, nutrition,
housing, clothing, or medical necessities |
| have a low ratio of overhead to total income |
| have a high ratio of "mission" to total income |
| compensates their volunteers in ways that reward the volunteers at little or no
cost to the organization |
| have longer histories of effectiveness in town |
| have longer histories of continuity of their operating personnel |
| utilize more of the better management techniques |
| have management succession and training programs in place |
****Some supplementary information regarding
"Why we MUST do insist on certain things?"
- Part of our IRS accreditation stems from the fact that we, ourselves,
are a conduit and not an operations organization. That means that we
must grant funds only to operations organizations. We may not give
funds to conduits like ourselves, nor may we give funds to individuals as we
are not allowed to adjudge their needs nor watch their progress.
We may only give funds to organizations that "do the work"
themselves.
- Due to our IRS requirements, our check can not be made out to cash, or
to individuals, or to any conduit organization, but must be made out to a payee
organization that looks, sounds, and can demonstrate it is, a verifiable organization that
always appears to meet the other requirements disclosed on this web-site
- Much of what we require and will continue to require is something that
can not be translated by us into Spanish. But, we can explain it
in English and it will be up to the organization's contact person to both translate and implement the requirements.
- Since 2000, we have dealt with many local individuals and organizations that made
promises that they could not, or have not, kept. The strain on
this Foundation was such that we almost closed down completely in early
2004. This was mostly due to individuals who wasted our time and their
time. We can not allow that to happen again. We wish to continue to
help San Miguel (primarily the children) but we will not hesitate to
immediately cease all relationships with organizations that harm us in any
way or, more importantly, cause problems that may ultimately detract from or
harm the work we wish to do for the other innocent organizations.
This may seem heartless but unless we do something to avoid what has happened
in the past, there will be no MPWCF and no funds to dispense. Please
be sure to read FAQs which repeatedly addresses this
problem and tells you why we must do this this way.
- There are even more reasons for why we require the information we
require and you can read about it at "why this info".
Organizations that comply with these requirements will be in line to
share in annual grants from an endowment that is guaranteed
(see funding)
to be at least us$2,500,000 shortly after the death of the Founder of this Foundation.
You therefore can assume that minimum grants to the smallest grantees will be at
least us$6,000 each and every year. In making this estimate, we are
very definitely aware that our motto (see the logo above) is "underpromise and
overdeliver". We are doing, and will continue to do, just that.
We hope our grantees can underpromise and overdeliver, as well.
You should also be made aware that it will be even
more difficult for organizations that have not been accepted into the grant
process some time (perhaps even as much as three years) before the Founder's death, to
become grantees after the Founder has become disabled, incapacitated, or has
died. Probably there will be no chance at all after that time.
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