Spruce Grant FAQs

Applications will be live from January 7th 2026 to March 6th 2026 at 11:59PM. 

The 2026 grant application is available on Microsoft Forms using this link: Spruce Foundation Grant Application 2026 – Fill out form 

Friday, March 6th 2026 at 11:59PM.

The Spruce Foundation sends decisions to applicants in April and early May each year.

No, site visits are not conducted during the application process.

If your organization receives a grant from the Spruce Foundation, we anticipate that our partnership will include:

1. Timely responses to Spruce communications regarding grant distribution.
2. High-resolution logo and high-resolution photos.
3. Providing occasional updates, testimonials, or media as needed, in lieu of being asked to provide a final grant report.

The exact expectations of our partnership will be outlined in the grant agreement.

No, however, eligible applicants must serve youth within Philadelphia County.

Yes, you may apply for a Spruce Foundation grant if you provide services to youth in Philadelphia. The budget for the local Philadelphia chapter/office should be included with your application, and must meet our budget requirements. You must demonstrate in your application and budget that services and funding will support ONLY Philadelphia programming/operations.

While we accept applications from previous grantees, please note that in an effort to foster growth and reach wider audiences we will be prioritizing applications from organizations that have not received a grant from the Spruce Foundation within five years of the current cycle.

As a general requirement, all applicants must have a total organizational budget of $500,000 or less. This change was first instituted in the 2017-2018 grantmaking cycle at $800,000 and this year was lowered to $500,000 to support more grassroots organizations. Applicant organizations do not need to focus exclusively on youth; however, 75% or more of the organization’s operations must be dedicated to youth-serving activities. 

Yes, an organization can apply for a grant if it does not have 501(c)3 status but is supported by a fiscal sponsor. You will be asked to share information about your fiscal sponsor on the application.  The budget limitations apply to the fiscally-sponsored organization, not to the fiscal sponsor.  Make sure to include your budget, not that of the fiscal sponsor, with your application.  The DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) information should also be reported for the fiscally-sponsored organization; it is not necessary to include this information for the fiscal sponsor. Note: A fiscal sponsor is a nonprofit organization that provides fiduciary oversight, financial management, and other administrative services to help build the capacity of charitable projects.

We expect all applicants (and/or their fiscal sponsors) to maintain appropriate statuses with relevant federal, state and local entities. This expectation includes IRS status and filings, as well as ALL state-mandated clearances for youth-serving employees and volunteers.

No, Spruce Foundation does not currently have any restrictions on religious or faith-based organizations.

Yes. As long as Spruce Foundation programming will be used solely to advance the youth-serving programming of the broader organization, the application will be considered.

At Spruce, we generally think of youth-serving programs as those that serve people under the age of 21.

We do ask organizations to upload a Board list but understand this may look different for fiscally sponsored organizations. Please email grants@sprucefoundation.org and we will follow up with you regarding the best approach for your specific circumstances.

The Spruce Foundation trains a committee of board members and volunteers to review each application. Applications are evaluated according to a comprehensive rubric that covers the following: 

• Mission Statement 

• Community Need: clearly defined, using quantitative and/or qualitative examples to support this need. 

• Community Impact: clearly articulated with examples of how the organization positively impacts the community they serve. 

• Clear Use of Funds 

• Organizational Measurement & Evaluation: demonstration of evaluative measures being used to determine the impact of programs. 

• Financial Health: the budget and 990 indicate a financially healthy organization. 

• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: information is shared on how DEI is promoted within organizational programs, staff, board members, volunteers, and/or practices. 

A strong application will outline a proposal that includes the following:

• A locally focused project directly serving Philadelphia youth.
• Clear strategy for engaging your community.
• Long-term impact on beneficiaries, including quantitative and qualitative data as available.
• Clear, specific evaluation approach, including quantitative and qualitative measures as available.
• Detailed line item budget, with additional sources of support outlined.

We encourage applicants to attend a live info session with the Spruce team to ask questions and learn more.

The Spruce Foundation has an organizational commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Throughout the application process, we will ask questions that require you to think honestly and engage meaningfully about disparities that exist in your organization and community and how your work addresses those disparities.

DEI responses are intended to foster thought and engagement around the topics of diversity, equity, and inclusion. These responses were first collected in 2019-2020, and at that time were not scored, but instead used to provide valuable insight about our potential grantees’ capacity to address the issues of DEI in our community. Beginning with the 2020-2021 grant cycle, these responses are now factored into the scoring process.

Information about our grantees can be found here.

Your organization’s 990 must be from within two years of the application deadline.

The Spruce Foundation is interested in both quantitative and qualitative data, as available, when reviewing both the impact of programming and future evaluation plans. For example, a strong application may include that according to test scores, 75% of youth served increased literacy skills, as well as anecdotes that they started to enjoy reading more.

Spruce Foundation is committed to providing unrestricted grants, meaning we trust that applicants know their organizations best and will apply for funding to meet the greatest needs of their organizations. We do not dictate what funding should go to. That said, it is important that applicants clearly articulate what the funds will be used for and why they are critical to advancing your organization’s mission and programming.

The application does not have this feature. We strongly recommend downloading the full application here and completing it in a separate document prior to submitting.

We recommend downloading a local copy of the application and completing your application in a separate Word document. When you are ready to submit, you can copy and paste your answers into the appropriate places on the application. We recommend using Google Chrome to submit your application. Please ensure that you have the most recent version of Chrome installed on your computer. Additionally, please review the file size limits for supplemental material. We strongly encourage applicants to apply before the deadline in order to avoid technical difficulties.

If you continue to have technical issues with your application, please email grants@sprucefoundation.org. 

We recommend you make a copy of the document to download for your own use. Please email grants@sprucefoundation.org if you continue to have issues accessing the document. 

Yes, to ensure equity in evaluating applications, beginning in 2025 we required all applicants to use the Spruce budget template. Click here to download the 2026 Spruce Budget Template.

Please send any application questions to grants@sprucefoundation.org. Please note, we are an all volunteer organization and will make every effort to respond to inquiries within 48 hours. We appreciate your patience, especially as the grant application deadline approaches.