Funding

The mission of the Robert W. Plaster Foundation is to expand educational access and promote the virtues of the American Free Enterprise System through named capital projects.

Primarily, the Robert W. Plaster Foundation provides naming gifts for Free Enterprise Centers and Schools of Business. These are generally at colleges and universities and often house entrepreneurship centers, trading labs, business centers, incubators, accelerators, and research centers for liberty, located primarily in the Midwestern region of the United States.

In addition, the Foundation provides a very limited number of small grants supporting causes that are consistent with Robert W. Plaster’s philosophy of giving in a conservative and Christian environment, and usually in communities in which family members have familiarity. These gifts are typically in the form of a challenge grant, aimed at helping charitable organizations inspire additional support and more supporters.

Categories of Grants

Grant proposals and funds are prioritized according to the following categorical criteria. Please see our Partnerships page for more examples of Categories 1-4.

Naming gift for building in the name of "Robert W. Plaster Free Enterprise Center"
Naming gift for building at a college or university in the name of "Robert W. Plaster" that houses a school of business and/or the school of business itself
Naming gift for building at a college or university in the name of "Robert W. Plaster" that serves the mission of the Foundation and is consistent with the Donor's philosophy as mentioned above
Same as a Category 3, but building does not have to be at a college or university
Essentially a challenge grant for programs put forth by institutions that are ideologically consistent with the ideology of Robert W. Plaster

As these Categories are listed, the Foundation is more likely to pursue funding for the most ideal candidate (Category 1) than a less ideal project. The Foundation is more likely to give larger sums to projects that are more ideal according to the intent of the Donor.

Robert W. Plaster Foundation, Inc.

Grant Making Process

1. Organizations seeking funding should review the Foundation’s Funding Focus before submitting a request.

2. Organizations seeking consideration of funding should submit a Letter of Inquiry (LOI) of no more than 2 pages with the following information:

Organizational history, mission, and goals.
Statement of need
How project meets the need
Project attributes such as:

Timeline for construction
Overall costs and construction only costs
Fundraising timeline, current progress
Number of people served
Contact information

3. Upon review of the LOI the requesting organization will be informed if an invitation to submit a formal proposal is warranted.

4. If a proposal is deemed warranted a Request for Proposal (RFP) will be sent and will ask for information such as:

Organizational history, mission, goals
Description of need(s)
Project description, including program description and goals.
How project supports the mission of the Robert W. Plaster Foundation
Methodology for the project
Overall project budget, construction only budget and amount requested
Other funding sources
Projected operating expenses and plans to sustain the project
Ways to measure effectiveness of the project
Pictures of and around the project site and map of town or city and region
Board of Trustees, Board of Directors, and other leadership
Financials, including budgets, forecasts, financial statements, IRS Form 990 and Determination Letter
Contact information for purposes of the proposal

5. A site visit and/or formal in-person presentation may be requested by the Robert W. Plaster Foundation’s Executive Director at any point during the application process.

If you would like more information, please e-mail the Foundation at: Info@RobertWPlasterFoundation.org, or call (417)-533-3007.

Grant Making Process