Sunlight Foundation Mini-Grant Application

The Sunlight Foundation is offering, mini-grants of $1,000 to $5,000 to fund original ideas, tools, Web sites and bloggers. The work of any recipient should be focused on creating a better, more democratic and dynamic relationship between members of Congress and the citizens they represent. We encourage applications from existing small local nonprofits and Web sites, from offshoots of national groups, from individuals and from informal groups of citizens.

Applications for mini-grants will be judged on how closely they fit with Sunlight's mission of using technology to enable citizens to learn more about Congress and its activities in order to reduce corruption and ensure greater transparency in government. Projects will also be judged on their creativity, their likelihood of success and their ability to grow or be replicated. As a rule, we do not award grants for salaries or general overhead expenses, but do for technology upgrades. Grants are available to augment existing projects or to jumpstart new ones. Sunlight also offers larger grants, which allow salaries; contact us for guidelines.

In addition, Sunlight also provides consulting support and some networking opportunities for its grantees.

To apply, please submit a one-page summary of your project, a budget (including the amount requested from Sunlight) and contact information to our operations director Scott Wells via the form below. Feel free to call him at 202-742-1520 x221 if you have questions before applying.