Updated: 6.1.06
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) requires a 50 percent match of their grant award dollars for the children's grant under Covering Kids & Families. Grantees may begin soliciting and using match funds anytime after the grant award is received. Grantees must begin using match funds no later than the beginning of the third year of the grant. Should a grantee fail to secure its full match requirement by the beginning of Year Three, RWJF funds will be dispersed on a one-to-one basis with the grantee's certified match. It may be difficult, however, to operate the full Covering Kids & Families work plan on less than a full year's budget, including reduced RWJF grant funding and fewer available matching dollars. It is therefore recommended that the full match requirement be secured and approved before the beginning of Year Three, or soon thereafter, in order for grantees to comply with the implementation of their full work plan requirement and achieve success.
For example, if a grantee was awarded a CKF grant from RWJF in the amount of $1 million, the grantee is responsible for raising a total of 50 percent of that amount, which is $500,000. Grantees can begin raising their match as soon as the grant award is received. Grantees should raise the match requirement by the end of Year Two and prior to expenditure of 50 percent of the RWJF grant amount, which in this case would be $500,000. The funds raised by the grantee must be submitted to RWJF for approval. If the full match amount is not secured and approved by the beginning of Year Three, RWJF will match each dollar raised by the grantee dollar for dollar until the total amount of the match is secured.
Federal funds are not permitted as matching funds toward the 50 percent requirement.
In-kind contributions are not counted toward the 50 percent match requirement.
RWJF has a strong preference that match funds do not come from entities that manufacture or distribute alcohol, tobacco or firearms. If a grantee has plans to pursue match funds from these sources, approval from RWJF and the Covering Kids & Families National Program Office (NPO) must be obtained prior to securing the match commitment. Please forward to the NPO a description of the entity along with a discussion of what work plan activities the funds would be used to support for the Covering Kids & Families project. These circumstances will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis by RWJF and the NPO.
If a project fails to secure previously committed match funds, the grantee must notify the NPO immediately. The NPO will then notify RWJF.