Founded in 2000 in Delaware, FACES stands for "Freeman Assists Communities with Extra Support." Our belief is that too often, it is the major nonprofit organizations with visibility and ample support that win donors' attention. The FACES program is designed to find and fund the smaller, overlooked projects in our neighborhoods – and our grants are limited to nonprofit organizations with operating budgets of $750,000 or less.  The FACES program also utilizes a volunteer advisory board composed of community leaders who evaluate grant applications and recommend funding choices.  The FACES advisory board provides a unique insight into community needs and priorities, and allows us to support projects that are most important to the community.  For more information on the application process, please go to our application procedures or review our Frequently Asked Questions.

Eligibility criteria
Organizations eligible to apply for grants must meet the following criteria:

• Beneficiaries must be an IRS-recognized 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, nonprofit organization or public agency specifically serving the residents of our funding areas.
• Organizations applying in Montgomery County must have an operating budget of $750,000 or less
• Organizations applying in Sussex County must have a budget of $500,000 or less for Sussex County programming
• Grants will not be distributed to:  
  • Individuals
  • Political associations or candidates
  • Organizations that would disperse the funding to others
  • Organizations that discriminate by race, creed, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, disability or national origin.

Regional criteria

• In Montgomery County, organizations must be based in the county to be eligible for funding.
• In Sussex County, organizations may apply if based in other counties, but 100% of the funding must be used to serve residents of Sussex County.

The FACES grant cycle is now open for Sussex County, Delaware.  Organizations who meet eligibility criteria for Sussex County are invited to apply by submitting an online application. 

Please note: you will not be able to save your application - it must be completed in one session or you will lose your information.  In addition to the online application, you must submit the printed copy of the application (available after you complete the online version) with required attachments to our office.  Applications that are not received by the deadline in both online and hardcopy format will not be accepted.

Grant Applications for the FACES of Sussex County program are due both online and in hardcopy format by 5pm on Thursday, March 4, 2010.

Organizations based in other regions are invited to join our grant notification list and you will be notified when we launch a FACES cycle in your area.

Grant recipients are asked to thoughtfully complete grant applications -- and those who receive funding are actually selected by members of their own community. Our FACES Boards are comprised of all facets of our communities and these volunteers serve as representatives of the business community, the nonprofit community and the political and government arena.