MEMORANDUM
To:
Professor R. Dolan
From:
Carolyn Stephens
Subject:
Proposal for Soliciting Corporate Grants for Youth of America Funding
Inc.
Date:
May 2, 2004
Introduction
Youth of America Funding, Inc. is a non profit organization that dedicates its efforts to
cultivating happy recreational environments children deserve while participating in those
recreational activities and building a sense of self-awareness, confidence, and a sense of
community in participants. It is a fairly new organization, and strives to organize
exclusively for charitable and educational purposes to provide funding and training to
economically distressed communities. However, in order for the organization to meet its
objectives, it must have the necessary resources to undertake these projects. It is on this
premise, our group, as assigned by you, conducted a research on the feasibility of
acquiring corporate grants, in a bid to ascertain which companies would be the most
likely candidates to contribute to the organization.
Method
Once our group decided on what project we would undertake, we all began listing the
names of major corporations that we were familiar with. These included: Wal-Mart,
PepsiCo, Delta Air Lines, Lowes, Home Depot, Publix, and Target. Each member then
assumed the responsibility to do a quick online search to gather the relevant information
that would determine what corporations we would do in-depth researches on. We
selected four corporations, and the criteria for the selections were based on: their support
of local youth groups and communities, types of organizations they contributed to in the
last year, the amounts they donated, and their requirements for donations. The four
companies we then selected based on these guidelines were: Publix, Home Depot, Delta
Air Lines, and PepsiCo. Once the selections were completed, each group member was
assigned a company, and we then proceeded to do an intensive research on these
companies via the internet, and by directly contacting the customer relations offices.
Results
Listed below is the information that we found on the selected corporations:
Publix Supermarkets Inc. has been a major contributor to non profit organizations
both locally, and nationally. On an average, their total contributions to these
organizations are approximately twenty five million dollars annually, and this does not
include the funds that they raise through selling tokens to their customers to support
special events.
They have adopted “The Spirit of Giving” as a motto, and have wholeheartedly applied
the concept.
Some of the major organizations they support are:

Special Olympics

March of Dimes

Children Miracle Network

United Way

Food Industry against Hunger
They are also avid contributors to local events and organizations, such as school
programs and many children events. Organizations that are children, and, or health
oriented are more likely to received funding from them; this is evident from the
organizations they sponsor.
PepsiCo gives to the community through the PepsiCo Foundation, the PepsiCo
Community Affairs Department and PepsiCo divisions. The PepsiCo Foundation,
PepsiCo and its divisions contributed approximately $23.6 million to nonprofit groups in
2003. The PepsiCo Foundation and our operating divisions gave grants to more than
1,000 community organizations, of which a significant portion were organizations
championing diversity efforts. Organizations are also supported through gifts in-kind,
such as product, premiums, printing, meeting arrangements, and equipment donations,
support of events, conventions, journals and meetings.
Featured Programs

Robin Hood Relief Fund

Salvation Army

Marathon Kids

Mission Sponsor of the YMCA
Programs supporting youth

International Franchise Association Education Foundation

The New Media Summer Program at Purchase College

The Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival (EE)

American Hotel and Lodging Foundation

The YWCA/PepsiCo Girls Leadership Program
Groups Support

Boys and Girls Club

Girl Scouts of Westchester

NAACP

YMCA of Greater New York
Youth
The PepsiCo Foundation is committed to helping address the needs of today's youth,
focusing on:

Encouraging physical activity and promoting youth fitness.

Skill development, primarily among urban and low-income youth, of leadership,
entrepreneurship and other life skills which prepare young people to be successful
in post-secondary education and the workforce.
Home Depot support organizations and programs that work to

Assist at-risk youth (ages 12-18)
Established programs that help to develop leaders and encourage young people to become
contributing community citizens through job readiness training, leadership development
and volunteerism are specifically of interest to The Home Depot Foundation. Grants are
directed toward programs that target youth, ages 12-18, residing in under-served
communities.

Create or rehabilitate affordable housing
Some of the organizations they contributed to are:

The Center for Children and Youth, Inc., Marietta, GA

Atlanta Community Food Bank, Atlanta, GA

Boy Scouts of America-Atlanta Area Council, Atlanta, GA

Boys & Girls Club of Metro Atlanta, Atlanta, GA

Communities in Schools of Atlanta, Inc., Atlanta, GA

Cool Girls, Inc., Atlanta, GA

Hands on Atlanta, Atlanta, GA

Youth Communication, Atlanta, GA

YWCA of Greater Atlanta, Atlanta, GA
Delta Air Lines gives to over fifty non profit organizations. Their annual donation is
approximately $3.2 million, plus an additional $9 million in ticket donations. They place
special emphasis on projects that focus on youth wellness, leadership development.
Youth Wellness

March of Dimes

Children’s Miracle Network

CARE
Leadership Development

United Way

Safe America

Boys and Girls Scout of America.
How to Apply
The procedures to apply for grants from these corporations are as follow:
Publix – A proposal should be sent on the Youth of America Funding, Inc. letter head,
and it should be addressed to:
Brenda Reid
Manager Community Affairs
Publix Supermarket Inc.
2600 Delk Road
Marietta, GA 30067
PepsiCo - Inquiries concerning the PepsiCo Foundation should be sent to:
Director, Corporate Contributions
PepsiCo, Inc.
700 Anderson Hill Road
Purchase, NY 10577
An organization's request for funds should include:

A statement of objectives

Concise description of proposed use and primary objective of the grant

PepsiCo employee involvement

History of achievements

List of officers and directors

Written evidence of tax-exempt status as defined under section 501(c )(3) of the
IRS Code

Financial statements
Home Depot - The Foundation will consider requests that match its eligibility
requirements. All requests are reviewed, and all applicants are notified of the grant
decisions. All Home Depot Foundation applications are to be submitted online.
Delta Air Lines – Send application to:
The Delta Air Lines Foundation
Department 983
P.O. Box 20706
Atlanta, Georgia 30320-6001
Conclusion
The above mentioned companies are the companies that we feel Youth of America
Funding, Inc. should actively pursue in soliciting corporate funds. These companies
donate to several non-profit organizations each year. Most of the organizations that
receive donations from these corporations are youth organizations, and the donations are
substantial in size as mentioned earlier in this proposal. In order to receive funding from
companies such as these and these as well, it will be mandatory for Youth of America
Funding, Inc. to fully acquire their 501(c) (3) status before applying. Once this status has
been obtained, your organization should have no problems obtaining donations from
these companies as well as any other possible companies. Finally, we would also suggest
that Youth of America Funding, Inc. should mainly target larger corporations in the area,
due to the fact that larger companies tend to have substantially more money to donate and
tend to make larger donations than smaller companies.