Submit Your Project

Have a great idea to help your community but unsure if the North Star Community Foundation (NSCF) can assist?

We’re here to guide you!

NSCF supports a wide range of community-focused projects and nonprofits, offering funding and fiscal sponsorship. Whether your idea is big or small, if it aims to create positive change in Interior Alaska, we want to hear from you. Explore the criteria for becoming sponsored below to see how we can help turn your vision into reality. Together, we can make a meaningful impact.

Criteria for NSCF Project Selection:

  1. Project must align with the North Star Community Foundation (NSCF) mission: The North Star Community Foundation (NSCF) improves the quality of life for Fairbanks North Star Borough and interior region through philanthropy, community development, and public service.

  2. The candidate must submit a solid, well thought out proposal for the project for NSCF review, comments, and decision. This proposal should include the following:
    • Need statement (What is the need being fulfilled by your project?)
    • Implementation strategy (How will you fill this need?)
    • Targeted population (Who will this project help?)
    • Financial plan (How will the money be used?)
    • Qualifications, reputation and personal history of persons who will be involved in the project and roles they will take.

Project presentations should be able to answer the following questions:

  1. Is this a realistic project with a basis for success?

  2. How many people will be impacted by or benefit from this project (need statement)?

  3. How will this project make Fairbanks better?

  4. What finances do they already have in place?

  5. Who else in the community supports this project? Has the applicant garnered potential partners to help them accomplish their goal? Does NSCF know of potential partners?
  1. Is this a new project? Or is it an offshoot/remodeling of an older project? If yes to the latter, what is the history of the older project? What will make this project better/more successful than the older project?

  2. What role are they asking NSCF to play?

  3. Does this project conflict with projects already served by NSCF?

  4. Is NSCF the best organization to serve the purpose of the project at this time?

  5. Who are possible partners to collaborate with on the project?

Things to Consider When Creating a Proposal

1. Create a Narrative
Create a narrative description of around 500 words or something that fits on a single page using 12-point font size, long enough to provide a solid context but not so long as to have the reader, in this case a board member, lose interest.
Approved member projects have a separate account created but still under the NSCF umbrella. Signers on the account will need to have or to create a profile with the Foundation’s bank. Projects need up front investment money of $2,000. Staff would monitor the account and reconcile with an appointed person from the member team periodically.
Your project team should be a leadership structure, but it can be loosely organized, highly regimented or anything in between. We don’t get involved with artistic content or business structure unless the project asks for organizational capacity support in things like strategic planning, leadership development or fundraising. We do coordinate funding requests among all the member projects and for the foundation itself. And we don’t allow any activity that would jeopardize NSCF’s non-profit status.
We are happy to provide examples of member project nominations. We can provide feedback to proposals prior to board consideration.
All correspondence is routed through the NSCF executive director as the gatekeeper to the board, who then schedules presentations to the board for their consideration.
The submission process would be an open cycle. The first order of business would be to see if the concept is the right fit for operation inside the Foundation. There may be another fiscal sponsor or government agency better suited to work with the group
Applicants can expect to receive a follow up communication within 72 hours after submission. That would allow for the case that the executive director might be in travel status.
Feel free to ask any questions you have that aren’t covered in this information.

Ready to submit your project?

  1. In one page, describe the group organized to address the project concept.
  2. Address the questions above, ending with your network of partners.
  3. Mail the request to review to p.pinney@nscfundalaska.org as an attachment in Word format. (Feel free to use the form on this page). 
  4. There is no deadline, so you can submit at any time.
  5. If you do not hear back from NSCF within 72 hours, please leave a message at 907.978.0425.
Submit your project file:

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