Grants are considered for organizations serving the people of the State of Texas and located in the following Texas Gulf Coast Counties: Aransas, Bee, Calhoun, Colorado, Dewitt, Goliad, Gonzales, Jackson, Karnes, Lavaca, Matagorda, Refugio, Victoria, Waller and Wharton. The Foundation supports a variety of charitable activities, including health, education, human services and civic programs.
The Trustees prefer not to fund organizations that are financially supported by the public, through United Way Campaigns, Government Grants or Subsidies, or nationally sponsored fund raisers. Grants are not made for endowments or development campaigns, research fellowships, conferences, or publications. Loans, grants, scholarships or fellowships are not made to individuals. Rarely are grants made for operational purposes. All educational grants have been made to institutions of higher education. All endowed scholarship grants are administered by the individual college or university. To date, all educational grants and scholarships have been made exclusively to the Victoria College, Wharton County Junior College and the University of Houston- Victoria.
Grants are made only to nonprofit organizations and political subdivisions that are tax exempt under Section 501(C)(3) or 170(C) of the Internal Revenue Code. Grants shall not be made to private foundations.
It is the policy of the M.G. & Lillie A. Johnson Foundation, Inc. to conduct its affairs in a manner to conform to all IRS rules and regulations, as amended. The applicant's acceptance of any grant by the Foundation, obligates itself in the future in every way required by the law, to cooperate and remedy any condition that may cause any grant to become subject to any of the penalty taxes imposed by IRC Sections 4941, 4942 or 4945, as amended.
The Foundation operates on a November fiscal year end. The Board of Trustees review grant requests in March, July and October of each year. Grant requests and all related documentation should be submitted not later than the last day of the month preceding the meeting date.
One copy of the detailed proposal should be submitted. Elaborate proposals are not necessary. In-person presentations to the Board of Trustees are not permitted. All inquiries are to be made to Robert Halepeska, Executive Vice President, P.O. Box 2269, Victoria, TX 77902, telephone number 361-575-7970. Grant requests that do not meet the Foundation's stated guidelines for submitting a grant will not be acknowledged. Documents required to be submitted with any proposal should include the following:
- An institutional profile including a brief history of the organization and its work, the organization's name, address, telephone number, a contact person and e-mail address.
- A description of the proposed program or project.
- A specific request to the Foundation and date payment is needed.
- A listing of all entities asked to give financial support to the proposed project (include responses received to date and the dollar amount given).
- A project cost or budget supported with firm cost estimates or bids.
- The organization's prior year and current, year-to-date, fiscal statements and the last certified audit.
- A brief summary of the people served and the geographical area they live in.
- A current copy of the Internal Revenue Service 501(C)(3) classification or sufficient proof verifying a political subdivision status.
- Acknowledgement that the organization is not a Private Foundation as defined in IRC Section 509, as amended.