Free download
The small-nonprofit grant-prep checklist
The reusable readiness kit — do it once and you're set for every application, from Walmart Spark Good to community foundations.
Get the checklist
Enter your email and the checklist unlocks right here — no spam, one list.
- File your Form 990-N this year (and confirm you haven't missed it three years running — that revokes your status)
- Look yourself up on IRS Tax-Exempt Organization Search and confirm your status is current
- Claim and complete your free Candid profile — aim for the Gold Seal so funders can find your numbers
- Confirm you have at least three board members, most unrelated to each other and to staff
- Decide your status path: your own 501(c)(3) (1023-EZ, $275) or a fiscal sponsor
- Set up your Walmart Spark Good account and start Deed verification now — it takes time before the Aug–Nov cycle
- Frame every project as community-benefit, not member-benefit
- Run the Green-Light Test against each funder's exclusions before applying
- Run the Live-or-Dead Check on any program from a listicle (funder's own page → latest 990 → IRS lookup)
- Start a volunteer time log — signed sheets with hours and type of work (worth $36.14/hour as documented support)
Most of this you do once and reuse forever. Enter your email and the checklist unlocks right here — no spam, one list.
Next step
Get matched when we launch
Amivale is launching soon. Join the waitlist and we'll match your small nonprofits to funding the day it opens — no spam, one email.