In keeping with its mission, the Foundation will be more inclined to support projects that have following characteristics:

• Close alignment of the project's objectives with the Foundation's support for education; civic and community betterment; culture and arts; and health, welfare and social services.
• A strategic, long-term orientation.
• A clear explanation of why the proposed approach to the problem addressed by the project is superior to other options and why it is more likely to achieve desired outcomes.
• Probability that the project will deliver high impact and sustainable benefit in terms of learning outcomes, both in communities directly served and in the project field of interest.
• Probability that the project will attract continued support from a variety of sources, and the extent to which likely sources are identified.
• Level of project innovation, in particular, whether it breaks new ground and uses new methods for optimizing resources.
• Likelihood of the project developing leadership skills and capacity.
• Potential of the project for successful replication in other settings.
• The project applicant's record of success as an organization, and the past success of its key project personnel.
• The overall leadership and staff talent of the applicant organization.
• Feasibility and quality of the application proposal, and the plan in that proposal to accomplish project objectives.
• Flexibility of the project plan to deal with possible contingencies.
• Applicant provisions for sharing information about the project, successes and failures.
• Project methodology for capturing and implementing lessons learned and determining project successes and failures.
• Project provisions for self-sufficiency, including a credible independence strategy.
• Potential of the project to create and strengthen alliances and networks of organizations working to solve the same problem.
• Potential of the project to enhance the Foundation's expertise and its ability to knowledgeably support related efforts.
• Opportunity for the Foundation to assume a unique supportive role.