Love Your Melon 2023-2024 Grant Cycle

Love Your Melon is dedicated to improving the lives of children and families affected by pediatric cancer.

By providing funding to nonprofit organizations, fostering a community of support, and giving a beanie to every child battling cancer, Love Your Melon is committed to advancing cures and helping families, physically, emotionally, and financially.

Priority Funding Areas

All applications should address one or more of the following priority funding areas: Childhood Cancer Research, Family Support, and/or Therapeutic Experiences. We recommend visiting our giving page to read more about each pillar and to learn about the organizations we’ve supported in the past.

While your organization must support pediatric cancer patients and their families in order to be considered for funding, we do not require this to be the sole population your organization serves.

Proposals that highlight your organization’s commitment to health equity and/or mental health are especially encouraged to apply during this grant cycle.

Eligibility

Who is eligible to apply for a grant?

• Organization must be federally registered and have been granted Public Charity tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (“Tax-Exempt Status”)

• For non-U.S. organizations, Love Your Melon utilizes the IRS’s Reliance Standards for Making Good Faith Determinations or Expenditure Responsibility rules and regulations in determining eligible charitable status

• Organization or specific project/program must support one or more of the following funding areas: Childhood Cancer Research, Family Support, Therapeutic Experiences.

Most of Love Your Melon’s grant recipients carry out their work and serve children and families battling cancer on a National or Global scale. Local organizations may still apply if their work is strongly aligned with Love Your Melon’s priorities.

Love Your Melon will not consider grants for:

• Individuals

• Organizations that discriminate, including but not limited to, on the basis of race, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, country of origin, citizenship, veteran, or disability status.

• Religious organizations, unless they are engaged in programs that are non-sectarian, benefit a broad base of the community, and have a separate 501(c)(3) designation

• For-profit entities, including start-up small businesses

• Educational organizations, including private schools and non-public school districts, that have not been, or (if outside the U.S.) would not be, granted tax-exempt status under IRS Section 501(c)(3)

• Sponsorship of a specific event, fundraiser, or conference (except if the event is part of a larger program/initiative)
  
  

What type of grants does Love Your Melon make?

Love Your Melon’s giving is directly tied to our sales performance. Our annual grantmaking budget fluctuates each year based on a number of ever-changing factors, both at our individual company and with the ECommerce industry at large. While we understand the need and importance of multi-year grants, Love Your Melon is only able to provide one-year grants at this time, to ensure we are giving reliably and sustainably.

We deeply value our current grantee relationships. As long as funding permits, and the organization’s project/mission is still closely aligned with Love Your Melon’s community investment strategy and focus areas, we will do our best to provide continued funding in subsequent years. We’re striving for 360 degree partnerships, where communication, and opportunities for synergy continue year-round.

Project-based grant proposals are not required. We know that unrestricted funding can lead to greater long-term outcomes and stability for nonprofits. Love Your Melon will consider unrestricted funding requests. However, if you are requesting unrestricted funds, we ask that within your project summary you still provide information on your organization's programs and strategy, and showcase what this funding will allow your organization to accomplish on a broader scale.

This grant process is for financial requests, only. In-kind donation requests SHOULD NOT be made through this portal. If you would like to request beanies for a hospital or nonprofit organization, please email giving@loveyourmelon.com.

Amount:

Historically, Love Your Melon grants have typically ranged anywhere from $5,000-$100,000. Our grantmaking budget is based on our profitability, and at this time, we project to have a budget that can support grants for between 5-10 organizations at varying funding amounts. We encourage you to ask for the amount your organization needs, but to be cognizant of the information and amounts mentioned on this page. You won’t be penalized for asking for too much, and we will reach out if we have budget related questions. While our goal is always to fund the full grant amount requested, organizations should be prepared to be awarded partial funding depending on the circumstances and what our grantmaking budget allows for. If Love Your Melon is interested in supporting your proposal, but cannot do so at the dollar amount requested, a Love Your Melon representative will contact you prior to award notifications. The purpose of this contact will be to understand if the amount we’re able to provide is still impactful, and if it is, how a lower gift will affect the project terms and/or timeline outlined in your proposal.

Grant Submission Process:

Please read carefully, as this year’s process has changed.

Online Screening Survey:

Love Your Melon is inviting all eligible organizations interested in a Love Your Melon one-year grant to fill out our brief online screening survey. Please note, the first step in this year’s grant process is completing this survey.

Survey responses that most closely reflect Love Your Melon’s strategic priorities and fit within the overall grantmaking budget will be invited to submit a full grant proposal. Proposals are accepted upon request only. A request for a proposal should not be interpreted as an indication of likely support.

Why is Love Your Melon adding a screening survey to this year’s grant process?

Love Your Melon strives to be a more equitable and transparent community partner. We know that grant writing can be a cumbersome process. Each year, we receive hundreds of grant applications detailing incredibly impactful projects and programs, so we continually look for ways to take the burden off of our applicants and partners. By introducing the survey process, we hope to save time and energy for applicants, as there is no need to be concerned with formatting, or submitting a LOI (Letter of Inquiry). It will also allow our grant committee to more quickly and efficiently identify which programs/projects meet our funding criteria and budget, and provide more timely funding notifications.

Review Process

After the survey response deadline on November 24th, the Love Your Melon Grant Committee will review the responses and determine which organizations they'll invite to submit a full grant proposal. All survey respondents will receive an email from giving@loveyourmelon.com alerting them of the committee’s decision no later than December 1st.

If your organization is invited to submit a full proposal, your notification email will include details for submitting that proposal and you will have until January 10th to do so. Once you’ve submitted your proposal, the Love Your Melon Grant Committee will review. A Love Your Melon representative will reach out if there are clarifying questions or if we need additional information to assess your request. Final decisions will be made by the Love Your Melon leadership team. All applicants will be alerted via email no later than January 30th, 2024. All communication, unless otherwise specified, will come via email from giving@loveyourmelon.com. Complete payment will be made within 6 weeks of official funding notifications.

Key Dates:

Online Screening Survey: Open October 24 - November 24th
Decision Notification: All survey respondents will be contacted by December 1st.
Submit proposals (invite-only): Portal open December 4th - January 10th
Funding notifications: Love Your Melon will inform selected partners by January 30th

Reporting

If your organization is awarded a Love Your Melon grant, you will be required to submit a short final report, due in December 2024. This can be something as simple as a brief email with bullet points. We want to hear the progress you’ve made this year, including successes, challenges, learnings, and more. While not required, we love staying in touch with our partners year round, and also value real-time updates.

All grantees will also be asked to complete an anonymous survey at the end of the year regarding their feedback on the grant process and partnership with Love Your Melon.

Why is Love Your Melon adding a reporting requirement?

We value a vested commitment to our relationships and understand that each partner brings key strengths to the table. Placing a greater emphasis on measuring and reporting results and outcomes helps us understand your work more deeply. It also allows us to learn how we can support your organization more holistically in the future, past the initial check transaction. Additionally, we want to be able to report back to customers so that they can understand the power of their purchase and the real impact their dollars have on the pediatric cancer community.

Love Your Melon Online Screening Survey