The first step in soliciting a Monsanto Fund grant is to review the Fund's four Priority Areas of Giving to see if the proposal falls into one of those categories. Any grant request that does not meet the description of at least one of the priority areas will not be considered.:

In order to focus on the new priority areas more fully, a preliminary step has been added to afford Fund staff the opportunity to evaluate grant ideas before they are fully developed. This also saves an organization the time, effort and expense of putting together a full-blown proposal initially.

This first step, required of all applicants, is the Preliminary Funding Request (PFR).

A PFR is a two or three-page description of a proposed project that also includes some basic information about the non-profit seeking a grant. A PFR must follow the PFR Specifications and must be identified as aligning with one of the Funds Priority Areas of Giving. Applications are evaluated against other requests in each priority area.

After the PFRs are evaluated, selected organizations will be invited to submit a full proposal, using an application form provided by the Fund. All applicants should receive a response regarding the status of their request within four to eight weeks after it's arrival in the Fund Office.

Grants are awarded twice a year by Monsanto Fund, in June and December. The PFR deadlines are:

• January 1(For grants awarded in June)
• July 1 (For grants awarded in December)