01 / Eligibility
Who qualifies for the grant
Five 501(c) subsections qualify, and so do a pending application and a fiscal sponsor. Annual operating budget under $1,000,000. Anywhere in the United States. Proof of status is required when you submit. Two exclusions, both written below as rules. Then the review criteria, so you can score yourself before you spend the time.
02 / Who qualifies
Who qualifies
Four requirements. All four have to be true on the day you apply.
Eligible tax status
- 501(c)(3)
- Charitable, religious and educational organizations.
- 501(c)(4)
- Social welfare organizations.
- 501(c)(5)
- Labor, agricultural and horticultural organizations.
- 501(c)(6)
- Business leagues, chambers of commerce and trade associations.
- 501(c)(19)
- Veterans organizations.
- Pending
- You have filed for 501(c) status and are waiting on the IRS determination. The form asks which form you filed and roughly when, and both answers are optional.
- Sponsored
- You operate under a qualifying fiscal sponsor. The sponsor is the organization that has to qualify, and the form asks for its name.
Proof of status
On the last step of the application you confirm that your organization holds at least one of three things: an IRS determination letter, a 501(c) application you have filed and are waiting on, or proof that you are registered as a business entity with your state. That confirmation is required to submit.
There is no upload button anywhere on this site, because a static site cannot take files safely. The EIN you give in step 1 lets us look a determined organization up in the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search on our own. Links to supporting documents stay optional.
If we select your application we ask for the document itself by email. An award is conditional on producing it.
03 / Exclusions
Who is not eligible
Two rules. Neither is a judgment about the work an organization does.
Rule 01
Partisan political campaign activity
501(c)(4) and 501(c)(5) organizations are eligible. The site may not be used for electioneering or candidate advocacy.
The reason is worth stating plainly rather than hiding in a terms page. Social welfare and labor organizations are the two most politically active categories in the tax code, and both may legally campaign. Omen Services will not build or host that activity under its own name. So a c4 or a c5 doing service, education or issue work qualifies. A site whose job is to elect a candidate does not.
Rule 02
Member-benefit subsections
Other 501(c) subsections are not eligible: 501(c)(7) social and recreational clubs, 501(c)(8) and 501(c)(10) fraternal societies, and 501(c)(13) cemetery companies.
The line is public benefit versus member benefit, and it is drawn on the subsection you file under. It is not a judgment about any particular organization. The application lists the eligible statuses and an option for another subsection, so you can answer accurately instead of picking a label that is not yours in order to fit the form.
Those are the only exclusions. Everything past this point is the review, and the review is a judgment call.
04 / Review
How we review applications
The rubric, written out. Read the right column and score yourself before you spend the time on the form.
| What we look at | What a strong answer shows |
|---|---|
| Mission and programs | After two sentences we can tell what you do, who you do it for, and where. Vague answers are the most common weak application by a wide margin. |
| Whether a site is the bottleneck | The application asks what a great website would let you do that you cannot do now. This is the strongest signal in the form. "Volunteers cannot sign up without calling the office" beats "we need a better online presence" every time. |
| Capacity to participate | One responsive point of contact, content you can actually send, and someone available to review pages across a 4 to 6 week build. |
| Who maintains it after | A named person or role who will keep hours, events and staff current. Content edits are billed separately at the normal rate, so it matters who will be asking. |
| Budget | The budget figure indicates an organization that genuinely cannot fund a commercial build. Under $1,000,000 is the ceiling, not the target. |
Selection is at the discretion of Omen Services. There is no score that guarantees an award, and applying does not guarantee selection. Awards are made as capacity allows.
05 / Timeline
The timeline
Rolling applications. Nothing to count down and no cycle to wait for.
-
Apply
Any time. There is no closing date and no application window.
-
Decision
Within 2 weeks of a complete application. You hear back either way, including when the answer is no.
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Live
4 to 6 weeks once you are awarded and your content is in hand. The build clock starts on the content.
06 / If it is no
If the answer is no
The honest version
Some organizations are not eligible. Some are eligible and are not selected. Neither outcome is a verdict on the work you do.
Omen Services builds websites for paying clients as its actual business. If the grant is not open to you, you can hire us the normal way at the normal rate. Same person, same build, an invoice instead of an application.
07 / Apply
Apply when you are ready
Rolling. No deadline. A decision within 2 weeks of a complete application. If you are on the line about whether you qualify, apply and let us read it.
The phone and the email are support channels, not a sales line. Nobody will call you to close a deal.