iLRN Grant Prospect Fit Rubric

edited November 15, 2026

Every prospect gets five scores from 0 to 2, for a total out of 10. Eligibility is a gate: a 0 there drops the prospect no matter what the other scores are.

Scoring criteria

Criterion	2	1	0	Where to check
Eligibility (gate)	iLRN qualifies as the applicant, confirmed on the funder’s own page	iLRN qualifies only with a named partner as lead, or eligibility is not yet confirmed	iLRN’s organization type, location, or history is excluded	Funder’s eligibility page or the call itself
Mission fit	Funder names standards, credentialing, learning technology, or open scholarly knowledge as a priority, and has funded similar work	Priorities are adjacent, such as higher education or workforce in general, with no similar grant found	Priorities do not touch education, research, or technology	Program description and the last two years of grants
Size fit	Typical grants run $10,000 to $75,000, or a partner leads	Typical grants run $75,000 to $150,000	Minimum grant is above $150,000, or the funder requires audited financials or a budget size iLRN does not have	Grants database, Form 990-PF, call guidelines
Access	Open call or a published inquiry process anyone can use	Inquiries accepted, but most grants are by invitation	Invitation only, with no inquiry route	“How to apply” page
Timing	Deadline or rolling review inside the next six months, with at least six weeks to prepare	Next window is six to twelve months out, or under six weeks away	No known window, or the program is paused or cancelled	Call page and funder news

Reading the total

Total	Decision	What happens next
8 to 10	Go	Moves to Stage 4. Inquiry drafted
6 to 7	Conditional	Goes ahead only if the weakest score has a named fix, such as a partner or a confirmation call
5 or below, or Eligibility 0	Drop or park	Record the reason and a date to look again

Scoring rules

• Two volunteers score each prospect separately. A gap of 2 points or more on any criterion gets talked through before the go or no-go meeting.

• Every score cites a link. A score with no source is recorded as unverified and counted as 1 at most.

• Score what the funder’s own site says today, not what an aggregator or an old listing says.

• When scores tie, prefer the prospect where someone at iLRN already knows a person at the funder, then the one with the shorter application.

Worked examples

Three prospects from the starting list, scored on November 15, 2026.

Prospect	Eligibility	Mission	Size	Access	Timing	Total	Decision
Sloan Foundation, Technology program	1 (unverified)	1	1	2	2	7	Conditional. Fix: confirm eligibility and focus areas on sloan.org
M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust	2	1	1	2	1	7	Conditional. Fix: confirm the next inquiry window and build the regional case
Mellon Foundation, Higher Learning open call	0	1	0	2	0	Gate	Drop