The Arago Honors offers unrestricted funding awards to honor prior achievements. Our self-nomination form/LOI asks nonprofits to reflect on previous accomplishments with a focus on innovation, impact, and sustainability.

In 2023, there are only minor changes to the application form. We have tightened the short definition of innovation to be “Nonprofit innovation is a creative break in practice, large or small, solving a community problem.” We believe that solving a problem is at the heart of innovation and in previous years this might not have been sufficiently clear. We have added a bullet point in the nominated project or program information section to identify the community problem you are working on.

We are encouraged because more Arago Honor applicants in 2022 understood our award is for prior work. We believe there is more educating to do, however, our award program does not follow the conventional wisdom of nonprofit grantmaking. We have also come to realize that nonprofits taking an innovative path requires start-up funding. In 2023 we are relaxing the five-year start date for innovation and asking applicants to identify when the program started and when significant start-up funding was received. The start date can be longer than five years if start-up funding was received within five years or in 2018.

A prior applicant aptly summed up our once-a-year opportunity: “ The Arago Honors is a refreshing idea for the local philanthropic community. It was helpful to understand it as both a prize and an honor.”

We plan to host a group Zoom call with interested applicants again in mid-June 2023 to share how we define innovation and how the Meridian Foundation embraces trust-based philanthropy.

Following the group Zoom learning session, applicants will be able to schedule a 20-minute individual “office hour” Zoom session with the Meridian Foundation. Send an email to indymeridianfoundation@gmail.com to get a link to the group sessions and for the individual follow-up calls.

Dates for both opportunities will be announced on or about June 1. Dates will be sent to prior applicants and posted in the Nonprofit News.

The 2023 LOI:

--Adds a new shorter innovation definition for applicants to reflect on.

--Slightly modifies the five-year start date requirement of the self-nominated program to include an expansion when significant funding was received. There is more explanation in FAQ 10 below.

--Lengthens the word counts in the sustainability narrative question and asks the applicant to briefly share the journey of identifying, securing, and implementing start-up funding. This is a great place to identify funders in our community that support nonprofit innovation and encourage other nonprofits looking for resources to be creative problem solvers as well.

Generally, again in 2023, we are only making small tweaks to the Arago Honors review process. We have been very pleased with the 13 recipients we have honored for innovation over the past two years and found the discovery process inspiring.

Because small and large organizations have resources of different sizes, scopes, and complexity, separate categories will be used to compare nominations. Nonprofits will select their category based on FTEs (Full-Time Employees of the entire nonprofit) in four sizes: start-up/compact or less than 10 FTEs; small, between 11 and 25 FTEs; medium, between 26 and 100 FTEs; and large with more than 100 FTEs.

In 2022 most Arago Honor applicants were in the 0-10 FTE category with a handful of larger organizations asking to be considered. Of the seven nonprofits awarded for innovation, three were compact with less than 10 FTEs; one was small; two were in the medium size category of FTEs with less than 100 FTEs; and we recognized one large nonprofit with over 100 FTEs. We are continuing the FTE assessment in 2023 with the caveat that this filter did not influence decision-making but enhanced understanding.

Last year after careful consideration and research we began ranking nonprofit innovation of the seven nonprofits we recognized. The ranking rationale became an important part of the selection, and each nonprofit was notified of its ranking at the end of the review process during their Zoom call confirming funding. While this ranking is subjective, highlighting the rationale helps explain a nonprofit’s innovation path. For the most part, innovation in central Indiana is incremental. The 2022 Arago Honor recipients were ranked as follows:

 —Start-up for Patchwork Indy and Joy’s House.

 —Incremental for Overdose Lifeline, Inc., and Meals on Wheels.

 —Catch-up for Latinas Welding Guild.

 —Catch-up with the potential to be disruptive for Conner Prairie Museum.

 —Disruptive or the highest ranking for creating a significant long-term advantage to Be Nimble Foundation.

Further explanation about the ranking of the nonprofits mentioned above can be found in the Meridian Foundation’s news section on this website. We would encourage nonprofits considering applying in 2023 for an Arago Honor to be familiar with how we rank innovation.

The seven awardees showcase how talented entrepreneurs are creatively solving complex central Indiana problems in food insecurity, business entrepreneurship, housing inequity, substance abuse prevention, workforce development, and racial equity. Nonprofits that want to move forward on the continuum of start-up to disruptive require a dramatic shift in thinking, support, and practice. The Meridian Foundation has received compliments for its new ranking of innovation and is pleased to highlight this concept for greater impact.

A non-restricted cash prize of $10,000. The number of awards will vary each year and depend on the applicant pool. Seven awards were given in 2022 and eight awards in 2021.

Recipients will also receive recognition on The Meridian Foundation website for nonprofit innovation excellence, including a one-page best practices summary, rationale for selection, and a best-practice nonprofit innovation ranking.

At the end of the three-month review process, checks will be mailed to Arago Honor recipients

from The Meridian Foundation in early December.

Applicants must be a nonprofit organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code and be based in Marion County, Indiana, or the counties surrounding Indianapolis, including Boone, Hamilton, Hancock, Shelby, Johnson, Morgan or Hendricks.

Last summer Donna Oklak, founder of the Meridian Foundation, and Jonathan Haag, Vice President of Innovation at CICOA Aging and In-Home Solutions, recorded “What Does Innovation Look Like Today?” with Shari Finnell of the Nonprofit News by Charitable Advisors.

The three spoke about the evolution of nonprofit innovation and inspiring nonprofits to take risk! Listen to the 30-minute podcast here.

Applicants may self-nominate or apply on their own behalf. Nonprofits should attach their 501(c)3 designation letter on the LOI and a budget for the nominated program.

We ask that nonprofits look at initiatives or nonprofit programs that started in 2018 or within the past five years. For the first time, we are extending the eligibility window beyond five years if significant start-up funding (capital) has been more recently received. We believe that start-up funding affects impact and realize that promising creative solutions can’t start without funding. For example, a nonprofit program starting in 2016 can apply if significant start-up funding was received in 2019.

Nonprofits recognized in 2021 can apply again in 2023 if they want the Meridian Foundation to consider a different program. Nonprofits recognized with an Arago Honor in 2022 are not eligible in 2023.

The application review process will be conducted by the Meridian Foundation and volunteer readers to move an outstanding application to the next level of due diligence. All reviewers will use the same criteria for selection. Applying nonprofits should submit the Google Form on the Meridian Foundation website on or before August 1, 2023, at 11:59 p.m. The first stage of the review process is based on the LOI (letter of Intent) submission, and the second level of review will ask a select group of finalists to answer specific questions written for the. The process with

a tentative timeline includes:

--Applicant LOI submission August 1, 2023, on our Google Form.

--First internal review of LOIs –August 2023.

--Review by volunteer readers of select LOIs—September 2023

--Second internal review of reader comments and thorough internet sources review to create individual questions for finalists— October 2023

--Send specific questions and requests for additional financial information (funding sources and percentages from individuals, foundations, government, fee for service, and a year-to-date operating statement of financial position with a two-week turnaround—late October 2023

--Third internal review of nonprofit individual answers and finances—November 2023

--Schedule and host Zoom call with finalists’ leadership team—November 2023

--Send out award checks in late November/December 2023 and announce recipients in media.

No. Arago Honor recipients will not be asked to file any concluding reports.

Please send an email to indymeridianfoundation@gmail.com.

Be sure to read the News tab on the website, and look for information on the Zoom learning session and “office” hour opportunity mentioned above. We look forward to speaking with you!