Grant Application Guidelines

2020 Grant Cycle

1.1 BACKGROUND
Yayasan Hasanah’s (“Hasanah”) vision is to become a leading foundation that promotes
Malaysia’s global sustainability through solutions that empower communities, encourage
social inclusivity and improve the local environment supported by its four Impact Areas of
Education; Community Development; Environment; and Arts and Public Spaces). These
Impact Areas are anchored to Hasanah's core foundation of long-term nation building; and
built on Hasanah’s commitment to stakeholders in upholding the principles of Empowerment,
Trust, Integrity, Inclusivity, Connectedness and Authenticity, in the work that we do.

Hasanah works through an ecosystem of champions that include our partners, civil societies,
social enterprises, government and regulatory agencies, and the community, for a cohesive and
holistic impact. Our champion-ecosystem is intentionally local-partner based. This is part of
our strategy to sustain and strengthen the local community’s capacity, ownership and
leadership, and to ensure solutions are customised and relevant to local needs.

We emphasise an operational model of equal partnership. Our role is to complement and

support the passion and goal of our partners, and build their capacity to strategise, lead, and open
doors to policy-making in their areas of work.

Hasanah has supported interventions that are not only transformative and catalytic, but which
also have meaningful social impact on both the nation and the communities it served. Achieving
significant and multi-faceted social impact however requires a longer time horizon.

In order for Hasanah to focus its finite resources towards achieving a transformational and
measurable social impact, Hasanah’s priorities have shifted from short-term results at the
output level to long-term results at the impact level to which can be measured collectively
within each Impact Area as well as at the foundation level. This shift will also be cascaded to all
its current and potential partners so that the activities and projects they implement are also
measurable, impactful and aligned to Hasanah’s aspirations.

We welcome proposals that are clearly aligned with Hasanah’s mandate, and supports any of
Hasanah’s four Impact Areas. Other considerations include scalability and replicability of the
programme, how its impact can transform or catalyse further progress in the affected issue or
area, as well as the sustainability of the programme.

Hasanah’s work in our Impact Areas are aligned to 15 of the 17 Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs). These are:

SDG 1: Poverty Alleviation SDG 6: Clean Water & Sanitation SDG 12: Responsible
Consumption & Production
SDG 2: Zero Hunger SDG 7: Affordable & Clean Energy SDG 13: Climate Action
SDG 3: Good Health & SDG 8: Decent Work & Economic SDG 14: Life Below Water
Well Being Growth
SDG 4: Quality Education SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities SDG 15: Life On Land
SDG 5: Gender Equality SDG 11: Sustainable Cities & SDG 16: Peace, Justice &
Communities Strong Institutions

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1.2 GOALS OF HASANAH’S IMPACT AREAS

The goals to be achieved in each of the Impact Areas are as follows:

1. Arts and Public Spaces (“APS”)

• Increase capacities of civil society organisations (“CSOs”) to engage in advocacy
initiatives focused on the conservation and promotion of arts, cultural and heritage
assets.
• Create mechanisms that invest in the development of high quality arts products and
services.
• Promote awareness of arts, heritage and culture in early age education.
• Raise the importance of the arts in national planning and policy development.

2. Community Development
• Develop and implement poverty alleviation programmes that address the
needs of low income individuals and households throughout Malaysia,
especially those living in public funded housing i.e. Program Perumahan
Rakyat (PPRs) and rural areas.
• Enhance the quality, inclusivity and availability of social services among
vulnerable and at risk communities, particularly children and youth at risk
• Advocate for sustainable economic and social development policies that support and
protect vulnerable and at risk individuals and households.

3. Education
• School Management: Develop and implement comprehensive school- transformation
models in primary and secondary schools towards holistic student outcomes.
• Talent Development: Facilitate upward social mobility through human capital
development.
• Community Involvement: Increase active involvement of relevant stakeholders in
providing support to students’ development in primary, secondary and tertiary levels.
• For the 2020 grant, the Education Impact Area will also be considering projects which
focus on the following:
 Projects focused on Public School Transformation and access to quality
education.
 Projects focused on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics),
SEN (Special Education Needs), mental health, vocational and skills education
modules, and projects and programmes developed and delivered specifically for
the B40 community.

4. Environment
• Malaysia’s capacity and capability in conserving rainforests, freshwater and
marine ecosystem from further degradation is strengthened.
• Malaysia’s green growth development is embedded in practice towards a low
carbon pathway and sustainability is enhanced.
• Strategic environment initiatives successfully implemented and monitored through
advocacy and models of cross-sectoral cooperation in the country.

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• For the 2020 grant, the Environment Impact Area will also be considering projects
which focus on the following:
 Projects focused on the Central Forest Spine in Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah
 Projects focused on the Payment of Ecosystem Services.
 Projects which advance ecosystem services and its conservation and protection,
through capacity building of partners and stakeholders.
 Conservation programmes aligned to the Sustainable Development Goals.

1.3 GUIDING RULES

The following section sets out the criteria for the submission, selection and implementation of the
initiatives supported by Hasanah.

1.3.1. Eligible applicants

Applicant
In order to be eligible for a grant, the applicant must:
• be legally and locally registered with relevant authorities (Registrar of Societies or the
Companies Commission) in Malaysia or a registered company under the Companies Act
1965 for social enterprises (in selected cases, grants may be channeled to organisations
registered in foreign jurisdictions but carry out programmes in Malaysia and impacting
Malaysia);
• have been formed and registered at least two years prior to being considered for
Hasanah’s grant award – if organisation was previously established under a different name
and was operational for at least or more than two years under said name, applicant must provide
evidence of this;
• have audited financial accounts for two consecutive years (over the past 3 years), or
submitted Annual Returns to the Registrar of Societies;
• be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the proposal and not be
acting as an intermediary;
• have an internal audit process for its annual audit.

Other related eligibility criteria

• The applicant may be a co-applicant in another application at the same time.
• Applicant can be a social enterprise - defined as organisations or registered companies whose
primary mission is to support a social cause, and have a revenue source that is able to sustain
their mission.
• Public institutions and consultancy may apply as co-applicants with another CSOs as the core
applicant.

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1.3.2. Eligible Programmes

Types of activities which may be supported under this Grant Cycle:

Inclusivity
• Activities that target and address the needs of the bottom 40% of underserved Malaysian
communities.
• Activities that promote social inclusivity, economic empowerment and building of human
capital.
• Activities that target a new beneficiary group or innovative solutions to existing social issues.

Service delivery
• Educational and training activities relevant to Hasanah’s Impact Areas.
• Provision of social services, counselling services and legal protection.

Advocacy and policy

• Preparation and presentation of policy analyses and reports relevant to Hasanah’s Impact Areas
• Advocacy initiatives focusing on issues relevant to Hasanah’s Impact Areas.
• Local campaigns, education of citizens and promotion of principles of transparency, good
governance, citizens’ participation in decision-making processes relevant to Hasanah’s Impact
Areas.

Capacity building
• In-house mentorship, training, pilot projects, aimed at strengthening the capacities of, civil
society organisations (“CSOs”) and communities, relevant to issues or problems at the local
and national level in Hasanah’s Impact Areas.

Partnership development
• Identifying and establishing active cooperation with relevant CSO networks, coalitions, think-
tanks and individual organisations specialised in issues relevant to Hasanah’s Impact Areas.
• Networking and partnership building for the purpose of achieving a joint social and
entrepreneurial activity.

Other eligibility criteria:

• Proposed project must align to one or more of Hasanah’s Impact Area(s).
• Proposed activities must demonstrate the ability to produce measurable outputs (short- term
results), outcomes (mid-term results) and social impact (long-term results) in a selected Impact
Area.
• Applicant must demonstrate the ability of the proposed activities to become a sustained part of
the community resources.
• Applicant must demonstrate the ability of the proposed activities to be scaled up or expanded
across the various regions within Malaysia and beneficiaries as well as ability to replicate the
project.
• Proposed activities should be catalytic in nature i.e. should create multi-faceted change in areas
that promotes a better future for communities in Malaysia.

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The following types of initiatives are non-eligible:

• Direct donations or grants to individuals.
• Initiatives concerned only or mainly with individual sponsorships for participation in
workshops, seminars, conferences and congresses; or for studies or training courses.
• Initiatives addressing health problems or any other that are not within Hasanah’s Impact
Areas.
• Initiatives that support political campaigns.
• Initiatives essentially focused on construction activities, purchase of equipment, purchase
and/or renovation of building or offices for commercial purposes.
• Initiatives aimed predominantly at charitable donations and profit making activities.
• Initiatives which are already funded by another Hasanah’s grant and undertaken before the
date of contract signature.
• Faith-based activities.

1.3.3. Eligibility of costs

Hasanah will only support ‘eligible costs’. The categories of costs that are non-eligible are indicated
below. It is in the applicant’s interest to provide a realistic and cost-effective budget.

Ineligible costs
The following costs are not eligible:
- customs and import duties, or any other charges
- purchase or leasing of land and existing buildings
- fines, financial penalties and expenses of litigation
- second-hand equipment
- bank charges, costs of guarantees and similar charges
- conversion costs, charges and exchange losses, as well as other purely financial
expenses
- contribution in kind
- depreciation costs
- debts and debt service charges
- provision for losses or potential future liabilities
- credits to third parties
- salary costs of the personnel of national or public administration

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1.4 HOW TO APPLY

For a step-by-step guide on how to apply using our online grant portal, please click on the link
available on the Grants page of the Hasanah website. The flowchart below depicts Hasanah’s
grant application process.

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Step 1: Eligibility Assessment

Only eligible applicants will be allowed to submit an application for a Hasanah grant. In order to
assess if your organisation would be eligible to apply, please complete the eligibility assessment
available on the Hasanah grant portal.
Please ensure that the email you use to submit your eligibility assessment is the same email
that you will use throughout this grant application process.
Applicants may access the eligibility assessment once the grant cycle opens. The eligibility of an
applicant is based on:
• Being registered with either Registrar of Society (ROS) or Registrar of Companies
(ROC)
• Having audited financial accounts for the past 2 years.
Please make sure if you have a copy of your certificate of registration with ROS or ROC, and
most recent audited financial accounts before you start the eligibility assessment.
Our Grants Team will take 1-3 working days to verify your eligibility documentation. If the
application does not meet the eligibility criteria stated above, you will not be eligible to apply for a
grant.
You will be notified via email if you are eligible to proceed to apply for a grant.
One organisation should only submit one eligibility assessment.

Step 2: Creating an Organisation Profile

All eligible applicants will be invited to register an account on the Hasanah grant portal.
Please ensure that the email you use to register your account is the same email that was used
to submit your eligibility assessment.
Once you have registered your account on the Hasanah grant portal, you may proceed to create your
organisation profile.
Please ensure that the email you provide in your organisation profile is the same email used
to register your account on the Hasanah grant portal.

The profile page will contain information of your organisation and previous projects. Step-by-step
instructions will be provided on the portal. You may update your profile page at any time. However,
after you have submitted the application if you make any changes to the Profile, please inform the
Hasanah Grant Team.

Step 3: Completing the Application Form

Once you have created your profile page, you can proceed to complete the Application Form. Please
complete this carefully and as clearly as possible. Some fields are required and must contain a
response. If your response is Not Applicable, you must state it as such.

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Any major inconsistencies in the Application Form may lead to a rejection of the application. Full
applications must be in English or Bahasa Malaysia.

You may submit more than one Application Form, however please ensure that one application is
for one specific project.

Only completed Application Form(s) together with accompanying relevant documentation,

will be reviewed. It is therefore of utmost importance that these documents contain all
relevant information concerning the proposal. These documents are:
• Implementation Plan (available for download at the Grants page of the Hasanah website)
• Budget Breakdown (available for download at the Grants page of the Hasanah website)
• Organisational Structure
• Previous year or current year balance sheet (assets and liabilities) and statement of income
and expenses (preferably no more than 3 months old)
• Current operating budget breakdown for the organisation
• Most recent publications, news articles or other relevant materials about the organisation
or the project, if applicable (these are optional, non-submission will not affect evaluation
of proposal)

Applicants may request for further clarification during the application process. Questions may be
sent by email to [email protected] no later than five working days before the
deadline.

To ensure equal treatment of applicants, Hasanah cannot give a prior opinion on the eligibility of
applicants or a proposal.

1.5 REVIEW AND SELECTION OF APPLICANTS

Grant applications will be reviewed by the Impact Area teams and respective Grant Managers, and
deliberated during the Hasanah Grant Committee meeting.

All applicants will be assessed on:

• Relevance of project to Hasanah’s Impact Area(s).
• Whether project is aligned to one or more of the SDGs.
• Relevance to beneficiaries.

The quality of the applications, including the Implementation Plan and Proposed Budget, will be
evaluated using the evaluation criteria in the evaluation grid below, based on a scoring system
between 1 and 5 as follows:

Scoring system 1-5:

1. poorly developed / below expectations
2. needs clarification
3. meets basic expectations
4. well-developed / explained
5. great quality of answer / exceeds expectations.

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Grant Application Evaluation Grid
1. Organisational Programme Area and Implementation
Expertise
1.1 Will the proposed project add value to Hasanah’s impact 5
areas?

1.2 Does the organisation have the subject matter expertise to

implement the project? 5

Sub-score /10
Overall comments and issues of concern to be addressed for organisational programme area and
implementation expertise:
2 Effectiveness and feasibility of the project
2.1 Is there a clear alignment between the project objectives and
its impact to the target group(s) or final beneficiaries? 5

2.2 Are the proposed activities well-described, follow a logical 5

sequence, appropriate, and consistent with the expected
results?
2.3 Does the Implementation Plan reflect the proposed project 5
activities? Is it feasible?
2.4 Does the proposal contain well-developed M&E activities and 5
relevant indicators?

Sub-score /20
Overall comments for effectiveness and feasibility of the project:

3 Operational and financial capacity

3.1 Does applicant have sufficient management capacity i.e. 5
relevant staff (including senior management, full-time / part-
time staff, research / data collection team, and volunteers) to
successfully implement project?
3.2 Does applicant adequately present the involvement of 5
relevant stakeholders in the implementation of project
activities?
3.3 If the location of the project differs from the location of the 5
organisation’s HQ, please evaluate applicant’s capacity to
implement this project (e.g. cooperation with local affiliates
in project location / volunteers in project location / satellite
offices in project location).
3.4 Does applicant have sufficient experience in managing 5
grants of similar amounts as requested?

Sub-score /20
Overall comments for operational and financial capacity:
4 Budget and cost effectiveness

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4.1 Is the estimated cost for the project activities realistic (is it too 5
high / too low)?
4.2 Has a detailed breakdown of cost been provided? 5
4.3 Is the ratio between the estimated costs and the expected 5
results satisfactory? (Please indicate proposed revisions in
budget if estimated cost vs estimated results are not
satisfactory)
Sub-score /15
Overall comments for budget and cost effectiveness:

5 Sustainability of the project

5.1 Is the project likely to have multiplier effects? (Including 5
scope for replication, extension and information
sharing.)
5.2 Does the proposal adequately address the following
aspects of project sustainability?

• Financial – how will the project activities be financed 5

after Hasanah’s funding ends? Please list potential
fundraising activities.
• Institutional – how will the organisation’s internal 5
and/or external resources put in place during project
implementation (human resource, established networks,
etc) allow for the project activities to continue after the
project ends?
•
• At policy level, if applicable – how will this project n/a
contribute to relevant policy changes; e.g. will it lead to
improved legislation, policies, practices, etc?

Sub-score /15
Overall comments for sustainability of the project:

TOTAL SCORE /80

Only grant applications with evaluation scores of equal to, or more than 55, should be
recommended to proceed to the Due Diligence stage.

1.6 NOTIFICATION OF HASANAH’S DECISION

The review process is divided into two phases:

Phase 1: Impact Area teams and Grant Managers will review all applications, with
recommendations deliberated at the Hasanah Grant Committee meeting. Unsuccessful
applicants will be informed of Hasanah’s decision concerning their application, after the
Grant Committee convenes in October. Successful applicants will be shortlisted to the next
phase of Due Diligence.

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Phase 2: Findings from Due Diligence and recommendations will be deliberated at the
second Hasanah Grant Committee meeting. Unsuccessful applicants will be informed of
Hasanah’s decision after the second Grant Committee meeting. Applicants who
successfully pass the Due Diligence stage and is shortlisted at the second Grant Committee
Meeting may be asked to revise their application as deemed necessary, prior to being
recommended to the Hasanah Board of Trustees for final approval. Following the decision
to award a grant, applicants will be offered a contract based on Hasanah’s Grant
Agreement.

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