The grant opportunity is provided by the Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People (SDOP) and is open to groups in the United States who are oppressed by poverty and social systems, want to take charge of their own lives, have organized or are organizing to do something about their own conditions, have decided that what they are going to do will produce long term changes for their lives or communities, utilize some combination of the SDOP core strategies to promote justice, build solidarity, advance human dignity, advocate for economic equity, and will control the programs they own and will benefit from them directly. Partnerships are initiated by applications to the Self-Development of People Committee and are evaluated using Self-Development’s funding criteria and overarching SDOP program measures.

There are no deadlines for application submission. The review process might take up to 6 months. Applicants can choose between submitting a pre-application or a full application. The full application requires three letters of recommendation from established community leaders and/or organizations on letterhead. Applications can be submitted via email or post office. International applications are only accepted from groups in Belize and Panama due to changes in funding focus. If a group has received a grant from SDOP, there are specific required documents for payment submission but reports are not initially required for the first payment release.