Pledge 10 Grant Program

Jonesboro State Bank established Pledge 10 in 2015 after the initiative was approved at the bank's annual shareholders' meeting. Through Pledge 10, Jonesboro State Bank donates 10 percent of its profits back into the community. The Pledge 10 Grant Program is designed to support projects in four focus areas: Education, Youth Development, Financial Literacy, and Community Enrichment. The program emphasizes projects that respond to community needs, create meaningful impact with grant funds, and introduce new, different, or innovative approaches. Individual Pledge 10 grants range from USD 2,500 to USD 10,000. Eligible projects must be new and creative rather than existing or ongoing services, and a project that has already received Pledge 10 funding twice is not eligible for a third award for the same or equivalent project. Grant funds may not support contests or pageants, requests solely benefiting one person or family, foreign or domestic travel projects, political causes or campaigns, scholarships for postsecondary attendance expenses, or re-granting to another organization or entity. The application guidance also states that grants do not fund current salaries or ongoing administrative costs. The project budget must balance so that total project expenses equal the Pledge 10 request plus organization support and other resources. No mandatory matching or cost-share requirement is stated, although applicants are encouraged to leverage internal and external resources. Partial awards may be made. Eligible applicants include charitable organizations, governmental organizations, accredited schools, and churches or houses of worship when the proposed church project will benefit the community outside the church. The Grant Agreement further identifies qualifying entities including certain tax-exempt organizations, recognized state, parish, or city government entities, K-12 public and private schools, charter schools, community or junior colleges, public or private colleges and universities, and recognized churches or houses of worship. Projects must serve people within Jonesboro State Bank's primary service area of Jackson, Bienville, Winn, and Lincoln parishes in Louisiana, although an applicant does not have to be headquartered there. Applicants must document organizational legitimacy and good standing. Depending on organization type, required documentation includes IRS tax-exemption evidence, Louisiana Secretary of State good-standing evidence, Louisiana Legislative Auditor evidence, or a current accreditation certificate. Organizations may submit no more than two proposals in a grant cycle. Applications are submitted completely online and can be accessed only during an open funding cycle. The application may be saved and resumed, but it resets after 28 days. The funder recommends drafting responses separately before copying them into the online form and having another person proofread the application. Application content includes the project and organization information, organization type and supporting documentation, project director information, project dates and parishes served, prior Pledge 10 award history and reporting status, focus areas, community need, project description and alignment, organization budget where applicable, organization need, people impacted, a detailed project budget, grant request, organization support, other resources, partial-funding plan, organizational and project-director capacity, management and evaluation plans, innovation, long-term funding and impact vision, promotion, organization contact and tax information, senior official information, and acceptance of the Pledge 10 Grant Agreement. Applications are evaluated by an anonymous panel that usually consists of four to six community members with community knowledge, organizational involvement, and/or grant-project experience. Panelists independently review and score applications and then collectively determine which projects to recommend and, where partial funding is appropriate, the recommended amount. The principal scoring objectives are addressing community needs in the four Pledge 10 focus areas, maximizing the impact of Pledge 10 funds through reasonable budgets, applicant capacity, management and evaluation planning and leveraged resources, and supporting innovative projects with potential for future funding and longer-term impact. The funder particularly seeks to support organizations with smaller budgets or limited budget flexibility and encourages projects that could serve as pilots for larger future grant opportunities. Pledge 10 accepts applications twice each year. The Spring Cycle runs from January 15 through March 15, and the Fall Cycle runs from July 15 through September 15. Based on an analysis date of August 18, 2026, the current Fall Cycle is open, with an application window of July 15, 2026 through September 15, 2026. The next expected cycle is the Spring Cycle beginning January 15, 2027. Projects must start 6 to 12 weeks after the applicable application cycle closes and must end within 12 months after the project start date; the Grant Agreement additionally states that a project must begin and end within 12 months of the grant award. Award decisions are normally communicated six weeks after each cycle closes. Award recipients must submit a press release or Impact Story within 60 days after award notification and a final report by the earlier of 60 calendar days after the project end date or one year after the award date. Program questions and requests for application feedback may be sent to Pledge10@jboro.com.

Provide every requested item because incomplete applications may not be considered; draft answers outside the portal and proofread carefully before submission; clearly document the local community need and alignment with Education, Youth Development, Financial Literacy, or Community Enrichment; propose a new and creative project rather than an existing service; present a reasonable balanced budget and show internal or external resources that maximize grant impact; demonstrate organizational and project-director capacity through a concrete management plan; define measurable evaluation methods and outcomes; explain contingency plans for partial funding; describe how the project could serve as a pilot for larger future funding; identify how Jonesboro State Bank Pledge 10 will be acknowledged and promoted.