Those who have the money set the rules

I applied for a grant through a private foundation that funds, in a broad sense, the kinds of things I do. The format of the application was ridiculous and they required that it be sent by email as well as sending three hard copies by mail (automatic disqualification for the use of staples, I'm not kidding) and the full application on a CD with the hard copies. So, I jumped through their hoops and sent the whole package in before the Oct 1 deadline. Did I hear anything back? No. Only last night, Nov 24th, did they get around to sending m an email acknowledging that they received my application. They also took the opportunity to inform me that they would make the funding announcement in April. It is not something that I expect to get funded, but it looks like I have another 4 months until I know for sure. Say what you want about federal funding agencies, but at least they have a process to get the results back to you fairly quickly