When Bank of America Charitable Foundation is considering potential grantees, it favors charities that have a clear sense of their long-term mission as well as those that can offer volunteer opportunities to bank employees, says Kerry Sullivan, the foundation’s president.

Among the biggest mistakes grantees make, she says: not taking Bank of America seriously when it says it wants the charity to apply for general operating support rather than support for a specific program.

“We would prefer to strengthen that organization and give them unrestricted support,” says Ms. Sullivan.

But, she says, “people don’t believe us.”