Thứ Tư, 30 tháng 12, 2009

University of Guelph Scholarships

Scholarships and grants provided: $18,000 per year

Scholarships dateline: March 1, 2010


POULTRY WELFARE DOCTORAL RESEARCH SCHOLARSHIP

This research scholarship provides $18,000 per year for three years for an exceptional graduate student pursing a PhD at the University of Guelph in the area of poultry welfare. Applicants must hold or expect to hold (at the time of the start of award) a Master’s degree (or equivalent) in science, preferably in animal welfare and/or poultry science and must be admissible to the Graduate School of the University of Guelph and either Ontario Veterinary College or Ontario Agricultural College. Selection will be based on academic achievement and quality of their graduate research proposal in field of poultry welfare. Multidisciplinary projects are highly recommended. Applicants will be eligible to receive other scholarships and bursaries in conjunction with this program.

Applicants for the Poultry Welfare Doctoral Scholarship are evaluated by the Campbell Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare (CCSAW) Steering Committee. Scholarship support is for three years full-time equivalent at the graduate level and is subject to yearly performance review by the CCSAW Steering Committee. Students awarded the Poultry Welfare Doctoral Research Scholarship will be expected to participate in poultry industry and scholarly public events and attribute their support in all communications regarding their research. Funding of second and third year of the PhD program depends on successful progress as determined by the CCSAW Steering Committee. Applicants should arrange to have a complete application for doctoral program of study on file at Graduate Program Services and must submit a completed scholarship application to CCSAW, including application form, curriculum vitae, curriculum vitae of proposed supervisor(s), official university transcripts and 3 signed and sealed letters of reference by March 1, 2010. Application is considered incomplete until all components are submitted. The student selected will begin their doctoral program in May or September 2010.

For a list of faculty members associated with Poultry Welfare at the University of Guelph, please see the CCSAW website http://www.uoguelph.ca/csaw/faculty/

Canadian Electro Scholarships

A full Ph.D. scholarship is available for a suitable student to work on modeling of electrowinning processes. A masters degree in chemical, materials or metallurgical engineering is required.

Job Homepage : http://www.mtrl.ubc.ca/faculty_&_staff/alfantzi.php

Category : Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering

Contact address :
Dept of Materials Engineering
The University of British Columbia
Frank Forward Building
309-6350 Stores Road
Vancouver, B.C.
Canada V6T 1Z4

Telephone: 1 (604) 822-8745
Fax: 1 (604) 822-3619

Scholarships and Grants for Asians

Scholarships and Grants for Asians in Scotland

The Scotland government calls for all Asians to participate in this unique opportunity to enroll in Scholarships and Grants for Asians Programs.

The closing date for scholarships and grants applications is 11 June 2010

Schoalrship Awards worth £2000 each are available towards the cost of tuition fees for full time Masters Programmes in a wide range of subject areas.
These scholarships are supported and funded by the Scottish Government in partnership with University of Aberdeen.

Eligibility
To be considered for the scholarship you will need to have applied to the University of Aberdeen for a place starting in September 2010 and have firmly accepted an offer, either conditional or unconditional by 11 June 2010.
The scholarship can only be held by a student of the University commencing study in September 2010 – it cannot be transferred to another institution.

Criteria
The scholarship will be awarded broadly on the basis of academic merit.

How to Apply for this Scottish Scholarships and grants:

A completed application form, transcript and one academic reference should be posted or emailed to:
Student Recruitment and Admissions
University of Aberdeen
University Office
King’s College
Aberdeen
AB24 3FX

Download Scholarship form:
http://vcs.abdn.ac.uk/documents/scotlands-saltire-scholarship-guidance-notes.pdf

Business Scholarships and Grants in Canada

EDC International Business Scholarships and Grants

EDC is awarding 30 scholarships every year. Twenty-five of these scholarships will recognize exceptional students in the field of international business or economics. The remaining five scholarships will be awarded to outstanding business students with a focus on environment related studies.

An EDC scholarship is worth a $3,000 cash award and, pending eligibility, a potential four-month work term with mentoring from leading industry experts at EDC’s head office in Ottawa, valued at approximately $10,000.

To qualify for one of EDC’s scholarships, you must be:
•a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada
•currently enrolled in full-time studies at a Canadian university
•in 2nd, 3rd, or 4th year of your first undergraduate degree
•studying international business, economics, or combining international business with sustainable management or environmental studies
•returning to full-time undergraduate studies in one of these fields for the next academic year

DEADLINE for Canadian Scholarship and grants is Monday, January 25, 2010

For more info regarding these Scholarships and grants, please contact:
Canadian university
Contact address : Export Development Canada
151 O’Connor
Ottawa, ON K1A 1K3

Phone: (613) 598-2500 or 1-800-267-8510 (North America only)
Email: eye@edc.ca
www.edc.ca/scholarships

Belgium College Grants and Scholarships

Belgium College Grants and Scholarships
VIB is a non-profit research institute in the life sciences where about 1200 scientists and technicians conduct strategic basic research.

Each year, VIB selects 4 candidates for a fully funded 4-year Ph.D. scholarships and grants program. VIB offers challenging interdisciplinary research projects with individual guidance and support.

The VIB International Ph.D. scholarships and grants Program is aimed towards non-Belgians currently living abroad. Candidates should hold a university degree or satisfy equivalent requirements to start a doctoral program at a Flemish university.

4 CANDIDATES

FOR A 4-YEAR PH.D. SCHOLARSHIPS AND GRANTS

VIB offers challenging interdisciplinary research projects, with individual guidance and support in a wide range of life sciences such as molecular biology, cell biology, developmental biology, structural biology, plant systems biology, genetics, biochemistry and microbiology.

VIB is located in Flanders, Belgium, in the centre of Europe. More than one third of all post-doctoral fellows and group leaders have their roots outside Belgium, making VIB a vibrant international and intercultural community.

Deadline for scholarships application: 15th February 2010

Project information and application forms are available at http://www.vib.be/phd

Job Homepage : www.vib.be/phd
Category : PhD Grants
Contact address : Program Committee VIB International Ph.D. Program VIB, Rijvisschestraat 120, BE-9052 Ghent, Belgium Fax: +32 9 244 66 10 E-mail:
Keywords : Life Sciences, Biomedical, Plant Biotechnology

Chủ Nhật, 27 tháng 12, 2009

Sampoerna Foundation Overseas MBA Scholarship

Sampoerna Foundation Overseas MBA Scholarship – 2010 Intake

The Sampoerna Foundation Overseas MBA Scholarship is a means to groom Indonesia's future business leaders. Sampoerna Foundation provides one (1) scholarship to pursue a Master's of Business Administration degree at leading university overseas. Upon completing the program, the scholarship recipient is required to return to Indonesia and endeavor to transfer his/ her knowledge to his/ her fellow citizens.

Scholarship Application deadline is February 1, 2010

Sampoerna Foundation Overseas MBA Scholarship consists of the following options:

Name of Scholarship

1. Sampoerna Foundation MBA in the USA

2. Australian Education International – Sampoerna Foundation MBA Scholarship in Australia

3. Ambassade de France en Indonésie – Sampoerna Foundation MBA Scholarship in France

4. British Council – Sampoerna Foundation MBA Scholarship in the UK

5. Singapore Education – Sampoerna Foundation MBA Scholarship in Singapore

Basic Requirements:
. Indonesian citizen who is under 35 years of age when lodging the application;
· Hold a local Bachelor's degree from any discipline with a minimum GPA of 3.00 (on a 4.00 scale);
· Have a minimum of 2 year full-time professional work experience after the completion of the undergraduate degree;
· Currently did not enroll in graduate or post-graduate program, or obtained a Master's degree or equivalent;
· Did not graduate from an overseas tertiary institutions, unless was on a full scholarship;
· Do not receive other equivalent award or scholarship offering similar or other benefits at the time of the award;
· Has applied to the university(ies) that are recommended by Sampoerna Foundation for the academic year 2010/2011 by the closing date of this scholarship application (February 1, 2010);
· Submit the result of TOEFL/ IELTS and GMAT with the minimum score as required by the chosen university;
· Have motivation to return to Indonesia and work in Indonesia upon completion of the MBA program.

What is Covered?
The scholarship covers the following:

· GMAT and TOEFL/ IELTS reimbursement, one time only, based on original invoice;

· University application fee, for up to two (2) universities;

· Student visa application fee;

· Return airfares from Jakarta to the place of study;

· Tuition fees, for the duration of study;

· Living allowance, to support living costs during period of study;

· Literature allowance, to purchase textbooks required for study.

List of Universities:
Sampoerna Foundation MBA in the USA Scholarship

1. Harvard University – Boston, MA

2. Stanford University – Stanford, CA

3. Northwestern University (Kellogg) – Evanston, IL

3. University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) – Philadelphia, PA

5. Massachusetts Institut of Technology (Wharton) – Cambridge, MA

5. University of Chicago (Booth) – Chicago, IL

7. University of California-Berkeley (Haas) – Berkeley, CA

9. Columbia University – New York, NY

10. Yale University – New Haven, CT

* Reference: USNews: America's Best Graduate Schools 2009 (www.usnews. com)

Australian Education International – Sampoerna Foundation MBA in Australia Scholarship
1. Australian Graduate School of Management
2. Melbourne Business School

* Reference: Financial Times Global MBA Rankings 2009

Ambassade de France en Indonésie – Sampoerna Foundation MBA in France Scholarship

1. INSEAD

* Reference: Financial Times Global MBA Rankings 2009

British Council – Sampoerna Foundation MBA in the UK Scholarship
1. London Business School
2. University of Cambridge (Judge)
3. University of Oxford (Said)

* Reference: Financial Times Global MBA Rankings 2009

Singapore Education – Sampoerna Foundation MBA in Singapore Scholarship

1. National University of Singapore

2. Nanyang Technological University

* Reference: Financial Times Global MBA Rankings 2009

Prospective applicants should directly contact the universities to find out about the admission process and requirements for enrolment. Applicants' inquiries about the scholarship (requirements, conditions, coverage, etc) should be directed to Sampoerna Foundation.

How to Apply for this grant?

Download the application package (application form and reference form) at www.sampoernafounda tion.org.

The completed application package should be submitted by the deadline (February 1, 2010) to Sampoerna Foundation office:

Sampoerna School of Education Scholarship
Jl. Kapten Tendean No.88C, 5th Floor
Jakarta Selatan 12710, Indonesia

When submitting the application package, please write the name of the scholarship program at the top right corner of the envelope.

Further Information on Sampoerna MBA Scholarship
Before applying, the applicants must read and understand the terms and conditions of the scholarship, including our policy about Alumni Contribution Scheme. For further explanation, please visit our website at www.sampoernafoundation.org, e-mail us at ella.cecilia@ sampoernafoundat ion.org, or call us at 021-5772340 ext.7153.

A Few Simple But Powerful Points of View That Can Get Your Nonprofit's Team Together and Motivated

We, here at The Grant Plant, LLC hope that you: had a good holiday season, didn't get too terrible stressed (ha!), and also had some time to decompress and relax. We are easing into the end of 2009 and the start of a new year. Beginnings are good for the opportunities, hope, and potential that they offer. Being this is the case, we have a few suggestions to help you implement a new and fresh point of view among your nonprofit's volunteers, staff, and leaders.

__ Consider the agency's mission statement and the organization's goals that have been set for 2010. Be certain that not only the nonprofit's community in general (its donors, volunteers, and community partners) know about its mission (don't assume that they do), but also be certain that they know about the organization's goals that it's set for itself this coming year (the goals, anticipated achievements, and the reason each of these are needed by the community). Also be certain that the organization's volunteers, staff, and leadership each and all know the mission statement and the organization's goals for 2010. Get the internal team clear, excited about their contributions in 2010 to this goal, and get the entire team onto 'one page' and empowered to meet the challenge of the goal.

__ Value the reason for the mission statement. Open the first staff meeting, the first volunteer meeting, and the first board meeting, in 2010, by suggesting a quick discussion about why and how the nonprofit's mission statement is still current and needed in the community. Suggest that the leadership articulate, discuss, and listen to others among colleagues working at other nonprofits, when meeting with your nonprofit's donors and volunteers, and when working with the staff. Knowing how and why a nonprofit's raison d' etre is relevant, still, today is a message that can easily be inserted when recruiting new board members, when raising funds, when recruiting new volunteers, and when striking up new relationships with other organizations in the community. The reasoning why any nonprofit and its work is needed in a community is very compelling and can help people become not just familiar with your agency's work, but value it and its existence.

__ Put the beneficiary or beneficiaries of your nonprofit's reason for existing first and model, for others with the nonprofit this year, how to value the beneficiaries along with the organization's mission, first and foremost always. In other words, for whom or what does your nonprofit do its work? That or they should be equally of first consideration with the organization's mission statement during any and all decision making on behalf of the nonprofit. If your agency educates youth about film making, or if your nonprofit works to preserve open spaces in formerly logged regions, or if your nonprofit assists those with Diabetes: make the mission statement and those or that which it serves first and foremost and encourage your colleagues at the nonprofit to do so, too.

__ Take pride in work and model that pride in work ethic for your colleagues. When they are hard at work on a project, when they have achieved a personal or staff benchmark, or when they have been challenged but are keeping at it; be sure to pat others on the back and state out loud to them the good work that they're doing.

__ Treat others, in the nonprofit's offices and at all of the functions and events, as you would want to be treated. Be professional, act with courtesy, grace, and gratitude. Encourage others to act professionally and graciously, too. Even in heated conversations, over the course of the new year, remember that reasonable people can disagree reasonably.

__ Take time, over the course of the year, to evaluate progress made on goals; review what worked and what needs to be improved and put those improvements into place; and then review again later. Evaluate your own operations regularly and be open to seeing the reality in evaluation results to the benefit of the agency and its mission statement goal. Don't be about hiding mistakes. Be about facing them and understand that mistakes or errors are really just opportunities to catch them and then make adjustments for the better. No one is perfect but all nonprofits' operations can be improved. It only benefits operations, cost/benefit, and the agency's reputation.

One of the benefits of working in a team is having others to bounce ideas off of, to listen to new ideas, and to support one another. The new year is an opportunity to a better nonprofit and more achievements. Sometimes having a fresh lens through which the team views the end goal through is very powerful.

Thứ Sáu, 25 tháng 12, 2009

Master in Business Administration in Sweden

For those interested in pursuing Master degree in MBA in Sweden,please register yourself as soon as possible for the dateline for this scholarship is January 15, 2010.

When applying for a Master's programme, it is important to remember certain key dates.

Semester start August or September 2010

Online service opens: 1 December 2009

Application deadline: 15 January 2010

Documents must arrive no later than: 1 February 2010

Selection results/Notificatio n of admission: Early May 2010

Blekinge Tekniska Hogskola
>
> Master in Business Administration (1 year)
>
> http://www.bth. se/mam/internetm ba.nsf
>
>
>
> Blekinge Tekniska Hogskola
>
> Master in Informatics (1 year)
>
> http://www.bth. se/tek/masters_ eng.nsf/pages/ informatics
>
>
>
> Lulea Tekniska Universitet
>
> Master in Information Security (2 years)
>
> http://www.ltu. se/edu/program/ FMISA?l=en
>
>
>
> Lund University
>
> Master´s programme in Geographical Information Systems (2 years)
>
> http://www.lu. se/o.o.i. s?id=10901& lukas_id= NAGIV
>
>
>
> Linkoping University
>
> Master in Child Studies (2 years)
>
> http://www.liu. se/en/education/ master/programme s/F7MCS
>
>
>
> Linkoping University
>
> Master in Adult Learning and Global Change (1 year)
>
> http://www.liu. se/en/education/ master/programme s/L7MLG

Thứ Ba, 22 tháng 12, 2009

Some Easy Information From the IRS to Help Nonprofit Organizations Keep Their Status and Remain In Compliance

As reported by Grant Williams, today, in The Chronicle of Philanthropy's web post, "Tax Agency Issues Guidebook for Charities" the IRS has released a booklet for nonprofit leaders that addresses general nonprofit operations, reporting, and tax filing requirements; and that also addresses what can jeopardize a nonprofit's official 'charity' status with the IRS (possibly resulting in the nonprofit losing its 'tax exempt' status).

The IRS booklet, "Compliance Guide for 501(c)(3) Charities" is a free .PDF file available for download. (Click on the booklet's title at the beginning of this sentence to view and download it. If you cannot view the web page after clicking on the link, go to www.adobe.com and download the latest (free) version of Adobe Acrobat Reader (it will be on the adobe.com website's homepage) and then after downloading Acrobat Reader return to the link, click on it, and view the booklet). If you do not have access to read or print online, you may also order the booklet from the IRS, for free, by calling the IRS and requesting the booklet by its name.

Also, very helpful, the IRS has also created a series of nonprofit - specific courses (some of which can be taken online at any time) to help nonprofit leaders keep in compliance with tax reporting. The courses explain what is required when filing a nonprofit's tax forms annually, ultimately helping you to keep the organization in good standing. The IRS' web page explaining the series of classes is available at Online Courses at StayExempt.irs.gov and the program's official website is IRS Stay Exempt - Tax Basics for Exempt Organizations.

Finally, as always, the IRS has all of its information for nonprofits located at Tax Information for Charities & Other Non-Profits.

Chủ Nhật, 20 tháng 12, 2009

Happy Holidays, Seeking Grant Money Today Readers!

We at The Grant Plant want to wish you and all of our Seeking Grant Money Today readers a very happy holiday season. Merry Christmas, a belated Happy Chanukka, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Winter Solstice, and best wishes in 2010!

Since you are busy year round in your office we thought it would be a good lead into the holidays for us to offer some free distractions that are also fun... there may be flight lay overs, family drama time-outs, or wee hours of the morning online surfing during your holiday break...and these may help. We think we've got a gift list here good for everyone:

For Sci Fi Geeks... check out Star Trek Wiki an online encyclopedia for "all things Star Trek" and honestly, Trekker or not, its pretty fun to look through.

For the Music fan...check out Ultimate '80's Songs to either look up song titles from the '80's or popular musicians from the '80's to hear songs (or even link through to the lyrics).

For the Comedy Fan or Comedian... look over the favorites or newest at Funny Or Die

For the Sports Fan... go to All Sports Trivia.com pick your favorite sport and click on it to be given list of sports trivia questions. Answer them and see how you do!

For the Video Gamer... put your Wii, Xbox 360, or Nintendo controller down, go to Classic Arcade Games and give classic arcade video games like Pac Man, Donkey Kong, Frogger, or Astroids a try. Master Chief, meet Mario.

For the Creative Type...check out Craftzine.com for crafty ideas in many different craft projects (complete with instructions) working with various mediums and skill levels.

We hope that you have a stress-free, fun, safe, and good holiday season!

Grants for Nonprofits Restoring Wetland, Riparian, or Coastal Habitat

From The Foundation Center...

Deadline: February 11, 2010

Five Star Restoration Program Announces 2010 Request for Proposals

Administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Five Star Restoration program seeks to develop community capacity to sustain local natural resources for future generations by providing modest financial assistance to diverse local partnerships for wetland, riparian, and coastal habitat restoration.

Funding is available throughout the country from the United States Environmental Protection Agency and NFWF's corporate sponsors in several Southeast states, and most of northern and central California, and seven major metropolitan areas.

In 2010, NFWF anticipates that the following will be available:

Approximately $225,000 from the EPA to support projects across the United States in each of the agency’s ten geographic regions.

Approximately $200,000 from Southern Company and its operating companies (Georgia Power, Alabama Power, Gulf Power, and Mississippi Power) to support projects in the Southern Company service area, which includes: Georgia (excluding Union, Fannin, and Towns counties); Alabama (excluding Lauderdale, Colbert, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Marshall, Morgan, Jackson, DeKalb, Cherokee, and Cullman counties); the Florida Panhandle (west of the Apalachicola River); and southeast Mississippi (twenty-three counties, from Meridian to the coast, with the west boundary running from Pearl River County to Union County).

More than $260,000 from Pacific Gas and Electric Company's Nature Restoration Trust program to support projects located in the PG&E service area.

And at least $200,000 to support urban conservation and restoration in the following metropolitan areas: Boston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Memphis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. To be eligible for this urban conservation and restoration funding, projects must include a spring community service day in which funding partners can participate in a restoration project (e.g., planting trees or native plants, pulling invasive plants, removing trash from urban waterways, installing rain gardens, etc.).

Elements of a Five Star project include on-the-ground restoration, environmental education, partnerships (at least five community partners), and measurable results.

The program is open to any public or private entity, but grants funded by PG&E’s Nature Restoration Trust are restricted to nonprofit community-based organizations, conservation organizations, local governments, and school districts. Requests must be for $10,000 to $40,000 each. Projects that can leverage the amount of funds requested with significant cash and/or in-kind contributions from project partners will be much more competitive.

Contact:
Link to Complete RFP

Thứ Sáu, 18 tháng 12, 2009

ALERT: Grants.gov February 6 – 9, 2010 Maintenance Outage

In order to bring a major upgrade to the Grants.gov system (referred to as the “boost”) into production, it is necessary to bring Grants.gov off-line from 00:01 AM ET on February 6, 2010 until 11:59 PM on February 9, 2010. The entire Grants.gov system will be unavailable during that time.

The upgrade will further increase the capacity of Grants.gov, along with the system’s reliability and its ability to sustain continuous high volume activity. We have done our best to minimize the length of the maintenance outage necessary to bring these improvements into production.

We are working closely with agencies that previously posted closing deadlines during the outage period to minimize any impact on the agencies or their applicants. Agencies with previously posted closing deadlines on February 6 – 9, 2010 are taking appropriate steps to ensure applicants are able to apply for these posted opportunities. Please note the outage period, and any agency instructions for particular grant opportunities, and plan accordingly when applying for grants in the early February time period.

We apologize for any inconvenience this outage period may cause.

Regards,
Grants.gov PMO

ALERT: Grants.gov January 9, 2010 Maintenance Outage

It is necessary to bring Grants.gov off-line for fifty nine minutes January 9, 2010 from 00:01 until 1:00 AM ET to implement the forms production build. The entire Grants.gov system will be unavailable during this time.

This build will implement fourteen new forms and update thirty-nine forms that are associated with SF 424 Family. If you have any questions or concerns please contact the Grants.gov PMO staff.

Regards,
Grants.gov PMO

Chủ Nhật, 13 tháng 12, 2009

A Couple of Nonprofit Best Practices Lessons From the Real World

If a nonprofit does not put its mission statement first, in all of its operations considerations, it risks losing its way or worse. The following are real world examples that demonstrate why this is so.

Let's say that you and I met because we both donate to a specific art museum. Let's say that you and I grew up in the same city and this art museum is important to each of us so we have supported it over the years. The museum both has a terrific art collection of its own and they regularly host beautiful touring exhibits. You and I each have come to trust the organization. The museum's leadership make excellent operations and management decisions in the best interest of the museum's mission statement goal, repeatedly. You and I, as long time supporters (who, through our trust in the organization and the confidence in its programming track record, donate because we believe in the museum's mission), can trust that the museum's leadership makes operations and management decisions based on the best interest of the museum's reason for existing, its mission statement. We support the museum based on its goals in the community but also based on its reputation and successful track record. The leadership has demonstrated that it is aware of its responsibilities, provides excellent programs: that it understands and upholds the organization's mission, and that it does not get swayed (primarily because the museum's leadership puts the mission statement first in all decision making processes).

How, then, would we feel (as regular and long time donors) if we happened to be supporting the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA), which just recently opened the exhibit, Dreams Come True: Art of the Classical Fairy Tales From the Walt Disney Studios. As long time donors we are pleased with the NOMA's mission statement, " The mission of the New Orleans Museum of Art is to inspire the love of art; to collect, preserve, exhibit and present excellence in the visual arts; to educate, challenge and engage a diverse public." (quoted from their own website). How, then, as supporters of this museum would we react if we discovered as is actually the case, about this exhibit (according, in reality, to the NOMA's own director) "that his museum and its curators stood by as Disney employees pitched the presentation and then as Disney "did all the curatorial selection, crated it all up [and] packed it." Director Bullard said his museum "wasn't interested in a general animation exhibition," that is, the museum's only interest was in presenting a single corporation's marketing display at the same time that corporation was launching a major film based in his city (and, not coincidentally, during the holiday DVD-selling, movie-merchandising season)." [Quote taken from Tyler Green's blog, Modern Art Notes' December 11, 2009th post "Disney markets at NOMA: A major museum error"]? Not only did the leadership not do anything, they actually enabled another organization (Disney) to dismantle some of the trust that the museum developed, fostered, and demonstrated in its supporters (volunteers, donors, sponsors, community partners, etc.) over the years. If the museum's leadership had, instead, after Disney's pitch weighed its own mission statement against Disney's offerings (no matter if the exhibit was regarded by the leadership as "actually a result of Katrina, a gift from the Walt Disney corporation..." [quoted from Bullard in Green's interview with him on December 10, 2009]). Does the museum exist to benefit from Katrina or does it really exist to "...exhibit and present excellence...to educate, challenge, and engage..."? Not only did they make a curatorial error, the museum's own leadership placed a question mark in the minds of its lifeblood (its own supporters).

Here's another real world example....

What if you and I, instead, were long time regular donors of the New York Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum? Its mission statement is "...to promote the understanding and appreciation of art, architecture, and other manifestations of visual culture, primarily of the modern and contemporary periods, and to collect, conserve, and study the art of our time. The Foundation realizes this mission through exceptional exhibitions, education programs, research initiatives, and publications, and strives to engage and educate an increasingly diverse international audience through its unique network of museums and cultural partnerships." Even just appearances can damn an organization. The Guggenheim announced in 1999 that it would exhibit Italian fashion designer icon, Giorgio Armani's gowns in its building rotunda. But, to quote The New York Times' writer, Carol Vogel's December 15, 1999 article "Armani Gift to the Guggenheim Revives Issue of Art and Commerce"; "
"What the museum did not acknowledge was that some eight months earlier, Mr. Armani had [sic. then] become a sizable benefactor to the Guggenheim. The size of his contribution has not been disclosed, but one participant in museum meetings at which it was discussed said it would eventually amount to $15 million, an initial $5 million with a pledge to donate $10 million more over the next three years.
"Asked about the gift, museum officials said it was part of a ''global partner sponsorship,'' gift that can go to Guggenheim projects anywhere in the world, and denied that it was a quid pro quo for organizing the Armani show. The show is being sponsored by the fashion and celebrity magazine In Style, in which Armani is an advertiser." [Quoted from the linked NY Times article, above].
But appearances are everything. The Guggenheim did indeed host the Armani gowns exhibit in 2001 amid much discussion (e.g. the press) about whether such an exhibit in light of the contribution was ethical or poor operations on the part of the museum's leadership. Though the exhibit was ultimately critically panned (for not focusing on the evolution of Armani's fashion designs in chronological order, but rather the exhibit was laid out in order based on the color of the gowns), in 2002 the "shit hit the fan", demonstrating the point that I'm making in this blog post. As stated of the then leadership, in The New York Times' magazine's June 30, 2002 post by Deborah Solomon, "Is the Go Go Guggenheim Going Going", "Some charge that Krens has broken faith with art. The critic Jerry Saltz, writing recently in The Village Voice, called for Krens's resignation and went on to say, ''The trustees and board members who helped him twist this institution into a kind of GuggEnron should go as well.''"
What was the fall out of one of the most premier museums in the world placing a question mark into the minds of its long time supporters? Read on. To further quote Solomon's NY Time Magazine article,
"There are many ways to assess the growth of a museum, but probably the simplest is to look at an annual report. The Guggenheim, however, did not publish one last year. Why not? ''They're superfluous,'' Betsy Ennis, the museum's director of public affairs said.
"The museum's endowment has declined in recent years, from $55.6 million in 1998, to $38.9 million at the end of 2001. An endowment consists of savings that produce interest and should not be spent. While donors have continued to write checks to the Guggenheim's endowment, Krens has regularly dipped into it, mainly to cover operating expenses. Records show that $9.7 million was removed from the endowment in 1999; $13.6 million in 2000; and another $13 million last year."
Fundraising was diminished and the organization's ability to pay for its operations expenses through incoming donations decreased so the museum needed to dip into it's 'nest egg', its endowment. This failure in fundraising directly led to the organization's leadership inability to pay the bills, which will further instill concerns in long time Guggenheim supporters of all kinds.
If a major nonprofit like the world-renown Guggenheim museum can wreak such a blunder on itself any sized nonprofit, from start up to long existing can do it to itself, too. The lesson, here, is that any nonprofit's leadership that loses sight of its organization's own reason for existence (even in the face of a large donation) will lose much more, probably, than it gains (and not just in the moment but potentially for years to come, too). Any nonprofit's leadership must always place the organization's mission statement first and foremost in making any decisions for the agency. Any nonprofit's integrity, track record, and reputation is directly related to its ability to raise more and grow, or not. Each time the mission statement is put aside, during decision making, then the fidelity a nonprofit has formed with its existing supporters fades. For more discussion on this topic read The Nonprofit That Understands That Without A Strong Relationship With Its Community, It Stumbles - Is the Nonprofit That Succeeds.

Grants for Lab Work to Preserve Culturally & Historically Significant Films

From The Foundation Center...

Deadline: February 12, 2010 (Registration)

National Film Preservation Foundation Announces Registration Deadlines for Basic Preservation Grants

The National Film Preservation Foundation is accepting applications for its Basic Preservation Grants. These cash grants are awarded to nonprofit and public institutions for laboratory work to preserve culturally and historically significant film materials.

Grants are available to public and nonprofit institutions in the United States that provide public access to their collections, including those that are part of federal, state, or local government. The grants target orphan films made in the United States or by American citizens abroad and not protected by commercial interests. Materials originally created for television or video are not eligible, including works produced with funds from broadcast or cable television entities.

The grant must be used to pay for new laboratory work involving the creation of new film preservation elements (which may include sound tracks) and two new public access copies, one of which must be a film print. The grant does not fund high definition quality transfers.

Awards generally range from $3,000 to $18,000 each.

Visit the NFPF Web site for complete program guidelines.

Contact:
Link to Complete RFP

Thứ Sáu, 11 tháng 12, 2009

Implementing a Maintenance process for the Testing Environment (AT07)

We are implementing a maintenance process for the Testing Environment (AT07) where we will be taking AT07 offline weekly on Monday and Thursday evenings from midnight through 2:00 AM EST.

This regular maintenance will ensure AT07 (our testing environment only)has sufficient memory to meet the needs of our customer base. No enhancements will occur in this process.



Regards,
Grants.gov PMO

Chủ Nhật, 6 tháng 12, 2009

How The Everyday Donor Can Become A Major Ally In Your Nonprofit Surviving This Economy

Any nonprofit's relationship with its donors is invaluable the moment the donor gives for the first time, after they've given a second or third gift, and after they've given multiple numbers of donations over the course of years. The donors we're discussing, here, are not foundations or major corporate sponsors (who are solicited and cared for in their own unique way or at specific times). The donors that we are discussing, here, are the 'everyday' people who donate to your nonprofit perhaps through an annual appeal letter, or the local family owned business down the road that gives a couple hundred dollars each year. The sum total of all of these regular donors are what is called a nonprofit's donor base. How does a nonprofit retain donors, encourage their interest and support, and grow the amounts and frequency in which donors give? Donor development.

Donor development is the term given to building confidence in donors, educating donors, including donors, being transparent when reporting to one's donors, and caring for a given agency's relationships with all of its donors. Whether any donor gives any nonprofit a donation once a year or once a month, and also whether that donor gives $20 or $2,000. Donors are not simply people who gave money for your agency to go spend, without any regard for the outcome of the way the money was spent, without any regard for the donor's best intentions given the organization's mission statement, and it's an opportunity to raise more from that donor again and again.

You may be wondering how your organization can initiate or get donors giving, in the first place. Read Your Nonprofit Needs Cash Flow... to find out how to begin a donor base. You may also be wondering what today's donors are thinking about or considering (especially, today, in this economy) as they decide which nonprofits they will give to or won't; and for what types of programs or funding needs. To understand donors' motivations read What Motivates Giving.

Donor development has everything to do with treating the donor as the investor in the nonprofit that they are. Put another way, without regular donors or without donors who are asked to give again after they've given once - a nonprofit has no regular cash coming in the door to pay bills. It is difficult for any nonprofit to maintain its cash flow (and pay the bills) without a body of donors who are given by the nonprofit, itself, the incentive (provide donors with the recognition as supporters or enablers - because they are. Without them a nonprofit does not operate so the donor is the team member, on any nonprofit's team, that enables it to do its work), education (about the issue the organization serves, the current need in the community that still exists that the nonprofit serves, what it is explicitly doing currently in the community, and what its success rate is and why its uniquely situated (in its community) to succeed at its own mission statement), and included (e.g. through regular appropriate gratitude and acknowledgment of their contribution to the organization's success for the community's benefit). It is also difficult to grow a nonprofit and the programs or services that it offers without regular sustained support. Having a donor base, or a group of people, businesses, and other (usually regionally local to the nonprofit) supporters allows a nonprofit a certain amount of cash flow, month to month - a nonprofit that has an established, managed, developed, and involved donor base (who are involved as donors) is a nonprofit that has a sort of peace of mind among its nonprofit administrators and leaders.

Today's donor development is a bit different than at any other time in recent American philanthropy. The following are several suggestions to develop your agency's donors, this coming year, especially given the economy:

__ Put yourself in their shoes. Perhaps your have donors who have given regularly over the past two or five years but has indicated on an appeal remittance that they are sorry but they can't give this year. We can all appreciate this situation - but more than that: take their communication as not just an apology (or not just 'another donor who isn't giving this year') but rather as someone who is engaged with your agency, remains engaged, wishes they could give as usual - but can't right now. My point? The words "right now". This is still a regular donor to your nonprofit in their eyes - so do nothing in your agency's view of them. Ask them again next year for a contribution and let's assume the best for all of us in this economic downturn and assume that they will be able to donate again and then again for years to come.

__ Consider who is who among the entire group of donors. What is the breakdown of your donor base? No donor is more important than another (based on who gives how much) but for the sake of analysis and familiarity with what your agency can do to 'grow' specific sub-sets of the total group of donors is worth the time. Let's say that you analyze all donations (and the donors who gave them) given over the course of the past two years (to account for the economic downturn) and discover that 80% give between $1 - $50; %10% give between $51 - $100; 5% give over $100; 3% gave over $1,000; and 2% gave over $5,000. Your fundraising volunteers and staff can now sit down, given your region's economic situation, and strategize (realistically) how to increase next year's donation amounts over the course of next year for each of these sub-groups. For instance, perhaps for the 80% who give $50 or less, perhaps your nonprofit will instate two new annual appeal campaigns. For those who gave between $100 - $1,000 your nonprofit decided it will have a 'thank the donor' event where the executive director, board, and key staff will mingle with these donors thanking them for their generosity, listen to the donors' connection with your agency (note that for future interactions with the donor), and then include them in the two new appeal campaigns. Perhaps for the 5% who gave over $1,000 your board and executive director are going to divvy up their names and over the course of the year take their respective donors to lunch or breakfast, discuss their generosity, thank them, ask them if they're interested in becoming more involved, and share with them what current funding needs exist and ask for reasonably larger donations than their most recent.

__ Meet the donor where they have indicated to the nonprofit that they prefer to be met by your agency. In other words, if a donor, Ms. Jones gives each year to one fundraising method that your agency solicits her through - let's say an annual gourmet dinner and auction - then be certain to invite her to the same even next year. If, though, Mr. Smith has been invited to everything but only gives, year and year again, to the annual appeal letter then still include him (as long as he has not requested to not be solicited for these) to everything but be aware (perhaps indicated in your donor database software) that his preference is to donate each year, once, in response to your annual appeal letter.

The key for any size nonprofit (even an extremely large one) to begin, have, and maintain or grow a relationship with any one individual donor (out of its donor base) is to enter correct data (such as donation received, in response to what kind of solicitation or event, any connection that they personally have with the cause or issue or organization, etc.), but also refer to the data as appropriate (such as just before you send him or her a personalized thank you note or just before you take him or her out to lunch to ask for a major donation). Having information on donors is not some commodity to be sold or some invasion of privacy (and should not be acquired, managed, or thought of as such). Rather, it's the incidental information that the donor has made public (e.g. perhaps they just made partner at the law firm they work at), or the information gained after developing them over the years (e.g. your nonprofit assists those with multiple sclerosis and the donor has indicated that their older brother is a client of the agency's), or the information that they state directly (e.g. such as 'I wish I could give this year but I can't', or a response to a board member asking at a 'thank the donor' function why they give to your nonprofit). Information is very powerful in leveraging a donor's relationship with the nonprofit they support.

For further information read How To Increase the Number of New Donors

Year Long Grants for Youth Social Entrepreneur Nonprofits

From The Foundation Center...

Deadline: Open

Starbucks Foundation Offers Support for Young Social Entrepreneurs

A program of the Starbucks Foundation, the Starbucks Shared Planet Youth Action Grants program is designed to help young people realize their natural potential to reinvent their local communities. The program is the primary vehicle through which the Starbucks Foundation invests in communities globally as part of the Starbucks Shared Planet commitment to communities. Since launching the grants program in 2007, more than $1.5 million in total has been invested in youth-led initiatives around the world.

The Starbucks Foundation will solicit applications from organizations that provide young people (ages 6 to 24) with a continuum of service opportunities in social entrepreneurship. To be eligible, U.S. applicants must be tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations. Applicants outside the United States must be charitable in purpose and identified as nongovernmental organizations or the equivalent of a tax-exempt nonprofit organization.

Grants will range from $10,000 to $25,000 each for one year.

The foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals. Interested organizations may submit an online profile. The foundation reviews these profiles periodically and will contact those organizations about which it is interested in learning more. The Starbucks Foundation reviews the submissions on a quarterly basis; there are no deadlines for the submission of organization profiles.

For more information, visit the Starbucks Foundation Web site.

Contact:
Link to Complete RFP

Thứ Sáu, 4 tháng 12, 2009

Grants.gov Fiscal Year 2009 Annual Report

Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 was a year of great growth for Grants.gov. In FY 2009 Grants.gov processed 309,771 applications which was a 53% increase over the 202,133 applications processed in FY 2008.

There were 64,409 applications processed for Recovery Act specific opportunities posted on the site. This represents 21% of the total applications processed in FY 2009. For more detailed information on FY 2009 please see the Grants.gov FY2009 Annual Report:

-- http://www.grants.gov/assets/AnnualReport2009.pdf

Regards,
Grants.gov PMO

Chủ Nhật, 29 tháng 11, 2009

Learning From & Finding Grants Through The Foundation Center Can Be Mostly Free and Is Invaluable

The Foundation Center, without a doubt, is one of the most professionally well regarded, current, and informed nonprofit resources that exists. It may seem, from its name, that it is a resource for foundations (those entities who donate grants), but it is a resource for the entire nonprofit sector (nonprofit organizations and all). Again, and again, in this blog I reiterate that it's imperative (especially in today's difficult economy, more than ever) that nonprofit volunteers, leaders, and staff require themselves to know professional nonprofit best practices so that the organizations that they work for have a better chance of raising more, growing, and without reinventing the wheel (or expending more money or time than need be). The Foundation Center is an excellent resource to learn best practices from (which provides much information for free). Whether you are brand new to the nonprofit sector, a long time volunteer with different organizations, or a seasoned executive director with the same organization for over twenty years, notoriously, The Foundation Center offers you resources, information, education and networking opportunities, and more. Throughout my career it has remained a reliable and helpful resource.

[I always appreciate, while reading online, knowing in full what relationship, if any, the author has with an organization, a book's author, etc. that they review or editorialize. So, in the interest of full disclosure to you - I want to be clear that I wrote this blog post on my own (without any request that I do so), assembled the following opinion over time of my own free will (without compensation, suggestion, or other), and make the following recommendations without any benefit to me, my company, or anything or anyone else in any way affiliated with me. I know it is important, as a nonprofit professional, to share excellent resources with colleagues - and it is this and only this that is the intention of this post.]

When I began my very first job in the nonprofit sector, nearly ten years ago, and I needed to learn quickly the basics about many different nonprofit operations, I read about how excellent a resource The Foundation Center is, over and over again, so I immediately began investigating their website.

On their About Us web page The Foundation Center describes itself as "... a national nonprofit service organization recognized as the nation’s leading authority on organized philanthropy, connecting nonprofits and the grantmakers supporting them to tools they can use and information they can trust... The Center maintains the most comprehensive database on U.S. grantmakers and their grants; issues a wide variety of print, electronic, and online information resources; conducts and publishes research on trends in foundation growth, giving, and practice; and offers an array of free and affordable educational programs." Their headquarters are in New York, but they also have offices in Atlanta, Cleveland, San Francisco, and Washington D.C.

More importantly, they offer their "most comprehensive database on U.S. grantmakers and their grants..." for free in public libraries, community foundations, and other public resources in major cities, all over the United States. The database is called The Foundation Center's Cooperating Collection. To check where their free database (Cooperating Collection) is nearest to you, click on your state or a state near you on the Cooperating Collection web page.

Always a good place to begin when investigating any new website, The Foundation Center's website's Get Started section (located in the green header bar in the middle of their web pages) helps you understand just what they offer us nonprofit workers. In the Get Started web page's case, they show upcoming trainings (classroom trainings) that The Foundation Center provides around the United States. They also always list their classroom trainings on their website on their Classroom Training Courses web page. When you go to the Classroom Training Courses web page you'll see listed, there, different mediums through which The Foundation Center provides its training, in total. Some of it is online, through webinars, some of it is in the shape of online tutorials, and other training is in person classroom training. I have had the opportunity to experience all three of their training mediums and they are each very well done. You will see, reading down their various educational opportunities, that a variety of experience levels are offered courses, and that about half of their trainings, classes, etc. are provided for free. Most of the 'getting started' type of classes are provided for free. You can also go to the second to the final header in the green header bar in the middle of the web page, View Events, and see where in the U.S., currently, various specific Foundation Center courses are being offered.

If you are getting going in grant writing and need to learn some basics, The Foundation Center, is an excellent resource to learn (ala the described training opportunities, above). As you begin actually researching for potential grant donors to apply to for grants - The Foundation Center does not only provide the public with its database of grant donors and grants - it also provides information on how to best locate potential grant donors, resources to help with the actual grant donor research (also called prospecting), and tools to do the work efficiently. Go to the Find Funders web page in their site (again, in the green header bar in the middle of the web page).

Gain Knowledge (the third web section listed in the green header bar in the middle of the web page) may not, initially, seem very critical information to know but its content is often extremely powerful to assist those who are seeking grants (but for also all other forms of fundraising). In fact, the information that is offered, in this section of their website, will ultimately help the grant writer formulate an excellent grant proposal (or fine tune and improve a 'so - so' one). Information offered on this page will improve grant proposals by informing their reader about real time best practices, professional thinking (to assist nonprofits strategize to best raise grants for their specific organization) and to give a big picture context for the current world of philanthropy (donating), what grant donors are thinking and wanting now, and what other nonprofits are doing that works (especially in this tough economy). Taking the time to be current about one's own professional sector and specific groups or organizations within that sector can be the difference between reinventing the wheel (and wasting your organization's time and resources), or being current and informed and giving a new but tested and successful best practice a shot. In this economy especially, this can mean everything for a nonprofit.

No matter who you are (volunteer, executive, or staff) or whether your agency can afford to pay for any further resource or service at The Foundation Center, I highly recommend that you sign up for any one or more of their free newsletters (which I still do). This web page is always listed at the very top of The Foundation Center's web pages in the middle of the top-most header. Going to that web page, the Job Bulleting newsletter may be very pertinent to you right now (given this economy), but notice that they also offer Philanthropy News Digest newsletter, too. It is a weekly digest of all of the news in the nonprofit sector and again, it is invaluable to remain on top of the latest in one's professional (or volunteer work) sector.

Most invaluable, The Foundation Center also offers (again, for free) a RFP Bulletin newsletter. Each week The Foundation Center e-mails this free newsletter listing the latest grants available to apply for (also called a Request For Proposal (or RFP)). Having a list of the latest available grants sent to you weekly, is invaluable.

The Foundation Center's value deepens as organizations or their volunteers and staff choose to pay for yet more of their resources. They offer a store with reputable, professional, excellent resources and on the left you'll see they always offer Specials/Discounts. They also offer an online subscription (in various forms) to their database of grant donors and grants which is very handy given its online access.

The Foundation Center remains a professional resource for me and my colleagues, at The Grant Plant, LLC and I heartily recommend it to you and yours. If you have any other resources that you have found invaluable as a nonprofit proessional, please share it here by posting a Comment (below) with it and thank you.

Grants for Photojournalists Telling Compelling Social, Political, And Cultural Stories

From The Foundation Center...

Deadline: Various

Getty Images Offers Grants for Editorial Photography and Nonprofit Work

Getty Images has announced a new round of Grants for Editorial Photography and Grants for Good.

This year, the Grants for Editorial Photography will be awarded in one round rather than two. In another change to the program, the Grants for Good program will now require the guidance of a creative agency.

The Grants for Editorial Photography program is designed to provide professional and student photographers with the creative freedom to create compelling social, political, and cultural stories. The program will award five professional photojournalism grants of $20,000 each and four student grants of $5,000 each. The deadline for applications is May 1, 2010.

The Grants for Good program is designed to support photographers and communications professionals who use imagery to promote positive change in our world. The program will award two grants of $15,000 each to cover photographer, filmmaker, and agency costs as they create compelling new imagery for the nonprofit of their choice. The deadline for applications is March 1, 2010.

Visit the Getty Images Web site for complete grant program guidelines.

Contact:
Link to Complete RFP

Thứ Năm, 26 tháng 11, 2009

Scholarship Opportunities for Graduate Studies in the US

Scholarship Programs for Indonesian People:

USAID through the Human and Institutional Capacity Development (HICD) program working in Collaboration with the Academy for Educational Development (AED), opens the opportunity for talented Indonesians to study for Master's and PhD degrees in the US. The programs are FULLY FUNDED by USAID. The programs offered are:
1. Master's Degree in Education and Human Development
2. Master's Degree in Public Health
3. Master's Degree in Environment Studies
4. Bachelor's, Master's or PhD Degrees in Economics
5. Master's Degree in Public Affairs/Public Policy/Political Science/Public Administration/ Non-Profit Management or related fields.

General requirements for USAID Scholarship:
- Relevant work experience and commitment to Indonesian development
- At least 5 pre-retirement years after completion of study
- Indonesian citizen
- Complete the application forms and attach CV, copy of ID card and one-page essay
- Attach a nomination letter from current institution of employment
- Attach 3 recommendation letters from persons other than the person who provided the nomination letter
- Attach the result of English Test Score (ITP TOEFL OR IELTS)

This is an equal opportunity scholarship. Women are encouraged to apply. Geographical coverage will be considered.

For more information and to get application scholarship forms, please send your request to info@aed.or.id or visit www.aed.or.id to download the application forms. Completed application forms together with required documents must be received at the AED address below no later than 1 January 2010.

Academy for Educational Development (AED):
Wisma Nugra Santana, 16th Floor, Suite 1616,
Jalan Jenderal Sudirman Kav 7-8, Jakarta 10220
Email: info@aed.or.id
Website: www.aed.or.id

Chủ Nhật, 22 tháng 11, 2009

It's A Stressful Time of Year for Nonprofits, Especially Now, But Also A Time For A New (Survivable) View

As we head into Thanksgiving, this week, our heads are buzzing with realities based in this year. We want to be sure to remember to buy the ingredients for the dish we're making and bringing to Thanksgiving dinner, we are wondering how we'll be sure to spend less on holiday gifts, and we are a bit concerned about the future. How secure is the nonprofit we care most about? How secure is our job? Our friends' and family members' jobs? What about others? There are those who are currently jobless, and the less fortunate, and still yet others who are perhaps the most disenfranchised and vulnerable in our communities. It' s a pleasant time of year and also a bit daunting.

I truly wish you and yours' a wonderful holiday season, this year, filled with some genuinely good times, some good news, and even some quality relaxation.

As for the view on the horizon...

We are all nonprofit professionals (whether dedicated volunteers or staff) and as such, despite the different causes or geographic regions which we serve, share the same professional arena: the nonprofit sector. Our sector is uniquely situated as we do not make profits, our organizations grow and achieve only by being successful and efficient at the work of our missions, and the only way we bring funds in is if we are as committed to fundraising work as we are to the work of the mission (and as successful at this, too). As such, we (no matter what different causes or issues our organizations work on) can share professional methods that succeed (or 'best practices') that can be used and applied by any nonprofit, no matter where, or what that organization works on.

We have many professional resources available to us, as a sector, and in times like these (especially when we are keeping an eye on the future and our organizations' potential in that future) it is important to keep up on the latest best practices, studies' findings in our sector (such as donor trends, how organizations are surviving the economic downturn, etc.), and keeping open to other organizations' lessons learned or recommendations, given these tough times. The media, such as regional professional nonprofit affiliations (check with your local United Way for the one nearest you), professional print media (e.g. The Chronicle of Philanthropy), reputable professional web resources (e.g. The Foundation Center, in particular their Focus On The Economic Crisis web page), professional current topics online web discussions (of which many are free now), and all other reputable avenues where nonprofit professionals are sharing quality information. Staying in the loop on the latest in our sector will keep you aware of until now unknown options or even potential connections that can help your organization if it gets into a tight spot that others have experienced and worked out.

Communicate with colleagues at other organizations, from our own, and keep in touch. Go to lunch with a colleague and ask them to invite another colleague to join you two who you do not know yet and do the same. Bring people together who are skilled, ethical, talented, and have a proven track record and then over lunch brainstorm issues and potential solutions. Share insights, lessons learned, and what you have heard or know. Ask the same of the others at the table.

Look at your organization's situation as one within a whole. Your organization exists within the community(ies) it serves. Look at that geographic region and consider what is impacting it, where the silver lining is predicted, and what the reality is (pressures, lessons learned, and what's working for other nonprofits in the region); and picture your organization within that context. Consider, from this point of view, what the strategic options are to keep your organization running, growing, and healthy based in real regional information (facts). For instance, if most donors, in the region, are still giving but at lesser amounts than two years ago; but the major donors in the area are still giving in about the same larger amounts - your organization would be wise to either initiate (if one does not exist, yet) a major donor program (or to increase and expand it if one does).

Educate yourself, the executive director, and the board; come together to review, assess, study, and devise survival strategies; review real relevant recent data and communicate further; consider what is best for the organization in light of its mission statement and plan in the best interest of the organization and the beneficiaries of its work.

The future can be dealt with if a nonprofit's leadership takes it on, facing reality, finding out information, communicating, listening, planning, and evaluating for successes and failures, and making adjustments based on lessons learned. If a nonprofit is still doing excellent, much needed, and unmatched work in the community in an efficient, ethical, professional, and talented manner - while dealing with the current economy by facing it, educating oneself, and planning how to deal with the economy; the organization will likely survive well.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Grants for Grassroots Organizations Establishing, Protecting, and Maintaining Foot Trails

From The Foundation Center...

Deadline: December 15, 2009

Applications Invited for American Hiking Society's 2010 National Trails Fund

The American Hiking Society's National Trails Fund is the only privately supported national grants program that provides funding to grassroots organizations working to establish, protect, and maintain foot trails in the United States.

National Trails Fund grants are designed to give local organizations the resources they need to secure access, volunteers, tools, and materials to repair and protect America's hiking trails. To date, American Hiking has granted nearly $382,000 to 105 different trail projects across the U.S. for land acquisition, constituency building campaigns, and a variety of trail work projects.

Awards typically range from $500 to $5,000 per project.

Visit the American Hiking Web site for complete program information.

Contact:
Link to Complete RFP

Thứ Tư, 18 tháng 11, 2009

HSBC Overseas Scholarship

HSBC Overseas Scholarship
Closing Time: 5:30pm, Friday, 15 January 2009

To award full scholarships to non-final year undergraduate students for studying approved courses/programs at specified overseas universities in 2010/2011 academic year (Lists of the approved disciplines and overseas universities in Attachment A). To enable students to have more exposure in their fields of study, applicants will have the flexibility to major in a different discipline, other than the one the applicant is currently studying, while aboard. The majoring discipline, however, will have to be listed in the approved disciplines list by HSBC as below:

All disciplines under architecture, business and economics, communication, computer science/information systems, construction and land use, dentistry, design, education, engineering, health care, hotel and tourism, law, medicine, science (basic and applied), social sciences, textiles, and arts subjects (linguistics and languages, translation, history, geography, fine arts and applied arts) and environment.

Value of this Scholarship award :
Full scholarship shall be awarded
(Maximum total value of scholarships for all awardees is HK$869,118)

Coverage of this scholarship award
:
– Full Tuition fees
- A minimum economy return airfare
- Reasonable room and board costs, books and a small portion of living expenses (List of expenses covered by the scholarship award amount is in Attachment B)

Eligibility of this scholarship award:
– Non-final year undergraduate students


Application Deadline : 5:30pm, Friday, 15 January 2010
(Office hours: Mondays – Fridays, 9am – 1pm, 2pm – 5:30pm)

This scholarship application form can be obtained for FREE at:
http://scholarship.ust.hk/apply/index.html

Selection Procedures :
Internal screening session by HKUST senior staff member will be conducted in February 2010. Shortlisted candidates will be
invited for a final selection interview by HSBC representatives in March 2010.
Conditional offers will be made to successful candidates in April 2010 by the Hongkong Bank Foundation.
Confirmation of scholarship awards will be made no later than the end of August 2010, subject to submission of the following
documents on or before 5:30pm, Monday, 28 June 2010:
i) formal admission to an one-year study program made by overseas universities;
ii) satisfactory Cumulative Grade Average (CGA) score at 8.5 or above as of Spring Semester of the 2009/10 academic year;
iii) an application form to the Hong Kong Young Ambassador Scheme;
iv) a letter from HKUST confirming the number of credits that the student needs to take during his/her year abroad. Please
note that this figure should be regarded as final. Costs of any additional credits taken during the academic year will not be
covered; AND
v) a letter from the overseas university outlining the duration of the academic year and information on the number of credits
that a full-time overseas student should take.

Inquiries : Scholarships & Awards Unit
Address: Room 1401, Academic Building (opposite to LT-B)
Office hours: Mondays – Fridays, 9am – 1pm, 2pm – 5:30pm)
Tel: 2358 5796 / 2358 5853
Email: ssau@ust.hk

Chủ Nhật, 15 tháng 11, 2009

Full-time MBA Scholarship

Full-time MBA Scholarships, European School of Management and Technology

ESMT is offering several additional merit-based scholarships for applicants to the Full-time MBA program beginning January 2010 in Berlin. These scholarships have been made possible by ESMT’s partner companies, who have donated to the scholarship pool. Outstanding female candidates may also apply for a limited number of full-tuition scholarships. ESMT’s partners are a group of 25 global companies,such as Allianz, BMW, Daimler, Deutsche Bank, MAN, Siemens, The Boston Consulting Group, and ThyssenKrupp.

ESMT is also expanding its Corporate Fellowship Program, which offers students an alternative means of financing their MBA program, while at the same time guaranteeing an attractive career opportunity after graduation at one of ESMT’s founding companies. ESMT matches the applicant’s profile to the recruitment needs of the corporate partner, such as insurance giant Allianz and Europe’s leading utility company E.ON.

The partner company supports the fellow throughout their studies in the MBA program and during a 6-month traineeship period in the company upon graduation. “The support of my sponsor allows me to really concentrate on my performance in class,” said Natalia Nazarova, Allianz Corporate Fellow, MBA Class of 2009, who will be completing her traineeship at the corporate headquarters in Munich. “Not having to worry about placement upon graduation is also important to me, as it takes away one of the main worries of any MBA student.”

Zoltán Antal-Mokos, Associate Dean of Degree Programs at ESMT as of November 1, 2009, is proud that ESMT can provide some of its MBA students further financial backing. He said, “With these scholarships, ESMT’s founders and benefactors show their dedication to supporting premier education for international talent. With their support the school is able to offer students an attractive career boost.”

All accepted applicants to the ESMT Full-time MBA program are screened for scholarship selection. Applications will be accepted until early December 2009.

Contact

Kristin Dolgner
Tel.: +49 (0)30 21231-1066
kristin.dolgner-at-esmt.org
Martha Ihlbrock
Tel.: +49 (0)30 21231-1043
martha.ihlbrock-at-esmt.org

About ESMT
ESMT European School of Management and Technology was founded in October 2002 by 25 leading global companies and institutions. The international business school offers Full-time MBA and Executive MBA programs, as well as executive education in the form of open enrollment and customized programs. The School also features in-house research-oriented consulting services in the areas of competition and regulation. ESMT is a private university based in Berlin, Germany, with an additional location in Schloss Gracht near Cologne. www.esmt.org

For more informationregarding this MBA scholarship, please visit:
http://www.esmt.org/info/experts

What Information Goes Into A Grant Proposal?

Grant proposals usually contain the following information and is often expected by grant donors, today: proposal introduction, organization description, proposed project description, beneficiary population description, statement of need, project evaluation description, project budget description, and closing paragraph. Some of this content may or may not be required (as directed in the giving guidelines of the organization your agency is apply to for the grant) or other content may be requested; and each potential grant donor organization is different from the next. Each grant proposal that your organization submits, therefore, should be tailored specifically to the entity that it is being sent to, per that potential grant donor's giving guidelines. The giving guidelines dictate what should be in the grant proposal and not much else should be added to the grant proposal package. It is not wise to provide extra attachments or information as it is viewed as unnecessary. So, don't waste your agency's time or resources with it, and don't waste the potential donor's time with it. If your agency believes that extra information is important to the potential grant donor understanding the proposal - if they accept phone calls (check their giving guidelines), then call the potential donor, explain the mitigating circumstance, and ask their program manager if it is alright to submit the extra information. Then, do what they recommend. Otherwise, leave extra content out. When a grant donor is considering a nonprofit's request for a grant (the grant proposal) and needs more information they will request it of the nonprofit. What order to place the various content in a grant proposal into varies, too. If the giving guidelines of the agency that your nonprofit is applying to does not state what order the content should be in - then write the proposal with the content in a logical order. Remember, too, that a grant proposal is usually limited to a certain number of words or pages and you want to make a good impression in the written document space that you have; follow their application instructions, tell them everything that they want to know about, be honest, and meet their application deadline on time.

The definition of the standard contents in a grant proposal are:

Proposal Introduction
Organization Description
Proposed Project Description (and How To Make the Case for Your Grant Request In the Grant Proposal, ...Writing In the Grant Proposal About What You Need the Money For)
Beneficiary Population Description (see the above three "Proposed Project Description" links)
Statement of Need
Project Evaluation Description
Project Budget Description
Closing Paragraph

Also, read Basic Grant Writing 101..., The Letter of Introduction or Inquiry: Often the First Step, How Do We Tighten Up Our Grant Proposal, Take That Nonprofit's Grant Writing to the Next Level, What Grant Writing Is and What It Is Not, Time Can Be A Huge Asset In Raising Grants, Be Strategic...When Your Write the Grant Proposal, Descriptions of Different Grant Proposal Documents, and Grant Writing...Mission Success...Its All the Same

See, too, the topic index or "Labels" for further information, below to the right for more grant proposal document writing tips and content ideas.

Grants for Music Programs In Public Schools in Low Income Areas And Nonprofits

From The Foundation Center...

Deadline: February 5, 2010

Muzak Heart & Soul Foundation Invites Grant Applications for Music Education Programs

The Muzak Heart & Soul Foundation, a nonprofit public charity established by Muzak LLC, works to redefine and expand the scope of music education. The foundation's Music Matters Grants for 2010 program will focus on educational reform in school music programs and independent music programs across the United States.

Music education — vocal or instrumental — must be the key component of any music program requesting funds. Applications will be accepted from public school programs (qualifying for Title I federal funding and serving a minimum of 70 percent low-income students) and nonprofit 501(c)(3) programs directly funding music education (serving students regardless of their ability to pay).

Applicant schools and programs must already employ a music educator(s) and have an existing music program in place. Grant requests must articulate specific music program needs — for existing and/or planned programs.

Grant amounts for this cycle will range between $1,000 and $12,000 each and will be made on an annual one-time basis.

Visit the foundation Web site for complete program information.

Contact:
Link to Complete RFP

Thứ Năm, 12 tháng 11, 2009

Grants.gov System Unavailable November 14

The Grants.gov system will be unavailable Saturday, November 14, 2009, from 12:01 a.m. EST through 6:00 a.m. EST. The system will be unavailable due to activities pertaining to the Technical Augmentation Design (Boost) effort. If you have any questions or issues regarding the system availability, please contact the Help Desk.

Regards,
Grants.gov PMO

Thứ Tư, 11 tháng 11, 2009

USFP Academic scholarship

The University of Sydney Foundation Program Board is offering scholarships for international students enrolling in the USFP Standard intakes at Taylors College in 2010.

Open to students from Application closing dates
Africa 30 November 2009
Iran 30 November 2009
Indonesia 30 May 2010
Japan 4 January 2010
Korea 4 January 2010
Russia 30 November 2009
Turkey 30 November 2009
Vietnam 30 November 2009

Scholarships are limited so apply now!

How to apply

Complete our online application form or send a copy by post or fax. Applying online is easy, fast and safe and goes directly to the Student Enrolment Advisor who deals with your country of residence.

Please indicate in the ‘Comments’ field that you are applying for a scholarship
If you prefer to apply by post or fax, please download an application form (PDF 58KB) and send it to us at:

Student Enrolment Advisor
Taylors College
399 Lonsdale Street
Melbourne 3000
Australia
Fax: +61 3 96703567

Once your application is received, the Student Enrolment Advisor will ask you to send the following:

1. A one page covering letter answering the following questions:

* Why you would like to study at Taylors College in Australia and
* Why you are a suitable candidate for the scholarship
2. Relevant academic and English Language transcripts (English requirement for Standard (33/34 weeks) is 5.5 (No band less than 5.5) and for Standard (40 weeks) is 5.5 (No band less than 5.0). The requirement for all students entering the Standard Program for the Economics/Commerce stream is IELTS 5.5 No band less than 5.5 (or equivalent).
3. Any other supporting documents outlining extracurricular involvement

For any further information regarding this scholarship, please contact: http://www.taylorscollege.edu.au/courses/usfp_scholarship.aspx

2010 Academic Scholarships

This year, Taylors College has a number of academic scholarships available to high achievers from specific countries.

For more information about each of the scholarships, choose an option below. Numbers are limited so apply now!

High School

Foundation programs

For more information about Taylors College courses and scholarship offers in 2010, visit Taylors College website: www.taylorscollege.edu.au

Scholarships for Students from Muslim Country

Davis Scholarships – Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies

4 four-year Ph.D. full scholarships available in the fall of 2010.

Mrs. Kathryn Davis, an HEI alumna who obtained her PhD in 1934, is founding four Ph.D. full scholarships for a four-year period.

Two of these grants (Kathryn Davis Grant and Shelby Cullom Davis Grant) are intended for students of any nationality

  • having completed a degree programme in an American university.

Two other grants (Davis Grants) are intended for

  • two students coming from a Muslim country .

These grants will be attributed in the Spring of 2010 to students starting their PhD programme in September 2010 at the Institute exclusively. They will exempt them from tuition fees and provide a living allowance of 15000 CHF per year. They will last for a period of four years and will be renewed each year depending on the thesis progress.

Chủ Nhật, 8 tháng 11, 2009

What Tone Should I Set In Our Grant Proposal?

There are finer aspects to writing a grant proposal that are often not so easy to teach, and not even so easy to ask about or find out how to do. There are technical aspects to writing a grant proposal such as being sure to include the usual sections (e.g. introduction, organization description, project description, beneficiary population description, etc.); but the finer question, once a grant writer gets writing a proposal, can become 'what tone should I set in the grant proposal's contents?'

The answer, as is often the case in grant writing, is 'it depends'. So, I'm going to walk you through what I can, in a blog post.

When a nonprofit's grant writer sits down to begin writing the proposal they are, undoubtedly, focused on how they can win the grant. There is sometimes an inclination, then, to make their organization sound, in the proposal, like one of many, let's say... grant-seeking-archetypes:

__ Needy and Deserving, Or Just Because We Are A Nonprofit
__ Admirable Bleeding Hearts
__ The Only Organization To Choose, Or Arrogant
__ The Next Organization In Line, Or Winner by Default
__ Politically the Best Choice
__ The Victim
__ Deserving by Proximity (e.g. having a 'big name' personality or historic figure who founded or works for the nonprofit)
__ The Reputable, Well Run, Possessing A Demonstrable Track Record of Success, A Talented/Experienced Team, Successful Results, Practitioners Of the Latest Professional Best Practices, Inclusive, Transparent, Etc. Organization

Guess which one is probably the better tone to set in a grant proposal? You've got to walk the talk that you assert about your nonprofit, in your grant proposal. Remember, only reflect, in the tone of the grant proposal content, the character of your organization that you could back up with documents and recent accomplishments: that you could prove. If you can truly reflect in its track record, financials, operational history, etc. what you have said about the organization, in the grant proposal - then you're stetting the correct tone.

The tone a grant writer selects to use in a grant proposal should also be: positive, honest, thorough, complete, hopeful, but also demonstrate how the organization operates through the facts it asserts about the organization, its history, its recent accomplishments, and its goals, and proposed project. The tone one sets in a grant proposal is an opportunity to convey to the reader (who works at the organization considering giving your agency a grant) its best foot forward and in the best light (in honesty) that is possible. It can challenge an organization to do this. For instance, some believe (wrongly) that if the truth about an organization seems contrary to its ability to raise a grant - then the organization should either not answer the challenging grant application question or it should lie in its response. Neither are correct. The better way to address a tough question is to 1) answer it and respond (never ignore or skip a grant application question or request for information); and 2) to tell the honest truth. Remember, you can always call a potential grant donor that your organization is applying to (if they allow phone calls) and explain the quandary and ask what they advise. Honestly, some of the best possible answers to a given grant proposal question can be recommended (and, in effect, given) by the grant donor agency's program manager, them self. For instance, if a grant proposal is being filled out and a question comes up like, 'have you conducted this proposed project before?' and the answer is 'yes' for our nonprofit, but it went horribly wrong and we wish to conduct the project, again, having made corrections to errors made that first time - and we're applying for the grant for this second go - it may seem that the better answer is to avoid answering the question, or to lie; it's the wrong way to go. In fact, a donor (such as a grant donor) who is given the truth and also informed about what lessons the agency learned, that the input for improvement came from the project's attendees (or beneficiaries, themselves), and that all necessary changes (or improvements) have been implemented (and that the attendees will be asked for input after the second run of this project (also called "evaluations")) - the donor is more likely to give. The donor, in the instance of truth, is being given the agency's experience, but the applicant nonprofit is also demonstrating that it values honesty (and reporting the truth to potential stakeholders such as donors), and anything that gives a potential donor confidence (such as the truth does) is some of the most powerful fundraising methodology that exists. If a potential donor discovers your agency's lie in a grant proposal they not only will not give your nonprofit a grant, today. You're risking them 'black listing' your nonprofit within their own organization for future reference ('do not give to this nonprofit as they lied in a grant application submitted to us in December 2009'); they are colleagues of others who work for other grant donors and these professionals do network and talk with one another. If word gets out in the grant donor community that your nonprofit lies in its proposals for funding - the damage to the agency could be catastrophic.

It may seem dangerous or contrary to instinct to tell the truth about your nonprofit's growing pains or lessons learned but there is not a single nonprofit that operates that has not learned through experience. There is no shame in this as long as the organization takes the lesson as an opportunity to grow the agency and improve its operations and goal setting. Sharing with potential stakeholders in your nonprofit, such as donors (e.g. grant donors, in this case), is really providing the grant donor with your agency's values (truth), professionalism (we aren't going to lie to stakeholders or potential stakeholders), and sense of self (we are not afraid to listen to our constituents, learn from our mistakes, and better ourselves by listening and implementing improvements). This is actually the more powerful way to manage and operate a nonprofit. What donor (or 'investor') wouldn't feel confident supporting an organization that admits its foibles, is aware of their likelihood, listens to benefit the population it is set up to serve, and makes appropriate improvements?