8 Sample Grant Proposal

Table of Contents

Introduction. 2

Who Are We? 2

What is Our Organizational Mission? 2

Historically Speaking. 3

What Is the Problem? 3

What do we plan to do? 4

What are we asking for? 4

Budget and Expenses. 5

Program Timeline. 5

Program Outcomes and Completion. 5

Conclusion.

Rising Up to Getting Out

Grant proposal to the Do-More Foundation presented by Giving Them More 501(c)

Introduction

Giving Them More is a Not-For-Profit citizen group which has been formed for the purpose of helping children who may not have access to proper health care, nutrition, or other necessary items to build strong adults. Each member of the Giving Them More board came from an impoverished background and contributed their success in life to the help of those more fortunate. We have been working in the community for almost 5 years and have seen a need in our more economically challenged areas. The lack of proper playground equipment and after school programs in these areas is a leading factor in the rising crime rate in areas covered by our group. We are proposing to build and refurbish existing community centers and staff them with individuals willing to educate children in the 8- to 12-year-old range.

Who Are We?

As stated in the introduction we are a citizen group listed as a 501(c) corporation with the Internal Revenue Service, under the name Giving Them More. Our mission is to offer an alternative to children and families who live below the poverty level in areas forgotten by city planners and architects. As each of us within the group know firsthand it takes determination and hard work to rise above the forces which pull down children in underserved and underfunded areas. Through efforts of Giving Them More, many children and families have been given a chance to succeed and become more than society brands them as.

What is Our Organizational Mission?

As a community action group, we also understand that we must act upon our hopes of helping the less fortunate. We have sponsored children who are falling behind in school to have tutoring sessions with students from the University of Florida College of Education. Some college students come from similar backgrounds as the children they are helping and even a few have gone on to continue giving in communities in need after graduation. This kind of help is the kind we can give and see the fruits of the labor, eight out of ten children who entered our tutoring increased their grades by a minimum of one letter grade.

We also give in time spent helping coach sports such as junior NFL and developing little league teams when there was not a great amount of interest on the part of the older population for such things. We have required a minimum GPA for these young boys and girls to participate in these sports programs. The community as a whole, stands to gain from these activities. We have vendors set up in front of the ballfields and this helps to stimulate the local economic atmosphere. Our board of directors for the organization is incredibly involved with helping the businesses in these communities survive in uncertain economic times. Over a recent two-year period, four small businesses were given grants to help push their business forward following less than stellar years for the business. Three of those businesses stayed open while one was closed due to property issues.

Historically Speaking

Giving Them More was founded in 2011 by a group of adults who had come from various inner cities. Each member of the group was from a family situation where either the mother or the father was dead, a drug addict or had been in prison, in some cases both had been incarcerated. These adults arose from poverty, broken homes, gang infested streets and various forms of abuse to become doctors, architects, small business owners and even one college professor. The common factor which meant the most to each of them was how their lives were touched by a mentor who told them their surroundings were not them, they could be more than what they saw all around them. This help from someone who had made it out of the hard neighborhoods and poverty-ridden communities, instilled a drive in each of them to help others in the same way.

What Is the Problem?

There has been a decline in recent years in the funding of recreation centers for inner city areas and this has led to a decrease in the number of alternative activities in the afterschool time frame for children. The group which has been hit the hardest with these cuts are the 8-12year old demographic. These children are too old for most after school care programs too young to work or be at home unsupervised. This group, referred to as “tweens” are at just the right age for recruitment into street gangs. The following excerpt is from a study conducted through the Florida Attorney General’s office aimed at reducing gang activity.

This is not simply an issue of gangs becoming more brash in their recruiting, the lack of opportunity and meaningful recreation is also a factor. With this being noted Giving Them More came to the point of action. The group has been collaborating with various community leaders and with private donors to build playgrounds suitable for these children to play and have an alternative to joining a street gang out of boredom. They also understand that building playgrounds will not be enough, which has brought us to the point of needing further funds to increase our after-school programs to include nutritional meals, further tutoring, and community improvement projects. These activities are the basis behind what Giving Them More was founded for.

What do we plan to do?

The program for which funding is being sought for is called “Rising Up to Getting Out.” Giving Them More believes each child can be better equipped if they have the proper nutrition, health care and recreational/exercise opportunities. They will seek to provide children from several of the harder hit areas of the city with proper nutritional supplements and meals when needed. They are also seeking to give them proper instruction on personal hygiene and provide them with the necessary items. Finally, they are seeking to improve and/or rebuild existing recreational areas within these communities.

The group also plans to offer tutoring services free of charge and even provide transportation to and from school for those children in such need. With their focus on the 8-12-year-old range, we anticipate this as being a big service. By offering transportation they are seeking to eliminate as many of the opportunities gang recruiters would have to contact these children. The recreational activities and sports programs being offered will be centered around accomplishment as a team member and not as an individual. While they understand the recognition of the individual can be important, these young people need the thought of working on a team toward a positive goal to be reinforced.

There have been several options have looked at, from building indoor playgrounds to keep an environmental control factor, to building outdoor park style recreational areas. The matter of which design chosen is completely reliant upon approval of the grant money being requested.

What are we asking for?

The amount of funding being requested is the full grant amount of $50,000.00 for the full two-year period. The chart below is a breakdown of how and where the funding will be spent. Areas of the graph noted as paid are so marked to indicate funding from other sources.          As shown in figure 1 in Appendix A, the largest funding source over the next two years is expected to be Do-More Foundation, upon reward of the requested grant.

The funds being requested from Do-More Foundation will be used in the purchase of new playground equipment and to remodel existing recreation centers, estimates for this are pending results of structural tests. They are confident the funds we are requesting from your foundation can be utilized for the purposes stipulated in the brochure for the fund.

Budget and Expenses

The budget is set up to show more expenses at the beginning of the cycle and show maintenance at the end of the cycle. There would of course be higher expenses with the purchase of the playground equipment as opposed to when they are only maintaining this equipment. In checking with several companies who deal in the types of equipment we are looking for, the estimated upfront expense for equipment with professional installation would be about $30,000-$35,000. Equipment such as what is shown in figure 2 can be set up in a small space with minimal impact.

The overall impact on this equipment set would be minimal enough so that it could be utilized in areas such as apartment complexes and small parks. The plan to provide nutritional as well as educational help to children in the specified age group also would include outside activities to promote a healthy lifestyle. There will be a further budget breakdown in an appendix to this proposal.

Staffing of the program’s centers will be managed by volunteers in the first year and by paid part-time employees in the second year and going forward. These employees will be hired at a minimum of the pay scale and will be employees of the Give Them More group. At current levels and with comparisons to duties to be performed, an hourly wage of $10.00 is expected for each employee, two at current expected levels of need. These employees would work about 20 hours per week.

Program Timeline

The timeline for this project is based on a 3-4year schedule, this is in turn based on funding. The first year there would be several construction projects involved as well as building up a strong volunteer base for assisting with the remodels of existing structures and play areas. The following year after establishing the program and utilizing volunteers as much as possible, the recruiting of paid part-time workers for the nutritional and recreational programs would take place. At this point, years three and four the program should be well on its way to being self-sustaining. An evaluation of the program by an independent auditor would take place in the interim of years 2 and 3.

There would be continuous improvement based on ongoing evaluations by participants and volunteers. Every quarter there will be a meeting to assess the expenditure on funds and address any short falls or areas of need which come to the attention of the board members. A detailed timeline matrix will be included as appendix b at the conclusion of the proposal.

Program Outcomes and Completion

The estimated completion time for programs directly affected by funding be sought through this proposal would be 1.5 to 2 years. The desired outcomes of the program are a better situation for the communities served by the program and improvements in the overall morale of the children being targeted for the program. While some of the data may not be available until several years later, the immediate data desired is improved school grades, less at-risk activities, and better health among the participants. Long term goals would be graduation from High School and college. The ultimate goal is for children to be helped through the program to return to the communities in need and help just as they have been helped.

The Give Them More group looks forward to seeing this positive outcome and is investing money from members as well as seeking grants such as the one being offered through the Do-More Foundation. An outcome desired on the community level is more involvement by others when they see the good outcomes achieved by working with these at-risk youths. Once the program’s infancy stage is completed this should be a program which can be maintained by small donations from the community and members of the Give Them More group.

Conclusion

There are many organizations who request funding from the Do-More Foundation, this is a well-known factor. The Give Them More group is seeking this funding, once again a known factor. The intangibles in this process are the ways in which the money will be spent and how much of it will go to the cause it is being requested for. The Give Them More group pledges that every dollar from the foundation will be used for the purpose addressed in the brochure for the foundation. Any incidentals, salaries and other expenses not involving the purchase of or maintenance for equipment and educational materials will be absorbed by the directors of the Give Them More group. This pledge will be backed up by independent auditors during the period of the grant award and can be accessed through the group website and public filings as a 501 (c).

Budgetary Expenditure