COLLEGE SPARK WASHINGTON

2012 Community Grants Program

Application Webinar 12/22/2011 10:00 AM 1/4/2012 2:00 PM

Introduction

This Webinar is aimed at helping you better understand what information we need from you in response to our application questions.

We hope this makes applying easier for you.

Please ask questions along the way

AGENDA

Overview of Requests

Application Timeline

Application Questions

Budgets and Financials

Reporting

Overview

LOI (number of requests, total dollar amount) Applications (Number/total dollar amount) College Spark MissionCommunity Grants Program Funding Objectives:

Building organizational capacityLearning about college readiness and degree completion

Application Timeline

Webinars 12/22/11 and 1/4/2012

Two hard copies and online version of Application and attachments due to College Spark by January 27, 2012.

April 23, 2012 Grant awards announced

May – June: Finalize measurable objectives and distribute Grant Agreements

Online Application Questions

Carries Forward from LOI:

•Could be used in public communication from College Spark

•Should make project clear to a reader unfamiliar with your organization or students

Brief Project Description

•Amount requested for Year 1, Year 2, and Total

•Should match the amount you requested in your LOI

•Total project cost

Funding Request

•Percentage of students served that are low income

•College Readiness, Degree Completion, or Both

•Planning, Capacity-Building, or Research/Evaluation

•Geographic reach of the program/project

Grant Type, Area of Focus, Students and

Region

Online Application Questions

New Information for Application:

•Founding Date

•Mission•Services•Population Served

Organization Basics

•Governance

•Fiscal Period

•Operating Budget totals

•# of full-time staff, part-time staff, volunteers

Organization Structure

•Project Start Date

•Project End Date

Project Timeline

Narrative Attachment

You will download narrative application questions that match your grant type:

Capacity-BuildingPlanningResearch/Evaluation

Some differences in wording and specifics, but all these narrative sections cover similar themes of information.

Narrative Attachment Questions

What prompted you to do…?

• Give a baseline of current student outcomes

• Explain how the idea for a new strategy (or plan or research) emerged

• Talk about the need for this specific project – not the needs of students generally

What will you do?

• Be specific

• Five W’s

• Try to focus on the nouns and verbs more than the adjectives

Why are you doing it?

• Explain how and why the new strategy (or plan or research) will make you more effective

• What about your project is an enhancement or improvement over the status quo?

• Explain how and why student outcomes will improve

Narrative Attachment Questions

Research

• Not looking primarily for research describing the need

• What research indicates your specific strategy is a good approach?

• Looking for promising, not proven. Give us evidence your idea is promising.

Students

• Percentage that are low income

• How status as low-income is determined

• Specific data collection method to demonstrate students are low-income

Participation

• Voluntary or mandatory?

• Mandatory for whom?

• If voluntary, how are students recruited?

• How do you ensure students most in need of service are the ones who access it?

Narrative Attachment Questions

Project Outcomes

• What will be different for students and/or for your organization because of your project?

• How will you demonstrate outcomes have been achieved?

• Baseline or appropriate comparison group is required

• Consultants, tools, and assessments

Partnerships

• Partners needed?

• Role of Partners

• Will a partnership be enhanced or improved?

• Letters of support required

Qualifications

• Why is your organization the right one to do this work?

• Experience

• Expertise

• Staffing

• Resources

Narrative Attachment Questions

Learning / Dissemination

• What will you learn from this project (whether it accomplishes your goals or not)?

• Who else could benefit from that knowledge?

• How will you share that knowledge with others?

Sustainability

• One-time costs or ongoing

• Lower scoring plans: largely grant funding

• Higher scoring plans: reallocating existing resources

Technical Assistance

• How can we help you aside from money?

• Convening with other grantees

• Recommend consultants

• Other supports

Narrative Attachment TablesActivity

(What activities or services will take place during grant period?)

Quantity and/or Time(When will activities take

place and/or how many will participate in the activity?)

Project Outcome(What will be different for students,

families, schools/organizations because of the activities listed above?)

Measurement Method(How will you know if these

outcomes are achieved? Capacity-building proposals

should include a comparison, such as a comparison to a

baseline measure, a pre/post-assessment, or a comparison of

similar outcomes between participants and another

relevant group of students.)

Targeted Completion

Date(Which points

during the grant period will you measure this outcome?)

Target Audience(Who could potentially benefit from the lessons learned through this project?)

Dissemination Method(How will you share information

with stakeholders? Are there convenings, conferences,

ongoing work groups, websites, or ways of distributing printed information that will be most

effective?)

Targeted Completion

Date(Which points

during the grant period will

information be shared?)

Budgets and Financials

Organizational Level Finances

Program or Department Level Financials

Project Budget• Allowable

expenses• Broken out

by year• Include

other sources if applicable

Reporting on grants

Timeline

What should you report?

Requesting technical assistance (now or in the future!)

Requesting changes to work plan or budget

Follow up Reports

What information will you not know until after the grant period has ended?

Will it help us learn more about the effectiveness of your strategy?

Will it cost money to provide that information?

QUESTIONS and COMMENTS

Rachel Clementsrachel@collegespark.org

(206) 461-5480