The Window is Open!

Friday, Nov. 1st marks the official opening of the 2014 grant window. Naugatuck educators will have until Jan. 20th, 2014 (MLK Day) to submit their grant requests to the NEF for consideration.  We’re excited to see what kind of new and innovative projects our teachers will think of for this next cycle.  We’re looking for bigger and better ideas.  Whether it’s bigger projects or making past projects better, we want to see some really cool stuff.

The best and worst part of the grant process is the number of grant requests we get.  It’s the best part because we get to see all of the cool ideas our educators think up.  But it can also be the worst part because there are some great grant requests that fall short of our evaluation criteria or fall outside of our parameters for awards and we’re forced to say “no.”  We would love to fund every request, so I decided this would be a good time to review the criteria we use to evaluate the viability of our grants.  Hopefully, this will help some of our applicants better understand what we’re looking for and help them determine whether a project would be considered.  So here are the parameters the NEF uses in the review process:

 ·         No field trips- Everyone loves a good field trip, but we do not pay for busing or admission tickets.

·         No teacher stipends- Our funds are for projects and supporting the volunteer efforts of our educators.

·         No social services- Our funds are for innovative projects that enhance the learning experience of students.  We have received some very ambitious and noble requests to assist the less fortunate members of our community, but they fall outside the scope of our mission.

·         Need- The objective must be clearly stated and convincing.  We don’t fund what we can’t understand.

·         Measurable- We need to be able to quantify what a successful outcome will be.

·         Impact- What is the total number of students the project will impact?  Is it a handful of kids?  A class?  A grade level?  A whole school?

·         Experiential- Is it a hands on, direct experience for students?

·         Excellence- Is there a clear relationship between the learning objective and the proposed activity?

·         Innovation- Does the project go beyond traditional classroom curriculum?

·         Collaboration- What is the impact to the community?

·         Durability- Will the project last more than 1 year?  Can it be replicated and continued?

·         Timeframe- Is the timeframe to execute the project reasonable and realistic?

·         Budget- Is it reasonable, consistent with the proposal and meets our criteria?  We won’t fund 10 iPads for an afterschool program with 5 kids.

·         Instinct- Does the request pass the gut test?  Does it feel like a project the NEF can get behind?

You can see there’s a lot that goes into the review process.  We have a dedicated group of volunteers that spend hours reviewing and debating the merits of each request.  I hope this helps clarify what we’re thinking when we lock ourselves in a conference room to review the applications.  I encourage everyone, whether they are an educator looking for a grant or a member of the community curious about the process, to e-mail us if you’d like more information.  Good luck to all the applicants and we hope to see you at our awards ceremony in April. 

 

-Matt Fortney 

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