Rebuilding Lives Application Instructions
Violence Prevention Grants 2017
REBUILDING LIVES APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS
Please read all sections carefully.
These instructions are intended to help you write your proposal. The committee relies solely on your answers to each section when making their decisions, so please be as specific as possible. Your proposal will be evaluated on how clearly you describe your program and how well the committee can understand what you intend to do.
Incomplete applications will not be considered.
The 2017 Annual Violence Prevention Grants are administered through an online platform (IGAM).
The grant guidelines, application instructions and FAQs are available on the Canadian Women’s Foundation’s website (www.canadianwomen.org). We encourage interested applicants to take the time to review the materials.
Applicants must complete the four steps outlined below:
Step One: Complete the Organization Overview
Once you create a login for the online application, you will first need to complete the Organization Overview. Fill out the information in complete detail and be sure that all information is up-to-date.
See Organization Overview Instructions below for detailed information on completing this part of the online application form.
Step Two: Complete the Proposal Questions
The online application will guide you through the proposal questions specific to the grant area you are applying for. We have provided prompts for each question in the following pages to help guide you to develop complete and effective responses.
Each question has been designated a maximum word count that will be enforced by the online application platform. You will be able to copy and paste the information from a Microsoft Word document so you can check your word count in advance.
See Proposal Questions Instructions below for support and direction on completing the application questions.
Step Three: Complete the Budget & Access Funds Budget
Download the excel spreadsheet from the online application platform (IGAM). There are two Excel forms – one for expenses and one for revenues. You must fill in both. Your budget must balance which means that your expenses and your revenues must be equal.
You do not need to outline the budget for the whole organization or all your programs, just for the program you are applying for.
See Project Budget Instructions & Access Funds Budget Instructions below for support on completing the required budget forms.
Step Four: Upload Additional Documents Required
Upload the most up-to-date versions of each of the required documents listed below (in PDF versions only). If your organization only has hard copy versions of these documents, you will have to scan them into electronic files for uploading. We will not accept hard copy versions and you will not be able to submit your online application without uploading the required components.
1. Project Budget Form
2. If applicable, Access Funds Form
3. Organizational Budget Overview (current financial year)
4. Audited Financial Statement (most recent)
5. Annual Report (most recent)
6. Policy on diversity / anti-racism
7. Current Board list
Contact information not required; simply include names and professional roles if relevant
8. Project curriculum or project outline
If this is already developed, please include in full. If not, please provide a list of the session topics you will explore or the activities you intend to plan as a sample of the work you will undertake in your girls program
9. Letters of support (at least one, three max)
ORGANIZATION OVERVIEW INSTRUCTIONS
1. Organization Information
Enter each field with the most current information
2. Canada Revenue Agency Information
Select the option that you are applying under. If you are unclear as to which category you should apply under, please contact Rifka Khalilieh at
3. Organizational Resources
· For Staffing and volunteers, please include contract and short term employees in the full-time and part-time staffing totals, and practicum students in the volunteer total.
· For the Financial Portrait, please follow the headings from your last financial statement or annual report to fill in these sections. Please also attach your organizational budget to the application in the uploads section on the next page
· Deficit / Surplus - It is important to let us know why you may be carrying a surplus and also reasons for a small or large deficit as well as how you plan to work towards ensuring that that the books are balanced from year to year. This information is crucial in the decision the committee will make.
· When listing your organization’s top four funders, indicate the area of work (population and service provided) for each one
4. Previous Canadian Women’s Foundation grants
Please do not include annual shelter donations, if you receive them. List grants in all areas, including Violence Prevention, Girls Fund, Economic Development, and Trafficking.
5. Information about the program you are applying for
· Indicate the program name and geographic area served
· Number of individuals receiving services -
· Please indicate main three groups of women you will serve.
o We would like to know what three main groups of women you are working with specifically.
o Please try to list in order – largest group first and smallest group third.
o Please select from the listed groups (First Nation, Métis and Inuit girls; Black girls and girls of colour; rural or remote girls; LGBTQ girls; girls of diverse gender expression; low-income girls; newcomer, immigrant, refugee or undocumented girls; girls with disabilities and Deaf girls)
o If the project is open to all and you typically serve a diverse population, please explain.
· Project Description
o Please provide an overview of the program that you are applying.
o Please describe the project as if you were writing a paragraph in a brochure for a general audience, to give a clear idea of what the work is about.
o Try having someone who is not familiar with your program read your program description to see if they understand the intent of your program from your description.
PROPOSAL QUESTIONS INSTRUCTIONS
The Annual Violence Prevention Advisory Committee relies on your responses to the proposal questions to assess the goals and intent of your work. The prompts provided for each proposal question offers suggestions on the information that would be most helpful for our review purposes. Review these prompts to gain a stronger sense of how to form complete responses.
Please answer all 11 questions in full. There are no sample answers provided.
DESCRIPTION AND PURPOSE
Proposal Question / Prompts / Max Words1. What would you like to achieve with your project / program? / Define what you will focus on and what are you hoping to change or where you would like to make a difference with this project. Explain how the activities relate to the goal you have chosen. / 400
2. Please indicate why this project / program is important and why Canadian Women’s Foundation should fund it. / Please look carefully at the criteria and overall objectives listed earlier and explain how your work addresses similar priorities. Please also explain how you see this work being important to violence prevention as a whole. / 300
3. Is there an identified need in your community / region / province or nationwide for this? Describe. / Why is this specific project important at this time and in this place? You can reference internal or external studies, what women have told your organization, needs assessments if conducted and background information on the services or gaps in this area, such as evaluations. In this explanation, please show how your project is relevant to the need of the women, children or teens you work with. / 300
ACTIVITIES AND APPROACH
Proposal Question / Prompts / Max Words4. What is included in the program? What activities are planned? Please include a detailed timeline. Upload program or curriculum outline on the next page.
Sample timeline is available / Please identify and explain the model chosen and why you chose it over other types of project delivery. Please include the overall goal and also the specific objectives and tangible outcomes. Explain the educational, training or skill development activities of the project. How long on average will participants be involved? Include the frequency of the sessions, the number of hours per week and the duration. Please include the overall theme of each group session / meeting / workshop and highlight each subject covered. If you are still planning this out, please send the draft plan. Ideally, we would also like to see at least one session described in detail. This section helps the committee understand the layout of the project. / 400
5. How do you plan to make your work inclusive and reflective of the participants, respecting their diversity / background / experience? / How have girls / teens / women been involved in planning and development? Give specific examples of how the project has been developed to respond to different participants’ needs, (age group, learning style, language, culture). How will participants be actively engaged in the project? How will you recruit the participants? / 300
6. Who is involved in carrying out the activities as staff, elders, mentors and / or volunteers? / Please give an overview of the roles played by staff, elders, mentors, and or volunteers and the experience they need. You do not need to provide staff bios or resumes. / 300
7. What steps will you take to ensure safety and follow-up for those involved? / How will your project meet the emotional and physical safety needs of the participants, staff and volunteers? Explain how you use different tools such as reference checks, consent forms, liability, waivers, disclosure protocols and referrals. After the project ends, are there ways to follow up with the women, children or teens? Are there other projects that they can become involved in, within or outside your organization? Can they return to the project? Can they take on leadership roles and return as volunteers / employees? / 300
8. How do you include a gender analysis in planning your approach and activities? / Gender analysis explores and highlights the relationships of women and men in society, and the inequalities in these relationships. Please explain how you will highlight and address underlying gender stereotypical attitudes through activities in your project and give two examples of this. / 300
PARTNERSHIP AND DEMONSTRATION OF SUPPORT
Proposal Question / Prompts / Max Words9. Please list the partners working with you, outline their role and tell us how you will work together, indicating if their participation is confirmed and whether you are providing a letter from them. / List the groups that you are working with to support this project. We recognize that not all of them will be involved to the same extent and not all of them need provide a letter of support / 400
10. For projects / programs with multiple funders: please explain how would you adapt / continue to develop your plans if you received only part of your total budget? / It is important for the Foundation to see how these funds may leverage other funders and also that you have considered the options to adapt your programming dependent on the funding received, so please be as clear as possible in this section. / 200
EVALUATION
Proposal Question / Prompts / Max Words11. How will you measure if this work has been successful? / Your proposal will be assessed on how you plan to monitor and track the results of this project and how you will share learning with the Foundation and others. Please note what tools will be used to capture information and how your findings will be used by your organization. / 300
PROJECT BUDGET FORM INSTRUCTIONS
In addition to meeting eligibility requirements and the overall criteria, your proposal will be assessed on a budget that balances. A balanced budget should have revenues that equal expenses.
We will also consider your organization’s capacity and expertise in adding value through:
· Providing in-kind support in the project budget and resources
· Details on how you will obtain other funds required if the request is for partial support of costs
Download the excel spreadsheets from the online application platform. There are two Excel forms – one for expenses and one for revenues. Please fill in both.
You do not need to outline the budget for the whole organization or all your programs, just for the program you are applying for. There is a sample provided, linked next to the question on the online application
Expenses
Look closely at the sample provided and how it is laid out. Use the line items provided and add more as needed to give a full account of how money will be spent. Some items will be included in the cash expenses column and some may be covered in-kind by your organization. Any amount or service offered pro-bono or as part of a partnership agreement, or as part of your organization’s operational base should be listed as an in-kind expense and then also be listed in the REVENUES section on line 5 as an in-kind donation.
Personnel
Add more rows as needed.
· Direct Program Staff
o Give staff titles, number of staff, hours of work per week, hourly rate and percentage of benefits.
· Management/ Administration / Support Staff
o Give staff titles, number of staff, hours of work per week, hourly rate and percentage of benefits.
· Consultants and Professional Fees
o Estimate consultant fees with hourly rate and number of hours, even if services are pro bono. Indicate what services will be provided by the consultants.
Direct Program Expenses
· Program Supplies
o Estimate supply costs related to program delivery. This could include materials for activities or any curriculum-related supplies.
· Food
o Indicate the total cost of food for the duration of the program. When calculating this number, think about the cost per week (multiplied by total number of weeks) and also factor in a buffer amount for special events or food costs for dietary restrictions.
· Equipment