Conservation, Food, & Health Foundation Proposal Instructions

Application Summary Deadlines Grant Round 1 Grant Round 2 Request for Proposal Issued

February 1

August 1

Proposal Deadline

March 1

September 3

Grant Awards

June 1

December 1

Application Portal/Website

https://www.grantinterface.com/gma/Common/LogOn.aspx (You can also go to the For Grantseekers page on www.gmafoundations.com )

Login

Log in using your existing login information. If you are not already registered on the application portal, contact foundation staff.

Required Attachments/Templates

The required attachments are available through links on the application form and on the website through the link: Grant Application Forms.

Interim Reports

If you are a current grantee and are reapplying for continued project support for the same project, you are required to submit a short interim report with your complete proposal. Report instructions are available via Grant Application Forms on the website.

Questions?

Michaella Kendrick, Foundation Assistant mkendrick@gmafoundations.com (617-391-3087) Prentice Zinn, Foundation Adminstrator pzinn@gmafoundations.com (617-391-3091)

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Grantwriting Tips Imagine that your proposal is the 40th in the stack to read. Eliminate jargon. Development jargon gives us indigestion. Please “catalyze and synergize your sustainable system-wide participatory stakeholder engagement and knowledge acquisition frameworks” for your project somewhere else. Avoid repetition. We like brevity! The online format has caused a frenzy of duplicative cutting and pasting. The reviewers ask that you avoid supplying the same information in responding to different questions.

Minimize acronyms. Acronyms slow the readers down. Unless you use an acronym for your organization’s name, spell everything out. Do not assume familiarity or tolerance with your field’s shorthand.

Don’t write and edit online. The online application system is a crude transactional database. It is not good for writing or formatting. Most applicants write a proposal first and then transfer the document to the online system. Cut and paste the outline of the proposal provided at the end of this document into your word processor.

Don’t assume we remember you. The foundation may have supported your organization in the past, but do not assume we remember your structure, strategy or approaches.

Specify the broader impacts of the work. We invited a full proposal because your concept application suggested or implied that the project would have a broader impact and application beyond a local intervention or research project. Know your audience. The proposal reviewers are not experts in your field or topic. They are generalists not specialists.

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Writing Strong Proposal Abstracts Did you know that strong proposal abstract can help you win the grant? Reading 35-40 proposals for each foundation meeting is inspiring yet challenging. The volume of reading makes the proposal abstract/summary the most helpful section for the reviewers sifting through nearly 1,000 pages. We would encourage all grant writers to write a proposal summary that is clear and inspiring or provocative. We have also found that plain and simple language always wins over academic or that insufferable NGO jargon. Those of you that have been on a proposal review committees have probably read abstracts or summaries that really stood out on the first reading. They captured your imagination. They made you want to read more. They assured you that the details that followed would build on that sense of momentum. Here are a few resources that will help new grant writers develop a structure and strategy for grant-winning abstracts:

Write like a journalist. The Art of the Grant Proposal Abstract is Like the Art of the Newspaper Story Lead, by Jake Seliger is a good reminder about why structured abstracts help the reader form a good first impression.

Map out the project’s main parts. Think of a proposal abstract as “a map of the proposal’s terrain” : Elements of a Good Proposal Abstract. Close with the “So what?” Most primers on writing research abstracts encourage writers to explain the “so what?” about the proposed project. Highlighting the larger implications of your work is the key to making it stand out. Here is a good one from the University of Kentucky. We like it when research has a sense of urgency and supports the next action step of a project. State your hypothesis. We agree with this tip sheet from the University of Michigan that says research abstracts should clearly state the hypothesis of the study.

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Developing a strong hypothesis or research question The foundation rewards curiosity. We would encourage everyone to think in terms of hypotheses that need to be tested or questions that you are burning to answer. Most of the projects supported by the Foundation are framed by urgent questions aimed at describing, predicting, or understanding something. These questions address critical challenges in a particular field, attempt to fill knowledge gaps, or test a set of novel assumptions, ideas, or approaches. The best written proposals to the foundation tend to have clearly written questions that capture the entire story of the proposal and lead to a set of actions. We added a separate section to the latest version of the proposal application form to see if it will help applicants design better research questions that bring implicit assumptions to the surface. The reviewers are not experts in your field, so you should explain it like you would to your aunt or uncle. Hypothesis or question? Hypotheses are designed to express relationships between variables. If this is the nature of your question, a hypothesis provides a framework for your research. A hypothesis is more predictive than a question. A well-defined and specific research hypothesis guides the reader and helps justify your study design and population and what data you will collected and analyze. A good hypothesis should be a statement that tells the reader what you think will happen as a result of the intervention. A research question is essentially a hypothesis asked in the form of a question. If your question is more descriptive or explorative, a well-designed research question or set of questions is more appropriate. Good research questions shape the design of the project. They indicate the central focus of the study and establish boundaries, parameters, and limitations of the analysis. Some fields such as medicine have guidelines that you can follow to develop a research question or problem statement.

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Highlighting Local Governance, Leadership and Participation Every proposal tells a story about power, leadership, decision-making, and ownership The foundation embraces the idea that that organizations and projects are most effective when their work at all levels have ownership that represents all interested parties involved. While there is no particular section in the proposal that addresses this complex question, we look for evidence of strategies that promote “downward accountability” from the abstract to the budget forms. In other words, we will read your proposal, website and collateral materials as an expression of your analysis and framework for engaging people with less power in the institutions that govern their lives from the very top of the partnership to the bottom. Questions that the grant reviewers discuss in this regard often include: • Are the values that supposedly privilege local perspectives and participation reflected in the

organization’s presentation of project design, staffing, evaluation, budgeting, and overall communications?

• Is the organizational governance, staff, and project leadership of partnering organizations authentically

reflective of the community that it serves and does it offer meaningful ownership of and accountability for the project?

• Does the organizational partnership have a plan of how it seeks to increase and integrate local leadership

into its governance or staffing and does it acknowledge its current challenges in this regard? • How do US/UK-based NGO’s acknowledge the huge differentials in power as they work with local

partners? • What are the local accountability structures built-in to the intervention and how do they support long-

term sustainability?

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Proposal Budget Materials Tell a Story The budget sections of the application cause the most frustration among proposal reviewers.

The Conservation, Food, and Health Foundation looks closely at project and organizational budgets. As imprecise as budgets are, they give the reviewers another window into your organization’s capacity to manage complex initiatives. Budgets communicate attention to detail and tell a story about how your organization prioritizes the use of scarce resources. Many organizations allocate costs differently in proposals, leaving reviewers with more questions than answers. In addition, the interpretive nature of expense allocation methodology, lack of accounting experience, or simply the rush to get a proposal submitted, can result in proposal budgets that have errors or are incomplete. A few errors or omissions may seem minor in the scheme of things, but they make a big difference in the when the grants committee debates what to fund with a limited budget. Keep in mind that the grants committee reads 60+ budgets in a year, so it has a sense about what things cost. Double checking your math and drafting a detailed budget narrative will eliminate most of the questions about project costs that might hurt your chances at funding. We encourage applicants from academic institutions to work with their grants or sponsored research office to prepare financial materials. Ask them for help in handling any grey areas of budgeting. The staff from the grants office are familiar with the pitfalls in budgeting and are good at proofreading spreadsheets. Feel free to ask us for help when you have questions, but if you find yourself with a lot of questions about preparing budgets, it is probably a good idea to ask for help from someone that you know is good at that sort of thing.

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Application Questions Use the proposal narrative headings supplied at the very end of this document to edit the proposal in your word processor for later cutting and pasting into the online grant application system. Character limits are noted in parenthesis after the title of applicable sections. The system counts characters with spaces. 3200 characters with spaces is approximately one page of 10pt text. Project Title: Give the project a short, descriptive, and declarative title that captures the context, strategy, and objective of the project. "A lot of people think the title is not terribly important--that is a serious mistake," We have noticed a dramatic improvement in the descriptive quality of titles since we have been telling applicants how helpful they are for the reviewers. Project Summary/ Abstract (1000): The proposal summary is the most helpful section for the reviewers. It is the best test of the coherence and conceptual clarity of your project. The best first sentences of the Project Summary from the reader’s perspective describes what the project will do, where, and to whom. There is no format for the Project Summary, but we find it helpful when the following elements are included:

• the lead organizations • the purpose of the project and its goal • research question or problem statement • objectives(s) of the research or intervention • methodology or activities • hypotheses or anticipated findings/results • expected policy implications/benefit to the community

Grant Request Amount: Enter the dollar (USD) amount you seek for one year of support. The request amount should correspond to the amount you supplied in the concept application, level funding from a prior grant, or a grant amount commensurate with the typical amounts awarded by the foundation for similar projects. Project Budget: Enter the total budget amount of the project, not just the costs you are allocating to the grant. Total Funds Committed: Enter a dollar amount of funds already received to support the project. You have an advantage when you can show that you have been raising other money for the project. Total Funds Pending: Enter a dollar amount of funds that you have applied for, or plan to apply for, from other foundations or donors. Total Organizational Budget: If you are a department or research center in a university, submit your department’s budget if you know it or your best estimate. This information helps the reader understand the approximate size and capacity of the organization or organizational unit leading the project. Yearly Salary of Executive Director: This confidential information provides comparative information and insight into your organization’s lines of authority, organizational capacity, and cost and compensation priorities, structure, and strategy. When applicants try to dodge this question, it usually raises more questions. The foundation will not fund salaries of directors based in the U.S. Yearly Salary of Project Leader: Same as above, this confidential information provides comparative information and insight into your organization’s lines of authority, organizational capacity, and cost and compensation priorities, structure, and strategy.

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Grant Period: Beginning and ending month/day/year covered by the budget. The project period typically begins at least four months after you submit your proposal. Keep in mind that the foundation will not pay for any project expenses that you have before you get the grant. The specification of the grant period is up to you. Some projects last 8 months while others spread out funding for 24 months. Number of Full-time/Part-time Employees in the Organization. This information helps the reader to understand the structure of your organization.

Organizational Background What does your organization, coalition, division, or department do? What are its most recent accomplishments related to the proposed project? Who are you? We are interested in knowing what organization and/or coalition will manage the project “on the ground.” We also want a sense of your leadership and track record with regard to the proposed project work. The best background sections position organizations more as protagonists in a struggle rather than as nonprofit organizations or academic departments with their lists of programs and generic functions. The good ones also provide a smooth segue into the story about the problem to be addressed. If you are partnering with another organization that will carry out the project, highlight its organizational background. If you are a university, provide a very short profile your department, organizational entity, or research team that is closest to the project. If a departmental contribution to the proposed initiative is diffuse, individual researchers can reference their leadership to a particular field, network, or institution and the highlight the achievements of their organizational partners involved in the project.

Overview of the Context, Problem, and Opportunity. What problem or opportunity will your project help address? What set of problems and challenges will this project help solve? You do not need to supply citations. The most helpful problem statements minimize the summary of the obvious (animals are threatened, resources are scarce, healthcare is lacking, etc.) and provide unique insight into the particular nature of the problem and complex systems that hold it in place. What do you know so far? What is less obvious about the way most people might think about the problem? What are the blind-spots that you have noticed? Research Question(s) and/or Hypothesis. If your project includes a research, diagnostic, or inquiry component, include your research hypothesis or research questions. We put this question up front because inquiry, learning, diagnosing, experimenting, and testing tend to frame most of the projects funded by the foundation. Proposed Activities, Outcomes and Monitoring and Assessment Plan. What will you do to solve the problem and/answer your questions? What will be the short-term and long-term outcomes or results and accompanying indicators of your proposed solution to the problem? What is your assessment or evaluation plan? We have learned that most organizations are better at describing their proposed activities than the resulting outcomes of the activities. Organize this section around the main project activities OR the project outcomes, but be sure to have both. Summarize the approach that you will use to implement, monitor, and assess the program. Clear benchmarks or measurable indicators of success make the plan even more convincing. We are interested in knowing how you will do it, who will be involved, and your strategic use of information to advance the project. Not everything can be quantified, but more can be quantified than most organizations think. Numbers count for a lot in this section because they help the reviewers understand the scope and scale of your program. Project Partners and Local Resources. Who are the project partners and organizational allies involved in the project and what will they do? We would encourage you to go beyond simply listing your partner organizations. Explain what they will help you do and what they will be responsible for in the project.

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Project Leaders, Staff, and Location. What are the names, job titles, and responsibilities of key staff or leaders for the project and where will they be located? Broader Impacts. What are the broader impacts, significance, or relevance of your research and/or intervention to your community and field? What will be the intended ripple effects of a successful project? The foundation gives priority to projects that intend to do more than address a particular problem or respond to a local issue. Summarizing the broader impacts, significance, or relevance of your project helps us understand how your project has greater benefits to others. Broader impacts might relate to enhancing scientific and technological understanding, promoting education and training, or enhancing the infrastructure or capacity for research, education, or service. Budget Narrative/Justification (3200) The budget justification section often gets the least attention from applicants relative to the scrutiny it receives from reviewers. The reviewers have to make immediate evaluative judgments and quick budgeting decisions based on information that you send.

Include a budget narrative/justification that breaks down and explains your cost categories and relevant calculations. Use your own judgment about the level of specificity. Strike a balance between too much information and too little. A good rule of thumb is to explain your calculations but try not to go overboard and "count paperclips and test tubes." Purchase and/or upgrading expensive equipment must be fully justified given that participating organizations are expected to provide substantial infrastructural support for the project. The Foundation is not keen on helping organizations purchase “big-ticket” supplies and equipment. Examples of cost categories that often go unexplained and end up puzzling the reviewers include: • evaluation • travel • fees • consulting • dissemination The foundation does not generally support overhead/indirect costs. It assumes that most projects have overhead/indirect expenses. If you are unfamiliar with the various formats of budget narratives/budget justifications (and there are many) you may be able to find examples on the Internet to serve as a guide. (Searching “sample budget justifications” on Google will bring you to a number of justifications used by various organizations.)

Project Continuation and Fundraising Plan (1600): What is your plan for continuing this project, your goals for supporting it financially and plan for building your funding base?

The foundation does not expect that all projects will continue or eventually be self-sufficient or sustainable. This question helps the foundation understand its practical and strategic role and opportunity in advancing the project to its next level of development. It also highlights the entrepreneurial quality of your organization.

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The budget section is one of the most scrutinized components of your proposal. It deserves exceptional attention to detail and consistency. Have an outside reader check your math for any discrepancies that may confuse the reviewers.

Financial Attachments Project Revenue Form

Identify all project revenue or income – provide a line item revenue statement for all applicable budget categories. Typical line items might include: grants and contracts in hand, membership support, other fundraising, earned income. List any donors being approached to fund this project with dollar amounts indicating which sources are committed, pending, or anticipated. Many organizations focus on the proposed CFH grant as their only source of revenue. With a little digging, however, they find other income that they can allocate to the project budget. If for example, you receive a salary or fellowship from your institution, include the appropriate portion of your salary costs in your project budget. Similarly, if your organization covers in-kind expenses such as rent or equipment list them below your budget. Do not forget to include the proposed CFH grant as a projected revenue source and add up all of your totals. List all sources of in-kind support. Your revenues should total your expenses. Upload the revenue form, which is also available on the foundation’s website.

Project Expense Form

Use the Microsoft Excel budget form on the foundation’s website (or the link above). Using this form provides consistency for the readers who review many applications. Do not add columns because the spreadsheet will not print properly. Identify all project expenses - not just expenses you will charge to a potential CFH grant. Provide a line item expense statement for all applicable budget categories. Be specific. Typical expense categories might include some or all of the following: salaries and fringe, consultants, travel and transportation, training, equipment, supplies, telephone/fax, rent. Indicate how you will allocate CFH funds. Put the CFH allocation in a separate budget column. If you are not allocating project costs toward a particular line item listed on the budget form, you may leave it blank. Your budget should include all costs for the project, not just the costs you are allocating to a grant from CFH. Understanding FTE – Always provide the percentage of staff time for all staff involved in the project. Full-time equivalent (FTE) is a confusing concept that always trips people up if they have not heard of it. It is a useful way to measure a worker’s productivity and/or involvement in a project. An FTE of 1.0 or 100% means that the person is equivalent to a full-time worker on the project. An FTE of 0.5 may signal that the worker is only half-time. Be sure to calculate your FTEs for the entire salary line item not just for the portion of costs for which you are seeking CFH support.

The Foundation prefers to support local staff whenever possible. Your chances of getting funding increase the more that local people lead the work.

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Example: A staffing line item for Program Coordinator with an annual salary of $20,000 that works 50% FTE on the project per year would be $10,000.

Salary equity and wage inflation. Big salaries and large wage differentials between staff categories will raise the eyebrows of the reviewers. The foundation carefully evaluates salary equity between staff from wealthy countries and developing countries. In keeping with the foundation’s mission to build capacity in the developing world, it prefers to support local staff whenever possible. If your project has generously paid staff who you feel might raise questions about salary equity and project sustainability, comment in your budget narrative/justification. The foundation also expects that the pay rate for students and community residents/employees of community organizations shall be commensurate with salaries established for these groups. It is important that participants earn equal pay for equal work. Staff names. Identify the names of staff and their roles whenever possible. Applicants who have identified specific individuals always have an advantage over those who are waiting for funding before finding staff. If you have not identified staff, describe your hiring plan in your budget narrative.

Total base salary for the year. Put in the amount that each person is paid in dollars for one year of work. Do this even if you are not asking the foundation to fund a portion of this salary. This question helps us understand a number of issues related to planning, fundraising, and salary equity.

Salary of Executive Director. Identify the annual salary of the Executive Director or Director of the project in your project expense budgets. This confidential information provides comparative information and insight into your organization’s lines of authority, organizational capacity, and cost and compensation priorities, structure, and strategy. This information should be a part of your project budget even if you do not allocate costs to the foundation.

Recommendation for large institutions: If you are applying on behalf of a university, large research institution, or large NGO, (>10 $million annual budget) identify the project’s Primary Investigator and his/her salary information and FTE contribution to the project. Recommendation for smaller organizations. If you are applying on behalf of a nonprofit organization or non-governmental organization (NGO) with a budget of less than >$10 million, identify the organization’s Executive Director or senior leader and his/her salary information and FTE contribution to the project. This position may also be called the President, or Chief Operating Officer.

In most cases, project budgets will include information about the CEO information and leader primarily responsible for managing the overall project. Project costs not normally covered by the foundation: Include all cost categories in your budget, but keep in mind that the foundation is unlikely to support the following:

• Large capital expenses (e.g. buildings, cars, equipment) • Overhead/indirect costs • Salaries or portion thereof for Executive Directors of North American or European organizations • Large foreign travel expenses and per diems

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Required Attachments

Interim Report (CURRENT GRANTEES ONLY) - Current grantees of the foundation are required to submit interim reports with their proposals. These reports are more likely to be read than any other reports you may have sent or will send to the foundation because they highlight indicators of progress on the specific project that is factored into the grantmaking deliberations by the trustees.

NOTE: This report should be uploaded online in the assigned follow-up area. Short Resumes of Key Staff - Briefly summarize the experience and qualifications of key staff proposed for this project. Limit resumes or biographical descriptions to 4 pages. Organizational Budget - Upload a copy of the board-approved organizational budget for the current fiscal year. If you are at a university, summarize your department’s budget if you have it. The reviewers use this information to understand the scope and scale of your organization. Organizational Financial Statements - Upload a copy of your organization’s complete financial statements or audit for the preceding year. Universities are not required to submit this information.

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Online Application Guide Login Log in using your existing login information used to submit the concept application. If you are not already registered on the portal, contact foundation staff. Do not complete a new registration for your organization!

Click Link to Open Form We have already set up an application draft for you. Click Edit Application to open the application form under the 2019 grant. Click on Print Question Legend above your name to get a list of the proposal questions.

Draft Application Complete your on-line application. Save frequently. If you want to leave your application before it is complete, click on Save as Draft at the bottom of the screen. You can come back later and continue your application by signing in with your password and continuing to work on the application.

Submit When Complete Your application must be submitted when you are done in order to remove it from draft status. After clicking submit, a new screen will appear confirming receipt of your application.

Tips for Using the System

Make a PDF of your proposal. You should print out a copy of the proposal using the Create Documents function. Review your proposal draft before clicking “submit.”

Uploading? Keep in mind that the upload fields only accept one document. If you upload the wrong document, simply browse and upload the right one to overwrite the incorrect upload. You will know that the upload worked when you see the document link in the field when you save your draft. You will also see it when you print a PDF of the proposal.

Cutting and pasting is fast. Cutting and pasting directly from your word processor is easy if you keep in mind that 3,200 characters (including spaces) equal approximately one page with four paragraphs in 12 point type. To facilitate cutting and pasting, text limits are typically generous, but do not feel compelled to write more than necessary just to use all of the characters allowed.

Pasting trick. Hit the spacebar after you paste to get the section to “stick” in the box.

Forget formatting. The system removes all formatting from your pasted text and makes it look ugly. It will turn your bullets into gibberish. Use a dash instead. Saving your documents in RTF or a simple text file before you paste will require less clean-up in your proposal.

What is the deadline? 12 PM Eastern Standard Time.

Did we get it? Once you click submit, your proposal is on its way – you can’t edit your draft any more. Log in to check the status of your proposal submission. Don’t worry about typos when you find them. You will also see the status of any other proposals you submitted online to all of the GMA Foundations clients using the system.

Need tech support? Tech support is available between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Call the Grants Manager at GMA Foundations at 617-399-1852 or email online@gmafoundations.com.

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Got suggestions? Write online@gmafoundations.com with comments, tips and ideas that can improve this system. Your feedback helps us make improvements.

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Application Questions Project Name:

Project Summary/ Abstract (1000): Grant Request Amount:

Project Budget:

Total Funds Committed: Total Funds Pending:

Total Organizational Budget:

Yearly Salary of Executive Director: Yearly Salary of Project Leader: Grant Period:

Number of Full-time Employees in the Organization: Number of Part-time Employees in the Organization: Number of Employees on the Project: Background of Organization(s) Leading the Project (3200): Overview of the Context, Problem, and Opportunity (3200):

Question(s) and/or Hypothesis (3200): Project Activities, Outcomes, and Assessment Plan (6400): Project Partners and Local Resources (3200): Project Leaders, and Location (3200): Budget Narrative/Justification (3200):

Project Continuation and Fundraising Plan (1600):