Grant Writing for Environmental Advocacy

Grant Writing for Environmental Advocacy

Community Partner: Friends of the Columbia Gorge

UNST 421/ 6 credits/ fully online

Instructor: Lisa Jo Frech

E-mail:

Office hours:Availableuponrequest

Class and Project Description

This service-learning class uses an experiential approach: students learn to research and write compelling grant proposals by engaging in the process of writing very real proposals to be used by our Community Partner in its pursuit of funding.

Students in this Capstone course partner with a Portland based nonprofit organization who advocates for our natural resources, the wild, and the preservation of these special places.

Community Partner

Friends of the Columbia Gorge

Our Mission

Friends of the Columbia Gorge shall vigorously protect the scenic, natural, cultural, and recreational resources of the Columbia River Gorge. We fulfill this mission by ensuring strict implementation of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Act and other laws protecting the region of the Columbia River Gorge; promoting responsible stewardship of Gorge land, air, and waters; encouraging public ownership of sensitive areas; educating the public about the unique natural values of the Columbia River Gorge and the importance of preserving those values; and working with groups and individuals to accomplish mutual preservation goals.

Goals, Objectives, Outcomes

This Capstone course is designed to engage students in a process of community involvement and practice that result in the development of compelling and usable grant proposals.

The GOALS for this Capstone are as follows:

1)to provide PSU Capstone students with an academically and professionally meaningful service-learning opportunity; and

2)to further the mission of the Community Partner by assisting in the effort to raise funds to support and sustain programming.

The OBJECTIVES of this Capstone address both course content and the University Studies goals of communication, critical thinking, appreciation of diversity, and social responsibility, and are as follows:

1)to enhance students’ facility and confidence with writing, in particular persuasive and reflective writing; editing; and oral communication (communication);

2)to increase students’ interviewing, research, problem-solving, strategizing and organizational skills (critical thinking);

3)to facilitate students’ building of functional teams around both differences and likenesses experienced within the classroom and with the Community Partner’s staff (appreciation of diversity); and

4)to encourage students’ ongoing identification with and participation in a shared community (social responsibility).

By the end of this Capstone, students will demonstrate the following enhanced capacities:

1)to write clearly and effectively in persuasive, concise, and reflective pieces;

2)to discover and utilize the intellectual and practical resources necessary to answer multiple application questions;

3)to relate to others in a team and to contribute individual gifts and efforts to create a team product; and

4)to apply personal energy to meeting community challenges and to experience enhanced community identification.

Instructor’s Expectations

I am committed to creating an experience in which everyone feels welcome, safe, and valued. My expectation is that you will check in often (I recommend 5 days a week for this course), keep an open mind, follow instructions, participate in your own learning process, and help your teammates. If you miss an assignment, I expect that you will catch up quickly and stay current with your group.Not doing so can be costly to everyone.

Texts

Required: Therequired text for this class is available at the PSU bookstore and at online sources.

1)Clarke, Cheryl A. Storytelling for Grantseekers. Jossey-Bass, 2009, Second Edition. Provocative framing of effective grantwriting through the use of storytelling techniques.

2)The Capstone handbook– available on PSU’s website

3) -- The Foundation Center

4)Lamott, Anne. Excerpts from her book Bird by Bird; handout – available in Essentials

5)Article: Current Trends in Nonprofits by Nell Edgington

6)Article: “Getting Funded, the Complete Guide to Writing Grant Proposals” by Howlett and Bourque, synthesized by Lisa Jo Frech

Recommended, available at Millar Library:

1)Barbato, Joseph and Danielle Furlich. Writing for a Good Cause. Fireside, 2000. Irreverent account of the entire grantwriting process, with particular emphasis placed on the writing process itself.

2)Carlson, Mim. Winning Grants Step by Step. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 2008, 3rd edition.

3)McPherson, Craig. Oregon Foundation DataBook. C & D Publishing, 2002. Comprehensive guide to Oregon foundations.

Requirements

You will earn a grade in this class based on your work as an individual AND as a member of a team.

1)Individual work: 50 points

One-half of your grade will be based on your own attendance/participation in our course, on your ePortfolio and on your written expression of your thoughts and experiences in weekly reflections. This grade will be earned individually.

The component parts of this grade are the following:

1. One-half of the 50 pts.willbe based on the evidence of your commitment to learning and to our Community Partner.

As part of this class, we have a staffmember from the Community Partner available to us via email. You are expected to interact with this Community Partner.

To that end, you will earn points for:

1. participatingonline regularly each week;

1. showing evidence of being prepared for individual and group work;
2. completingall assignments on time
3. participating in your share of the group work.

NOTE: 3 or more documents submitted late will result in a drop of a letter grade. 6 or more documents submitted late will result in a drop of yet another letter grade.

1. One- half of the 50 pts. will be based on expression of your thoughts and experiences around every aspect of work in this course in regular reflections in your ePortfolio, on your ePortfolio itself, and on a self-evaluation of your class participation at the end of the term. The weekly reflection is due each Sunday in Dropbox. Reflection1 is due the first week of class, 10Reflections in total. See pages 6 - 7 of this syllabus for more guidelines on completing the Reflections. You will have the opportunity to create an individual ePortfolio for this course that will include all Reflections,Reading Reactions, Grant Components, Peer Reviews, and the Final Grant Proposal. AnePortfolio is a body of work produced online and is increasingly popular among potential employers. This exercise is designed to get you used to creating a body of work online

2) Team Work: 25 points

You will be a member of a team: a team charged with completing aproposal for a specific project for the Community Partner. Substantial time will be dedicated to team meetings to facilitate team development and productivity, which you must arrange and manage. Teams will determine the roles of each of the team members.

You will earn up to 25 points as a team. At the conclusion of the course, you will assess your own and your teammates’ contributions to your collective effort, and these assessments will become the basis for this grade.

3) Final product: 25 points

One-fourth of your grade will be based on your work as part of the class wide team with our Community Partner. This work will follow the collaborative design. With the input of both your team and the Community Partner, I will assign up to 25 points to the final written products submitted to the Community Partner.

At the end of term, the class will have produced a final productwhich I will present to the Community Partner, and the Capstone office, where it will be available as a resource for future Capstone courses and to interested students/faculty throughout the University.

Grading

Graphically, then, your grade will be determined in the following way:

Source of points / Points available
Individual work:
Attendance/participation
Individual ePortfolio – includes all individual and team work
Reflection journals 1-10– in the ePortfolio / 50 points
Team work or process:
Grantwriting team – how the team works together
Individual work samples – parts of grant proposals
Assessment of team process and individual contribution / 25 points
Final product:
Completed grant proposals, evaluated in
collaboration withstudents and Community Partner; points
shared by entire team / 25 points

Total: 100 points

You are free to discuss your status in the course with me; asking for and receiving feedback from me, the Community Partner, and fellow class members will help you remain oriented within the group.

You will not receive a grade for this class until you have turned in the final products outlined above and returned all texts and/or equipment borrowed from the instructor, the Community Partner, and/or the University.

Schedule

The following schedule will almost certainly change as teams form, engage with the Community Partner, and undertake the project. Please raise any questions about or suggestions for schedule adjustments with the instructor.

Week 1: Getting to know you and getting started

Tasks: 1. Read the Capstone Student Handbook – available in PSU’s website

2. Introduce yourself and respond to other introductions.Find out who is good at what when it comes to research and writing. Review syllabus and text.

3. Think about the nonprofit context: What do youknow about nonprofits? Why do they need grants? What is a grant proposal? What do you know about grant proposals?

4. Review all handouts in Essentials - these are your tools!

5. Review Chapter One and Two of the text – submit your Reading Reaction to Dropbox, using the form found in Essentials, one document/one page per chapter.

6. Submit your first Reflection in Dropbox under Reflections.

Week 2: Learning about the Community Partner

Tasks:1. Learn about the Community Partner. Review the Community Partner website and list questions you have that cannot be answered by the website. It’s important to me and to the Community Partner that you NOT ask questions that could easily be answered by looking at their website and/or Google. Also, try to avoid rabbit holes where there is risk of chasing after information that will not pertain to grantwriting. Email me if you’re unsure of a hole you’re about to enter.

2. Gather enough information to write the assignment called Getting to Know Your Community Partner. Refer to the guidelines for this assignment in the syllabus, page 7. Submit this assignment to Dropbox, under Grant Components.

3.Read Chapter 3 from the text and respond to the chapter. Submit your reading reaction to Dropbox.

4. Read and considerAnne Lamott on writing – found in Essentials

5. Submit Reflection#2

Week 3: Forming Groups

Tasks:1. Which project interests you the most? (Read Project Descriptions in Essentials) Form groups according to project interest: 4 people in a group.

2. Work on the Organization Description and a Statement of Need as a group.Make a plan with your team todetermine what additional information you need and who will get it. Determine some roles in your group, such as writer, editor, researcher, but don’t be afraid to switch them up at any time if need be.

3.Read Chapter 4 of Storytelling and submit your reaction

4. Reflection#3

Week 4: Description of Organizationand Understanding the Need

Tasks:1.Work as a team to write theOrganizationDescription and Statement of Need.

Work individually first, then share drafts and use all the work to write these 2 documents. Refer to handouts in Essentials to make sure you’ve covered all of the elements. Be sure to include the names of the people in your group and the Project # and name. Then submit these 2 items separately to Dropbox, under Grant Components.Expect that these documents will go through several revisions, and that your header will soon need to look professional and not academic.

2. Read Chapter 5 in the text book and write and submit your reaction

3. Write and submit your Reflection #4

Week 5:Project Description and Researching Potential Funders

Tasks:1. Discuss a strategy for researching potential funding sources. Use the Foundation Center online sources at the school library for grant research, using the filters suggested by Cheryl Clarke

2. Find 1 potential funder -- each team member - and submit your team’s list to Dropbox under Grant Components with a team member’s name attached to each source.

3. Read and react to Chapter 6 in the textbook. Submit reaction.

4. Reflection # 5

Week 6: Budget Development and Budget Narrative

Tasks:1.Budget development: You’re not responsible for the Income side of the budget, but you must create the Expense side of a budget, NOT the Income side. Do your best to imagine what will be required for this project and what these items will cost.

Do you have all the information you need? If not, who will find it and how? Add a Budget Narrative at the bottom of the budget to explain any line item that might be confusing to a potential funder. Read the Chapter on Budgets!

2. Review potential funders as a team. Determine the best funder for your project.Discuss how to share the writing process to target a proposal to the specific funder selected.

3. Submit the draft Budgetwith its associated narrative

4. Submit Reflection #6

5. Submit Reading Reactions to Chapter 7 and 8.

Week 7: Evaluation Plan, Executive Summary, and Cover Letter

Tasks:1. Using the information you learned in Chapter 7, write an Evaluation Plan that has specifics: some quantitative AND qualitative information, answering this question: How will you know if this project is a success? In other words, what will that look like? Number the list of outcomes expected for this project, both qualitative and quantitative. Aim for 4-6 measurable outcomes. Submit this to Dropbox.

2. Read Chapter 9 and submit your reaction.

3. Then write (as a team) an Executive Summary, and a Cover Letter, referring to the handouts and text book for guidelines. Submit these components to Dropbox. Your project must have a title! Think creatively.

4. Reflection #7.

Week 8:Peer Review of Proposals

Tasks: 1. You will use a peer review process to give productive feedback for two other proposals. Each teamwill give feedback to two proposals that are not your own. Use the Peer Review form found in Essentials.

2. In teams; revise and strengthenYOUR proposal using feedback you received from your colleagues through peer review.

:3. Reading Reaction to Chapter 10.

4. Reflection #8

5. Do you have a good project title?

Week 9: Final Evaluationand Packaging the Proposal

Tasks:1. Teams work together: Discuss the comments you received, the readings for this course, your current draft, and how it can be improved.

2. What is evaluation? What strategies can be included in the grant proposal that the agency will be able to carry out?

3. Work on all elements of the grant proposal to make them strong and clear and compelling. Make sure there is one uniform voice telling this story, and that a reader will be pulled in quickly.

4. Reading Reaction to Chapter 11

5. Reflection #9

Week 10: Closing the Circle, Final Class and Celebration!

Tasks:1. In teams brainstorm what would be included in a final report.

2. Draft a thank you note to our Community Partner.

3. Submit final grant proposals in Dropbox under Final Proposal.

4. Celebrate what you learned and the good work of your team!

5. Debrief course. Do course evaluations.

6. Submit Reading Reaction to Chapter 12

7. Submit final Reflection, #10

On-Line Access to Course Information

The course syllabus and additional resources will be made available on-line through D2L. To access this information, you must have a PSU ODIN account. You will log into the course by going to and clicking “D2L Login” under the “more” tab on the upper right hand side of the screen.

CompleteList of Assignments for the Semester – see schedule for due dates

1. ePortfolio -a body of work done over time, available online - optional - see more info below
2. Getting to Know our Community Partner – see guidelines below

Grant writing process assignments – see handout “Getting Funded, the Complete Guide to Writing Grant Proposals” by Howlett and Bourque, synthesized by Lisa Jo Frech

1. Organizational information
2. OrganizationDescription
3. Statement of Need – including outside research, not just info from the Community Partner!
4. Project Description
5. List of Potential Funders – one funder per team member
6. Budget with Budget Narrative
7. Evaluation,Executive Summary, and Cover Letter
8. Final full grant proposals with all parts approved by the instructor and reviewed by your peers

All Homework Is Due by Sunday

One tool to assist you in making meaning of your class sessions, team and grant writing practice, and personal experience in this Capstone are the Weekly Reflections. Reflections can be part of your EPortfolio. You will engage with the ideas presented in our course content, explore the connections between the theoretical and the practical issues you discover through the grant writing processand process the intersections of your personal experience with your team and Community Partner.