Grant Writing for Sustainability

A grant is a proposal that seeks funds to solve a problem and normally is directed by a nonprofit organization [IRS 501(c)(3) designation] to a federal, state, or local government agency, a foundation, or a corporation.
This term, we have three partners, each with multiple grant writing needs. You will be writing grants on behalf of Willamina High School, Depave, or Ooligan Press. Specifics about these partners and their funding needs are provided in the Course Learning Modules on the Home Page. Read the brief description of the partners and their projects, and work with me to choose one. You can work independently on a single project, or you can team up--two person "teams" will be the ideal (three to a team will be too crowded).

You should expect to gain valuable experience with the grant writing process. Grant writing involves several steps including preparing or revising a business plan for your partner, identifying potential grant sources for the projects available, and finalizing a grant that follows protocol required by the funding source. Because grant writing is a dynamic process that does not follow "academic" timelines, we can expect the need for a little flexibility regarding which of these tasks will require the most attention. Some of the projects available to us this term will emphasize research, for example, rather than drafting final text or identifying funding sources. The important outcome is that you, as a participant in the class, will have a chance to learn the fundamentals of grant writing and to help produce a "living" grant that you can showcase as part of your professional portfolio.

The course also challenges you to think about the phenomenon of publication and the commerce of ideas from a disciplinary perspective, as well as the vitally important concept of sustainability.

Your tasks therefore can be categorized as 1) a community-based project, 2) a book review of a text that engages the issue of sustainability, and 3) a variety of short writing opportunities throughout the quarter that ask you to reflect on your experiences in the course.

Project

Grant Writing for Sustainability

COMMUNITY-BASED GRANT
The community-based project is the grant. It accounts for 70% of your final course grade and is due on Friday of finals week. General instructions about grant writing are contained in the "Fundamental Steps in Grant Writing" module.

REFLECTIVE WRITING
The short reflective writings take the form of weekly status reports. I will ask for weekly status reports from time to time throughout the course. Along with updating us on your project on the grant, you might be asked to provide other insights and information. These are informal reports, mostly teasing out reflection on the issue of sustainability and the good work you are doing this term to promote it.
The status report should be concise and will always contain three parts: 1. You will share a status report on how well your team is accomplishing its goals and objectives in completing the grant. 2. You will let us know how well are you progressing individually on your book review. 3. Finally, you will respond to a specific prompt or question that will change each week based on your previous feedback.

GRANT WRITING PROJECTS
As mentioned, we have three partners this term, all with multiple grants to work on. Get to know them by accessing the descriptions contained on the Home Page of the class.