Researching Foundations and Agencies:

Researching Foundations and Agencies:

Resource Development for

Instructional Technology Projects

Liberal Arts ITS - Session Two

Emily Cicchini, Special Projects Manager - June 08

What do funders want?

To change the world.

To help people, generally, the more people, the better.

To fix a specific problem or issue.

To know what the positive impact will be.

Finally, I know what they

want.

Old Sage Development Sayings

Fundraising is friend-raising/match-making

Fundraising is sales/is not sales

Get your ducks in a row

It takes the same effort to ask for $1 as it does for $1 million

Don’t grant-chase

Every day is a good day to fundraise!

The “so what?” test…

Funders don’t need to know the gory details.

Funders don’t like whiny, negative language.

Funders don’t care what problem it solves for you, but how you are solving a problem that effects others.

Education funders, in general, aren’t often that impressed by personal recognition.

Trends in Project Evaluation: The Logic Model

Task or activity

Inputs Outputs Short Term Goal

Long Term Goal

Building an educational website

Amount of Time

Qualifications of

People

Amount of Money

# web pages

# of key functions

# of students logging in

To get students more engaged

To increase student skill in a specific task

To increase access to materials

To improve learning

To lower cost of learning

To increase efficiency of learning

Embracing Dissemination

Publication Lectures Presentations Conferences Online networking

Motto: NO dissemination really is BAD dissemination. Tell people about your work.

Sustainability equals diversity

Individuals (Annual Funds, Major Gifts)

Corporate Sponsorships (Sports, Ads)

Corporate Foundations (Strategic Giving)

Private Foundations (Families, Legacies)

Public Foundations (Community Efforts)

Special Events (Sports, Parties, Sales)

Local, County, State, Federal Gov’t Agencies

BREAK

Some trends in IT project funding

Open Access Resources: making scholarly literature and knowledge freely available

Gaming, scripted, collaborative and interactive instructional applications (hello, Second Life…)

Extensive, comprehensive searchable databases and digital archives of hard-to-find materials

Analysis tools, synthesis tools, visual motion models, and other applied research projects

LAITS Showcase Solutions

Texas Politics: open access multimedia textbook

Français Interactif: open access multimedia textbook

Danteworlds: mulitimedia supplimental instructional resource

The Daily Intelligencer: unique web-based learning environment

IT Sites We Like

Carnegie Mellon’s Open Learning Initiative, http://www.cmu.edu/oli/

The Sloan C Consortium http://www.sloan-c.org/

MIT’s Open Course Ware Project, http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html

Top Twenty Web Sites

11 yahoo.co.jp12 microsoft.com13 megaupload.com14 sina.com.cn15 blogger.com16 hi5.com17 facebook.com18 rapidshare.com19 ebay.com20 sohu.com

1 yahoo.com2 msn.com3 google.com4 youtube.com5 live.com6 myspace.com7 baidu.com8 orkut.com9 wikipedia.org10 qq.com

Retrieved from alexa.com June 9, 2007

Rights and Permissions

Inside Class, UT = Fair Use

Open Access = Not Fair Use

Got Ducks?

Basic 5-step fundraising cycle

Research - 70% of your time (including gossip, internal coordination, and rejection).

Cultivation - 4% of your time.

Solicitation - 15% of your time.

Closure - 1% of your time.

Stewardship - 10% of your time.

Once you start, it is a cycle, it never ends.

How to evaluate a prospect

What do they say they want to accomplish? What is their “self-image?”

Who do they say they’ll give to? Who do they really give to, how often, how many different groups?

What things have they given for in the past?

How much do they give/do they really have?

Who are the people actually in charge? What’s the decision making process?

Are they stable or in flux? What’s the deadline/timeline?

The Usual Suspects

National Endowment for the ArtsNational Endowment for the HumanitiesDepartment of EducationNational Science FoundationMoody, Meadows, Brown, Houston,

Webber FoundationsAustin’s lack of philanthropic infrastructure

Online Research Tools

Federal Register http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html and grants.gov

Texas Register and grant alerthttp://www.governor.state.tx.us/divisions/stategrants/grantalert/view

Chronicle of Philanthropy The Foundation Center/The Grantsmanship CenterGuidestar.org, or how to read a 990.

The Internet - The Meadows Foundation http://www.mfi.org/grants/grant_guidelines_english.asp

Exercise: Plan a grant for…

Grantees:

wikipedia.org

openoffice.org

pbs.org

creativecommons.org

thestoryoftexas.org

gutenberg.org

moma.org

artsedge.kennedy-center.org/

Grantors:NEH Digital Start UpNEA Fast TrackHumanities TexasNSF Informal Science

EducationMacArthur FoundationIES Reading and Writing

Education ResearchDOE Star SchoolsThe Meadows Foundation

Example: Wikipedia to NEH

Need: An online thesaurus tool

Proposed Solution: an application that can search and cross reference words by tags, use and associated meaning

Project Design: plug-in to be developed

by r and linguistic scholar

Overall Goal: To create new functionality for the world’s most used multilingual

open knowledge base

Objectives: to create a functional tool that helps users create digital thesaurus entries

Timelines: prototype, year 1, release year 2

Budget: $50,000 per year, 1/2 to scholar, 1/2 to r

Qualifications: They are both fabulously brilliant, connnected and experienced

Evaluation: Wikipedia foundation will conduct usability studies

Dissemination: A press conference and full web documentation

Sustainability: Wikipedia Foundation will commit to sustaining it

How to build a prospect list

Don’t take on more than you can manage: on a part time basis, maybe 5 at a time

Meet on a regular basis (monthly) with a team (student, colleagues) and go over the list

Determine next step: more research, internal clearance, crafting a pitch, or (lucky you!) completing a report

When prospects are pretty much dead ends, replace them with new ones

Final Thoughts…

Yes, you need to know people…

but you can get to know them, particularly through web.

If you work your list, the money will come.