Youth & Communities Program Proposal Guidelines

If you have been invited to submit a proposal, please review the following guidelines.

If invited to submit a full proposal, Youth & Communities program staff will send you an encouragement letter and proposal application packet. Your proposal must include a narrative that covers the following topics in seven pages maximum:

Define the Issue

Provide baseline data.

• Why is this program needed?
• What is the context?
• What is the scope of the problem being addressed?

Project Description

Describe your program and its case for investment.

• How does it align with the objectives in the Youth and Communities program?
• Who will benefit from the project and how?
• What is the anticipated duration of the project?
• How does the project align with the objectives of our Youth & Communities program?
• Who will benefit and how?
• What is the anticipated duration of the project?
• What evidence or research is available to support the theory and design of the project?

Goals/Activities/Outcomes

• What does your project/program seek to accomplish and how?
• How will you evaluate the success of the project?
• What are the outcomes for the population you serve that will demonstrate that your program has succeeded?

First Year Benchmarks

• What will be accomplished in the first year of a multiyear grant?
• Provide specific and measurable outcomes for the first year of the project.

Organizational Capacity/Partnership Development

• How is your agency positioned to successfully complete its work?
• Why is your agency the right one to tackle this work?
• What leadership have you demonstrated in the field?
• What is your experience in testing promising practices or affecting systems change?

Partnerships

As applicable, describe your programmatic and funding partnerships.

• What partnerships have you established to do this work?
• What other financial commitments have you secured to accomplish the work of this project?

Intellectual Property Rights

• What intellectual property do you envision will be created in the course of the funded work?
• What organization or who will hold copyright to it?
• How will it be made available for use on behalf of children, youth and the public good?