Funder Research Report

(Worth 5% of your grade; due July 10th)

Overview

One of the most important (and most difficult) aspects of pursuing a grant opportunity is funding the right funding source. Although federal agencies and private foundations award billions of dollars to grant applicants each year, each funding organization maintains strict requirements defining who is eligible to apply, what types of projects qualify, and how such projects must be implemented.

For this short assignment, you will research a federal agency or private foundation and create a one-page document that succinctly summarizes the answers to the who, where, what, when, why, and how questions about the organization. Perhaps most importantly, you will make a recommendation about whether or not your classmates should pursue funding opportunities with this organization for their Unit #2 proposals. During class on Tuesday, July 10th, you will bring 18 copies of your one-page handout (for your classmates) and deliver a five-minute presentation summarizing your findings.

Assignment Details

• Your report should fit on one side of one page.
• This assignment will require you to summarize a great deal of information in a very short space. As such, you will need to determine what your readers “need to know,” and what you simply “want to tell,” focusing on the former and discarding the latter.
• The oral portion of this assignment will test your ability to make a short, professional presentation to a group of your peers. Although our class is often conducted in an informal manner, please treat this five-minute presentation as a professional one.
• When your funder research report is complete, save the Word document as “Full Name Funder Research Report.doc” (for instance, “Quinn Warnick Funder Research Report.doc”) and upload it to the class website before class on Tuesday, July 10th. In addition, bring copies of your report for all members of the class.

Evaluation Criteria

Your funder research report will be evaluated based on how well you:

• summarize key details about the funding organization, eligibility requirements, deadlines, etc.
• select and organize the most important information into a one-page document.
• implement the principles of document design we have studied this semester.
• present yourself in a professional manner during your oral presentation.
• follow the conventions of Standard Written English (spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc.)