Traditional and Creative Funding Models for Outreach Programs
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Traditional and Creative Funding Models for Outreach Programs
Abstract
We will present overviews of the goals and requirements of traditional sources of funding: government agencies as represented by the National Science Foundation, large industry foundations as represented by Microsoft, and other organizations such as the Computing Research Association (CRA) and the Henry Luce Foundation – that may provide more targeted grants. We will also present a few creative strategies that have proven useful on an even smaller scale.
Overview
Sustainability is a significant challenge for most outreach programs. In order to get funding, program organizers must first identify an appropriate sponsor with interests that coincide with the program’s outcomes. Then each grant proposal must be tailored to align with the sponsor’s format, organizational goals and budget. After an award is made, the project director must often be able to write effective Annual and Final Reports for the funder.
Attendees will gain a better understanding of how to identify the best source of support, prepare effective proposals and keep the funder apprised of the project through informative, but concise, reports. Each panelist will describe the type of project that is best suited to their organization’s funding model and explain the potential costs and benefits of such a funding strategy.
Panelists
Bettina Bair
Ohio State University, bbair@cse.osu.edu
Bettina Bair is the director of TWiCE (The Women in Computer Engineering) program, and is also faculty sponsor of the OSU student chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery Committee on Women (ACM-W). She was the General Chair for the Ohio Celebration of Women in Computing conference (OCWiC) in 2005 and 2007.
Jan Cuny
University of Oregon, cuny@cs.uoregon.edu
Jan Cuny has been involved in efforts to increase the participation of women in computing research for many years. As a long time member of the CRA-W, she served as a co-chair, a mentor for their Distributed Mentoring Program and the lead on their Academic Career Mentoring Workshop, Grad Cohort, and Cohort for Associated Professors projects. Since 2004, Jan has been on leave at the National Science Foundation, heading the CISE Broadening Participation in Computing program. She is a recipient of one of the 2006 ACM President’s Award and the 2007 CRA A. Nico Haberman Award.
Jane Daniels
Henry Luce Foundation, jdaniels@hluce.org
Jane Daniels has worked on equity issues for women in the sciences and engineering for more than 25 years. Jane currently directs the Clare Boothe Luce Program which is the largest private source of support for women in the sciences and engineering with grants of more than $7 million annually for undergraduate scholarships, graduate fellowships and professorships. She is a researcher and consultant on gender issues and is the author of more than 60 articles or chapters in books on the subject.
Jane Prey
Microsoft Research, jprey@microsoft.com
Jane Prey received her BS from the UIUC and her PhD from UVA. She was a faculty member in the Computer Science Department at UVA for 11 years before joining MSR in 2004, where she leads the Tablet Technologies in Higher Education initiative and the Gender/Pipeline initiative. She was a Program Manager at National Science Foundation in the Division of Undergraduate Education. She is a member of the IEEE CS Educational Activities Board, FIE Steering committee and the ACM Education Board as well as a former member of the board for ACM SIGCSE She is the recipient of the 2006 Frontiers in Education (FIE) Conference Ronald J. Schmitz Award for Service.
Carla Romero
Computing Research Association, carla@cra.org
Carla Romero is involved with the broad range of human resources programs, on community-building, and on connecting CRA with the other organizations advancing science and engineering. She supports several CRA committees -- including the Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research (CRA-W) and the Coalition to Diversity Computing (CDC). In addition to developing educational programs for students from kindergarten through grad school, Carla has been active in providing training and resources to enhance the professional development and leadership skills of underrepresented students on and off campus. She is the recipient of the 1993 NASA Training Project Hero Award.
Presentations
Carla Romero
http://community.anitaborg.org/wiki/images/a/a3/Funding_Models_CRA.ppt
Jane Daniels
http://community.anitaborg.org/wiki/images/6/64/Funding_Models_Luce.ppt
Jane Prey
How to Write A Top-Notch Proposal 1. Q1: What is grant writing & what does it mean to academia MONEY Recognition of peers Career enhancement Cool work 2. Q2: What are common misconceptions regarding grant writing? Q2 – Fatal Flaws Fatal Flaw #1 “My ideas are so great I’m certain [insert funding agency name] won’t care whether they fit the program guidelines.” Read the solicitation completely and carefully Write proposal and address each area outlined in the solicitation Q2 – Fatal Flaws, 2 “Trust us, we know what we’re doing.” Relate your project to the specifics of the solicitation Formulate your idea(s); clearly state what you want to do Identify the audience(s) you want to work with Identify specific tasks and a timeline for completing activities Give background information; cite literature-demonstrate that you are aware of similar efforts/prior work Q2 – Fatal Flaws, 3 “I’m sure they don’t actually count the pages. No one will notice I’m over the page limit. Maybe I should just use a smaller font.” Follow page and font-size limits Follow the instructions Q2 – Fatal Flaws, 4 “[your choice of funding agency] should know what I’ve done in the past without my having to tell them. After all, I’m well-known.” Especially important if you have no history with the funding agency Q2 – Fatal Flaws, 5 “I’ll inflate my budget because they will always end up cutting it anyways” Budget should directly reflect work plan Provide biographical sketches for all key personnel Q2 – Fatal Flaws, 6 “website submission? No problem?” Look at the website – how does the submission process work? Spel chck and grammer chek Start Early 3. Q3: What criteria are used when making a decision to award a grant proposal? How well does it fit into the solicitation guidelines? Does the proposal include all of the required information? 4. Q4: What practical suggestions/guidelines?? What makes a good project? INNOVATIVE REALISTIC WORTHWHILE WELL-PLANNED Q4: What practical suggestions/guidelines?, part 2 READ the solicitation READ the solicitation READ the solicitation READ the solicitation READ the solicitation READ the solicitation READ the solicitation READ the solicitation Q4, What practical suggestions/guidelines?, part 3 Find what kinds of proposals have been funded in the past Have someone not familiar with your work/project read the proposal For content For spelling and grammar Use spell checker on the final version and be sure to save it Q4, What practical suggestions/guidelines?, part 4 READ the solicitation READ the solicitation READ the solicitation READ the solicitation READ the solicitation READ the solicitation READ the solicitation READ the solicitation 5. What Have We Supported? Pervasive Computing Trustworthy Computing, Languages Compilers Runtimes, Embedded Systems, Search, Social Computing Transformation of Scientific Research by Computing eScience, Bioinformatics Future of Computing Education Technology Enhanced Curriculum (Tablet and CXP), Robotics, Gaming, Trustworthy Computing, Curriculum repository, iCampus, Gender equity Computing Curriculum Software Engineering, TWC, TabletPC, Gaming 6. What’s Up for Microsoft in FY08? A. Richard Newton Breakthrough Research Award Beyond Search – Semantic Computing and Internet Economics Cell Phone as a Platform for Healthcare [http://research.microsoft.com/ur/us/fundingopps/default.aspx] 7. Strategy for Working with MS RFPs Do not assume the same topics will be covered each year Do not assume the focus of the RFP will be the same even if it’s in the same content area Contact the person responsible for the RFP and make sure you understand what the program is looking for.
Blogging Coverage
Diane Curtis was the official GHC blogger for this session. Read her post: http://dianecu.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!976A1414F77FF916!869.entry