Amizade and The Sprout Fund partner for grant opportunity

Amizade Global Service-Learning has partnered with The Sprout Fund to help facilitate a series of community conversations and develop a request for proposal (RFP) that will establish The Global Switchboard’s presence in Pittsburgh while also raising awareness about global engagement programming in the Pittsburgh area. The Global Switchboard is Pittsburgh’s home for global engagement and is powered by Amizade and anchored by Global Solutions Pittsburgh.

The RFP will support projects designed to build the community of practice associated with global engagement in Pittsburgh. Sprout will be accepting proposals requesting $1,000 for projects that will, “create meaningful connections between globally-focused organizations, increase engagement of new audiences, and bolster the growing community of practitioners working to make Pittsburgh a more global city.”

The Sprout Fund introduced the Global Switchboard Community of Practice RFP on Wednesday, August 20th, during the The Global Switchboard 2nd Convening, an event co-hosted by The Sprout Fund andAmizade Global Service-Learning for Switchboard members. The first convening was an event designed to explore how Pittsburgh can become a more global city and was open to the greater Pittsburgh community. Sprout assisted in facilitating dialogue in order to help community members discuss ways to increase global engagement in Pittsburgh.

After the event, Sprout analyzed the convening and they identified four common themes: (1) the need to develop a robust community of practice, (2) the importance of storytelling, (3) the critical nature of education-based initiatives, and (4) the vital role of advocacy and public policy efforts. This RFP was designed based on these emerging themes and serve as a direct response to the community input gathered at the convening.

Below are Sprout’s Criteria, Process, and Application Support:

This information is also available on The Sprout Funds website.

Criteria & Process

The Sprout Fund accepts applications from non-profit organizations, coalitions of organizations, community groups, and individuals. Please review Sprout’s complete eligibility requirements:https://www.sproutfund.org/apply/eligibility/

For this RFP, a limit of one application can be submitted per organization. Additionally, Amizade Global Service-Learning is ineligible to apply because of their status as a co-sponsor of this program.

Successful projects will meet Sprout’s funding criteria for creativity, innovation, community engagement, relevance, need, and audience impact, and be principally active and/or visible in 2015.

Decisions on this RFP will be made by a committee comprised of Sprout staff and community members who will review funding requests and make recommendations to Sprout’s Board for support.  Sprout will make 10 awards of $1,000 each.

Deadline and Application Information

Proposals are due Friday, September 19, 2014 by 5pm.  Decisions will be announced approximately six weeks later.

The required method for submitting your request for proposal is by online form. Apply for this opportunity using the online application form>>

In advance of preparing a proposal, applicants are encouraged to prepare responses to the following questions:

• Project Description: Summarize the project, including its focus, planned activities, intended impact. Be sure to specify how this project will help build the community of practice associated with global engagement in Pittsburgh.

• Goals & Outcomes: Detail 3-5 specific, measurable outcomes that the project will achieve and how you will measure the project’s success.

• Audience Engagement: Describe the target audience that the project will engage and how the project will build the community of practice associated with global engagement in Pittsburgh

• Promotion & Storytelling: Describe how this project will raise awareness of global engagement in Pittsburgh. Identify 2–3 opportunities in the life of the project when Sprout can assist the project in promotion and documentation. Please list the date, time, and location of each key moment.

Applicants will also need to provide contact information, estimated audience size, timeline, and budget.

Applicant Support

Sprout encourages prospective applicants to contact program staff in advance of preparing an application. Email your inquiry or other questions to apply@sproutfund.org or call (412) 325-0646.