Once the grant is awarded, this one-page chart also serves as a schedule or "master plan" for major grant activities.

Products/deliverables. Products and deliverables are derived primarily from the grant objectives. Once the objectives are developed, it is easy to review them and cull deliverables. Each product or deliverable can be "bulleted" in a simple format.

Project management and staffing. This section describes exactly who on the project team is responsible for specific project activities, i.e., objectives and sub-objectives, products and deliverables. Project staffing should include all professionals and volunteers, and any professionals utilized in an advisory capacity.

For example, many proposals include the use of a "Project Advisory Board." These are volunteer positions that bring expertise to the grant proposal. Advisory Board members are chosen for their specific knowledge or skills (such as research, writing, or program evaluation), and should be diverse by gender, culture, and geography. Advisory Board members are also utilized to review (and revise, as needed) project deliverables prior to submission to the grant making agency.

All project team members should be identified by their names, titles within the agency, and role within the grant (such as Project Manager or Curriculum Developer). The project management description should do the following:

• Follow the order of seniority, beginning with the Project Director.

• Indicate team members' reporting procedures (who reports to whom).

• Briefly describe the team members' qualifications.

• Briefly describe their responsibilities specific to the proposal.

Complete vita for all project team members should be included in an appendix to the proposal.

Organizational chart. The organizational chart offers a visual depiction of project team members and titles that indicate their responsibilities and who reports to whom.

Organizational capabilities. Every victim assistance organization that regularly seeks grant money should maintain and update a summary of its organizational capabilities. It is a good idea to review and revise this document at least four times a year.

This section offers a brief history of the organization, its accomplishments, and capabilities such as the components that follow:

• Agency mission statement.

• Board of Directors or leadership.

• Program activities.

• Direct services to constituents or clientele.

• Curriculum development.

• Training, and technical assistance experience.

• Research and evaluation experience.

• Public policy development and implementation.

• Information and referral services.

• Information resources such as Web site, library, research documents, etc.

• Program evaluation experience.

• How an agency is funded (including public and private support) to provide victim services.

This section can also highlight past accomplishments that resulted from prior grant funding and show a "track record" in successful grant management and completion.

Evaluation. A key to a successful grant proposal is often the proposed evaluation methodology. Evaluation measures the product and analyzes the process that is proposed in the grant application. It describes exactly how the applicant intends to measure outcomes that directly relate to the proposed goals and objectives, including instruments, criteria, and data collection. This section should stipulate which personnel are involved with evaluation and the expected outcomes that will result from the project. In addition, evaluation methodology should provide a description of how the project's activities can be modified if the evaluation process determines that the original proposed process is not adequate.

The following are four examples of evaluation methodology:

1. Data collection and analysis with a summary report of findings.

2. Victim or user satisfaction surveys, with a cumulative survey report.

3. Findings resulting from focus groups.

4. The number of--
   • Training programs conducted.
   • Publications distributed.
   • Victims served (combined with satisfaction outcomes).
   • Opportunities to present resources and materials resulting from the grant.
   • Positive citations of the project and related resources.

Budget. Most RFPs provide detailed descriptions of major budget categories. Generally, these categories include such administrative and program costs as follows:

• Personnel (including salary and benefits).

• Consulting fees.

• Travel and per diem.

• Office supplies.

• Communications (including phone, fax, mail, overnight delivery, and e-mail).

• Printing.

• Training, and technical assistance expenses such as audio/visual equipment, room rentals, etc.

• Agency overhead costs. (These must be approved in advance by the grant making agency).

• Total proposed budget costs.

It is also helpful to indicate any in-kind support to the project in the budget. This can be accomplished by having separate columns for "costs/expenses" and "in-kind contributions."

Budget narrative. Once a proposal's budget is complete, each separate item must be described in terms that precisely follow the budget figures and briefly describes each expenditure for the budget, for example:

There will be three round-trip airfares from Washington, D.C. to regional training sites for two Project team members to conduct a site assessment and provide training, technical assistance, and follow-on with a site evaluation 180 days after the training takes place. Each round-trip air fare is estimated to be $600.00 (with cost estimates provided by Action Travel on April 5, 1999).

The budget narrative should offer specific breakdowns of the numbers proposed for the major budget categories, such as the number of salaried hours at the project team members' hourly rate or the number of training manuals at the estimated cost of producing one manual. In addition, the budget narrative should cite sources from which budget estimates are derived and the date each estimate was received, when possible. Be certain to closely follow any agency imposed ceilings on specific costs (e.g., mileage or per diems).

Appendices. It is important to first determine if appendices or supporting documentation are even allowed in a grant application. If so, appendices might include the following:

• Vita of key project staff and volunteers.

• Verification of tax-exempt status (for nonprofits).

• Past organizational audited financial statements.

• Letters of reference or support.

• News articles that highlight an organization's capabilities.

• Samples of curricula developed for other projects.

PACKAGING THE PROPOSAL

Victim assistance organizations should request information about how a proposal should be presented to the grant making agency. The number of copies required is an important consideration. In addition, it is helpful to send proposals in thin three-ring binders or report folders, depending upon the requirements set forth by the grant making agency.

Grant Seeking on the Internet

(This section is abridged from an article by Andrew J. Grant, and Suzy D. Sonenburg, found on the Internet.)

Grant seekers in nonprofit organizations of all sizes, and interests can use the Internet to learn about available grant opportunities. The Web certainly is a robust resource, and we shall concentrate on pointing out some helpful sites in the balance of the article. But grant seekers should not overlook other important features available on the Internet. E-mail listserv lists, and newsgroups are vital sources for networking. Listservs are discussion groups of people with similar interests-corporate and foundation relations, for example. By sending a subscription request to a listserv, a user will be able to write to all members of that list with a single e-mail posting. Each subscriber receives in e-mail all the messages sent to the list. Newsgroups are similar, but instead of receiving the list postings in e-mail, the user needs to access the newsgroup through software for that purpose and browse through the messages.

The first question, of course, is where does one find out how to locate mailing lists (these use e-mail to link large numbers of people who are interested in a topic), newsgroups and URLs? There are several comprehensive lists of resources on the Internet. An excellent place to start is a homepage called "Internet Resources for Nonprofits." This excellent page lists hundreds of other homepages, newsgroups, and listservs directly or indirectly related to grant seeking. Another is "URLs for Grant Seekers." University development and grants offices often provide valuable information with links to foundation, corporate and other information links. A great example is found at Amherst College's development office. Another good source is The Foundation Center homepage.

By consulting just these four homepages, a grant seeker will find references to many more sites. Many of the sites appear in various places. Seeing the sites repeating as one moves among the homepages is a good indication that the search has been comprehensive. That is, the grant seeker will have located most of the useful sites. The beauty of the Web is that a handful of sites often lead to as much information as is available.

By far the greatest volume of information on the Web about grant opportunities will be found on government homepages. Recently, the U.S. Government Printing Office made several of its publications available on-line for free. Full text searches and downloading articles from the Federal Register and Congressional Record can be conducted on the Web. Considering the subscription rate for the paper Federal Register is $575, this service alone could pay for a year's worth of Internet access.

The federal government's bible of funding opportunities, The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA), is at gopher://portfolio.stanford.edu:1970/1100334 (even though this is a gopher address, it can be accessed with a Web browser; there's no longer a need to run a separate gopher program). Many federal agencies have their own homepages with information about their programs.

The URLs in this section will enable a grant seeker to find much of the information available as well as information related to specific interests, such as health, education, the arts, social services and almost any other topic of interest. All these sites are free. There are others through which their owners offer grants search services for a subscription fee.

Despite this enormous amount of information, there are still notable absences on the Internet, particularly the foundation world.

WHERE ARE THE FOUNDATIONS?

Despite the fact that they have the resources to make a significant impact on the Internet, private grant makers have been reluctant to get on-line. The results of an informal poll conducted in the summer of 1995 by a publication of the National Council on Foundations appear to support our observations that members of the foundation community have been slower to embrace the opportunities offered by the new technology than have been those who seek their support.

As this is written, fewer than three dozen foundations nationwide have sites on the World Wide Web, although this number is growing from month to month. Those foundations that are there in the forefront tend to be the larger and nationally focused foundations such as MacArthur, Carnegie, Rockefeller, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, or those with a particular interest in communications technology such as the Benton Foundation and several corporate foundations.

Their Web sites tend to be purely informational and non-interactive. That is, one can gather information that the foundation has placed there about its mission, program, structure, and grantmaking. In some cases there is a response box for limited feedback, but in most instances there is not even an e-mail address to which one might direct further inquiries. In addition, on a cursory review of the existing foundation Web sites, no foundations that indicate a willingness to receive proposals via e-mail were found.

Nevertheless, as slow as the foundation community is to move in new directions, this particular tide is gaining momentum, and new sites are to be found on the Web on a regular basis. What does this mean to grant seekers? Well, for one thing it means being able to research foundations from their offices as opposed to going to a library.

It also, through the use of hypertext links, broadens the context for the grant seeker. For example, a quick check of The Foundation Center's grant maker information page offers the reader not only information about The Foundation Center's services and a glossary of grantmakers, but also hypertext connections (one-click transfers) to information about how to research foundations, a short course in proposal writing, an explanation and copy of a widely accepted common application form, giving trends, and alternative funding resources.

There is also now a unique opportunity to interact with funders in a venue that hasn't yet been layered with protective screens. The survey described earlier in this article yields the interesting information that an equal proportion of grantmakers and grant seekers are currently using e-mail (52% of those surveyed). Consequently, whether or not foundations have set up Web pages, many are already on-line and directly accessible in a way that they are not via telephone or through other connections.

USING SEARCH ENGINES FOR RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

There are a number of commercial Internet search engines that victim advocates can utilize to identify both potential resources for financial support, as well as valuable tips and guidelines for grant writing and fund-raising. Many excellent and relevant Web sites are inter-connected by hyperlinks that make "travel" around the topic of resource development quite simple. Two key phrases that were utilized to research this chapter are "grant writing" and "fund raising."

Cause-Related Marketing

A popular trend that links volunteer agencies with the private sector of America is cause-related marketing. This approach to fund-raising involves a partnership with (usually) a corporation that lends its personnel and professional services to a non-profit organization or professional field, resulting in increased public awareness of an issue and increased funding support for important services.

With cause-related marketing initiatives, a corporation or other entity (such as a Chamber of Commerce, national civic organization, etc.) works with a non-profit organization to develop a plan-of-action with specific goals. Such goals might include the following:

• Helping develop a public awareness plan, which includes the development and publication of information resources, creation and dissemination of audio and video public service announcements, design and implementation of billboards, etc.

• Sponsoring a specific fund-raiser, with all planning and implementation costs assumed by the corporation, with funds designated to support the non-profit organization (examples include golf tournaments and "fun runs" that are commonplace in many communities).

• Designating a specific portion of the cost of a corporation's product (such as 5 percent) to go toward a non-profit organization or cause.

• Donating in-kind contributions, such as computers and other office equipment, to a non-profit organization.

• Donating the professional expertise of the corporation's personnel in specific areas that have tremendous benefits for non-profit organizations (such as training and technical assistance in technology, development of software for records keeping, accounting support, providing facilitators for strategic planning, etc.).

BENEFITS OF CAUSE-RELATED MARKETING

For the private sector, benefits of cause-related marketing:

• Confirms a corporation's status as an entity that is caring, concerned about important social issues, and involved in their community's or nation's efforts to improve or address a specific problem.

• Provides public awareness that ties the corporation's name to positive outcomes that benefit a community or society as a whole.

• Involves employees in volunteer or professional activities that enhance their communication skills and networking capabilities.

• Publicizes the corporation's name and identity to potential consumers of its products and services.

For victim service providers, benefits of cause-related marketing:

• Provides expertise in specific areas that are often considered "weak points" in an organization's structure (such as public awareness, media relations, materials development, and technology initiation/expansion).

• Generates public awareness about specific rights and services available to victims.

• Often provides funds for programs and services.

• Ties the victim service community directly to the private sector, often to "big name" corporations that have positive name identification with consumers, many of whom are potential clients or donors.

EXAMPLES OF CAUSE-RELATED MARKETING

The concept of cause-related marketing has already had a powerful impact on America's victims' rights movement:

• Women's clothing giant Liz Claiborne has, for several years, joined forces with advocates for battered women's advocates to promote awareness about violence against women and children in the home. Included in their efforts have been a series of hard-hitting public awareness posters (which bear Liz Claiborne's name and corporate logo, and leave room for victim service organizations to include their own contact information) and public service announcements.

• In Dade County, Florida, Andersen Consulting provided over $600,000 of in-kind contributions, including extensive staff time, to help the Metropolitan Anti-drug Coalition formulate a public awareness and action campaign that focused on substance abuse awareness, prevention, and treatment. Participants included elected officials, criminal justice officials, victim service providers, substance abuse prevention and treatment professionals, churches, and schools.

• Ryka Rose, a woman's athletic shoe corporation that was founded by a sexual assault victim, donates 7 percent of its net profits to organizations that provide services and support to women who have been victimized. In 1992, Ryka Rose donated $10,000 toward the commencement of the National Center for Victims of Crime's toll-free information and referral service for victims and professionals. Once this national information service was implemented, Ryka Rose helped publicize INFOLINK by including a laminated card with the toll-free "1-800" number (as well as information on what to do if you become a victim of crime) in each box of shoes sold.

Increasing the Fund-Raising Skills of Victim Service Professionals

Private sector fund-raising has become increasingly important as a source of support for victim service programs. The following tips will help service providers to become more effective fund-raisers for their organizations.

Victim service providers can do the following:

• Take the effort, time, and expense to attend a course on grant writing. Some are offered free through colleges and universities, while others are available at limited cost. Grant writing is an "art" that requires expertise and experience for success.

• Invite the leadership of local corporations, civic organizations, and social groups to serve as a member of the agency's board of directors. In addition to providing expertise in a variety of important issues (such as organizational development, accounting, and legal affairs), such leaders provide important connections to potential sources for funds.

• Know the local media! Public awareness about victim services is a key component to any fund-raising strategy.

• Get involved and be a presence in local politics and civic activities. Many victim service organizations receive ongoing, valuable funding from city councils and boards of supervisors. It is helpful if elected officials who make key budget decisions are aware of the important services and support provided to the community by victim service organizations. It is also a good idea to develop strong relationships with civic organizations, and the best way to do this is to get involved as a volunteer.

• Consider asking a community agency with an active "annual giving" campaign to help explore the feasibility of duplicating such a campaign for their victim service organization, and to provide practical information on time commitments, staffing requirements, and financial considerations to launch an "annual giving" campaign.

Identifying Corporate, Foundation, and Grant Funding Sources

In addition to researching fund-raising topics and sources on the Internet (as described earlier in this section), victim service providers or victim assistance program administrators with responsibilities for seeking and obtaining program funding sources may also wish to visit their local library, contact professional organizations, or review publications specifically designed to highlight funding opportunities. The Chronicle of Philanthropy, self-named "the newspaper of the non-profit world," provides a thorough and comprehensive listing of funding opportunities, funding awards, public events, and current trends in nonprofit issues and charitable giving.

Many local libraries house reference materials for fund-raising or identifying funding sources that may be helpful. For example, directories used by grant writers, business and corporate directories, and The Foundation Center's listing of private philanthropic funding agencies may provide useful information.

Some professional organizations provide their members with information on funding opportunities. The National Society of Fundraising Executives, with chapters located nationwide, offers its members the use of its fund-raising resource center monthly and quarterly publications (800-666-FUND).

Professional fund-raising publications often provide the fund-raiser with information about available foundation and grant funds, with an emphasis on the funding source's primary funding interests and geographical requirements. A subscription to these publications is normally required. A sampling of professional publications includes The Chronicle of Philanthropy (800-347-6969), Foundation & Corporate Funding Advantage (800-220-8600), and The Public Assistance Funding Report (800-666-6380).

Promising Practices

• In Jacksonville, Florida (through the leadership of an elected official, City Councilman Eric Smith, and other crime victim advocates), the first free-standing facility for comprehensive crime victim services center was established in 1991. The mission of the Jacksonville Victim Services Center is to provide crime victims, survivors, and their families with counseling for mental, emotional, and physical trauma, resulting from criminal victimization within Jacksonville, Florida.

The history of the Center is unique. The development of the Center followed the analysis of a study commissioned in 1982 by the City Council and the Fourth Judicial Circuit State Attorney's Office to identify victim service needs and develop a plan for a Victim Service Center. With the study complete, the City of Jacksonville established a position dedicated to providing crime victim services and allocated $25,000 in 1983. By 1985, the City's funding for victim services had increased to $190,000, and a Victim Service Division within the Department of Human Services was created. Throughout the late 1980s services continued to expand, and the appropriations increased to more than $500,000 in 1990. Capitalizing on broad community support, the construction of a new facility designed for the purpose of meeting the needs of Jacksonville's victims of crime was completed in 1993. The support for the Center has steadily grown, and the services provided have expanded tremendously. Local funding for the Center is currently near $900,000. Staff of the Center screen 2,300 police reports monthly for appropriate outreach and work with 1,400 victims each month. As a result of their assistance to victims, the City's crime victims were awarded approximately $526,000 in crime victim compensation in 1991.

The Center has established a wide range of services for victims. The philosophy of the City's approach is to establish crime victim services in such a way that crime victim services become an essential part of the "infrastructure of the community," not an afterthought funded through sporadic or discretionary funding mechanisms. The Center has identified eight critical elements of success:

1. A community-wide assessment of the needs of crime victims was conducted.

2. A comprehensive services approach was recommended and adopted.

3. Key community leaders supported the Center such as elected officials, law enforcement, victims advocates, etc.

4. Interagency cooperation was ensured by formal agreements and city ordinances.

5. Financial support from the City of Jacksonville has been stable and steadily increasing.

6. Center staff have constantly sought feedback from victims and service providers, and have been open to change and to new ideas to expand services.

7. The Jacksonville Victim Services Center has gained the support of the press and other media in the community.

8. The Jacksonville community has begun to think of victim services as a necessary part of services in the community. Victim services have become part of the "infrastructure" of community services upon which all citizens of Jacksonville can depend.

• A number of victim service organizations team up with local running clubs and corporations to sponsor ten kilometer and "fun runs." The running clubs publicize the event to their membership and help with logistics; corporations "underwrite" the event by paying for refreshments, tee-shirts for participants, and any paid publicity. Local media usually provide excellent coverage of these events, as they exemplify public-private partnerships at their finest.

• In California, inmates in the Department of Corrections sponsor annual fund-raisers, with proceeds given to victim service organizations. Activities include barbeques, candy sales, and athletic competitions. In 1994, over $200,000 was raised and donated to victim services, usually in the community in which the institution is located.

• Many restaurant chains provide a percentage of their profits for a specified period of time (such as one week) to nonprofit organizations during special commemorative weeks (such as National Crime Victims' Rights Week). Often, servers also contribute a portion of their tips, encouraging their customers to be generous with the money going to a worthy cause. Table stands and public service information on printed placemats provide an overview of this fund-raising event, and also valuable tips on topics ranging from crime prevention and victim assistance to how to detect and report child abuse.

• Victim service providers are joining forces with the arts community, most of whom have a lengthy tradition of strong community and financial backing, to sponsor events that benefit crime victims. Examples include art shows at galleries and special performances of the community ballet, with proceeds going to benefit victim service organizations. These "arts and assistance for victims" events represent unique partnerships that easily become "annual events" with loyal supporters.

• More and more judges are ordering community service for non-violent offenders that benefit victim service organizations. Non-violent juvenile offenders help rehabilitate housing for elderly citizens in low-income neighborhoods, including measures that help guarantee the person's safety and prevent crime (such as installing locks and trimming high bushes). These in-kind contributions hold offenders accountable and, at the same time, assist victims in need.

• Some Departments of Corrections and jails utilize funds from inmate telephone systems to pay wholly or partially for the costs of automated victim notification.

Funding for Victim Services Self-Examination

1. Name one significant source of funding that has supported the growth of crime victim services.

2. Name four of the critical elements of fund-raising for victim services.

3. Pick one of the sixteen components of a grant, and briefly describe it.

4. Describe three fund-raising events that could be initiated in your community to increase funding for victim assistance programs and services.