Tips for Grant Applications or Responses to Requests for Proposals

*Att-Admin, *Att-Log, *Cons-Admin&Log — 2010-09-16T14:53:24Z

You have a project and want to seek assistance. There's no point in starting a grant application or responding to a call for proposals if you haven't thoroughly prepared your submission. Here, you'll find several useful tips to follow.

Sommaire

This page serves as both a methodological resource for those preparing grant applications and responses to calls for proposals (primarily Dev-Zone, AssDir-Center, or Att-Log of OSI) and as an interface through which anyone can obtain concrete and practical assistance from the Administration & Logistics Department of the Resource Center on this topic.

Preparing an Application

Whether you are preparing an application to promote your project or organization, request a grant, or respond to a call for proposals, certain principles should always be observed regardless of the application location. Additional specific steps may apply depending on the type of application.

Basic Principles:

Clearly identify the needs of the organization and target requests rather than making broad, non-specific requests.

Search the internet on government, local authority, business, and other organization sites that may offer funding assistance.

Regularly monitor calls for proposals from various organizations and download or request the terms of reference.

Thoroughly read and understand every detail of the wording in calls for proposals or grant eligibility criteria before taking any action.

Respond precisely to the requests of contacts and do not submit incomplete applications. However, if this occurs, inform the contact verbally and confirm in writing in the cover letter any agreement made with them.

Use the same basic documents each time without reinventing them:
_ if applicable:
- official documents (statutes, registration documents, company registration...) For all OS organizations, find them here
- financial statements, balance sheets, and general ledgers For all OS organizations, find them here
- consolidated activity report For all OS organizations, find them here
- institutional files For all OS organizations, find them here
_ OR
- sponsorship files For all OS organizations, find them here
- educational project See this link for all Educational Charters
- videos, photos available in the media library see osi-photos.com and see objectif-sciences.tv

Draft a specific document to support the request in the form of a cover letter or another document different from the base documents. For grant applications, the document must include the relevant budget and arguments supporting the grant request.

Attach a list of the included documents.

Strictly adhere to submission deadlines (plan to have a retro-planning deadline set one week in advance for safety).

All documents can be sent as a DVD for burning on each occasion if the contact accepts this type of submission, as it can reduce the need for extensive paper copies.

Carefully check the contents of the package and verify the required quality of the signatory and the sealing method.

Keep an official record of the submission date.

Ensure correct postage... yes, really

Archive the cover or request letter as an appendix to this article for collective memory and for future reference or inspiration.

Steps to Follow

For further guidance and to successfully launch your grant application, please refer to the grant application portal.

Requesting Assistance from Admin&Log

For any request for support from the Administration & Logistics Department with a grant application or response to a call for proposals, please create a specific entry and describe your needs in the forum function on this page.

Your question should not be about starting a specific grant application but rather about tips and tricks to benefit your grant application preparation. If you want to start a grant application, please go to the grant application portal.

Alongside document exchanges via email, information exchanges, responses, advice, etc., will and should take place via this forum thread to build and accumulate valuable expertise over time, year after year.

Write great tutorials

*Att-Admin, *Att-Log, *Cons-Admin&Log — 2010-01-11T12:38:05Z

Tutos is not pronounced “tutoce” and is neither Minos's sister nor a city in Crete.

Tutos is the plural of Tuto, which itself is short for tutorial.

Here, the goal is to bring together all the reasons for creating tutorials, the resources needed to provide these methodological documents, and insights into the format they should have and their organization relative to each other.

This page is therefore the tutorial of tutorials [1].

Sommaire

Translate in English

The Why and the How

Tutorials provide an almost inexhaustible source of information, explanations, and methodology.

The purpose of these “tutorials” is to address the varied questions of everyone. Their role is therefore undeniable.

That's why it's up to each person to read them, re-read them at times, and participate in their development or updating to expand this resource.

However, before writing a tutorial, it's essential to first verify that one does not already exist. This is what one could call the “tutorial reflex”. Use this “search” reflex with various keywords relevant to the topic.

Having an idea for a tutorial is good. Realizing it is better. But it mustn't have already been done!

After this verification, you will realize either:

that the tutorial already exists
that the tutorial exists but is incomplete, in which case you'll need to complete it
that the tutorial does not exist, and it will be up to you to create it

Relevant Actors

When writing a tutorial, you should:

Leave your profile as the competent author on the subject (e.g., your author firstname.com)

Add ALL *positions concerned by the tutorial (for example, the author “*Dev-Zone (all)”), including your *Position if you have one (*Assdir-STA, *Boutique-ITI, etc.).

Organizing a Tutorial

All tutorials must be in an international format. This means:

- a single article covering all countries
- using tabs to organize country-specific differences (see below for tab code)
- writing the common text in an international form (examples from all cases, consideration of international legislation, etc.)

Tutorials should NEVER repeat information already present elsewhere. Instead, cite it and link to the other article already covering the topic. This link should not be a copy-paste of the HTML link to the article but should be formatted as follows: for more information on this topic, please refer to [this tutorial->artXXX] where XXX is the corresponding article number.

Content of a Tutorial

The rules presented in the tutorials serve the organization of the NGO and its members. The rules, inspired by legislation, widely used quality practices, or certain reference works, must be adapted to:
- activities
- locations
- each person's roles
- the goals we aim to achieve

Make sure to include in the tutorials:
- a copy of the key information,
- but also all the most interesting methods, choices, tips, tricks... In short, your individual expertise, to integrate it into the organization's knowledge base (so that whoever performs the task does it as well as you do). Without the content described in this second point, your tutorial will NOT be a tutorial but just a bibliography, and it will lack an essential element for the collective success we aim for with these articles.

What happens if we do NOT adapt the tutorial content?

If the tutorial content is merely a copy-paste of a general practice described elsewhere, then the adaptation to the activity and location will be done by the tutorial reader, and each reader will create their own version. This means that the tutorial, rather than facilitating and optimizing collective work, will instead complicate it, as everyone will interpret it differently.

If you want to create a tutorial based on a successful practice you've discovered, we invite you to submit your text in an article and notify the relevant Departments at the Objective Sciences International Resource Center. Then, you can work together to adapt the tutorial content to the specificity of the NGO and our tasks within the organization.

Keywords

When you validate your tutorial text, the interface offers you the option to add keywords.

VERY IMPORTANT: Your tutorial must ALWAYS include:

at least one, sometimes two or more, keywords relating to the TYPE OF SUPPORT characterizing the tutorial
several, sometimes just one, keywords relating to the AREAS covered by the tutorial

Key Ideas and Intermediate Objectives

In all your tutorials and training materials, we ask you to rephrase the key ideas and intermediate objectives.

We also ask you to present them as follows.

The exclamation mark, from the NGO's logo, is used to draw attention to an important point.

For key ideas, please use this exclamation mark image within a quote of the type
<quote><img2369|left>Your text regarding the key idea</quote>

The cairn, organized with the four rays of the NGO's logo sun, is a small pile of rocks arranged along hiking trails to help hikers stay on track in mountains worldwide.

For intermediate objectives, please use this cairn image within a quote using the following code:
<quote><img2372|left>Your text concerning the intermediate objective.</quote>

Do's and Don'ts

Here's the signal to draw attention to what should be done:

<img269|left>

Here's the signal to draw attention to what should not be done:

<img267|left>

In some cases, you may need to specify “Do / Do Not” or “Say / Do Not Say.”

To pair your advice with the two images above, please use the following code:

---- <img269|left> {{You will say / To do}} <br> <br> <br> -* Advice 1 -* Advice 2 -* Advice 3 -* Etc <br> <br> <img267|left> {{You will not say! / Do not do}} <br> <br> <br> -* Advice 1 -* Advice 2 -* Advice 3 -* Etc ----

SPIP Codes

To use when writing your tutorials:

Follow this convention across all your tutorials:

Logical sequences separated by short {{{Subheadings}}} in lowercase with capitals at the beginning of words, and concise (NEVER in full uppercase). Avoid writing subheadings in uppercase.

Enumeration list by points: please use only this method to list items:

-* : level 1
-* : level 1
-** : level 2
-** : level 2
-*** : level 3
-** : level 2
-* : level 1

Tabs () for each local case and using only Center codes (STA, ITI, IZU, ISA...) in the tab titles (thus a single tutorial on the same theme for all Centers, with tabs for each Center).

Expandable blocks within tabs () for sub-elements (available docs, etc.).

Expandable blocks elsewhere in the text () when display needs simplification.
Please do NOT use expandable blocks as the primary organization of the tutorial: the primary organization should be a series of paragraphs separated by subheadings with triple braces. Expandable blocks come into play only to clarify certain passages, such as overly lengthy parts that readers can expand for “more detail.”

A strong idea yellow band regularly throughout the page to pace the reading (| {{Strong idea: text of the strong idea}} |).

“Quotes” for any passage (short paragraph) that deserves extra emphasis with Text to emphasize, which will render as:

Text to emphasize

Text to copy-paste: Any text readers need to copy-paste should be placed between the tags text to copy-paste, resulting in:

text to copy-paste

Glossary protection: If your tutorial includes text to copy-paste, avoid glossary definitions from appearing in the copied content. Start your SPIP text with the following code directly in the text field of the article: [!glossary]. This code suspends the glossary function for that page, which keeps your text free of “4 teenagers named craters on Mars…” definitions each time “Mars” is mentioned.

After an Update

Once you've finished and published your tutorials, and the relevant people have read them, if you later update a section—whether an addition, change, or deletion—you must:

Make your change

Post a message on the public page forum of the updated tutorial, copying and pasting the full update. This way, those subscribed to the tutorial receive the update via email, and new readers see the updated text directly on the tutorial.

Color Codes

Is your tutorial [black background]Color'Conform'?[/black background]

These tips apply to long or complex tutorials.

To ease the reading, comprehension, and implementation of long or complex tutorials, we suggest a color-coding system.

This way, each person can quickly identify their tasks from the list presented.

Explanations

For example, if we want to write a tutorial assigning one task to the Science Officer and another to the Marketing Officer, we'll write the SPIP code as follows:

...and therefore, from that moment:

[science background]the Science Officer is responsible for this[/science background],

[marketing background]the Marketing Officer is responsible for that[/marketing background],

and everything will be fine.

which results in:

...and therefore, from that moment:

[science background]the Science Officer is responsible for this[/science background],

[marketing background]the Marketing Officer is responsible for that[/marketing background],

and everything will be fine.

Got it?

Excellent! Now let's see the list of ready-made color codes available to you.

Highlight Codes

[straw yellow background][straw yellow background][brown]Brown text highlighted on straw yellow[/brown][/straw yellow background][/straw yellow background]

[red]Text in red[/red]

Position Codes

[fond col_pres][fond col_pres][white]President[/white][/fond col_pres][/fond col_pres]

[fond col_vpres][fond col_vpres]Vice-Presidents[/fond col_vpres][/fond col_vpres]

[fond col_spres][fond col_spres]Secretary of the Presidency[/fond col_spres][/fond col_spres]

[fond col_csp][fond col_csp]International CSP[/fond col_csp][/fond col_csp]

[fond col_cspzone][fond col_cspzone]CSP Zone[/fond col_cspzone][/fond col_cspzone]

[fond col_dg][fond col_dg][white]DG[/white][/fond col_dg][/fond col_dg]

[fond col_sdg][fond col_sdg]Secretary of the DG[/fond col_sdg][/fond col_sdg]

[fond col_mark-dev][fond col_mark-dev][white]Mark&Dev Advisor[/white][/fond col_mark-dev][/fond col_mark-dev]

[fond col_mark][fond col_mark]Marketing Officer[/fond col_mark][/fond col_mark]

[fond col_dev][fond col_dev]Development Officer[/fond col_dev][/fond col_dev]

[fond col_admin-log][fond col_admin-log][white]Admin&Log Advisor[/white][/fond col_admin-log][/fond col_admin-log]

[fond col_admin][fond col_admin]Admin Officer[/fond col_admin][/fond col_admin]

[fond col_log][fond col_log][white]Logistics Officer[/white][/fond col_log][/fond col_log]

[fond col_pub-com][fond col_pub-com][white]Pub&Com Advisor[/white][/fond col_pub-com][/fond col_pub-com]

[fond col_pub][fond col_pub]Public Relations Officer[/fond col_pub][/fond col_pub]

[fond col_com][fond col_com]Communications Officer[/fond col_com][/fond col_com]

[fond sciences-peda][white]Sciences&Peda Advisor[/white][/fond sciences-peda]

[fond col_sciences][fond col_sciences]Sciences Officer[/fond col_sciences][/fond col_sciences]

[fond col_peda][fond col_peda]Education Officer[/fond col_peda][/fond col_peda]

[fond col_prog][fond col_prog]Program Managers[/fond col_prog][/fond col_prog]

[fond col_educ][fond col_educ]Scientific Educators[/fond col_educ][/fond col_educ]

[fond col_sport][fond col_sport]Sports Educator[/fond col_sport][/fond col_sport]

[fond col_rvq][fond col_rvq]Daily-Life Manager (age groups, etc.)[/fond col_rvq][/fond col_rvq]

[fond col_vq][fond col_vq]Daily-Life Educator[/fond col_vq][/fond col_vq]

[fond col_dev-zone][fond col_dev-zone][white]Dev-Zone[/white][/fond col_dev-zone][/fond col_dev-zone]

[fond col_dir][fond col_dir]Center Director[/fond col_dir][/fond col_dir]

[fond col_assdir][fond col_assdir]Assistant Director[/fond col_assdir][/fond col_assdir]

[fond col_accueil][fond col_accueil]Reception-Shop-Cafeteria[/fond col_accueil][/fond col_accueil]

[fond col_cuisine][fond col_cuisine]Kitchen[/fond col_cuisine][/fond col_cuisine]

[fond col_menage][fond col_menage]Housekeeping[/fond col_menage][/fond col_menage]

[fond col_technique][fond col_technique]Technical[/fond col_technique][/fond col_technique]

Shading Codes

[fond col_faible][fond col_faible]Low[/fond col_faible][/fond col_faible]

[fond col_moyen][fond col_moyen]Medium[/fond col_moyen][/fond col_moyen]

[fond col_fort][fond col_fort]High[/fond col_fort][/fond col_fort]

[fond col_p-][fond col_p-]Non-Priority[/fond col_p-][/fond col_p-]

[fond col_pn][fond col_pn]Normal Priority[/fond col_pn][/fond col_pn]

[fond col_p][fond col_p]Priority[/fond col_p][/fond col_p]

[fond col_u-][fond col_u-]Not Urgent[/fond col_u-][/fond col_u-]

[fond col_un][fond col_un]Normal Urgency[/fond col_un][/fond col_un]

[fond col_u][fond col_u]Urgent[/fond col_u][/fond col_u]

[fond col_up][fond col_up]Urgent + Priority[/fond col_up][/fond col_up]

Modifications

To modify a color code, it's very simple. Change it in one place, and it updates across the entire site instantly!

Simply go to the “All in Color” setting in the Swiss Knife plugin. This feature is reserved for full site administrators, so you'll need to provide the new color code for a given position, and they will make the change.

Creating New Codes

For any new code creation, for instance to make

[1] or the Meta-tutorial if you prefer

Objectif Sciences International