Grants to make a difference

The NCIIA is pleased to request proposals for our second round of Sustainable Vision (SV) grants. SV grants support the creation of US and international initiatives that define replicable models for effective and sustainable technology entrepreneurship through innovative collaborations between US universities and colleges and partners in the private, NGO and government sectors.

Sustainable Vision grants fund innovative educational programs that move ideas to commercialization for the benefit of people living in poverty. Focus areas include, but are not limited to, health, clean air and water, energy, nutrition, and shelter. The grants support enrichment and deepening of ongoing programs by building and strengthening interpersonal and inter-institutional networks, and by creating new initiatives within existing programs. Successful Sustainable Vision grants create:

• Positive economic impact on a targeted population
• A balance between a strong educational experience for students and technologies with commercial potential
• Growth that is sustainable through internally generated resources beyond the end of the grant period
• Ongoing partnerships capable of bringing about further change
• A documented process that can be replicated in other settings
• Growth that is sustainable through internally generated resources

Scope of grants

Sustainable Vision grants range in size from $10,000 to $50,000. The award period ranges from twelve to eighteen months. Grant recipients will share their work through a summit-style workshop on March 19th, 2008 at the NCIIA Annual Meeting in Dallas, Texas. Grantees will work with the NCIIA on continuous program evaluation and follow-through, defining and refining an evaluation plan and developing, documenting, and disseminating transferable models.

How to apply

All proposals must be submitted to the NCIIA online. Create an account and login here. You may start, save, stop and return to the proposal before submitting. The submission deadline is 5 pm EST Friday, October 17, 2008. Start early! The online application process has five steps and will require the following:

STEP ONE:  Submit basic contact information

• Name of the institution you represent
• Names and contact information of team members (full résumés will be required as attachments), including principal investigator (PI) and administrative contact (AC). The NCIIA defines the administrative contact as a grants administrator or fiscal officer authorized to commit the institution to the terms of the grant. Often, the AC works in the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs or the Office of Contracts and Grants. The PI cannot be the AC.

STEP TWO: Submit basic proposal information

• Project Title
• An abstract (250 words or less) with the top three objectives (in bullet format) of the program

STEP THREE: Request verification

• The following people must verify their support for your proposal: Administrative Contact (grants administrator or fiscal officer authorized to commit the institution to the terms of the grant), Department Chair, and the Principal Investigator (this is waived if the PI is also the applicant). To ensure timely approval of your proposal by your institution, apprise them of your intention to submit 3-4 weeks advance of the deadline and share your proposal with them prior to submission.
• When you have entered their e-mail addresses, each of the above administrators will receive an automated e-mail address requesting their verification of support. Allow 2-3 days for them to respond.
• The proposal cannot be submitted until your administrators have responded to the request for verification.

STEP FOUR: Upload required documents

• An attached narrative (see description below)

Proposal narrative

Your proposal narrative may not exceed eight pages in length. Prepare the narrative in Microsoft Word, using 12-point Times font. Your narrative should address the questions below:

• How does the program build upon existing relationships?
• How does it establish measurable educational objectives?
• In what ways does it follow a collaborative model?
• What entrepreneurial opportunities are generated?
• How does it demonstrate self-sustainability?
• How does it demonstrate market potential?
• What are the commercial and social outcomes?
• How does it apply technological innovation or innovative use of resources?
• What is its potential global impact?
• How does it address the needs of people living in poverty?

Suggested narrative format with page length guidelines: maximum length may not exceed eight pages

• Introduction: (up to one page) What problem(s) are you addressing?
• History and context: (up to one page) What have you done so far? What support have you received for your work? What are others doing in the same field? What interesting models will you build upon?
• Team: (about one paragraph for each team member) Who is on your team? What does each individual bring to the team? What role will each play? (Note: Résumés up to three pages each will be submitted as attachments)
• Work plan and outcomes: (up to four pages) What do you hope to achieve? What changes will the program bring about? What steps are involved? What processes will you follow? How will you communicate among partners? How will you support commercial activity resulting from the grant? How will the program continue beyond the end of the grant period? How do you know the program will succeed?
• Evaluation and sustainability plan: (up to one page): Please address how you will know if you have succeeded, name your internal measures of success, and respond to the following:

  How will you determine whether your program had a positive economic impact on the target population? How will you tie positive economic outcomes to your program?
  How will you measure the program’s self-sustainability?
  How will you define ongoing partnerships capable of creating further change?
  How will you document your process? How will you determine if the process is replicable and transferable?

Appendix requirements (maximum of ten appendices, up to 5MB each)

1. Résumés (no more than three pages each) of participating team members
2. Documentation of work completed to date
3. Budget template with budget justification (NCIIA requires you to use the provided SV budget template).

Eligible expenses

• Faculty time up to $20,000
• Travel expenses related to network development and program plans or attendance at related meetings
• Expenses related to early implementation of program, including materials, prototypes and testing
• Graduate student support up to $5,000
• Up to 5% institutional overhead if required.

Ineligible expenses include, but are not limited to:

• Undergraduate student stipends
• Institutional overhead above 5% of the total budget

4. Other supporting documents, such as curricula, photographs, websites

STEP FIVE: Submit

• When you are sure Steps 1-4 have been completed and advisors have verified their support, please click submit. You will receive an email confirming the submission of the proposal.

What will be funded?

Sustainable Vision grants support programs that apply technology entrepreneurship to address poverty and environmental degradation, and/or meet basic human needs such as clean air and water, nutrition, health care, and shelter. Preferred proposals:

• Build upon existing relationships (e.g., historic collaborative or exchange programs between the applicant institution and an institution overseas)
• Establish measurable educational objectives
• Follow a collaborative and entrepreneurial, rather than an aid model
• Plan to engage beneficiaries of new technologies in their design and development
• Generate entrepreneurial opportunities
• Demonstrate sustainability after the end of the grant period
• Include documentation of market potential
• Examine environmental and social outcomes
• Apply technological innovation or innovative use of resources
• Show potential global impact
• Address the needs of people living in poverty

For examples of funded SV grants, please click here.

Submission deadline: 5 pm EST Friday, October 17, 2008
Address questions to the NCIIA at (413) 587-2172, or email us.