GRANT REQUESTS

ACN CAN ONLY CONSIDER GRANT PROPOSALS SUBMITTED BY REGISTERED, COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS (CBOs) AND SCHOOLS.

ACN is child-focused (ages 19 and below) and particularly welcomes proposals for income-generating projects that will:

(1) Directly benefit vulnerable children

(2) Help a program eventually pay for itself. The grant applicant should consider how ACN assistance can be phased out so the project can become self-supporting as soon as possible. Do you have a strategy to show how your project will become independent from external funding? Do you have a timetable for when total self-reliance might be possible?

GUIDELINES — PLEASE Include THE FOLLOWING On your proposal's first page:

(1)  The purpose of the grant is in no more than 1-2 sentences, e.g., the purpose of the grant is to purchase and install solar panels for the community clinic so that nurses can work at night and during the day;

(2)   Your organization's name as it appears as the beneficiary on your bank account;

(3)  The name and position (within the organization) of the person submitting the grant application;  

(4)  Your organization's street address (no PO Box), city, district, COUNTRY, and phone number (*It is essential that your bank has your current address); 

(5)  A photo of the signpost outside your office identifying your office for passers-by (also requested are photos of your headquarters (inside and out) to give us an idea of your workspace;

(6)  Your bank's SWIFT number (do you have a US Dollar account, or do you have a local currency account?);

(7)  Your bank's intermediary bank, if your bank has one (what is its routing number?); 

(8)  Your organization's postal code, if it has one;

(9)  The name of international organizations to whom you have applied for a grant in the past and international organizations to whom you are currently applying for a grant;

(10) A copy of your organization's registered charity or school certificate;

(11) The total number of children involved in your project;

(12) Your organization's financial contribution to the success of the project;

(13) An explanation of how parents will contribute to the project's success (ACN encourages close communication with and participation of the parents of vulnerable children receiving assistance).

BUDGET:

An itemized project budget not exceeding $1,500 (the smaller the budget, the greater the likelihood the project will receive funding) must be attached. Please provide your costs in YOUR currency.

If your proposal requests funds for a training program:

a.    Explain what employment assistance your organization will give to program graduates;

b.    Identify what tools you plan to give training program graduates (and incorporate the cost of these tools into your budget). Please note: We believe reasonably priced tools that trainees use during training should go to trainees not as a gift but rather as a loan to be paid back (through piecework completed either during or immediately following graduation during a post-graduate co-op period. Once graduates pay for their tools fully, they can take the tools on their own, with the sponsoring organization using funds from paid-back loans to purchase tools for the next group of trainees. Typically, we do not support tailoring programs for several reasons, including the relatively high price of a sewing machine;

c.   Plan always to have a staff member present at the training site when trainees are present;

d.   Describe other programs you have managed and why they succeeded or failed;

e.    Describe your research regarding the market in which the training program graduates will enter. For example, have you developed working relationships with area professionals who might hire your graduates? How will the products your graduates produce compare with what is already on the market?

PLEASE DO NOT INCLUDE:

(1)  Administrators' or Staff salaries;

(2) Requests for an entire program rather than for a project within an established program;

(3) Construction requests, Unless accompanied by an explanation of how current walls and roofs need repair because they are dangerous to children being educated or vocationally trained. 

GRANT APPLICATION PROCESS:

Our grant application process is as follows:

A grant review cycle commences in January and ends September 30. This timeline may vary slightly each year depending on the number of proposals received. A review of all grant applications by an ACN country representative (or ACN Headquarters if there is no country representative) takes place in October and November. ACN Headquarters in the United States reviews all recommendations by country representatives in December. ACN decides on grant winners in late December or early January, with grants usually sent in January or February. If incorrect or inaccurate information has been provided to send a bank transfer to your account, the bank will return the transfer to us and assess a penalty fee. If this happens, ACN may cancel your grant.  

We are delighted that we have country representatives in Uganda, Kenya, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as a regional representative in South-eastern Asia, to assist you once your proposal is received. If there is no ACN country representative in your country, please feel free to work directly with ACN Headquarters (fklein@assistingchildreninneed.org).  

Proposals can be sent to info@assistingchildreninneed.org.