What Makes A Strong Proposal
Impact — Identifying a need, such as:
- Improving service delivery
- Expanding model programs
- Collaborating with other agencies
- Testing pilot concepts that may have broader applicability
- Emphasizing prevention or early intervention
- Answering the key question: How will people measurably benefit as a result of the proposed program or activity?
Effectiveness — Demonstrating value and efficacy:
- Addressing identified needs
- Using knowledge or evidence of measures that work
- Offering measurable observable outcomes (effects on the lives of children, older adults, or arts and culture institutions)
Feasibility — Proving practicability:
- Adhering consistently to the agency’s core mission, capability, and plan
- Addressing the issues with appropriate methodology
- Managing with available assets
- Demonstrating sufficient organizational leadership to achieve program goals
Sustainability — Practicing fiscal responsibility:
- Requesting an appropriate amount to the size of the agency’s budget
- Having access to stable or diverse finances
- Offering a thoughtful, realistic plan for continuing the project beyond the term of the grant period
Projects Likely to Receive Support:
- Projects that demonstrably improve the lives of young children, adolescents, and older adults
- Specific projects that strengthen an arts organization’s capability and stability
- Projects that involve collaborative activities across multiple agencies that through combining assets, ideas, and program capacities try to meet a general need
- Projects in which local organizations bring proven national program models to Maricopa County
- Projects that implement models of service that might apply to various settings in Maricopa County
- Programs that multiply results by involving volunteers
- Organizations that have identified a component of their strategic plan for support
Projects Unlikely to Receive Support:
- Projects that consume a large percentage of an organization’s annual operating budget and that will therefore prove difficult to sustain after the grant ends
- Projects dedicated to meeting ongoing marketing or fundraising costs
- Projects that seek financial backing for future seasons’ performances or productions
- Capital campaigns that represent an inordinate share of the overall campaign goal
- Projects that seek to cover capital and operating costs for private or public schools
- Direct healthcare services in which Piper Trust funds would insufficiently bear on the overall need
- Projects involving medical research that would require enormous commitments of the sort typically available only at the national level
- Organizations that have insufficient support or commitment (both in terms of finances and personnel) from the board or a capital campaign cabinet