The primary goal of a service grant is to give the Holden Center a strong sense of the goals of your project, general outline, and the potential positive long-term impact your project will have on the local community. These tips primarily focus on the larger free response questions. Note that any examples provided are to be used as a general guide of what the Service Grant committee is generally looking for in an application. Examples are not intended to limit the presentation of your proposal or to be utilized as a direct template. If you have any other questions or concerns pertaining to other portions of the application process, please contact us at holdencenter@uoregon.edu. Following are some guiding tips to help you produce a successful service grant proposal.
Decide on the title for your project.
The project title can range from a sentence to a single word. The title can vary from a literal description of the project to figurative language.
Previous examples: Community STEM Partnership, Hour of Code, Not a Hero Campaign, A City as a House
What social issue is your project aiming to help?
This statement can be as precise or general as you choose. The social issue identified should be tied into later components of the proposal (specifically for the project proposal and lasting impact questions).
Previous examples: Food Disparity, Exclusion of Homeless in Eugene, Sustainability, and Public Health
Please share with us what you plan on doing for your project and how it connects with your broader vision of the world. How will the project contribute to making positive changes in the local community?
We highly encourage a clear plan in which the imagined steps of the project are described. State how the project will collaborate with an organization and the result or goal of the project, Lastly, state how that result or goal addresses the social issue identified previously.
Example: "For my service grant, I will be partnering with [name of non-profit] to provide people of [this community] with [X, Y, and Z] resources, knowledge, or experience. I plan to achieve this through [A, B, and C steps]. I am passionate about this grant because... This project would address [identified social issue] by..."
Please tell us how you anticipate using awarded funds for your project. What will you need to purchase in order to successfully implement your project? If possible, provide an itemized budget list.
If possible, create an estimated itemized list of how funding will be utilized. Refer to the funding guidelines to ensure funds are within requirements.
Please describe how this project will leave a lasting impact on the community and what knowledge you will gain from completing this project.
A primary goal of the service grant is to create a lasting positive impact on the local community. State how the result of the project will continue to address your previously identified social issue. What are the tangible outcomes?
Example: "The [results of the project inserted] will have a lasting impact on the people of [this community]. Not only will it directly impact this community at the close of my project, but it will continue to make a positive impact by..."