Monday's Grants- Ruddie Memorial Youth Foundation- Deadline 7/27/2011

Monday's Grants

As we all know, women play so many roles, we're mothers, we're daughters, we're friends, we're wives, we're amazing!  One of my roles is that of a social worker.  I've been a stay at home mom for the past 5 years and I have loved it!  But during that time, I also continued my education and received my Master's degree in Social Work.  I really believe that I was put on this earth to make a difference in people's lives and be a change agent.  In order to provide change as a social worker, you often need funding!  I keep updated on grants and funding that is available and I thought since I'm doing the research anyway, I might as well share my found information with individuals or groups who could also use it. So I've decided to start Monday's Grants. I will post grants weekly that may be useful to nonprofits, groups, teachers, individuals and more.  Many grants will be RFP's (Request for Proposals), but I will try to include a selection of different grants. Enjoy!

The first grant I'm bringing to you is from the Ruddie Memorial Youth Foundation

Ruddie Memorial Youth Foundation Accepting Applications for Innovative Youth Program Evaluation Grants

Deadline: July 27, 2011
Amount:  Grants will range from $5,000 to $30,000.

Evaluation grant

RMYF helps assess the effectiveness of innovative youth programs by offering Evaluation Grants. These grants range from $5,000 - $25,000. Evaluation grants are targeted to innovative programs or innovative components of programs serving disadvantaged youth. These are the only RMYF grants available to first time applicants. As the purpose of these grants is to identify effective innovations in the field, RMYF will not fund the evaluation of programs that are not innovative. Applicants that use traditional approaches to serving youth are asked to seek funding from sources that fund such approaches. In addition to learning about the effectiveness of their innovative approach, grant recipients are expected to use evaluation results to improve their services and possibly replicate the program. If an organization demonstrates through their RMYF-funded evaluation that their innovative methods are effective in helping youth reach their full potential, RMYF will encourage them to apply for replication or dissemination grants to help spread the use of their innovative approach elsewhere. We highly recommend that you have an evaluator review, or participate in, the development of your evaluation grant application. There are many types of evaluation. For example, some evaluations measure satisfaction, others measure program day-to-day operations, and others measure cost-benefit ratios. However, RMYF funds a very specific type of evaluation, called utilization-focused outcome program evaluation. This type of evaluation meets the following criteria: Outcome-based - We help programs measure the degree to which their services effect meaningful changes in the youth they serve. Logic-model-based - The logic model is a way to approach evaluation where that which is measured (in this case, outcomes) is the logical extension of the program's overall strategy. For example, in a logic model, the outcomes are a direct extension of the mission and are achieved through the programs activities. For more on the logic model, see the University of Wisconsin - Extension Web site . Quantifiable- We request that the evaluation collect data that can be expressed in numbers - for example, data that are absolute numbers, scales, or categories. Valid - We request that the evaluation meet minimum standards of validity. E.g., that it measure what it purports to measure. Utilization-focused - While research is very valuable, RMYF does not fund general research. Instead, it funds evaluation that is designed to generate findings that are usable by real people in the real world to help underprivileged youth reach their full potential. Professional - Although we hope that programs are closely involved in their evaluation, we require that the evaluations we fund be conducted or overseen by a professional evaluator or someone with equivalent credentials, experience and expertise. For suggestions on identifying an evaluator, see below. Abiding by experimental design (if possible) - Although we don't require evaluations to follow the experimental design (e.g., have a comparison group to test causality), we favor those that do.

Replication grant

Replication Grants fund the growth of practices that RMYF-funded outcome evaluation have shown to be effective in helping disadvantaged youth reach their full potential. The purpose of Replication Grants is to increase the number of youth that benefit from a newly-identified best practice. For example, replication grants can support the expansion of a current program or the creation of a new program that uses the newly-discovered effective practice. These grants are open only to organizations that have received RMYF Evaluation or Dissemination Grants in the past. These grants range from $5,000 - $30,000. Former RMYF grantees make a request for more info: contact@rmyf.org.

Dissemination grant

Dissemination Grants fund the diffusion of practices that RMYF-funded outcome evaluation has shown to be effective in helping disadvantaged youth reach their full potential. These grants fund, for example, conference presentations, articles, Websites, consultations and other methods for “getting the word out” on a newly-discovered effective practice. These grants are open only to organizations that have received RMYF Evaluation or Replication Grants and range from $5,000 to $30,0000. Former RMYF Grantees make a request for more info: contact@rmyf.org.